Transliteration:( Wa qaalal lazeena kafaroo laa tasma'oo lihaazal Quraani walghaw feehi la'allakum taghliboon )
And the infidels say [68]: "Listen not to this Qur’an and make absurd [69] noise therein. Perhaps you may get the upper hand [70]."
The leaders of the disbelievers advised their followers to avoid listening to the recitation of the Holy Qur’an and to prevent others from listening as well.
They would shout, insult, or play musical instruments during Qur’anic recitation to drown out its voice.
Their goal was to stop its message from reaching the hearts of people, because even they recognized the powerful influence of the Qur’an.
This illustrates their fear that if people truly heard and reflected on the message, they might embrace Islam—so their strategy was to distract, disrupt, and ridicule.
From this verse, scholars deduce that creating a disturbance during the recitation of the Qur’an—whether through noise, music, or shouting—is a practice of the polytheists, and is strictly forbidden.
Examples include:
Playing drums or music near a mosque during prayer.
Making noise during a Qur’anic khutbah (sermon).
Loud, simultaneous recitation that causes distraction rather than devotion.
At the time of the Qur’an’s recitation, silence, focus, and respect are obligatory.
The aim of this disruption was to force the Prophet ﷺ to stop or delay the recitation of the Qur’an.
They thought that by causing commotion, they might gain the upper hand—but in reality, their efforts only increased the Qur’an’s grandeur and their own humiliation.
This verse serves as a warning: Those who seek to silence the truth will never succeed, and their tactics only expose their fear and arrogance.
The tafsir of Surah Fussilat verse 26 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Fussilat ayat 25 which provides the complete commentary from verse 25 through 29.
(41:26) The deniers of the Truth say: “Do not give ear to the Qur’an and cause interruption when it is recited; thus perhaps you will gain the upper hand.”[30]
30. This was one of those plans of the disbelievers of Makkah with which they wanted to frustrate the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) mission of preaching his message. They knew well haw impressive was the Quran, how high was the character of the man presenting it, and how effective and inspiring the style of his preaching. They knew that anyone who heard such matchless discourses in such an attractive style from such a noble person could not help being hued and charmed. Therefore, they planned that they should neither hear it themselves nor let anyone else hear it; whenever Muhammad (peace be upon him) should start reciting it, they should create noise, clap hands, pass taunting remarks and raise all sorts of objections and such a hue and cry as to subdue his voice. By this plan they hoped they would be able to defeat the Prophet of Allah.
[1391]- Other meanings include "speak improperly" and/or "make a clamor." The purpose of this was to prevent the hearing or understanding of the Qur’ān.
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