With the Jewish festival of Passover occurring this week, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on one of the significant differences in the story of Moses as told by the Qur’an when compared with the tradition held by the Torah. In my first blog I mentioned that the Bible and the Qur’an actually share very little in common and Passover is a perfect example to illustrate what I meant by this.
Passover is a yearly celebration commemorating the freedom of the Israelites from slavery under the Pharaoh. Both the Bible and the Qur’an agree that God sent plagues upon Egypt as signs, but they don’t agree on how many plagues were sent or what these plagues were. According to Exodus1, the tenth and final plague sent upon the people of Egypt was the killing of all their firstborn sons. This was not limited to…
Earlier this week, Adele swept the Grammys and won all six of the categories she was nominated for – including the prestigious Album of the Year. Her songs and performances have touched millions around the world. While there are several theories for her success such as her voice or lyrics, the Wall Street Journal explored a scientific reason for why “Someone like You” in particular makes so many people cry. The article contends that a musical device called an “appoggiatura” is used to elicit emotion in the listener.
An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. “This generates tension in the listener,” said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. “When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves…”Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.
This phenomena, although studied scientifically recently, has been around for a very long time. Appoggiaturas were used extensively in Renaissance and early Baroque music. However, the origins may be traced as far back as the 7th century during the time of the Prophet Muhammad when he received revelation from God. Unlike other scriptures, the Quran is unique in that it has preserved not only every single word and letter of God but even the intonations as it was verbally revealed to the Messenger through the Archangel. This method of recitation is known as the science of Tajweed which is a set of rules that govern many of the “parameters of sound production such as duration, segment quality, and single-breath phrase” (Yeou). As Lesley Hazleton correctly explained in her TED Talk, the Quran is not just meant to be read but recited. Today millions of Muslims around the world learn to read and memorize the Quran by heart.
While the recitation of the Quran is certainly not considered to be a form of music, reciters have the creative freedom to ornament certain elements (art of Tajweed). Mohamed Yeou, professor of linguistics at the Chouaib Doukkali University, has studied the acoustics of the recitation of the Quran. He analyzed the recitation of six professional reciters from Egypt and Saudi Arabia and discovered compelling data – including the use of appoggiaturas.
One example is from a powerful set of verses from Surah Maun (Chapter 107), which is an uncompromising, unapologetic depiction of social corruption of pagan society at the time. God is pointing out those who drive away the orphans and and does not encourage feeding the poor. Are we not going to be accountable for our deeds? The surah ends with an appoggiatura on the word that it is titled by – “maun”. In Arabic, this means a small kindness – one that is not going to make a difference to the person that is giving. An example might be a neighbor stopping by to borrow some salt. Are you going to be one to refuse “maun”? What about the homeless asking for some change? From the Arab pagan of the time to the present day listener, the Creator and Master of the Heavens and the Earth breaks on his/her moral conscious with each successive verse until that final note – “maun” sends chills down the spine and the mindful listener cannot help but to shed tears. The transformational power of the Quran can be seen in numerous documented cases in which the original Islamophobes covered their ears when they heard the verses because they could not deny the Truth and accepted Islam. Listen carefully to the following recitation of this surah by AbdurRahman Sudais.
For a more extensive, linguistic explanation of this chapter, I would highly recommend listening to the commentary by Nouman Ali Khan of the Bayyinah Institute. This is intended for a Muslim audience so feel free to comment to ask if there is any terminology or concepts that you are not familiar with.
Tawakul Karman, a human rights activist from Yemen, was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. When asked about her hijab by journalists and how it is not proportionate with her level of intellect and education, she replied:
“Man in the early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is regressive back to ancient times”
Wow! This is one of the best presentations I have heard this year. In this short, but poignant 9 minute talk, Lesley Hazleton explores the Quran and finds that is quite different from what you might hear in the media. Every person with a “flexible mind” should watch this video and share it with others – ESPECIALLY given the ignorant Islamophobia that is prevalent in political America today. Among pearls of wisdom, she answers several questions such as:
Is the idea of 72 virgins mentioned in the Quran?
How is Paradise described?
What is the “hypnotic quality” of the Quran in Arabic?
How much of the Quran reprises stories of the Bible/Torah?
How is it different from the Bible/Torah?
What do so called Muslim extremists and anti-Muslim Islamophobes have in common?
Lesley Hazleton expresses sentiments that resonate with the rational mind. To be honest, I am dismayed at how someone with her depth of understanding could claim to be an agnostic Jew. I found myself nodding my head in agreement with every point she masterfully articulated. I love great talks like this with a strong attention getter, subtle humor, rock solid points, and a conclusion that circles back to the beginning. Five stars!!
From TED: A psychologist by training and Middle East reporter by experience, British-born Lesley Hazleton has spent the last ten years exploring the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion, past and present, intersect. Her most recent book, After the Prophet: the Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split, was a finalist for the 2010 PEN-USA nonfiction award.
She lived and worked in Jerusalem for thirteen years — a city where politics and religion are at their most incendiary — then moved to New York. She came to Seattle to get her pilot’s license in 1992, saw the perfect houseboat, and stayed. By 1994, she’d flown away all of her savings, and has never regretted a single cent of it. Now her raft rides low in the water under the weight of research as she works on her next book, The First Muslim, a new look at the life of Muhammad.
TEDxRainier is an independently organized TED event held in Seattle Washington.
Hazleton was born in England, and became a United States citizen in 1994. She was based in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1979 and in New York City from 1979 to 1992, when she moved to her current home in Seattle WA, originally to get her pilot’s license. She has two degrees in psychology (B.A. Manchester University, M.A. Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
She has described herself as “a Jew who once seriously considered becoming a rabbi, a former convent schoolgirl who daydreamed about being a nun, an agnostic with a deep sense of religious mystery though no affinity for organized religion”. ”Everything is paradox,” she has said. “The danger is one-dimensional thinking”.
“When I became the NASA administrator — or before I became the NASA administrator — he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering,” Bolden said in the interview.
This is really the lowest of the low. How can people like this get away from such shameless crimes? Do they not know that they will be accountable for their actions? The following are excepts from this article:
Sediq Chakari, former minister of Hajj, and who is thought to be in Britain has been under investigation into his alleged involvement in a kickback racket which made hundreds of thousands of pounds from poor pilgrims.
Each year Saudi Arabia offers 30,000 Afghans places on the Hajj pilgrimage and they pay the Kabul government £2,300 for transport, food and lodging.
The Ministry of Hajj and Islamic Affairs is annually hit by allegations of incompetence and fraud after pilgrims have been left stranded or failed to get what they paid for.
Prosecutors believe officials were demanding up to £100 per pilgrim from hoteliers and transport firms with contracts to take pilgrims to Mecca.
The international official said: “Here is a case involving theft of money from poor Hajj pilgrims, some people who have waited their entire lives for the opportunity to travel to Mecca, and there is no real interest in the leadership of this Islamic state in defending the rights of these citizens.
Ira tells the story of the 1953 U.S. Supreme Court case that formed the basis for the controversial state secret privilege—the precedent that allows the United States government to stop lawsuits by claiming that national security secrets might be revealed in court. Ira talks to Barry Siegel, author of the book Claim of Privilege, and Judy Loether, whose father’s death was at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case. (14 minutes)
BhattySaab 