Without a doubt many of you have probably asked a friend of yours this Ramadhan: "What is the recitation like in such and such a mosque?" Some will reply: "His recitation is beautiful! He sounds just like so and so!".
Without a doubt, a pleasant recitation does help one to concentrate on one's prayer more, but I feel that many of us do not have a good criteria to truly decide good recitation (and I am not talking about Tajweed here). The Qir'ah in prayer is not simply meant to sound pleasing to your ears but it is meant to affect and move your heart. Tawoos reported that the Prophet (saw) was asked: "Which person has the best voice when reciting the Qur'an?" He (saw) replied: "He is the one who if you hear him you believe that he fears Allah."
So folks, it's not about how melodious his voice is, or how sweet his recitation is, nor about how similar he sounds like someone in particular. It's about whether he can make your heart (truly) soften to the remembrance of Allah.
I've prayed behind a number of different people and of those who I favour praying behind is someone who hasn't got great tajweed and definitely does not have a sweet voice, but when I hear him recite, I know he fears Allah and is truly aware of what he is reciting.
Salah is performed to remember Allah (swt) and not simply to enjoy listening to a melodious voice:
وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي ﴿طه:١٤
"And establish the Prayer for My remembrance" (ta ha: 14)
The following is a clip of the late scholar, Sheikh Ibn Baz reciting the Qur'an in prayer. I personally found it to be very moving and I would have loved to pray behind him, probably more than any reciter that I know alive now.
Oh, and what happened to the OLD Mashari al 'Efasi?? Has anyone heard his old live recording of Surah Tawbah and Sajdah?? Ya Salaaaaam!
Wassalamu 'alaykum
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3 comments:
Asalamualaykum, Jazakallhukhair for the post Ustadh, it does seem that the 'best' recitor today is the most melodious, could be due to the lack of knowledge of the Arabic language and/or the Quran itself. Also a reflection of our times where we have a tendency to sometimes be a people of style over substance, and with the bombardment of entertainment recitations like the Shk Bin Baz one above or even Hosary/Hudhayfi can be a bit boring by today’s standards
I also notice that many of the most melodious recitors bend/break the tajweed rules, ie extensively long and differing lengths of maddood and ghunna etc, what is the ruling on doing that out of so called 'kushoo' / 'melody' Ustadh? I know it doesn’t change the meaning but the tajweed rules are the sunnah.
I agree that it is defiantly more enjoyable to pray behind someone who is engaged in his recitation and its meaning.... May Allah swt make us of those who read reflect and act upon His guidance and have Kushoo in our salah. Ameen.
About the Mishary's Surah Tawbah and Sajdah, here is a Link to the Recitation for those who want to know how it sounds
http://www.qaree.com/alafasy/pages/Tawbah_Alsajda.htm
Assalamu 'alaykum,
JZK for the link, I have looking for an online version for a while now.ا
اللهم اجعلنا من الذين يقيمون حروفه و حدوده
I can listen to this over and over and over....
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