doing what He has commanded us, this brings us happiness in this world and the Hereafter, and we become among those whom Allah has blessed without qualification. But if we indulge our desires in ways He has forbidden—by consuming things that are foul in themselves or unlawfully acquired, as through injustice, by indulging to excess, or by going beyond our spouses or those whom our right hands possess—we become wrongdoers and transgressors, ungrateful for His blessings,” this would have been sound speech.

Allah has created beautiful voices and made souls love them and delight in them. If we use this to help us listen to what we have been commanded to hear—His Book—and to beautify our voices when reciting it, as the Prophet commanded us when he said, “Adorn the Quran with your voices,” and as his Companions, such as Abū Mūsā and others, used to do in his presence, then we have used this blessing in obedience. This is good and is enjoined upon us. Thus, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb used to say to Abū Mūsā, “Abū Mūsā, remind us of our Lord.” He would then recite while they listened. When the Companions of Muhammad, peace be upon him, gathered, they would ask one of their number to recite while the rest listened.

Such was their practice of listening. It was in listening of this kind that they employed beautiful voices, making their enjoyment of them an aid to obeying and worshipping Allah by listening to His Book. They were therefore rewarded for this enjoyment, for a Muslim is rewarded for pleasure that is enjoined, just as he is rewarded for eating, drinking and marital intercourse, and just as he is rewarded for the pleasures of