Reading the Holy Quran with Elocution and Attractive Tone of Voice

“Once I asked Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) about the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, ‘Read the Holy Quran in a distinct elocution (tartil ). . . .’ (73:4)
The Imam said: ‘Amir al-Mu’minin, Ali ibn Abu Talib (a.s.) has said, 'It is to pronounce clearly and distinctively. Do not rush it like poems or scatter like pebbles but shake up your hard hearts thereby instead of your rushing to finish the chapter.'"

“The Holy Quran has come down with sadness, thus, you should read it with sadness.”

“Read the Holy Quran with Arabic accent and voice. You must not read it with the accent of the sinful people who commit major sins. After me there will come people who will read the Holy Quran like singing, lamentations and in the monkish manner, which does not pass even their throats toward their hearts that are upside down and so are the hearts of those who like them.”

“Once accents and voices were mentioned before abu al- Hassan (a.s.) and he said, ‘Once Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.) was reading and someone passing by suffered a shock due to the beauty of his voice. If the Imam were to manifest such reading people could not bear its beauty.’ I (the narrator) then said, ‘The Messenger of Allah during his prayer would not raise his voice in reading the Holy Quran.’ The Imam said, ‘The Messenger of Allah would make people behind him do only what they could tolerate.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘Read the Holy Quran with clarity; it is Arabic.’”

“Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, sent revelation to Moses son of ‘Imran, peace be upon him, ‘Whenever you stand before me, do so like a humble and poor person, whenever you read the Torah, read it with sad voice.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘What my followers have received is no less than three things: Beauty, attractive voice and memorization. ’”

“The Holy Prophet has said, ‘The most beautiful thing in beauty is beautiful hair and the attractive tone of voice.’”

“The Holy Prophet has said, ‘For everything there is an ornament, the ornament of (reading) the Holy Quran is attractive tone of voice.’”

“Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, never sent a messenger who did not have attractive voice.”

“Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.) was the best among the people for his attractive voice in reading the Holy Quran. The water carrier would stop in front of his door to listen to his reading and abu Ja’far (a.s.) was the best among the people for his attractive voice.”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘It is undesirable ( makruh ) to read Chapter 112 in one breath.”’

“Once I said to abu Ja’far (a.s.) ‘When I read the Holy Quran, I raise my voice. Satan comes and says, “You are only showing this off to people and your family.’” The Imam said, ‘O abu Muhammad, read in a middle of the way reading, so your family may hear. Give turns to your voice in reading the Holy Quran; Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, loves an attractive voice in which there is fluctuations and oscillations.’”