He said, “It does not appeal to me,” and added, “It is nothing but singing—people chant it only to earn dirhams.”

Yet another group deemed it permissible to raise one’s voice in Qur’an recitation and to embellish it melodically, arguing that a beautiful voice strikes the souls more deeply and reaches the hearts more readily. They cited as proof the Prophet’s ﷺ words, “Beautify the Qur’an with your voices,” related by al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib and recorded by Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī; and his saying ﷺ, “Whoever does not chant the Qur’an is not of us,” recorded by Muslim. They also pointed to Abū Mūsā’s remark to the Prophet ﷺ: “Had I known you were listening to my recitation, I would have adorned it for you with an even finer adornment.” Likewise, they quoted the report of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal: “During the Conquest, while traveling, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited Sūrat al-Fatḥ on his mount and modulated his voice in the recitation.”

Those who held this view include Abū Ḥanīfah and his companions, al-Shāfiʿī, Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Naẓr ibn Shumayl; it is also the preference of Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭabarī, Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Baṭṭāl, the judge Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī, and others.

I say: The first opinion is sounder, for the reasons we have given and those yet to come. As for their reliance on the first ḥadīth, it is not to be taken at face value; rather, it belongs to the category of inverted wording, meaning: “Beautify your voices with the Qur’an.”

Al-Khaṭṭābī said: More than one ḥadīth expert has explained it this way—“Beautify your voices with the Qur’an”—and they regard it as an inversion, just as one might say, “I showed the watering-trough to the camel,” when what is meant is, “I brought the camel to the watering-trough.”

He added: Maʿmar transmitted it from Manṣūr, from Ṭalḥah, putting “voices” before “Qur’an,” and the chain is sound.

Al-Khaṭṭābī further reported that Ṭalḥah narrated it from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwsajah, from al-Barāʾ, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Beautify the Qur’an with your voices,” meaning: busy your voices with its recitation and make it your emblem and adornment. Others explained it as an exhortation to read the Qur’an constantly and diligently.

It is also reported from Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Beautify your voices with the Qur’an.’” And it is related from ʿUmar that he said, “Improve your voices with the Qur’an.”

I say: The same meaning applies to his statement ﷺ, “He is not of us who does not chant the Qur’an,” that is, he is not of us who does not beautify his voice with the Qur’an—an interpretation adopted by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Mulaykah.

ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-Ward said: I heard Ibn Abī Mulaykah say that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Yazīd said, “Abū Lubābah passed by us, so we followed him …”