What is the ruling on the imam repeating some verses that speak of mercyor punishment?

Praise be to Allaah.
I do not know of anything wrong with that, because it encourages the
people to ponder and focus and benefit. It was narrated that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) repeated the verse
(interpretation of the meaning): "If You punish them, they are Your
slaves, and if You forgive them, verily, You, only You, are the
All-Mighty, the All-Wise" [al-Maa'idah 5:118] severaltimes.
To sum up: if it is done for a good reason and not for the purpose of
showing off, then there is nothing wrong with it, but if he thinks
that repeating it may annoy them or result in disturbing sounds such
as weeping, then it is better not to do that, so that there will not
be any distraction. But if repeating it will only lead to pondering
and proper focus on the prayer, then it is all good. End quote.
~
Majmoo' Fataawa al-Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have
mercy on him) (11/343, 344).

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What is meant by reciting Qur’aan in a melodious voice?

Praise be to Allaah.
In the saheeh Sunnah it is encouraged to recite the Qur'aan in a
melodious voice, i.e., making the voice beautiful when reciting it. It
does not mean that one should recite it as if singing, rather what is
meant is that one should make the voice beautiful when reciting. For
example the saheeh hadeeth says: "Allaah never listens to anything as
He listens to a Prophet with a beautiful voice reciting the Qur'aan
out loud" and "He is not one of us who does not recite Qur'aan in a
melodious voice when reciting it out loud." What this means is making
the voice beautiful, as stated above.
The meaning of the hadeeth quoted above refers to listening in a
manner that is befitting toAllaah and it is not like theattributes of
His creation, as is the case with all His other attributes. It may
besaid of His listening that it is like His other attributes, that it
is in a manner that is befitting to Allaah, may He be glorified and
exalted, and there is nothing like unto Him, may He be glorified and
exalted. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "There is
nothing like Him, and He isthe All-Hearer, the All-Seer" [al-Shoora
42:11].Reciting in a melodious tone means reciting out loud and making
the voicebeautiful and with proper focus, so that the heart is moved,
because the aim isto stir the heart with this Qur'aan, so that people
will fear Allaah and so thatthey will find peace and benefit from it.
An example of this is the story of Abu Moosa al-Ash'ari (may Allaah be
pleased with him), when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) passed by him as he was reciting Qur'aan,and he started
listening tohim and said: "You have been given a beautiful voice like
the beautiful voices of the family of Dawood." When Abu Moosa came,
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told him about
that and Abu Moosa said: If I had known, O Messenger of Allaah, that
you were listening, I would have made it very beautiful indeed. The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not denounce
him for that,which indicates that making the voice beautifuland being
careful in reciting is something that is required, so that both the
reader and the listenerwill focus properly and will both benefit. End
quote.

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The meaning of the hadeeth “ ‘Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad” is equivalent to one-third of the Qur’aan”

Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly: there follow some of the ahaadeeth narrated from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) which state that Soorat
al-Ikhlaas (Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad) is equivalent to one-third of the
Qur'aan.
Al-Bukhaari (6643) narrated from Abu Sa'eed that a man heard another
man reciting Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad and repeating it. The next morning
he came to the Messenger of Allaah (peaceand blessings of Allaah be
upon him) and told him about that. The man thought that it was too
little, but the Messenger ofAllaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "By the One in Whose hand is my soul, it is equivalent
to one-third of the Qur'aan."
Muslim (811) narrated from Abu'l-Dardaa' that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Is any one of you unable to
recite one-third of the Qur'aan in one night?" They said, "How could
anyone read one-third of the Qur'aan?" He said, "QulHuwa Allaahu Ahad
is equivalent to one-third of the Qur'aan."
Muslim (812) narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Gather together,
for I will recite to you one-third of the Qur'aan." So those who could
gather together gathered there, then the Prophet of Allaah(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) came out and recited Qul Huwa Allaahu
Ahad, then he went in. They said to one another, Perhaps there hasbeen
some news from heaven on account of which he has gone inside (the
house). Then the Prophet of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) came out and said, "I told you that I was going to recite to
you one-third of the Qur'aan. Verily it is equivalent to one-third of
the Qur'aan."
Secondly: The bounty of Allaah is immense, and Allaah has bestowed His
bounty upon this ummah and has made up for its short life span by
giving it more reward for simple deeds. It is strange that with some
people, insteadof this motivating them todo more good, this makes them
apathetic and lazy indoing acts of worship, or they feel that this
bounty and reward is strange and farfetched.
With regard to the meaning of the hadeeth:
There is a difference between jaza' (reward) and ijza' (what is
sufficient). What is makingthe brother confused is that he does not
see the difference between them.
Jaza' means the reward which Allaah gives for obeying Him.
Ijza' means what is sufficient and takes the place of something else.
Reciting Qul Huwa AllaahuAhad brings a reward equivalent to reciting
one-third of the Qur'aan, but it does not take the place of reading
one-third of the Qur'aan.
If a person vows – for example – to read one-third of the Qur'aan,
itis not sufficient for him to read Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad, because it
is equivalent to one-third of the Qur'aan in reward, but not in terms
of being sufficient or taking the place of reading one-third of the
Qur'aan.
The same may be said of reciting it three times. If a person recites
it three times in his prayer, that does not mean that he does not have
to recite al-Faatihah, even though he will be given the reward of
reciting the whole Qur'aan.
A similar example is the reward given by the Lawgiver to one who
offers a single prayer in the Sanctuary of Makkah, and that he will
have the reward of one hundred thousand prayers. Does anyone take this
divine bounty to means that he does not have to pray for decades
because he offered a single prayer in the Haram that is equivalent to
one hundredthousand prayers?
Rather this has to do withreward; as for what is sufficient, that is
another matter altogether.
Moreover, none of the scholars has ever said that there is no need
for us to read the Qur'aan or that Qul Huwa Allaah Ahad is sufficient
and takes the place of that. The correct scholarly view is that this
soorah has this great virtue because the Qur'aandeals with three
topics: one-third for rulings, one-third for promises andwarnings, and
one-third for the Divine names and attributes.
This soorah combines names and attributes.
This is the view of Abu'l-'Abbaas ibn Surayj, and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah stated that it was good in Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 17/103.
The Muslim cannot do without the two other issues, which are the
rulings and the promises and warnings. His knowledge cannot be
complete unless he looks at the Book of Allaah as a whole. The one who
stops at Soorat al-Ikhlaas cannotknow the other two matters.

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What is the secret of thenumber 7 and its multiples in the Holy Qur’aan and Sunnah?

What is the secret of the number 7 in the Qur'aan and hadeeth?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Undoubtedly the Qur'aan is miraculous, and there are many facets to
its miraculous nature, such aslinguistic, legislative, and so on. Its
challenge to mankind and the jinn to produce something similarto it
still stands. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Say: If the mankind and the jinn were together to produce the like of
this Qur'aan, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they
helped one another"
[al-Isra' 17:88].
Ibn al-Qayyim discussed the number 7 in his book Zaad al-Ma'aad fi
Huda Khayr al-'Ibaad (4/90) when he discussed the hadeeth in
al-Saheehayn: "The one who eats seven dates of al-'Aaliyah in the
morning will not be harmed that day by poison or witchcraft." He said:
As for specifying the number seven, it has to dowith the creation and
sahr'i commands of Allaah.Allaah created seven heavens, seven earths
and seven days, and man's creation is completed in seven stages;
Allaah has prescribed that His slaves should walk around the Ka'bah
seven times (tawaaf) and go back and forth between Safa and Marwah
seven times (saa'i), and stone the jamaraat with seven pebbles each,
and the takbeeraat of Eid are seven in the first rak'ah. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Instruct your
children to pray when they are seven." When the boy reaches the age of
seven he should be given the choice between his parents according to
one report, and according to another report, his father has more right
to him than his mother; according to a third reporthis mother has more
right to him. When he was sick, the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) ordered that water from seven skins be poured on
him. Allaah sentthe wind against the people of 'Aad for seven days.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked Allaah
to help him by sending upon his people seven (years) like the seven
years of Yoosuf – i.e., seven years of famine. Allaah likened the
reward of one who gives charity to a grain that produces seven ears,
in each of which are one hundred grains. The number of ears of grain
seen by the companion of Yoosuf (in the dream) was seven, the number
of years for which they were cultivated was seven, and (the reward for
charity) is multiplied seven hundred fold or more. Seventy thousand of
this ummah will be admitted to Paradise without being brought to
account.
Then Ibn al-Qayyim commented: Undoubtedly this number has some special
qualities that are not shared by other numbers. … Allaah knows best
about His wisdom, laws and decree in singling out this number. End
quote.
Based on this, the correct view is to refrain from indulging in
discussion of the reason why this number is singled out for mention,
except on the basis of clear, sound evidence.
.
And Allaah knows best.

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