while you were reciting, and I began listening to your recitation.” He replied: “Had I known that you were listening, I would have made my recitation truly beautiful for you.” ʿUmar used to say to him, “Remind us of our Lord,” and he would recite while they listened.

There is no doubt that when someone with a beautiful voice recites the Book of Allah, Allah has indeed placed messages and intimations in that recitation: namely, the messages and intimations contained in His Book. It is thus clear that if this statement is understood as referring to the prescribed listening which Allah and His Messenger love, it bears a sound meaning. But if it is understood in its unrestricted generality, it amounts to disbelief and misguidance.

Between that generality and this specific meaning lie various intermediate possibilities. One is to understand the statement as referring to the messages and intimations that the listener finds in his heart through the sound, even though the person speaking or producing the sound does not intend them. This happens to them frequently, and most sincere people who have attended such listening sessions refer to this meaning. For someone in this state, what he hears serves as a reminder of the truth already present in his heart.

This occurs in two ways.

The first is through sound alone, without articulated letters, such as the sounds of birds, winds, instruments, and other things. People often fit words to the rhythm of such sounds, and these sounds often stir corresponding feelings within them, such as joy or