All Together Now
In the second chapter of "Women, the recited Qur'an, and Islamic music in Indonesia", Anne Rasmussen begins her analysis of the Islamic soundscape and the community of voices that contribute to the "tapestry of loose free-meter heterophony emanating quasi-simultaneously from numerous sources". Her work highlights the sense of community fostered by Islamic traditions and rituals, and here takes a closer look at the nature of recitation and the significance of the ear to religious ceremony. Before reading this excerpt, I had no idea how tightly linked the Qu'ran was to oral tradition. My perception of any ancient religious text is that such a text must have been written down to prevent the mutation of the scriptures over time. However, Rasmussen tells us this is not the case for Islam and the Qu'ran. According to Rasmussen's citation (Nelson), the Qu'ran did "not exist to preserve against change; it is taken for granted that oral tra...