Question: Is it permissible to read or listen to the Qur'an al-karim by a stereo or a loudspeaker?
ANSWER
No, it is not permissible. One can listen to the recitation of it from them only with the intention of learning. For example, a person who does not know the surahs recited in salat is allowed to learn them using these pieces of equipment. Except for this purpose, it is not permissible to listen to it through them in order to earn thawab. The fact that it is not permissible to do acts of worship with the sound emitted from a loudspeaker is written in the tafsir by Elmalılı Muhammad Hamdi Yazır as well (vol. 3, p. 2361).
Instruments that produce sounds for pleasure, such as drums, tambourines, cymbals, reeds, flutes, loudspeakers are all musical instruments. A musical instrument does not produce sound by itself. They have to be used so as to produce sound, i.e. with the drum you have to strike the tightly stretched skin with a stick, with the reed you have to blow, and with the loudspeaker you have to articulate sounds. The sound that comes out from them is their own production. It is not the voice of the person blowing them or speaking into them. The Qur’an al-karim heard from the loudspeaker is sounds produced by the loudspeaker itself. Hadrat Muhyiddin ibn Arabi states: A hadith-i sharif related by Hadrat Abu Hurayra says: "There will be a time when the Qur’an al-karim will be read (or recited) through mizmars [musical instruments]. No reward will be recorded for those who read or listen to it through them. Allahu ta’ala will curse them." (Musamara)
Mizmar means a musical instrument. The loudspeaker is a mizmar, too. Many hadith-i sharifs inform us of the fact that the Qur'an al-karim will be recited through instruments by which music is played, such as a stereo or a loudspeaker. Reciting or listening to the Qur'an al-karim or mawlid through a loudspeaker means changing acts of worship. That is, it is bid'at (religious innovation) and sinful. (Se'adet-i Ebediyye)
For such reasons, we must not record the Qur'an al-karim on tape, computers, or mobiles. It can be recorded only with the intention of learning to read it.
Question: I have downloaded Surat al-Yasin on my mobile phone. Does it bring thawab (reward) to play it at a grave in order for the dead to listen to it?
ANSWER
It does not bring thawab. Moreover, it is bid'at (religious innovation) and a major sin. It brings thawab to broadcast useful programs via radios, televisions, and loudspeakers. However, it is not permissible to do acts of worship [reciting the Qur'an al-karim, calling out the adhan, conducting salat] by employing the use of a loudspeaker.
The sound emitted from a loudspeaker is not considered recitation of the Qur'an al-karim, but reverberation. (Tafsir by Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazır)
Question: Is it permissible to recite the Qur'an al-karim by heart or to listen to it while driving?
ANSWER
It is good to recite it by heart while driving. As for listening to it from a radio or any other equipment, it is not permissible except when one does so with the intention of learning it. One should not busy oneself with any other activity even when listening to it with the intention of learning.
Question: It is written in Se'adet-i Ebediyye as an excerpt from Mi'zan-i Sha'rani, "The case of a person who reads the Qur'an al-karim after using foul language is similar to the case of a person who puts the Mus-haf into filth." Then the hadith-i sharif "Allahu ta'ala curses those who recite the Qur'an al-karim through mizmars" has been added. Is it impermissible to record the Qur'an al-karim on a tape on which music was recorded or to listen to the Qur'an al-karim from a loudspeaker at wedding feasts or other religious gatherings?
ANSWER
Yes, it is impermissible. If one listens to Qur'an al-karim from a CD, computer, radio, television, or loudspeaker with the sole intention of learning it, one cannot earn reward in return for listening to it even if music is never played by it. Listening to it from them in order to earn reward is bid'at (religious innovation) and a sin. Hadrat Ibn Hajar al-Makki stated: A hadith-i sharif says: "There will be a time when the Qur’an al-karim will be read (or recited) through mizmars [musical instruments]. Allahu ta’ala will curse those who read or listen to it through them." (Kaff al-Ra'a an Muharramat al-Lahw wa al-Sima', Musamara, Se'adet-i Ebediyye)
Mizmar means any type of musical instrument that produces sound. The loudspeaker and the microphone are a mizmar, too.
It is permissible to record an ayah or a surah on a blank tape with the sole intention of learning it. Except for such a reason, one must not record the Qur'an al-karim on mizmars or listen to it from them. We must be very careful in order not to become the object of the curse of Allahu ta'ala.
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