Why Music Has No Place in Quranic Recitation

What's it?

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Alhamdulillah.

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Starting with continuing in verse number four. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commands the prophet sallall.aii wasallam saying stand in prayer for the duration of the night save a bit half or less. Thank you. or add to half a little more than half and recite the Quran. He says, "So this command of Allah this is where the have the name of the prophet Sam used to refer to it as the companions would refer to what is often referred to as So it is Allah commands him here in this verse saying is that a person recite the Quran properly and intentionally. that when a person is reciting the Quran, they are reciting each letter, each verse with intention and they are reciting it melodously and with a kind of medium pacing as the scholars tell us. When the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam fulfilled this verse. The companions learned his recitation. His wives such as was asked were asked about his recitation. How did he recite? And so she responded.

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Alim. And so when she was asked about how he recited the Quran, she said that he would recite the Quran at a medium pace and sometimes he would recite the Quran at a very very slow pace to the point that sometimes a shorter chapter would seem longer than other longer chapters. because he was would recite it slowly and the point of this recitation is that the tongue not be ahead of the mind. This is howb defined it that the tongue not be ahead of the mind. In order that the person's understanding, the person's mind is able to keep up with what the tongue is reciting and is able to stop at each letter at each word and understand that letter and that word as they are reciting. The companions home used to despise reciting the Quran quickly, fast, in a way that speeds past understanding and that a person's understanding cannot keep up with the Quran that they are reciting. was told once by one of his students that he recited of the Quran meaning from all the way to the end of the Quran and he said he said you've recited it in a fast pace with the pace of the recitation of poetry they used to recite poetry quickly. Why?

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Ahmed, right? in order to make it all rhyme and make it all come together. That's how they used to recite poetry. It is not appropriate to recite the Quran like this is what the companions are saying. And so the companions they would recite it slowly in a way that the mind is not ahead of the recitation. And the scholars of recitation have narrated to us four speeds of recitation. We have a which is the longest form and that is used to teach. Right? Oftent times you'll hear this or you'll see it posted as right they say we've seen this before which is one of those very very very long recitations. This is actually not called this is called this is called is very slow and it's used to teach right so that the student is able to hear every single letter and where it's coming from. This is not usually recited in prayer. This is not recited when a person is merely reciting and unfortunately this recitation is one of the most abused recitations. In the last h 100red or so years with the advent of the radio and the recording the ability of recording sound this kind of recitation was turned into a kind of melodic almost musical kind of thing where rules of recitation are broken and it is used in order to showcase the strength of the reciter. And I will give you a a rule of thumb right now. When the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam was asked which recitation is the best he said the one whom he recites you can feel his sincerity in his recitation. And a good litmus test of a good recitation is when you're able to forget the reciter. So you're hearing the recitation, you're not focused on the reciter. You're focused on the words being recited. That is a good reciter. but a recer that stands in the way of the Quran and makes the recitation about him and his abilities to recite and doing all these things showing off with regards to a person's breath and a person's ability to change octaves and all of these things. This is one of the signs of the hour that the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam warned us about that the Quran would be turned into a musical instrument used for entertainment. Unfortunately, the next which is referred to by the scholars of recitation as toil and atil is the best speed of recitation if you will or mode of recitation and that is that is slow. not slow to where any rules of recitation are broken, but not fast to where any rules of recitation are skipped over. And it is using what is referred to as means that all of the elongated vows are fulfilled. This is referred to as tor. Another is a little bit faster than this. And the fastest is al which is as fast as you can go without jumbling any of the letters. Right? This is referred to as al and this is usually used for revision, usually used for things that. But the companions they understood that the point of recitation is contemplating the Quran. Right? And if that is the point of recitation, then a person is to listen to the Quran as he is recited. And when a person is listening to a reciter, they are not focused on the reciter. Rather, they are focused on what is being recited. Just a good what is a very good? Someone who is not making the about their abilities and their feet. It's someone who makes you takes you to a place of meditation and contemplation and gets out of the way of the the the information out of the way of the the address and the connection between the people and the Quran and the people and the sunnah of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. Who said.

