just as divination by arrows has been replaced with seeking Allah’s guidance, which embodies pure monotheism and reliance on Him; illicit intercourse with marriage; gambling with wagering in archery contests and horse racing; and satanic listening with listening to the Quran, inspired by the Most Merciful. There are very many similar examples.
They argued: Anything forbidden must involve harm that either predominates or is unmitigated. Stirring, melodic recitation involves neither, for it does not alter the established meaning of the words or prevent the listener from understanding them. If it involved adding letters, as those who prohibit it suppose, it would take a word outside its established meaning (1), prevent the listener from understanding it, and leave him unaware of what it means. Yet the reality is otherwise.
They argued: Such stirring, melodic recitation concerns the manner of delivery. Sometimes it is instinctive and natural; at other times it is forced and contrived. Modes of delivery do not take speech outside the established meanings (2) of its individual words. Rather, they are qualities of the reciter’s voice (3), comparable to light and emphatic pronunciation and vowel inclination, or to the long and intermediate vowel prolongations employed by Quran reciters (4). Those modes, however, concern letters, whereas melodic and stirring delivery concerns vocal sounds. Reports concerning these modes cannot be conveyed in words, unlike the modes of articulating