Recitation in Islam

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All my life I’ve attended a catholic church. During church, I have been used to hearing the English language in a way to express the word of the Lord. Except, it usually stops there. For one hour every Sunday, I listen to a priest talk about God and the lessons we can adopt into our own lives. The music, at least in my church, is generally reserved and not too exciting. The performance of language outside of the church seems to stop when we walk out that door. We take the lesson and think about it. Some may apply it to their lives and some may forget about it when they get back home. 

However, Islam has a beautiful relationship with the performance of language. I see their relationship with their spiritual journey with hearing as one of a kind. They truly listen to musical techniques and aesthetics with the Arabic language. Anne Rasmussen wrote in her book, Rethinking Women, Music, and Islam, that music is almost part of “almost all rituals, programs, competitions, and festivals.” (Rasmussen 26) 
Something unique to me is that women and men are recognized throughout the Muslim world for their skills as reciters. Rasmussen describes it as a “continuous practice that enables a reciter to, at the perfect moment of divine inspiration, unite individual creativity, technical competence, and an informed (Arab) aesthetic sensibility, thereby melodically beautifying the word of God.” (Rasmussen 119) 



They see recitation as a true art form and a way to acquire God’s blessing. They have to hear the music and the Qu’ran and take it to heart and evoke a melodic performance with different pitches, gestures, and phrases. The performance of recitation isn’t just a performance. As someone who used to be a musician, I understand that some musical pieces evoke strong emotions while playing it and while listening to it. It must be much more emotional to perform and hear it when it is such a big part of your religion. I think it is such a beautiful thing and I wish my religion did something similar to this and allowed yourself to get lost in hearing the beauty of prayers. 




*If video is not playing, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVoPhV465c 

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausApril 15, 2020 at 4:45 AM

    We don't always think of language as a mode of "communion" in the way many Muslims do. We tend to take language as merely conveyers of content, information, rather than a way of of verbally "touching" one another. Which is not to say that we don't have those kinds of experiences; we just don't usually connect them with religion, as in your examples of the rather minor effect of the lesson words and "reserved music" in your church. But in the language of love relationships, or of music, poetry, or dramatic performances - sounds that "touch" us and by which we "touch" others seem much more pronounced. Also, such sounds lends themselves to artistic qualities that we hear and are attuned to in their performance, as you describe about Qur'an recitation, and in your audio example, and quotations from Rasmussen. But I'm trying to say that just because "musical pieces [that] evoke strong emotions" may not be a big part of your religion doesn't mean they're not part of your life experiences. On the other hand, would that mean that emotionally charged sound experiences like that are "religious" after all, even though you haven't labelled them as such?

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  2. Brennan McIntyreApril 28, 2020 at 1:06 PM

    I feel like religion doesn't necessarily allow for the spreading of music, I think it's more that music is the medium by which religion can be spread. Religion can exist on its own, separately from music, but by utilizing music, those in the religion can spread their message better and create greater connectedness amongst their people. So I definitely agree with you about how religious people take music to heart because it opens them up to their beliefs, since music is one of the ways the religion is being spread.

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