EGYPT: The beauty and challenge of reciting the Koran

The Koran is for sale at nearly every tram stop in the port city of Alexandria, stacked neatly beside soft drinks and mobile-phone cards. Picking one out, however, can be difficult for a non-Muslim foreigner. Buyers can choose pocket-sized Korans, versions meant as decoration, or study volumes tripled in length with interpretations.

My new color-coded Koran was my best friend while I learned the rules of tajweed, the science of recitation. At first, I was hesitant to concentrate on recitation, preferring to focus more on subject matter, but my professor and tutor insisted that the Koran was meant to be spoken. 

The Koran is arguably the world’s most famous oral poem and certainly the most memorized. What better way to know your own religion than to be able to recite it the same way people sing along to a tune on the radio?

It’s no surprise, then, that a drive in an Alexandrian taxi usually involves listening to tajweed on FM 90.1. Drivers make their rounds throughout the city while reciting along with Sheik Hosary or Sheik Abd Samad. If Egyptian soccer teams aren’t playing, televisions in restaurants air recitations of the Koran with accompanying text. The Koran’s ubiquitous presence is wonderful for those who love to hear it, but sometimes after reciting the story of the Virgin Mary in Arabic for an hour or so, I preferred to listen to something different.

Like most things related to learning the Koran, the Arabic used in it is both a blessing and a curse. Recorded in the dialect shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Koran is written in Modern Standard Arabic, which is generally not spoken other than by news anchors, imams and politicians. Although “Modern” Standard is a beautiful language, it is antiquated — 1,300 years and 800 miles separate it from Egyptian Arabic.

My professor and I would take several minutes for each verse to make sure I knew the definition of the words and was acquainted with them aesthetically. Occasionally, Professor Mustapha would stop and exclaim, “Oh the Koran!” and delve into how beautiful or poignant the relevant verse was, bringing in a variety of topics -- the disunity of the Islamic world, judgment day or even former British Prime Minister John Major -- and also commenting on the impeccable meter.

Beyond the literary value of the Koran, studying it earns you a fair amount of street credibility, so it becomes necessary to develop ways of avoiding sitting down to chat about the Koran over tea.  It is not only a time issue, but also everyone seems to be an authority on the text. It is a major part of any education — public or private. The Koran is the basis of learning how to read for children in the Egyptian countryside.

In short, everyone has an opinion.

Sorting through which interpretations are informed and which are not makes it tricky to have a conversation. Still, a great discussion on the Koran may be worth risking engaging those with obstinate opinions.

I'm a religious skeptic so my interest in the Koran is purely academic. Thus, it is refreshing to hear an opinion without the pressure of conversion. I typically avoid challenging people’s points of view, preferring not to incite religious passions, but to see where believers get their inspiration.

But I have concluded, that in Egypt, faith reigns supreme. When I asked Professor Mustapha if the Koran was created, he paused, obviously thinking of the troublesome nature of the question, until answering, “This is a philosophical question, it isn’t important — we have the Koran.”

-- Jahd Khalil in Alexandria, Egypt

Photo: An elderly man reads the Koran. Credit: EPA 

Comments

[Grog]

To reiterate, I learned all I need to know about Islam in Munich 1974 and September 11, 2001.

[Shehu]

I now we turn to the Bible and Torah I Quote.

Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones.
Deuteronomy 2:34 utterly destroyed the men and the women and the little ones.
Deuteronomy 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters.
I Samuel 15:3 slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.
2 Kings 8:12 dash their children, and rip up their women with child.
2 Kings 15:16 all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.
Isaiah 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished.
Isaiah 13:18 They shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
Lamentations 2:20 Shall the women eat their fruit, and children.
Ezekiel 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children.
Hosea 9:14 give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Hosea 13:16 their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

[no one]

Perhaps - for a change - we should discuss what is exactly written in the Bible and the Torah.

[Osservatore]

The book that inspires Osama bin Laden, and other jihadists beautiful?
If you're chewing khat, maybe...

[A'shadieeyah]

The Qur'an is not gibberish.

1. It may seem like that to those who don't know how to read it
2. Or have been led to think so.

[no2islam]

Islam? No, thanks!

[Ugh]

What I notice in the picture is that there are no women.
However, that is the case with the majority of pictures our the Mideast.........no women visible.

[Manny]

To eowgt:

What a perfect comment: a fool writing his stupid gibberish.

