the Qur’an. Weep; if you are unable to weep, then force yourselves to weep.’ (1)
This ḥadith is classified as singular. (1)
Ibn Ḥumayd died in the year 248 AH.
During the same year the following also passed away: Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ, Ḥusayn al-Karābīsī, ʿĪsā Zughbah, Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī, Abū Kurayb, Muḥammad ibn Zunbūr, al-Qāsim al-Juʿī, Ṭāhir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir the governor, ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Shuʿayb ibn al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḥarashī, and the caliph al-Muntaṣir.
138 – Zughbah, Abū Mūsā ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammād al-Tujībī * (M, D, S, Q)
The Imām, the ḥadith scholar, the relied-upon authority: Abū Mūsā ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammād Zughbah al-Tujībī, an Egyptian and a client of Tujīb.
He transmitted extensively from al-Layth ibn Saʿd, and also from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam,
(1) The chain is weak because of the unreliability of Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Razi. Ibn Majah also recorded it (no. 1337) in the Book of Establishing Prayer, chapter “On Beautifying the Voice with the Quran”; his isnad includes Abu Rafiʿ (Ismail ibn Rafiʿ), who is likewise weak.
The phrase “He is not one of us who does not yataghanna bi-l-Quran” (recite the Quran with melodious intonation) is, however, authentic, transmitted from Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas by Ahmad (no. 1476) and Abu Dawud (no. 1469), and by al-Bukhari, 13/418, in the Book of Tawhid under the verse heading wa-asirru qawlakum aw ijharu bihi (“Whether you speak secretly or openly,” 67:13) on the authority of Abu Hurayra. Yataghanna means to beautify one’s voice and give it a plaintive tone, for this is more affecting to the soul and more persuasive to the heart.
Al-Nawawi notes that the scholars unanimously recommend beautifying the voice in Quran recitation so long as it does not exceed the limits of proper recitation by excessive elongation (tamtit); if such elongation results in adding or omitting a letter, it is forbidden. Al-Mawardi reports from al-Shafiʿi that chanting the recitation with melodies is unlawful whenever it causes mispronunciation of any letters, and Ibn Hamdan al-Hanbali conveys the same ruling in al-Riʿaya.
(*) Al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil 6/274; Tahdhib al-Kamal, fol. 1079; Tadhhib al-Tahdhib 3/128; al-Ibar 1/452; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 8/209–210; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal 301–302; Shadharat al-Dhahab 2/118.