Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Say: Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever name you call upon, to Him belong the best names. And do not raise your voice in your prayer, nor lower it, but seek a way between them."
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. In His saying, the Exalted:[Al-Isra 17:110], from al-Kharj, he asks about the interpretation of this blessed verse?
Answer:
This blessed verse was revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) before the migration, when he was in Makkah. He would stand to pray at night, and the disbelievers would gather and listen to his recitation. They were delighted by his recitation; the Qur'an delighted them, so they would listen to his recitation. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) began to recite in a low voice so that they would not hear it. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded him to recite aloud, even if the disbelievers heard it. Perhaps their hearing it would be a cause for them to submit to Islam, or for the argument from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to be established against them. Yes.
May Allah reward you. In His saying, the Exalted:
Say, "Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever [name] you call - to Him belong the best names." And do not recite [too] loudly in your prayer or [too] quietly but seek between that an [intermediate] way.
قُلِ ادْعُوا اللَّهَ أَوِ ادْعُوا الرَّحْمَٰنَ أَيًّا مَّا تَدْعُوا فَلَهُ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتْ بِهَا وَابْتَغِ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ سَبِيلًاAnswer:
This blessed verse was revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) before the migration, when he was in Makkah. He would stand to pray at night, and the disbelievers would gather and listen to his recitation. They were delighted by his recitation; the Qur'an delighted them, so they would listen to his recitation. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) began to recite in a low voice so that they would not hear it. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded him to recite aloud, even if the disbelievers heard it. Perhaps their hearing it would be a cause for them to submit to Islam, or for the argument from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to be established against them. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، برنامج (فتاوى) (192) لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان بتاريخ [1440-10-24] - كبار العلماء — youtube.com (12:08)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.