Islamic Scriptures and Voice Intonation: A Preliminary Survey in Arabic Linguistic Thought and Ḥadīth Interpretive Discourse

This is the first study that aims to explore the possibility of applying the art andscience of voice intonation in reading statements attributed to the Prophet Muhammad andto form a theoretical framework explicative of the nexuses between the two enterprises.The study ventures to assess the attention towards a range of functions played by voiceintonation such as attitudinal functions, psychological functions and other indicativefunctions as it may have appeared within the various compositional strategies of ḥadīthliterature. It also aims to examine how normal conversations, declarative sentences,questions, etc. could be identified through voice intonation and the extent to which theunderstanding of a certain ḥadīth can be affected by such an exercise. The preliminaryanalysis indicates that the right selection of tone assumes a crucial role in forming a soundḥadīth interpretation. The consequential extension of this study may involve several othersubtopics in the field such as the oral and written transmission of ḥadīth, the euphony andcacophony of narrated words and sentences in ḥadīth, and the psycho-spiritual effects ofḥadīth.