The verb is likewise used with the meaning “to do without,” as in the expression, “Allah enriched (aghna) the man, so he no longer needed anything,” and taghānaw means that each party became independent of the other.

Al-Mughīrah ibn Ḥibnāʾ al-Tamīmī said:
“Each of us, while alive, can dispense with his brother,
but once we die our mutual detachment is even greater.”

This interpretation was adopted by Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah and Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ, and Sufyān related it on the authority of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ. A further view from Sufyān, cited by Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh, is that the Qur’an renders one independent of all other ḥadīth reports. Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, inclined to this meaning, for he set the chapter heading beneath the Almighty’s words,

“Is it not enough for them that We have sent down to you the Book which is recited to them?” (Q 29:51). [1]

The exegetes explain that the verse indicates sufficiency in the Qur’an regarding knowledge of the histories of earlier nations.

Another opinion holds that yataghannā bihi means “he sorrows through it,” that is, a state of sadness—opposite to joy—becomes evident on the reciter while he reads. The word, they say, is unrelated to ghināʾ (singing); had it been derived from singing it would have been pronounced yataghānā, not yataghannā. A number of scholars favoured this view, among them Imām Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ḥibbān al-Bustī. They adduced the report transmitted by Mutarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shikhkhir from his father, who said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—praying, and from his chest came a sound like the bubbling of a cauldron, caused by his weeping.” Al-azīz (with two zāʾs) denotes the rumble of thunder or the boiling of a pot.

They argued that this ḥadīth clearly shows the intent to be sorrow. They reinforced their stance with what the imams relate from ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Recite to me.” I therefore recited Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, and when I reached the verse,

“How then will it be when We bring from every community a witness, and bring you as a witness against these?” (Q 4:41), [2]

I looked at him and saw that his eyes were streaming with tears.

These are thus four interpretations, none of which provides any evidence for singing the Qur’an to musical tunes or employing vocal trills.

Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī, commenting on the Prophet’s saying, “He is not one of us who does not chant the Qur’an,” remarked: “The Arabs were infatuated with song and poetic refrain in much of their speech. When the Qur’an was revealed, they wanted it to become their constant murmur in place of singing; and so he said, ‘He is not one of us who does not chant the Qur’an.’” [3]

The fifth interpretation is that adopted by those who cite the ḥadīth as proof for vocal modulation and melodic embellishment. ʿUmar ibn Shabbah said: “I mentioned to Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl Ibn ʿUyaynah’s interpretation of the word yataghannā as ‘to dispense with,’ whereupon he said…”