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When Not to Recite the Qur'an / jstor-org

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The Qur'an is the very word of God, in Islamic belief, and reciting it is normally considered a highly meritorious devotion. Leading collections of Hadith include sections urging the merits of Qur'anic recitation; for example, al-Bukhari (d. 256/ 870), much of the book Fada'il al-Qur'an, and al-Tirmidhi (d. 279/892), the book Thawab al-Qur'an. A medieval handbook of Islamic law typically tells us it is acceptable to recite the Qur'an On the way and lying down'.1 In our time, European observers have been struck by Muslims quietly reciting the Qur'an on trams, among other places.2 From early on, the devout have recited the whole Qur'an weekly or more often (even daily, although ahadlth recommend three days as the minimum time for a complete recitation).3 Nevertheless, medieval handbooks of Islamic law also tell us one sometimes should not recite the Qur'an.

Places Where One May Not Recite the Qur'an

Unsurprisingly, it is commonly forbidden to recite the Qur'an at certain places. Asked whether it was permissible to recite the Qur'an at the bath, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241/ 855) said no and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh (d. 238/853?) agreed.4 There is a hadith forbidding one to conduct the ritual prayer, hence among other things to recite the Qur'an, in seven places: a refuse heap, a slaughterhouse, a cemetery, a bath, a thoroughfare, a place where camels are stood, and the top of the Ka'ba.5 A Twelver Shii variant mentions ten places, including most of the above.6 In general, however, there appears to be more anxiety to keep written copies of the Qur'an out of impure environments than to keep people from reciting the Qur'an there. Some jurisprudents objected to reciting the Qur'an at the circumambulation of the Ka'ba.7 'Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211/827) quotes a Meccan Follower (tabi') as recommending it equally with recollecting God (dhikr Allah).8 Ibn Abi Shayba (d. 235/849) quotes five Companions and Followers against it, Basran and Hijazi, then two Meccan Followers for (both of whom have also been quoted against).9 As for the schools of law, Abu Hanifa (d. 150/767) is quoted as saying, 'It is not meet for a man to recite the Qur'an in his circumambulation. There is no harm in recollecting God.'10 Al-Shaybani (189/804-5) has a weaker objection: 'It is discouraged to raise one's voice in reciting the Qur'an in it [circumambulation], but there is no harm in reciting to oneself.'11 There continued to be disagreement within the Hanafi school. For example, Ibn al-Humam (d. 861/1457) concludes that it is better to follow the example of the Prophet, who was not known to have recited the Qur'an at the circumambulation.12 By contrast, al-Qari3 al-Harawi (d. 1014/1605) supposes that the Prophet did not recite the Qur'an in circumambulation not because it was forbidden, rather to avoid creating the impression that it was required. Considering that Hanafi law permits circumambulation in a state of ritual impurity, there should be no objection to reciting the Qur'an to oneself.13

Malik (d. 179/795) is quoted against it as disagreeing with the best practice ('amal al nas), but then adds that there is no harm in it so long as one recites neither loudly nor long.14 Ahmad ibn Hanbal is quoted both ways, for and against, but the Hanbali school generally encourages recitation of the Qur'an at the circumambulation. Two authorities are quoted as explaining that the danger of recitation is that it might bother nearby persons performing the ritual prayer.15 Al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820) says, have heard that Mujahid used to recite the Qur'an at the circumambulation' (naming the Meccan Follower whom Ibn Abi Shayba cites on both sides), like recitation [of the Qur'an] in the circumambulation', and consider it recommended to recite [the Qur'an] in the circumambulation, the Qur'an being the best that a man may say'.16 The Shafi'i school after him likewise approved.17 A Twelver Hadith report positively recommends recitation over recollection as one circumambulates, and recitation is encouraged as the position of the school.18

Altogether, this seems to be an area where advocates of recitation prevailed over time, except perhaps in the Hanafi school. Neither favourable nor unfavourable opinion is closely associated with any particular geographical centre. On the face of it, some reacted to recitation at the circumambulation as an unusual practice with weaker precedents than other prayers and praises, while others thought it made good sense.

