Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- Muslims are to avoid doing anything in the mosque that may interrupt the worshipers’ devotion and submission to Almighty Allah.
2- It is not permissible to raise one’s voice in such a way that it disturbs others’ prayers. Doing so does not befit the atmosphere of tranquility that should be in Almighty Allah’s houses.
With regard to your question, Sheikh Sayyed Sabiq states in his well-known book Fiqh Us-Sunnah:
It is forbidden to raise one’s voice in such a way that it disturbs others’ prayers, even if it is done while reciting the Qur’an. Teaching or imparting knowledge (to others) is an exception from this prohibition.
Ibn `Umar relates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) entered upon some people while they were praying and they were raising their voices in the Qur’anic recital. The Prophet said, “One who is praying is in a private conversation with his Lord so he should be mindful of whom he is conversing with. And you should not raise your voices against each other in [the recital of] the Qur’an.” (Ahmad)
Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri reports that the Prophet was making seclusion (i`tikaf) in the mosque and he heard the people reciting aloud. He removed the covering and said, “Verily, each of you is in a private conversation with his Lord so you should not disturb each other. And you are not to raise your voices against each other in the recitation.” (Abu Dawud, An-Nasa’i, Al-Bayhaqi, and Al-Hakim)
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.