his natural voice (1), so that he recites in a sorrowful tone like Abū Mūsā’s.” In the report transmitted by Sālih, he said that “Beautify the Quran with your voices” means that one should make one’s recitation beautiful (2).
In the report transmitted by al-Marrūdhī, he said concerning “Allah listens to nothing as He listens to a prophet with a beautiful voice reciting the Quran melodiously,” and the saying “Whoever does not recite the Quran melodiously is not one of us”: “Ibn ‘Uyayna used to say, ‘It means finding sufficiency in it,’ whereas al-Shāfi‘ī said, ‘It means raising one’s voice.’” The hadith of Mu‘āwiya ibn Qurra describing the recitation of Sūrat al-Fath with modulation of the voice was mentioned to him. Abū ‘Abd Allah rejected the interpretation that this meant recitation to melodies. He also rejected the hadiths cited in support of permitting recitation to melodies.
Ibn al-Qāsim reported that Mālik was asked about recitation to melodies during prayer and replied, “I do not like it.” He also said, “It is merely singing that they perform to earn dirhams (3).” Among those from whom disapproval was reported were Anas ibn Mālik, Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib, Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr,
(1) That is, his natural voice. This parallels his statement in the report transmitted by ‘Abd Allah (his Masā’il, p. 442; al-Khallāl, p. 116): “Unless that is his natural disposition—meaning the man’s own nature—as was the case with Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī.” Jirm means “voice,” and jirm al-sawt means its loudness. One says, “I recognized him only by the loudness of his voice.” Abū Hātim cited the common expression “So-and-so is sāfī al-jirm,” meaning clear-voiced or clear-throated, and judged it incorrect. See al-Azharī’s al-Tahdhīb (11:63–64) and al-Sihāh (5:1885). In all manuscripts except m and sād, the word’s consonantal form was corrupted to “hrmh” or “hzbh.” It was also correct in n, but someone changed it to “hzbh.” As for the printed editions, the Indian edition has “hznh,” which was changed to “huznan (sorrowfully)” in the Maymaniyya edition and likewise in the other editions. Ibn Muflih, in al-Ādāb al-Shar‘iyya (2:315), quotes Ya‘qūb’s report both with this wording and with the wording “Unless his voice is like Abū Mūsā’s voice.” Its printed edition has “hzbh” in the first report and “hzmh mithla hzm” in the second.
(2) Manuscripts sād and jīm read “tuhassinahu (you make it beautiful).” Manuscripts kāf and ‘ayn read “tuhassinūna (you [plural] make it beautiful).”
(3) Al-Mudawwana (1:288).