I was a man to whom Allah had granted a fine voice for the Qur’an, so ‘Abd Allah would have me recite to him and would say, “May my father and mother be ransomed for you! I heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘A pleasant voice is an adornment for the Qur’an.’ ” Al-Bazzar transmitted the portion that is marfu‘, but Sa‘id ibn Zarbi is weak, as al-Haythami notes. Another corroborating report comes from Ibn ‘Abbas with the wording: “Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur’an is a good voice.” Al-Tabarani included it in al-Awsat; its chain contains Isma‘il ibn ‘Amr al-Bajali, who is weak. A similar report is found from Anas; al-Bazzar recorded it, but its isnad contains ‘Abd Allah ibn Muharrar, who is judged matruk, as stated in Majma‘ al-Zawa’id and al-Taqrib. Notice: the wording earlier ascribed to Ibn ‘Abbas, “Beautify your voices with the Qur’an,” is an instance of textual inversion (maqlub). It is how al-Hakim narrated the hadith of al-Bara’ through Ma‘mar from al-A‘mash from Talhah, and through Sufyan from Mansur from Talhah. Others who transmit from al-A‘mash and Mansur preserve the wording found in the present text, and that is the correct version. (1) This inversion is plainly erroneous both in transmission and meaning. Anyone who declared it authentic has only deepened the mistake, for it contradicts the sound, explanatory reports on the subject; indeed, it is a textbook case of a reversed hadith. The detailed discussion appears in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da‘ifah (no. 5326) and in Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib (2/176–177).