asked him about it—‘Do you know what “Whoever does not recite the Quran aloud” means?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘It means a man raising his voice. That is its meaning: when he raises his voice, he has recited it aloud.’”

Sālih ibn Ahmad related that he said to his father, “Beautify the Quran with your voices.” His father replied, “Beautifying it means making the recitation beautiful.”

Al-Fadl ibn Ziyād said: “I asked Abū Abd Allāh about recitation. He replied, ‘He should beautify it with his voice, without affectation.’”

Al-Athram said: “I asked Abū Abd Allāh about reciting to melodies. He replied, ‘I do not approve of anything newly introduced, unless it is a man’s own voice, without affectation.’”

Judge Abū Ya‘lā said: “These words of his indicate that the reciter’s voice is not the voice with which Allah spoke, because he attributed it to the reciter: it is his natural voice, without learning melodies.”

[Al-Bukhārī’s Statement in The Creation of the Actions of the Servants]

Abū Abd Allāh al-Bukhārī—the author of the Sahīh—said in his book The Creation of Actions that it is related from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him:

“Allah calls out in a voice that those far away hear just as those nearby hear it. This is not the case for anyone other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic.”