Following mosques to seek a beautiful voice, or maintaining khushu' (humility)

The questioner : Now, this questioner says: Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

The questioner : You have engaged us, may Allah bless you. What is better: following mosques to seek a beautiful voice, or going to one who applies the Sunnah and maintains khushu' (humility) but does not excel in a beautiful voice? Is the need a compelling reason for that?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that a beautiful voice is desirable, and a person loves to listen to the Qur'an from a beautiful voice. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard Abu Musa al-Ash'ari reciting the Qur'an one night and listened to his recitation. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him in the morning: "I listened to your recitation last night, and you have been given a flute from the flutes of the family of Dawud," meaning a beautiful voice. Abu Musa said: "Did you hear that, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "Yes," In this is evidence that there is no harm in a person beautifying his voice so that people listen to him, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not rebuke Abu Musa when he said this. However, if going to this man leads to abandoning other mosques and weakening the resolve of the people of the neighborhood, then it is better for a person to remain in his mosque. Ah.
Likewise, if the mosque in his neighborhood applies the Sunnah more, then his prayer in his neighborhood mosque is also better. And this reciter whose recitation a person can listen to on a recording and become humble before it. In fact, khushu' (humility) is the presence of the heart before Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and it is not that long, excessive crying that sometimes becomes a nuisance to some people. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was the most humble of people, and when he prostrated, you could hear a humming sound from his chest like the humming of a millstone, a low sound, not the shouting heard from some people. So what I see is that there is no harm in a person going to a mosque with a beautiful voice if that is more pleasant and sweeter to his heart and more humble. But he should note that if there is one who applies the Sunnah more, he is more deserving. And also, if going to this mosque leaves the neighborhood mosques empty or weakens people's resolve when they see the congregation is small, then his presence in his mosque is better to increase the number of people, especially if he is a man of value in the mosque, for this may also deter something in the heart of the imam. Yes.
As for those whom we have heard come from about eighty kilometers or one hundred kilometers and the like, there is no doubt that this is a very wrong action, because this distance of eighty kilometers is an hour going and an hour coming, with no benefit except merely listening to this voice. This is a waste of time, and time is too noble to be wasted on such a thing. It is true that the intention of worship brings reward, without doubt, but to this extent, you waste two hours of these noble nights. In my opinion, this is a wrong action, and our discussion is about the person who is in the same town. Yes.