[Explanation]
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) says in his book, Riyad al-Salihin, under the etiquette of recitation, “Chapter: The recommendation to beautify one’s voice when reciting, to invite a pleasant-voiced person to recite, and to listen to him.” This passage involves two issues:
- The first is the recommendation to beautify one’s voice in the recitation of the Qur’an. Beautification itself is of two kinds:
a) Perfecting the delivery, meaning that the reciter pronounces every letter clearly and gives it its proper point of articulation, so that the Qur’an is heard distinctly and plainly. Nothing of the letters is hidden or dropped, lest anything of what Allah revealed to His Messenger ﷺ be diminished.
b) Enhancing the melody, that is, adorning the tone of one’s voice. Both kinds are praiseworthy, yet regarding the first—perfecting delivery—one must not be excessive or extreme. You may see someone reciting who affects an artificial style: his face reddens, he strains, and he overdoes the ghunnah (nasalization), the idgham (assimilation), and similar devices. Such forced articulation is mere affectation. Let the recitation be natural, with the letters and vowels made clear; that is what is required. Exaggeration and excess, however, are not.
From this we understand that studying tajwid (the technical rules of recitation) is not obligatory in itself, for it pertains to beautifying the voice without excess or exaggeration. Rather, it is among the recommended means by which a person may attain