Reciting Aloud in Makkah

The Companions once said among themselves that Quraysh had never heard the Qur'an recited aloud, and asked who would do it. 'Abdullah volunteered, though the others feared for him since he had no clan to protect him.

He went to the Maqam of Ibrahim in the morning, while Quraysh sat in their gatherings, and began Surat al-Rahman in a loud voice. They stood and struck him in the face, but he kept reciting as far as he could before returning with a bruised face.

His friends said they had feared exactly that. He answered that the enemies of Allah had never seemed weaker to him, and that if they wished he would do it again the next morning. They told him he had done enough.