860045-40 Hadith on the Quran

Qurtubi in his introduction to histafseer quotes an explaination tothis hadeeth as, ‘[the Banquet] is ametaphor. The Qur’ān is likened tosomething Allah has prepared forpeople. They have good and benefitsin it. Then He has invited themto it.’12. The Prophet Muhammadsaid, “...A group of people donot gather in a house amongstthe Houses of Allah [i.e. Masjid]reciting the Book of Allah andstudying it between themselves– except that tranquillity descendsupon them, they are envelopedby mercy and surroundedby the angels – and Allah mentionsthem with those with Him.[i.e. the higher angels]Source: Muslim no. 9/1023, AbuDawud no. 1455 - صحيح [Sahih]وما اجتمعَ‏ قومٌ‏ في بيتِ‏ من بيوتِ‏االلهِ‏ ، يتلون كتابَ‏ االلهِ‏ ،ويتدارسونه بينهم ، إلا نزل ‏ْتعليهم السكينةُ‏ ، وغشيتْهم الرحمةُ‏وحفّتهم الملائكةُ‏ ، وذكرَهم االلهُ‏فيمن عندهQurtubi quotes a saying in his tafseer,“The metaphor of those whorecite the Qur’ān without knowingits tafsir [explanation] is that of23