Recitation – Light Verse

While reading “The Quran in Indonesian Daily Life” by A. Rasmussen this week, I was interested to learn about female recitation life in Indonesia.  Rasmussen’s experience, as a non-Muslim woman, learning to recite in Indonesia made me curious to try it out for myself.  She was able to observe the recitation from an outsider’s perspective while gaining access to an insider’s perspective.  I learned that I could also try to do the same.  What is it about recitation that is so special?  What makes people so dedicated to the practice and mastery of it?  Building upon our previous lectures and discussions, I know that recitation is an art that connects with the Divine in a special way because the words from the Qur’an, when spoken in Arabic, are the same words that Allah spoke to Muhammad.  After practicing the Arabic pronunciation several times, I went into a silent space to recite the Light Verse for the recording.  I felt a sense of calm and reverence that I hope is captured in my very first Qur’an recitation recording.  In the reading from Approaching the Qur’an for this week’s lecture, Sells discusses the control and slowing down of breath in relation to Qur’an recitation and its meditative quality.  As an avid yoga practioner, I can attest to the fact that reciting the Qur’an, even as a complete amateur, immediately relaxed me just as the recitation of the “Aum” in yoga does at the beginning and end of practice.   I hope one day to learn Arabic so that I can recite more effectively and be able to bring this new meditative practice that I experienced today, into my everyday life.