The Art of Reciting the Qur'an

by Nelson, Kristina

• ISBN13: 9789774245947
• ISBN10: 9774245946
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-15
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

For the Muslim faithful, the familiar sound of the Qur'anic recitation is the predominant and most immediate means of contact with the Word of God. Heard day and night, on the street, in taxis, in shops, in mosques, and in homes, the sound of recitation is far more than the pervasive background music of daily life in the Arab world. It is the core of religious devotion, the sanctioning spirit of much cultural and social life, and a valued art form in its own right. Participation in recitation, as reciter or listener, is itself an act of worship, for the sound is basic to a Muslim's sense of religion and invokes a set of meanings transcending the particular occasion. For the most part, Westerners have approached the Qur'an much as scriptural scholars have studied the Bible, as a collection of written texts. The Art of Reciting the Qur'an aims at redirecting that focus toward a deeper understanding of the Qur'an as a fundamentally oral phenomenon. Focusing on the Egyptian context, and examining Muslim attitudes toward the Qur'an, the institutions that regulate its recitation, and performer-audience expectations and interaction. Kristina Nelson, a trained Arabist and musicologist, casts new light on the significance of Qur'anic recitation within the world of Islam today. This new edition of a landmark study, with a new postscript, will be welcomed by all scholars and students of the modern Middle East, as well as by ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, linguists, folklorists, and religious scholars.

Author Biography

Kristina Nelson received her Ph.D. in Arabic studies at the University of California, Berkeley

Table of Contents

Transcription Tables	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xiii
The Text: The Quran	1	(13)
History of the Revelation and Compliation of the Written Text	1	(2)
Nature of the Text	3	(1)
External Form of the Text	4	(1)
Content, Language, and Style	5	(9)
Tajwid	14	(18)
Introduction	14	(4)
Material of Tajwid	18	(3)
Sound of Tajwid	21	(11)
The Samac Polemic	32	(20)
The Ideal Recitation of the Qurcan	52	(49)
Issues	53	(15)
Terminology	68	(21)
Huzn	89	(12)
The Sound of the Quranic Recitation	101	(35)
Introduction	101	(4)
Murattal	105	(5)
Mujawwad	110	(26)
Maintaining the Ideal Recitation of the Quran	136	(17)
Overlap and Separation: The Dynamics of Perception and Response	153	(35)
Introduction	153	(4)
The Overlap of Music and Recitation	157	(16)
The Separation of Music and Recitation	173	(15)
Conclusion	188	(4)
Appendix A. Consultants	192	(7)
Appendix B. The Seven Ahruf and the Qiraat	199	(3)
Notes	202	(23)
Selected Bibliography	225	(10)
Postscript	235	(5)
Index	240