Reciting the Qur'an at Grave Sites

Leor Hale vi has recently drawn attention to disapproval of prayer by grave sites.19 His concern is not with ritual impurity but with theological issues, especially predestination; that is, he fears that prayer by graves means either regretting God's decree or attempting to change it. In the Muwatta', Malik relates of Nafi' (d. 169/785-6?) that the Companion 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar (d. 73/693) did not recite from the Qur'an in the course of the funeral prayer.20 It is said to be the position of Malik, Abu Hanifa, Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778?), al-Awza'i (d. 157/773-4?) and all Twelver Shi'i jurisprudents that one should not recite from the Qur'an in the course of the funeral prayer, contra al-Shafi'i, Ahmad and Ishaq, who called for reciting the Fatiha in the course of the first rak'a.21 Malik is also said to have rejected recitation of the Qur'an at grave sites as disagreeing with the best practice ('amal al-nas).22 But an Andalusian Maliki jurisprudent of the next century, Ibn Habib (d. 238/853), asserted that there was no harm in reciting Surat Ya Sin (Q. 36) at the grave site and that Malik's prohibition was just meant to prevent recitation from being taken as a sunna (i.e., highly recommended).23

In the Umm, al-Shafi'i declares that there is no harm in visiting graves, calling merely for restrained language at the grave: not wailing but praying for forgiveness of the dead one and recollecting the Afterlife.24 Later Shafi'i writers outright encourage visiting graves.25 Similarly, al-'Ayni (855/1451), summarising Hanafi law, declares that there is no harm in reciting the Qur'an at tombs, although he considers it discouraged to recite selected chapters a thousand times, to gather children and saints for the purpose, and to adopt other evident folk practices.26

As for Hanbali opinion, two of our extant masa0il collections quote Ahmad as curtly forbidding it.27 But already in the generation after his death, there were contradictory reports of Ahmad's opinion. Some accounted for them by relating a story of the moment when Ahmad changed his mind. After he had told a blind man not to recite the Qur'an at a tomb, someone informed him that the Companion Ibn 'Umar had requested that passages of the Qur'an be recited when he was buried. Ahmad responded, take it back: tell the man to recite'.28 Third and fourth versions of Ahmad's position were that he accepted recitation at the time of burial but not afterwards and that he considered it an outright bid'a ('innovation') on the ground that it was not known to have been done by the Prophet or his Companions.29 Later Hanbali law is comparatively friendly toward reciting the Qur'an at grave sites: by the Late Middle Ages, a majority of the school is said to have thought it unobjectionable, at least for men.30 There was uncertainty as to whether women might visit graves.31 Altogether, disapproval of reciting the Qur'an by graves seems to be a fairly isolated Maliki tradition, and Leor Halevi's sketch of a protracted struggle between popular calls for prayer by graves and learned disapproval seems to be exaggerated. However, disapproval may have become more widespread today.32

Reciting the Qur'an at the Bowing and Prostration

Another more surprising controversy has to do with whether one may recite the Qur'an at all points in the ritual prayer. To start with Prophetic Hadith, we have many reports by which 'Ali quotes the Prophet as forbidding him to recite the Qur'an in the course of bowing (al-ruku') or in the course of both bowing and prostrating himself (al-sujud); alternatively, as forbidding people in general to do these things. Less often, Ibn 'Abbas is quoted to the same effect, sometimes as transmitting the prohibition from 'Ali He is also quoted as transmitting from the Prophet, have been forbidden to recite in bowing or prostration'.33 I have come across no hadith from the Prophet in favour of reciting the Qur'an at either the bowing or the prostration.

To the contrary, we also have reports of various early exemplars of piety who did recite from the Qur'an at the bowing and prostration. Tamim al-Dari (d. 40/660-1?) recited the Qur'an standing, bowing and prostrating himself. Al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym (d. 63/682-3?) is said to have asked, 'Is any of you unable to recite a third of the Qur'an while he is bowing or prostrate? It is qui huwa'llahu ahadun Allahu'l-samad [Q. 112].'35 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (d. 73/693) recited Q. 2-5 in one bowing before raising his head.36 A variant account specifies that he recited Surat al-Baqara (Q. 2) while he was bowing, then lifted his head to recite Al 'Imran (Q. 3), then prostrated himself to recite al-Nisa' (Q. 4), then raised his head at last to recite al-Ma'ida (Q. 5).37 'Ata', a prominent Meccan jurisprudent (d. 114/732-3?), reported that the earlier Meccan preacher 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr (d. bef. 74/693-4) had used to recite in the bowing and prostration.38 He himself is quoted as discouraging recitation in the bowing and prostration of required prayers but allowing it in supererogatory.

