that this ruling applies exclusively to the audible prayers (al-jahriyya), in which the imam recites aloud; consequently the followers must reflect on the recitation and therefore are required to keep silent. In the silent prayers (al-sirriyya) the imam recites only in a low voice that does not reach the ears of the congregation. Since reflection is then impossible—even if they remain quiet—there is no sound basis for obligating them to keep silent in such prayers. Asserting that the obligation of silence is a purely devotional command (taʿabbudi) that defies rational explanation itself demands rational proof. Indeed, many of our scholars and others have taken the cited verse in its unrestricted sense, without confining it to the occasions reported in the texts, and on that basis concluded that listening to the Qur’an in general—even outside the prayer—is a personal or communal duty. If the verse were in fact prescribing two separate duties—listening during audible recitation and silence during silent recitation—it would logically follow that anyone in whose presence the Qur’an is recited inaudibly outside the prayer would have to keep silent, whether as a collective or individual obligation; this contradicts the unanimous consensus. The Most High commanded listening after He had already commanded silence because someone might claim, “I can recite and listen at the same time.” Some self-styled ascetics act this way during the Friday sermon: you see them counting their prayer-beads in dhikr, and if questioned they respond, “We are listening and reciting!” Yet “Allah has not placed two hearts within one man’s breast” (Q 33:4). It was therefore wise that the command to listen was joined to the command to remain silent. This is what appears to me, and Allah knows best. (1) Reported by Ibn Abi Shayba, Musannaf, 1/97/1 (= 1/331/3799); Abu Dawud, 1/99; al-Nasa’i, 1/146; Ibn Majah, 1/279; al-Tahawi, 1/128; al-Daraqutni, 124; and Ahmad, 2/420, through the chain of Abu Khalid Sulayman ibn Hayyan from Muhammad