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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Is it permissible to harm others with good deeds, such as reciting the Qur'an loudly or doing dhikr after congregational prayer?

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The Shaykh : It is not permissible to harm a Muslim with an act of obedience. An example of this is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) when he (peace and blessings be upon him) was in his chamber, which, as you know, was near his mosque. He heard loud voices in the mosque reciting the Qur'an, so he (may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace) said:
O people, each of you is conversing with his Lord, so let not some of you raise his voice over others in recitation, thereby harming the believers. Let not some of you raise his voice over others in recitation, thereby harming the believers. يا أيها الناس كلكم يناجي ربه فلا يجهر بعضكم على بعض بالقراءة فتؤذوا المؤمنين لا يجهر بعضكم على بعض بالقراءة فتؤذوا المؤمنين
Meaning: It is not permissible to raise one's voice in dhikr because it causes harm to some of the worshippers. This harm occurs in most mosques today, especially in those where the people, following their imam, are among the furthest from knowing the Sunnah. In these mosques, great harm is caused by raising the voice after the imam's taslim with istighfar or the ten takbirs, for example after the Fajr prayer and after the Maghrib prayer, where they raise their voices with the takbir ten times. This ten-time takbir after the Maghrib and Fajr prayers is a Sunnah and has great virtue; but it is to be done quietly, softly, and secretly, not loudly; because loudness causes harm to some of the worshippers. How so? It often happens that some of the worshippers are masbuq (late) by a rak'ah or more, depending on the prayer. So when the people who finished with the imam raise their voices in dhikr, it causes confusion for the one who stands up to make up what he missed of the prayer. In fact, the harm can be even greater, because the one who finished with the imam has a portion of dhikr he wants to perform between himself and his Lord; he does not want to disturb others. So he recites his portions and dhikr secretly. But those people raise their voices in dhikr and disturb him, so harm befalls such a person. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as you just heard:
do not say the Qur'an out loud so that others hear it لا يجهر بعضكم على بعض بالقراءة فتؤذوا المؤمنين
Muwatta Malik 3:30
. From this hadith, which contains an explicit prohibition against harming the believers, even by raising the voice in dhikr, we know that raising the voice in dhikr is, at its best, permissible in some occasions. But if this permissible act leads to any harm to any Muslim, it is obligatory to avoid it, because of this explicit hadith:
Each of you is conversing with his Lord, so let not some of you raise his voice over others in recitation. كلكم يناجي ربه فلا يجهر بعضكم على بعض بالقراءة
As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 14:26
. Even those who participate together in the ten takbirs, for example, cause harm to one another. This is observed when one reflects on how the takbir proceeds from the congregation in one voice; one person's voice cuts off and he cannot complete the recitation of the full takbir, so he becomes confused and cannot complete it in his heart because he has to catch up with the group's voice. Thus, he himself, who was with them and then cut off from them, is harmed by this loudness. But if he leaves it and is to himself, he recites with deliberation and calm, secretly between himself and his Lord. And Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), as in the Noble Qur'an,
He knows the secret and what is [even] more hidden. يعلم السر وأخفى
[Taha 20:7]
. From this hadith, a very great warning came in some books of the jurist scholars. They said: If there is a man sleeping in the mosque, a tired man, a worker, a traveler, a stranger, it is not permissible to raise the voice in dhikr so as not to disturb this sleeping man while he is sleeping and not remembering Allah. What then if a man is remembering Allah, reciting from the Book of Allah, and people raise their voices in dhikr? In that case, this prohibited thing occurs, which you heard from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), namely his saying:
O people, each of you is conversing with his Lord, so let not some of you raise his voice over others in recitation, thereby harming the believers. يا أيها الناس كلكم يناجي ربه فلا يجهر بعضكم على بعض بالقراءة فتؤذوا المؤمنين
. So harming the believers is not permissible, even if there is Qur'anic recitation. What then about stepping over necks, whether on Friday as we mentioned, or in public gatherings? This is the answer to the question asked previously.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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