Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

When praying by ourselves, should we audibly say the main prayers aloud? (Fagr, Maghrib, Isha) or should it be silent

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Volume prayer aloud

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Israa verse 110:

110 Say: "Call upon Allah or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call upon Him (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Neither speak thy Prayer aloud nor speak it in a low tone but seek a middle course between."

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 1327 Narrated by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

The Messenger of Allah (saws) retired to the mosque. He (saws) heard them (the people) reciting the Qur'an in a loud voice. He (saws) removed the curtain and said: ‘Verily, each of you is in a private conversation with his Lord, so you should not disturb each other. and one should not raise the voice in recitation or in prayer over the voice of the other.’

Ibn 'Umar relates that the Prophet (saws) entered upon some people while they were praying and they were raising their voices in the Qur'anic recital. The Prophet (saws) said: "One who is praying is in a private conversation with his Lord so he should be mindful of whom he is conversing with. And you should not raise your voices against each other in [the recital of] the Qur'an."

Related by Ahmad.

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 1328 Narrated by Uqbah ibn Amir al-Juhani

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘One who recites the Qur'an in a loud voice is like one who gives alms openly; and one who recites the Qur'an quietly is one who gives alms secretly.’

When one is the state of prayer by themselves, neither should one say their prayers in a very loud voice as if one is screaming, nor should one say it so silently that even he himself cannot hear the words….but the best way is take the middle course between the two…and offer his prayers in a manner and tone whereby he can at least hear himself.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan