but seek a middle way.” (1)
Through this same chain from Muhammad ibn Isma'il, who said: Musaddad narrated to us from Hushaym, from Abu Bishr, with the same chain of transmission, adding: “Let them hear it, but do not raise your voice excessively, so that they may receive the Quran from you.” (2)
Others held that the verse concerns supplication. This was the view of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, al-Nakha'i, Mujahid, and Makhul. Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Na'imi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Talq ibn Ghannam narrated to us; Za'idah narrated to us from Hisham, from his father, from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, concerning His saying, “Do not be too loud in your prayer, nor too quiet,” and she said: “This was revealed concerning supplication.” (3)
Abd Allah ibn Shaddad said: Some Bedouins from Banu Tamim, when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, concluded the prayer with the salam, would say aloud, “O Allah, grant us wealth and children.” Therefore, Allah revealed this verse: “And do not be too loud in your prayer.” (4) That is, do not raise your voice in your recitation or your supplication, nor make it too quiet. (5)
Speaking quietly means lowering the voice or remaining silent. “But seek a middle way”: that is, a way between raising the voice and keeping it inaudible.
Abu Uthman Sa'id ibn Isma'il al-Dabbi informed us; Abu Muhammad Abd al-Jabbar ibn Muhammad al-Khuza'i informed us; Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mahbubi informed us; Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi narrated to us; Mahmud ibn Ghaylan narrated to us; Yahya ibn Ishaq narrated to us; Hammad ibn Salamah narrated to us from Thabit, from Abd Allah ibn Abi Rabah al-Ansari, from Abu Qatadah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Abu Bakr: “I passed by you while you were reciting in a low voice.” He replied, “I made it heard by the One with whom I was conversing privately.” He said, “Raise it a little.” And he said to Umar: “I passed by you while you were reciting with your voice raised.” He replied, “I (6) awaken the drowsy and drive Satan away.” He said, “Lower it a little.” (7)
(1) Reported by al-Bukhari in Tafsir Surat al-Isra', chapter on Allah's saying, “Do not recite your prayer too loudly or too quietly,” 8:404-405; and by Muslim in al-Salat al-Jahriyyah, no. 446, 1:329.
(2) Reported by al-Bukhari in al-Tawhid, chapter on Allah's saying, “He sent it down with His knowledge, and the angels bear witness,” 13:463.
(3) Reported by al-Bukhari in al-Tafsir, chapter on Allah's saying, “He sent it down with His knowledge, and the angels bear witness,” 8:405.
(4) Reported by al-Tabari in his Tafsir, 15:184. Al-Suyuti additionally attributed it to Ibn Abi Shaybah and Ibn al-Mundhir. See al-Durr al-Manthur, 5:351.
(5) Al-Tabari preferred the first view, stated by Ibn Abbas, because it has the most authentic chain of transmission among the reports in which a Companion's opinion is explicitly transmitted, and because it most closely accords with the apparent meaning of the Revelation. This is because the statement, “Do not recite your prayer too loudly or too quietly,” occurs after the statement, “Say: Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful...,” and after the rebuke of the disbelievers for their disbelief in the Quran and their remoteness from it and from faith. Therefore, the interpretation most appropriate to the statement, “Do not recite your prayer too loudly or too quietly,” is that it should be understood in light of the preceding context, unless a meaning requiring departure from that context is established, or there is evidence showing that it should be understood otherwise. Tafsir al-Tabari, 15:188.
(6) Omitted from manuscript “B.”
(7) Reported by Abu Dawud in al-Tatawwu', chapter on raising one's voice in recitation during the night prayer, 2:96; and by al-Tirmidhi in al-Mawaqit, chapter on recitation at night, 2:526. He said: “It is a gharib (uncommon) hadith.” Yahya ibn Ishaq alone narrated it with a connected chain from Hammad ibn Salamah; most narrators reported this hadith from Thabit, from Abd Allah ibn Rabbah, as mursal (with a missing link). Al-Mundhiri said: “This Yahya ibn Ishaq is al-Bajali al-Saylahini, and Muslim relied upon him in his Sahih.” Al-Albani authenticated its chain in his commentary on al-Mishkat, 1:380, because the narrator who reported it with a connected chain is trustworthy.