My first creative response is in response to our Week 3 readings and movie screening of Koran by Heart regarding “Quran Recitations”. I decided to create an audio file of Surah Al-Fatihah (the first chapter in the Quran which translates to “The Opening”) but instead of it being recited by a single individual, I edited it so that each ayah, or “verse”, is recited by a different individual (listed at the end of this post). I did this to try to represent or symbolize the emphasis on the Quran as an oral text/tradition, and the diversity amongst reciters in Islam.

The first idea which is portrayed in this audio file is the emphasis on the orality of the Quran in Islam. As Kristina Nelson explains in The Sound of the Divine in Daily Life, “For the Quran must be heard, not merely read. As the word of God transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad, it is considered to be the actual sound of the Divine, the model of perfect beauty, and a testimony to the miracle of human and divine interaction.”  From this quote it is evident that the Quran is viewed as an oral text before a written one, and it is for this reason that I decided to leave the recitation of Surah Al Fatihah as an audio file rather than a video with subtitles of the English translation. Furthermore, this idea was also made very clear in the film Koran by Heart where we saw children and their parents from all around the world, who didn’t necessarily speak or understand Arabic, dedicate their entire lives to the memorization and recitation of the Quran with their ultimate goals of becoming huffaz (plural of hafiz – someone who has memorized the entire Quran).

Moreover, in the film Koran by Heart and in the reading The Quran in Indonesian Daily Life the diversity in Islam amongst reciters is made very clear. In Koran by Heart we see children from Uzbekistan, Maldives, Egypt, Senegal, and many more countries. In the reading The Quran in Indonesian Daily Life we see how women are highly regarded in Indonesia today because of their abilities of reciting the Quran. Therefore to symbolize this diversity I included Mohammed Al Barak (recites the second verse) and Jennifer Grout (recites the sixth verse) to represent all the children and women in the world who are practicing to become huffaz.

Below is the order of the reciters and information about them:
1) Fahad Al-Kandari – More information about him: http://en.islamzoom.com/Kuwait/fahd-al-kandari/fahd-al-kandari-56.htm
2) Mohammed Al Barak – No information found
3) Abdullah Awad Al-Juhani – More information about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Awad_Al_Juhany
4) Yasser Al Failekawe – More of his work: http://www.assabile.com/yasser-al-faylakawi-255/yasser-al-faylakawi.htm
5) Jennifer Grout – American singer who converted to Islam. Here’s an article with more information about her: http://gulfnews.com/life-style/music/jennifer-grout-says-she-s-converted-to-islam-1.1279489
6) Yasser Al-Dosari – More information about him: https://www.facebook.com/notes/makkah-madinah-live-recitations-invite-others-now/biography-of-yasser-al-dosari/124526467608376/

 

Best,

Aly