, with the emphasis on the manner of the act. The first interpretation is that, if he sings, he should do so with the Quran, not with anything else. This is similar to the question concerning Allah’s words:

“And judge between them by what Allah has revealed.”
[Sūrat al-Mā’idah, 49]

Is this a command to judge at all, or a command concerning how one should judge if one does so?

The second meaning censures anyone who sings anything other than the Quran, without qualification, but not someone who refrains from singing either the Quran or anything else. The first meaning censures anyone who abandons melodious recitation of the Quran, but not someone who recites it melodiously or sings something else.

Then Abū al-Qāsim cited the hadith transmitted by Ibn ‘Āsim, from Shabīb ibn Bishr, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Two sounds are accursed: a cry of woe at a time of calamity, and the sound of a flute at a time of blessing.’” He argued: “The implication of this wording is that other sounds, in circumstances other than these, are permissible; otherwise, singling these out would serve no purpose.”

I say: This hadith is among the strongest evidence for the prohibition of singing, as in the well-known wording reported from Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “I have only forbidden two foolish, wicked sounds: a sound