Introducing Improvements to the Existing Recitations

The questioner : A recitation performed quietly, and I was reciting before them for a year in their presence, and so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited, or the one whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught to recite.

The Shaykh : It is a mistake and is not correct at all. Every group has introduced improvements, and therefore, even those who recite with tajwid (rules of Qur'anic recitation) now differ; they are not all on the same wavelength.

The questioner : He must apply it.

The Shaykh : Yes, okay, what is the distance between me and him now?

The questioner : And regarding the hadith.

The Shaykh : No, no, it is not just the voice, no.

The questioner : For example, are the characteristics of the letters transmitted? If they have not changed from the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to today? And do you think, for example, that the Companions recited, and when there was qalqalah (articulation of certain letters), they would make the letter qalqalah until it seemed as if the person was tired and it became difficult?

The Shaykh : Sometimes qalqalah leads to a difference in the wording that changes the meaning, and other things like that, and what exists, and so on. No, no, it is not obligatory. It is sufficient to lengthen it so that it is known that there is a letter between the two letters, that is all. This is a means of acquisition, nothing more. And what did he say? Because he deleted the hamzah (glottal stop). If he had kept the hamzah and not lengthened it, it would not have been criticized. But when he deleted the hamzah, it was criticized, without doubt, because he reduced a letter from the Qur'an.