Other early exemplars of piety forbade one to recite from the Qur'an at the bowing and prostration. 'Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Ziyad (d. 150/767-8) is quoted as saying, recited al-Sajda [Q. 32] while I was prostrate. I asked Sa'id ibn Jubayr [d. 95/713? 14]. He said, "It discharges your duty so long as you have not recited while prostrate".'40 'Uthman ibn al-Aswad (d. 150/767-8?) quoted the earlier Meccan Qur'an commentator Mujahid (d. 104/722-3?), 'There is no recitation in the bowing, nor in the prostration. They were made only for praise (tasblh).'41 As for the schools of law, Ibn Rushd (d. 595/1198) reports simply that the whole lot (al-jumhar) agree that one may not recite the Qur'an in either bowing or prostration. He mentions that some Followers did accept recitation at these points, but the only authority he names is al-Bukhari, who doubted whether there was any sound Hadith report against.42 Al-Bukhari does not mention any ahadith against recitation in al-Jami' al-musnad al-sahih, but he names five versions (all Medinese, all but one through 'Abd Allah ibn Hunayn) in one of his minor works.43 Al-Bukhari observes that they all forbid qira'at al-Qur'an, hence implying that recitation and the thing recited are separate things. This is an argument about theology rather than law: al-Bukhari's larger point is that one may say one's recitation is created without necessarily implying that the Qur'an itself is created.44

When one inspects more detailed accounts than that of Ibn Rushd, it appears that the various schools of law take a range of positions. At the emphatic end, the Maliki school expressly forbids one to recite the Qur'an at the bowing and prostration.45 Ibn Hazm takes the same position, although as usual it is impossible to say whether this was likewise the position of the Zahiri school before him.46 Less emphatically, al Shafi'i considers it discouraged to recite the Qur'an either at the bowing or prostration: 'They are a place for dhikr, not qira'a. 47 He then cites a Hadith report from Ibn Mas'ud by which the Prophet describes what should be said at the bowing and prostration. Discouragement seems to have become the majority position in the Shafi'i school, although a minority is said to have gone so far as to consider one's prayer nullified if one recited in the bowing and prostration anything more than the Fatiha.49

To my knowledge, no early Hanbali text pronounces on the issue. Ibn Qudama (d. 620/1223) states that it is discouraged to recite in the course of bowing and prostrating oneself. But this looks like one of many importations by him of Shafi'i opinions, for he goes on to cite the Hadith report from 'Ali, have been forbidden ...' without mentioning any earlier Hanbali authorities.50 Unlike some other importations of his, this one apparently did not take, for the question is ignored in comprehensive reviews of Hanbali doctrine from the next two centuries.51 A leading Twelver authority, Shaykh al-Ta'ifa al-Tusi (d. 459-60/1066-7), likewise pronounces it discouraged to recite the Qur'an at the bowing and prostration, to which effect he quotes 'Ali.52 However, an opinion ascribed to Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765) implicitly forbids reciting the Qur'an at the bowing but allows it at the prostration.53 So far, I have not discovered a handbook from the Hanbali school that expressly pronounces on the question. That is, handbooks of this school regularly prescribe praises at the bowing (tasblh in particular) and other praises and prayers (du'a') at the prostration but do not forbid or even discourage actual recitation of the Qur'an.54 They seem to define the permissive end of the spectrum. Alternatively, however, one might suppose that recitation at bowing and prostration became rare enough that Hanbali and Hanafi writers ignored it.

To explain the prohibition of recitation at the bowing and prostration, Thomas Hoffmann has pointed to religious psychology. The postures of bowing and prostration are precisely those, of the various postures of the ritual prayer, most likely to reinforce a feeling of abject subjugation (ta'abbud)\ therefore, they must have seemed least appropriate to reciting the word of God. This seems probable. I have not come across any explanation, psychological or otherwise, from an actual medieval Muslim jurisprudent, rather just citations of authority - the Prophet or a major Companion said not to recite at these points. However, there is some evidence for the opposite, mainly a preference for reciting the Qur'an over praying while standing: Ibn Abu Shayba presents six reports in a row of Companions and Followers who disapproved of prayer (du'a') while standing, then a Companion and two Followers who did pray as they stood.55 Presumably, the majority thought more humble positions were appropriate to supplication, while standing tall was appropriate to reciting the Qur'an.56