[C'mon, Accuse Me of Cherry Picking]

Translated (incorrectly, I'm sure you'll tell me):

"When you meet the unbelievers in jihad, chop off their heads. And when you have brought them low, bind your prisoners rigorously. Then set them free or take ransom from them until the war is ended." (Quran 47:4) "Your women are your fields, so go into your fields whichever way you like."(Quran 2:223) “Take not the Jews and Christians for friends ... slay the idolaters wherever ye find them. ...Fight against those who ... believe not in Allah nor the Last Day” (Quran 5:51; 9:5,29,41).

[Syed Mahmood]

As a Muslim I find the Quoran totaly boring, unfathomable,meaningless,waste of time signifying nothing.Millions of people will write and say Quoran is their favorite book,it is the book of the books,they cannot live without it,they will die for it---Ha Ha Ha.They are saying just so Allah will not throw them in Hell.They think if they love the Quoran,just by saying they will go to Janat(Paradise)
Dream on fellows.It will never happen.
Just think any Book that condones the stoning of people,chopping the heads and hands and blow each other while in prayers cannot and never have been written by any God.Period.
With the exception of extremely few verses,I mean very few bestowed upon the holy prophet,the rest is written and fabricated by some clever soul.

[tolerance]

We need to be tolerant of Islam. Celebrate multiculturalism. Who are you to pass judgment on these people? It's their culture to enslave their women and send their children out on suicide missions.

[Jim W]

"What a perfect image: an old man reading a book of gibberish.
Posted by: eowgt | May 27, 2010 at 08:30 AM"

My exact thoughts. Such silliness, yet these robots engage in a mechanical devotion to totally idiotic beliefs that have absolutely no bearing on creating a loving, all inclusive world that is based on acceptance of all creatures on this planet.

[Sinai Bautista]

Even though I am not muslim. I have heard the resitation of the Koran. It is very beautiful. The translations are meaningful and have touched my heart. Nobody should bash muslims or point them as terroist. Because if only people new the beauty of the religion and how one could learn. We should be open to different types of teaching. God or Allah has given us a disernment to know the right from wrong. If this would have been a bad religion, beleive me it would not exist. My wish is for everybody to be open and not fight against each other and pointing fingers. He who is free of sin, throw the first stone. God Bless everybody.

[Tommy Trojan]

Thanks for the bigoted comment eowgt.

What has happened to tolerance in this country?

[Lee Baker]

The Qur'an is not a creation, rather it is the kalaam(speech) of Allah.
"And if anyone of the Mushrikin(those who take partners beside Allah) seeks your protection then grant him protection so that he may hear the Word of Allah (the Qur'an) and then escort him to where he can be secure, that is because they are men who know not." 9;6

[Gina]

Hey, LA Times, stop pandering to "our Muslim brethren" and overlooking the reality of this "holy", book, which glorifies rape, wife-beating and mass murder in it's "ethics", and is a monument to long-winded mediocrity in it's "literature".

This turgid, overblown piece of writing became widespread (mostly through violence), and is currently ubiquitous in the miserable Islamic world. That's about the whole story; maybe someone finds something charming about it, but I don't.

Unparalleled? Sorry, but you haven't read Shakespeare, Shelley, or the lyrics of Baudelaire. Even in translation the Book of Psalms has palpable power. The "holy" Koran inspires little more than a snooze.

[Eman AbdElRahman]

As Michael Cooperson commented:
1. Quran is not a poem.
2. Its not written in Modern Arabic.

As well, Quran is not that wide spread in Egypt as he claims. If there is no football match, people will watch Nancy Agram and her alikes in most cases. ... See More

[Adham]

The Koran is written in Classical Arabic NOT Modern Standard Arabic.

[sophie]

This is better than most of the blog posts from the Middle East. Thank you for humanizing that which the mainstream American media de-humanizes. Whatever one may believe about its content, the beauty and perfection of the Quran's language is unparalleled.

[Michael Cooperson, UCLA]

Nice article. Two corrections:

Many passages of the Qur'an are in rhymed prose, but it is not a "poem" (see 36:37).

Nor is it written in Modern Standard Arabic. MSA is a construction of the nineteenth century, based on Classical Arabic, which is in turn based partly on the archaic language of the Qur'an. All of these varieties may be called fus-ha today, but they are quite distinct.