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

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 aProphet 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.” Whatthis 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 to Allaah and it is not like the attributes of His creation, as is the case with all His other attributes. It may be said 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 is the All‑Hearer, the All‑Seer” [al-Shoora 42:11]. Reciting in a melodious tone means reciting out loud and making the voice beautiful 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 that they 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 to him 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 aboutthat 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 beautiful and being careful in reciting is something that is required, so that both the reader and the listener will focus properly and will both benefit.

2a] The meaning of the hadeeth “ ‘Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad” is equivalent to one-third of the Qur’aan”

2a]
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
stopsat Soorat al-Ikhlaas cannot know the other two matters.
Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah – may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
Rewards are of different types, just as wealth is of different types,
such as food, drink, clothing, houses, money and so on. If a man
possesses one type of wealth, to the value of one thousand dinars,
that does not mean that he can do without the other types. Rather if
he has wealth in the form of food, he also needs clothing and a place
to live, etc. Similarly if it is a type other than money, he still
needs other things. If he has nothing but money, he will need all
kinds of wealth that are usually needed. In al-Faatihah there are the
benefits of praise and du'aa' which people need, and Qul Huwa Allaahu
Ahad cannot replace it in that sense. Although its reward is very
great, he cannot benefit from it unless he also recites the Opening of
the Book (al-Faatihah) in his prayer.Hence if a person recites only
Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad in his prayer, without al-Faatihah, his prayer
is not valid. Even if he recited the whole of the Qur'aan without
al-Faatihah, his prayer would not be valid, because the al-Faatihah
refers to the basic needs that people cannot do without.
Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 17/131.
And he said:
The people need the commands, prohibitions and stories that are in
the Qur'aan, even though Tawheed is greater than that. Man needs to
know what he is enjoined to do and what he is forbidden to do; he need
to know what is enjoined upon him and the stories and promises and
rewards. These cannot be replaced by anything else, and Tawheed cannot
be replaced by these. The stories cannot take the place of the
commands and prohibitions, and the commands and prohibitions cannot
take the place of the stories. Rather everything that was sent down by
Allaah is beneficial and people need it.
If a person recites Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad, he earns a reward
equivalentto the reward of one-thirdof the Qur'aan, but that does not
mean that the reward is of the same kind as that earned by reading the
rest of the Qur'aan. Rather he may need the kind of reward that comes
from reading the commands and prohibitions and stories, so Qul Huwa
Allaahu Ahadcannot take the place of all that.
And he said:
The knowledge that is to be gained by reading the rest of the Qur'aan
cannotbe gained by reciting this soorah only. So whoever reads the
whole Qur'aan is better than one who simply recites this soorah three
times in the sense that he earns different kinds of reward, even
though the one who recites Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad earns a reward
equivalent to that reward,but it is of one type and does not include
all the types that a person needs.This is like a man who hasthree
thousand dinars andanother who has food, clothing, accommodation and
money equivalent to three thousand dinars. The latter has that which
will benefit him in all his affairs, whereas the former needs what the
latter has, even though what he has is equivalent in value. Similarly,
if he has the finest food, equivalent to three thousand dinars in
value, he still needs clothing andaccommodation, and weapons and tools
that will ward off harm from him, and the like, which cannot be done
with foodalone.
Majmoo' al-Fataawa,

And Allaah knows best.

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

2]
Answer 4156 item2
then there is no need to learn the entire quraan or to even read it
during ramadaan,etc all you haveto do is to read sura Ikhlas.I think
you made a mistake.Sura Ikhlas is the substance of 1/3 of the
quraan.it is amazing to believe that reading the sura Iklas 3 times
will give you the blessing of reading the ENTIRE quraan,then there is
no point reading the entire Quraan.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly: there follow some of the ahaadeeth narratedfrom the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) which state that Soorat
al-Ikhlaas (QulHuwa Allaahu Ahad) is equivalent to one-third ofthe
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 (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) and told him about that. The man thought that it was too
little, but the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "By the One in Whose hand is my soul, it is equivalent
to one-third ofthe 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, "Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad
isequivalent to one-third ofthe 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 willrecite 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) cameout and recited Qul Huwa Allaahu
Ahad, then he went in. They said to one another, Perhaps there has
been some news fromheaven 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 wasgoing 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 itmore reward for simple deeds. It is strange that with some
people, insteadof this motivating them to do more good, this makes
them apathetic and lazy in doing 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 making the 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 Allaahu Ahad 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, it
is not sufficient for him to read Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad, because it is
equivalent to one-third ofthe Qur'aan in reward, butnot in terms of
being sufficient or taking the place of reading one-thirdof 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 hundred thousand prayers?
Rather this has to do with reward; as for what is sufficient, that is
another matter altogether.
Moreover, none of the scholars has ever said thatthere 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'aan deals with three
topics: one-third for rulings, one-third for promises and warnings,
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 Quraan and its Sciences 3

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 similar to it
still stands. Allaah says (interpretationof 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 do with 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 theage of
seven he should begiven 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
rightto him. When he was sick,the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) ordered that water from seven skins bepoured on
him. Allaah sent the wind against the people of 'Aad for seven days.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked Allaah
tohelp him by sending uponhis 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 ofYoosuf (in the dream) wasseven, the number of
years for which they werecultivated 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: Undoubtedlythis 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.