The Command to be Moderate in Walking

﴿ وَٱقۡصِدۡ فِى مَشۡيِكَ ﴾

(And be moderate in your walking,) means, walk in a moderate manner, neither slow and lazy nor excessively fast, but be moderate, somewhere in between these two extremes.

﴿ وَٱغۡضُضۡ مِن صَوۡتِكَ‌ۚ ﴾

(and lower your voice.) means, do not exaggerate in your speaking and do not raise your voice unnecessarily. Allah says:

﴿ إِنَّ أَنكَرَ ٱلۡأَصۡوَٲتِ لَصَوۡتُ ٱلۡحَمِيرِ ﴾

(Verily, the harshest of all voices is the braying of the asses.) Mujahid and others said, "The most ugly of voices is the voice of the donkey, i.e., when a person raises his voice, the resulting noise is like the voice of a donkey in its loudness. Moreover this is hateful to Allah. Likening a loud voice to that of a donkey implies that it is forbidden and extremely blameworthy, because the Messenger of Allah said:

« لَيْسَ لَنَا مَثَلُ السُّوءِ، الْعَائِدُ فِي هِبَتِهِ كَالْكَلْبِ يَقِيءُ ثُمَّ يَعُودُ فِي قَيْئِه »

(It is not befitting us to be an evil parable. The person who takes back his gift, he is like a dog that vomits and then goes back to his vomit.)