Lahn (error or melody in recitation), fiqh rulings

Lahn, in lexicon, has several senses: a speech that one listener understands and another does not; an error in grammatical case, or a departure from what is right; shrewdness, as in the saying that one of you may be more eloquent in his argument; and sung or melodious sounds, plural alhan and luhun. Among grammarians it is an error in a word's inflection or in the form of a single word; among readers, a flaw in the sound that disturbs the meaning ¹.

Deliberate lahn in reciting the Qur'an is forbidden, whether or not the meaning changes, since its words are fixed and transmitted by continuous report; deliberate error plays with God's speech and mocks His signs, which the surah of Repentance (verses 65 and 66) treats as unbelief, cited without quoting the text ¹.

Most jurists allow reciting the Qur'an with melodies if the word is not changed from its form and the sound is not drawn out so that a letter becomes two or what no reader has said; it is even recommended to beautify the voice. A report of Umar says: learn the duties, the lahn and the sunnas as you learn the Qur'an ^{1 2}. Al-Nawawi reports al-Mawardi's view that melodies are forbidden if they take the words out of their form or blur the meaning, and allowed if they leave the recitation's measured sound intact ².

Deliberate lahn in the opening chapter voids the prayer. The Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that if the lahn does not change the meaning, as in a wrong vowel on the word praise, the imam's leading is disliked but the prayer valid; if it changes the meaning and he can learn, he sins and must hurry to learn, and if time runs out he prays and makes up, and may not be followed; if he cannot learn, his prayer stands ^{2 3}. The Hanafis hold that lahn that changes the meaning so that its belief becomes unbelief voids the prayer, while later Hanafis agree that an error in case endings never voids it; the Malikis, in the sounder view, hold that lahn does not void the prayer, even in the opening chapter, though a follower who could recite better sins ³.

Lahn as chanting, if without instruments and with no unlawful words, such as describing a living woman or a beardless youth, wine or abuse of a Muslim or a dhimmi, is disliked in general, since it distracts from the remembrance of God; if it has instruments or indecent speech, it is forbidden. If it contains rulings and admonitions and is free of instruments, it is allowed, and so if it is meant as evidence or to show eloquence ⁴.