There is also a geographical connection to explain. Followers quoted for or against recitation seem to be concentrated in two places: Kufans and Meccans for it, a Kufan and a Meccan against. A striking feature of Prophetic ahadith against recitation is how Medinese dominate at the upper ends of their asanid; for example, all fifteen presented by Muslim:57 Muslim, Sahih, no. 480

< Yahya ibn Yahya < Malik < Nafi' (Medinese, d. 117/735-6?);

< 'Isa ibn Hammad al-Misri < al-Layth < Yazid ibn Abu Habib (Egyptian, d. 128/745-6);

< Harun ibn 'Abd Allah < Ibn Abu Fudayk < al-Dahhak ibn 'Uthman (Medinese, d. 153/770);

< al-Muqaddami < Yahya (i.e., al-Qattan) < Ibn 'Ajlan (Muhammad, Medinese, d. 148/765-6)

< Harun ibn Sa'id al-Ayli < Ibn Wahb < Usama ibn Zayd (Medinese, d. 153/770);

< Yahya ibn Abi Ayyub and Qutayba ibn Hujr < Isma'il (i.e., ibn Ja'far) < Muhammad (i.e., Ibn 'Amr; Medinese, d. 154/770-1?)

< Hannad ibn al-Sari < 'Abda < Muhammad ibn Ishaq (Medinese, then Iraqi, d. 150/767-8?);

all of these < Ibrahim ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Hunayn (Medinese, d. after 100/718-19) < his father < 'Ali except for al-Dahhak and Ibn 'Ajlan, who added Ibn 'Abbas before 'Ali. Unlike al-Zuhri (Medinese, d. 125/742-3?), Zayd ibn Aslam (Medinese, d. 136/753-4), al-Walid ibn Kathir (Medinese, then Kufan, d. 151/768-9), and Dawud ibn Qays (Medinese, d. middle third of the second century/third quarter of the eighth century), they mentioned only that he was forbidden to recite during the bowing, not prostration.

(Like Muslim, al-Nasa'i also was impressed by discrepanies among Hadith reports on this topic.58) I have come across just one exception that seems entirely Kufan:

< Abu 'l-Ahwas (Sallam ibn Sulaym, Kufan, d. 179/795-6) < Abu Ishaq (al-Sabi'i, Kufan, d. 129/737-8?) < al-Harith(al-A'war, Kufan, d. 65/684-5?) < 'Ali:'Do not recite the Qur'an while you are bowing or prostrating yourself.'59

The obvious explanation is that recitation at the bowing and prostration was controversial in Kufa and Mecca, hence contradictory traditions circulated there, whereas the Medinese school was unanimously opposed. Scholars inclined to trust Hadith will suppose that the Prophet's prohibition was well known in Medina but for some reason took a long time to spread and be recognised in other centres, Mecca and Kufa in particular. Scholars inclined to be sceptical of Hadith will suppose that there was controversy among Muslim jurisprudents in the second/eighth century, with the Medinese position then supported by retrojected prohibitions from the Prophet.

As for an historical explanation, disapproval of reciting the Qur'an at points in the ritual prayer seems to fit a pattern of Medinese and Prophet-based disapproval of renunciant practice. I cannot now conclusively demonstrate any such pattern, but I have certainly found evidence of disapproval in early Maliki works and expect future research to turn up more. For example, Malik is quoted against group prayer at entering or leaving the mosque, against raising the hands in prayer, against reciting the Qur'an in the mosque, and against recitation of the Qur'an by a group in unison.60 Malik's disapproval of reciting the Qur'an in circumambulating the Ka'ba is probably another example, likewise of reciting the Qur'an at points in the ritual prayer. Qur'anic recitation was so essential to second/eighth-century Islamic renunciant practice that qari' ('reciter') and zahid ('renunciant') were practically synonymous. In second/eighth-century Medina, we seem to have an attempt to restrict Qur'anic recitation, so that at least the public ritual expression of Islam should be in the power of every man, without fear of being outshown by heroic specialists.

When Not to Recite the Qur'an // www-jstor-org