Ran across this from Andrew Hall’s Laughing In Purgatory website, where he occasionally reprints fatwas from Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America. Below is the fatwa, Recording Qu’ran With a Woman’s Voice.
Question:
May the peace, mercy and blessing of Allah be upon you.
To proceed:We have a publishing and distribution company operating in the United States of America and we would like to put out Qur`an tapes recited by one of the sisters. Would this be permissible in Shari`ah and what are the rules that must be followed so as not to fall into anything that would anger Allah and His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)? Please let us know and may Allah reward you well.
Answer:
All praise is for Allah, and may peace and blessing be upon the Messenger of Allah.
To proceed:The perfect Divine Law (Shari`ah) has not ordained for women to make the call to prayer (adhan) or to announce the start of the prayer (iqamah) so that her voice does not come within hearing range of men, especially because the adhan involves raising the voice, and making it sound nice. Likewise, she does not say “Ameen”, recite Qur`an, or say “Allahu Akbar” out loud in the prayer, nor does she raise her voice with the talbiya, which is to say, “Labbayk Allahumma labbayk,” on her way to the Hajj in the presence of non-mahram men, in order to avoid temptation and to preserve a woman`s sense of modesty, for maintaining chastity is one of the prime objectives of the pure Shari`ah. On that basis, it appears that recording the voice of a woman reciting Qur`an in a pleasant, melodious way and distributing it amongst the people is one of the things that I would not like and there has been no permission for it due to the fact that it contradicts what has already been mentioned. That is especially true if there would be a considerable number of copies issued. All praise be to Allah, there are plenty of men whose recitations are beautiful and whose voices are moving; and success is from Allah.