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He said, "Do not recite the Quran the way that the way that poetry is recited. Rather be patient in its recitation and pause at its awesome places and places of of of intrigue and recite the Quran to move people's hearts. And when you are reciting, do not make your focus the end of the chapter. Don't be focused on the end of the chapter. be focused on the exact word and letter that is being recited at the moment and this is how it should be recited in the in the salah. This is how it should be recited outside of salah in one of these three modes that we mentioned. the Quran of course is a powerful book and its recitation is unlike any other thing there. It has its own language, its own spelling, its own way of writing, its own script, right? The way that the letters are written, this is different than any other thing. , and it has its own way of reciting, being recited, its own recitation. And that recitation is transmitted along with its wording. So where do we get the recitations of the Quran? We get it through chains of narration. We do not get it through what sounds good. And this is where a lot of this the mat come from which the scholars of Islam have judged as being innovative and innovation in Islam. What are the mat? The mats are musical chords, octaves, literally musical chords that were that were set up using either a piano or an acoustic in order to harmonize the recitation of the Quran with the various musical chords and the various octaves. This is what it is. And so when you learn it, you're learning what was set up by people who used a guitar or used a piano or used any of these different instruments in order to set these seven or five or six recitations up. And they call these these were never learned by the companions nor the nor this is something that is been introduced way later and unfortunately it has made its way into some universities. It's even sometimes taught as if you know books have been written on it and so forth. However, the scholarship of Islam have rejected that there be any kinship between the Quran's recitation and musical theory that there be no kinship between musical theory and the recitation of the Quran. And some scholars have even gone to the point of considering this musical spin on the recitation of the Quran as being almost a mockery of the Quran. Im Ahmed was asked about this, asked about reciting the Quran in this way and he said and the person asking him his his name was you know Mustafa or whatever it was Muhammad or Abdullah and he said would you be okay with somebody saying your name yeah Abdullah right you would think this person is making fun of you it is not appropriate to elongate those letters in that way. So what sounds very good in a song does not sound good in the Quran. It is not appropriate. And what's interesting is that probably about 40 or 50 years ago, there was this kind of movement and it kind of blew up a little bit more with the internet. And that is that they were getting famous Arabic singers, right, to recite verses or chapters of the Quran because that's that's the way that our religion has be been abused by people, right? If you're a singer, then of course you can recite the Quran, right? Because you're a singer, that means you're very very skilled. in the Quran, you know, that's small potatoes for for these guys. This is the idea. And so they would have these singers come and recite these chapters of the Quran in the way that they would sing their ballads. And this here is absolutely atrocious. No Muslim should ever accept such a thing be done with his book. Men have bled for this book. Continue to bleed for this book. We have a river of blood and sweat and tears going back 1,500 years for this book. For some singer to come and pick it up and show us how it's done. This is not appropriate, not acceptable. And we will never accept somebody to come and meddle with our book in that way. Singing, music, entertainment, art, keep that away from something that is this. This is the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is the final book of Allah to be revealed to humanity. It is not to be used and abused in that way. collected a narration in his book and a narration in which the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam said he said hasten to do good deeds before one of six things rears its head in society. He said, "The leadership of the foolish and inept and that governments will become bloated and have a lot of policing and a lot of military that will force citizens into adhering to the government's every whim and will. And judgment will be something that is for sale for the highest bidder and kin and kith will be broken and family structures will be divided. people will not keep familial ties any longer and blood human blood will be very cheap be something that people won't think twice about spilling.

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He said, "And groups of Muslims that will turn the Quran into a musical instrument. They will put a man to lead them in prayer not because he is the most knowledgeable amongst them nor because he is most understanding amongst them. They will place him to lead them in prayer so that he will sing to them during their prayer. Subhanal.

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I know what.