—a senior Companion, as Sufyān himself related.

Ibn Wahb said of Sufyān, “I have never seen anyone more knowledgeable about the interpretation of ḥadīths than Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah,” and it is well known that he met and lived in the same period as al-Shāfiʿī.

A sixth explanation is the additional wording recorded by Muslim on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, who heard the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—say:

“Allah has not listened to anything as He listens to a prophet with a beautiful voice who sings the Qur’an and recites it aloud.”[1]

Al-Ṭabarī remarked, “Had the matter been as Ibn ʿUyaynah maintained, mentioning the beautiful voice and the act of reciting aloud would have no meaning.”

We reply: the phrase “recites it aloud” (yajharu bihi) must be either part of the Prophet’s own words—though that is unlikely—or an insertion by Abū Hurayrah or someone else. If it is from the Prophet, it actually argues against vocal embellishment and trilling, for he did not say “warbles with it” but rather “recites it aloud,” meaning that he makes himself and those nearby hear it. This is supported by his saying—peace be upon him—to the man he once heard raising his voice with the declaration of God’s oneness: “People, take it easy on yourselves, for you are not calling on One who is deaf or absent….”[2] The ḥadīth will be quoted in full later. And if the clause is from a Companion or anyone else, it carries no weight for the position they seek to prove.

Some of our scholars have preferred this interpretation, saying, “This is closer to the mark, for the Arabs call anyone who raises his voice and prolongs it a ‘singer,’ and the act itself ‘singing,’ even if he does not set it to the melodies of ordinary song.” They added, “On this understanding the Companion explained it, and he is the one best acquainted with the wording and the circumstances.”

Abū al-Ḥasan argued for the Shāfiʿī position, saying, “What removes all ambiguity in this matter is the report transmitted by Ibn Abī Shaybah: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubbāb told us, Mūsā ibn ʿAlī ibn Rabāḥ told us, from his father, from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir, who said that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

‘Learn the Qur’an, sing it, and write it down, for by Him in Whose hand is my soul, it slips away from the mind more quickly than a camel released from its tether.’[3]”

Our scholars reply: Even if this ḥadīth’s chain were sound, it is contradicted by what is definitively known—namely, that the recitation of the Qur’an has reached us by mass transmission from all the shaykhs, generation after generation, back to the noble era and to the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and in that recitation there is no melodic intonation (talḥīn).