But if the gathering is not one of learning, remembrance, or Qur’an recitation—an ordinary setting, such as someone working at home, studying, or reading—then in that situation it is impermissible to switch on a tape-player and raise the volume of the recitation so that it reaches others who are not obliged to listen, for they did not assemble for that purpose. The responsibility rests with the person who turned up the recorder and broadcast its sound to others, because he puts people in an awkward position and forces them to listen to the Qur’an at a moment when they are not prepared to do so.

A clear example is someone walking down the street who hears the grocer or the falafel seller—who also sells recorded cassettes—blasting Qur’an so loudly that wherever you go the sound fills the air. Are the passers-by, each on his own errand, required to stop and listen attentively to this Qur’an that is being played out of place? Certainly not. Rather, the one accountable is the person who imposes the sound on people, broadcasting the Qur’an either for commercial gain, to draw attention, or for similar material motives. In doing so they turn the Qur’an, in one respect, into mere instruments of entertainment, as has been mentioned