With the Noble Prophetic Hadith
Improving the Voice with the Holy Quran
We greet you all, dear listeners, everywhere. We meet you in a new episode of your program "With the Noble Prophetic Hadith" and we begin with the best greeting and purest peace. Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you. And after:
The Qur’an is the word of God, and it is His strong rope, and His straight path. No tyrant leaves it except that God crushes him, and it is the nation’s constitution, and in it is its life and elevation. Therefore, the nation must take care of it, recite it, act upon it, and judge by it in all aspects of life, and invite all people to believe in it, act upon it, and abide by it.
Al-Hakim narrated in Al-Mustadrak Ala Al-Sahihain from Abd al-Rahman ibn Awsajah, from Al-Bara’ ibn Azib, may God be pleased with them, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "Adorn the Qur’an with your voices." And in a hadith by Muammar: "Adorn your voices with the Qur’an." For the Qur’an adorns the voice of the believer. Al-Tabarani narrated in Al-Awsat from Ibn Umar, who said: The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, was asked: Who has the best voice in reciting the Qur’an? He said: "He who, when you hear his recitation, you see that he fears God Almighty."
Al-Hakim also narrated in Al-Mustadrak Ala Al-Sahihain from Ibn Abi Mulaykah, from Abdullah bin Abbas, may God be pleased with them, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "He is not one of us who does not chant the Qur’an." He said: I said to Ibn Abi Mulaykah: What if he does not have a good voice? He said: "He should improve it as much as he can." And there are those who interpreted the word "chant" to mean "dispense with," citing a hadith narrated from Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, which is the saying of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace: "Whoever learns the Qur’an and thinks that anyone is richer than him has belittled what is great and magnified what is small."
This interpretation is possible for the word "chant", but Al-Zamakhshari said in his book Al-Kashshaf about the hadith narrated from Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him: "I did not find it from Abu Bakr, and Ibn Adi extracted it in the biography of Hamza Al-Nusaybi from Zaid bin Rafi’ from Abi Ubaidah from Ibn Masoud, raising it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. And Hamza was accused of fabricating it."
The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, urged the nation to improve the voice with the Qur’an, because that is more beneficial to the nation and has a greater impact on hearts. Therefore, it is stated in the authentic hadith that he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Adorn the Qur’an with your voices." And his saying: "He is not one of us who does not chant the Qur’an"; because adorning the voice and improving the recitation makes it easier for the Qur’an to enter hearts, and is more conducive to hearts being affected by hearing the verses of God. Unlike the voice that is not good, that deters from hearing the Qur’an, and calls for turning away from the reciter! The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed by Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, may God be pleased with him, one night while he was reading, so he listened to him and was impressed by his voice, and when he saw him during the day, he said to him: "You have been given a flute from the flutes of the family of David." Meaning a good voice. Abu Musa said: "If I had known that you were listening, I would have embellished it for you with embellishment," meaning I would have improved his reading and adorned it. This is supported by the hadith of Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "For everything there is an ornament, and the ornament of the Qur’an is a good voice."
And for Abu Ubaid, from Aisha, may God be pleased with her, she said: I was late for the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, one night after the evening prayer, then I came, and he said: "Where were you?" I said: I was listening to the recitation of a man from your companions, and I have not heard anyone like his recitation and his voice, she said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, stood up and I stood with him until he listened to him, then he turned to me and said: "This is Salim, the client of Abu Hudhayfa, praise be to God who made in my nation someone like this."
Al-Nawawi, may God have mercy on him, mentioned in his book "Al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat Al-Quran" a chapter entitled "On the desirability of improving the voice with the Qur’an." He said at the beginning: "The scholars from the predecessors and successors, from the Companions and the Tabi’in, and those after them from the scholars of the countries, and the imams of the Muslims, agreed on the desirability of improving the voice with the Qur’an, and their sayings and actions are well-known... and the evidence for this from the hadith of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, is widespread among the elite and the general public."
Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Abu Hurairah that he heard the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, saying: "God has not listened to anything as He has listened to a prophet with a beautiful voice chanting the Qur’an, reciting it aloud." And the meaning of "listened" is that he listened, and it is an indication of satisfaction and acceptance. Al-Ruyani narrated in his Musnad from Abu Musa who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "I know the voices of the Ash’aris reciting the Qur’an when they enter at night, and I know their homes from their voices, even if I did not see their homes when they descended during the day."
Rather, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, had the most beautiful voice; Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Adi bin Thabit who said: I heard Al-Bara’ bin Azib saying: "I heard the Prophet, peace be upon him, recite in the Isha prayer, By the fig and the olive. I have never heard anyone with a more beautiful voice than him!"
As is well known, a good voice is a gift from God that God gives to whomever He wills. Therefore, people with good voices should be followed, and they should be taken care of, to lead people in prayer, as Umar, may God be pleased with him, did in the Taraweeh prayer, and his choice of the two venerable Companions, Ubayy bin Ka’b and Tamim bin Aws al-Dari, may God be pleased with them, to lead the people.
As for those who do not have a good voice, they should be keen to improve their voice with the Qur’an, and to recite it as it should be recited. However, improving the voice should be in accordance with the legal controls and the pleasing manners, and the intention is not to soften it, stretch it, and the like; as some reciters of our time do in funerals and gatherings; this violation has been present since a long time ago, and for this reason Al-Nawawi, may God have mercy on him, said in his book "Al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat Al-Quran": "This type of forbidden recitation is a calamity that some ignorant, tyrannical, and oppressive people who recite at funerals and some gatherings have been afflicted with, and this is a manifest forbidden innovation, and every listener to it sins; as Al-Mawardi, the most just of judges, said, and everyone who is able to remove it, or to forbid it, sins if he does not do that, and I have exerted some of my ability in it, and I hope from the grace of God, the Generous, to enable whoever is qualified to remove it, and to keep him in good health. Rather, the intention of improving the voice is to recite the Qur’an while observing the rules of its recitation and pondering its meanings."
Dear listeners: We thank you for your kind listening. Our appointment with you is in the next episode, God willing. Until then, and until we meet you always, we leave you in God’s care, protection, and security. Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
Written for the radio of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Professor Muhammad Ahmad Al-Nadi - Jordan Province - 2014/9/13 AD
