The presenter:
She says: “we are in a school and whenever we have a lecture or celebrations, we always start with the Noble Qur’an. I was asked to open the sitting for them with the Qur’an, knowing that the reading is done with a loudspeaker. Also, there are a number of men in the occasion or the lecture, so is there a sin in this? And if we read the Qur’an, is a woman’s voice ‘awrah (nakedness)?
Shaykh Muhammad bn Salih Al-Uthaymeen:
This question includes several questions. Firstly, the opening of lectures and seminars with (recitation from) the Noble Qur’an. Is this a legitimate matter? I do not know on this matter any Sunnah (hadeeth) from the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ used to gather his companions a lot when he wanted to go for war or for important matters that involved the general Muslims. I do not know that he ﷺ used to commence these meetings with recitation of any part from the Qur’an. But if the lecture or seminar includes a specific topic, and someone wants to read some of the verses related to this topic for it to be the opening of that topic, that is okay. As for taking the opening of lectures and seminars for [reciting] verses from the Qur’an always, as if it is a legitimate Sunnah, this should not be.
The second issue in this question is that the woman reads the Qur’an with a loudspeaker, so people hear it from near and far, to the point the range of the voice of this loudspeaker ends. This is something that is not proper, because women are commanded to cover up and concealment from men, and having her voice amplifiied a loudspeaker negates that.
As for the third issue, the question is: Is a woman’s voice ‘awrah (nakedness)?
The answer is that a woman’s voice is not nakedness. Women used to come to the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ in the presence of men, and he did not forbid them ﷺ from that, and if a woman’s voice was awrah, the Prophet ﷺ would have forbade that. A woman’s voice is not awrah, but it is not permissible for a man to enjoy it. Whether that pleasure is the pleasure of sexual lust or the pleasure of enjoying and comforting oneself. He only listens to her as needed, if she is a strange woman (non-mahram) to him.
