Do not scatter it [the Qur’an] like inferior dates and do not chant it quickly as with poetry. Stop at its wonders, move the hearts with it, and let not your concern be the end of the surah.
—’Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd [d. 32H]
(Read on pg 20, Imam Abu Baker Muhammad b. al-Husayn al-Ajurri, The Character of the Bearers and People of the Qur’an. Al-Quran Society. London:2002.)