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Fatwa CenterAllaah listens to His slaves as they recite the Quran
Question
If the thing that Allaah listens most to is the Quranic recitation of a prophet in a beautiful tone, is the best way to get Allaah to listen to us then to recite Quran?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The hadeeth which you referred to in the question is a saheeh (sound) hadeeth, as it was narrated by Abu Hurayrah 
that the Prophet said, “Allaah does not listen to anything (more approvingly) as He listens to a Prophet reciting the Quran aloud in a nice voice.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The interpreters of the hadeeth said that ‘in a nice voice’ means reciting the Quran in a beautiful voice, and some of them said that ‘it means to recite the Quran aloud.’
Ibn Katheer 
said in his book Fadhaa’il Al-Quran:
“Its meaning is that Allaah does not listen to anything (more approvingly) as He listens to a Prophet reciting the Quran aloud in a nice and beautiful voice. This is because the recitation of the Prophets combines the beauty of the voice - given the perfection of their creation - and their complete fear of Allaah; and this constitutes the ultimate recitation. Allaah hears the voices of all His slaves, regardless of whether they are pious or dissolute. ‘Aa’ishah 
said, ‘Praise be to Allaah, Who hears all the voices', but His listening to His believing slaves when they recite the Quran is greater; as Allaah says (what means): {And [O Muhammad] you are not [engaged] in any matter or recite any of the Quran and you [people] do not do any deed except that We are witness over you when you are involved in it. And not absent from your Lord is any [part] of an atom's weight within the earth or within the heaven or [anything] smaller than that or greater but that it is in a clear register.} [Quran 10:61] Hence, Allaah listening to the recitation of His Prophets is greater, as evidenced by this great hadeeth.”
Therefore, reciting the Quran in a nice and beautiful voice is something that is encouraged by Allaah, and He informed us that He listens to the one who recites the Quran in a nice and beautiful voice, as mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim in Zaad al-Ma’aad.
Also, Fat-h al-Baari by Ibn Rajab, from the Hanbali School, when speaking about the Qudsi hadeeth, reads, “I divided the prayer between Me and My Servant.” And about saying aameen after reciting Soorah Al-Faatihah, it reads, “This hadeeth indicates that Allaah listens to the recitation of the praying person as he is conversing with Him.”
Also, the Fiqh Encyclopedia, quoting At-Tabari, reads, “The reciter is conversing with his Lord with His speech, and Allaah loves the reciter who recites in a nice voice, and He listens to him; so Allaah ordered the reciter of the Quran to seek refuge with Allaah to expel the devil when Allaah listens to him.”
Thus, the one who wants that Allaah listens to him should recite His Words [i.e. the Quran] correctly and should do so in a nice and beautiful voice.
The Quran is the best of speech, and it is the best kind of mention of Allaah; it gathers all kinds of knowledge, the breasts are comforted by it, the hearts are assured by it, and it clarifies what is lawful and what is forbidden; the Prophet said, “The best speech after the Quran is: Subhaan Allaah, Al-Hamdu Lillaah, Laa Ilaaha illa Allaah, and Allaahu Akbar.” [Ahmad]
The chain of narrators of this hadeeth is saheeh, as stated by Al-Arna’oot when classifying the ahadaath of Al-Musnad.
Allaah knows best.
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