The-Names-Of-The-Readers-And-All-Their-Narrators
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______________The Qurrā’ Couplets_ The Names of the Readers And all their Narrators A Brief Thirty-line Ode To Thirty Men of Old Composed by the teacher Munowar Harneker Noorun Mubeen Publications 2021 Munowar Harneker Any part of this text may be reproduced for personal use or for free distribution only, provided that no changes are made to it. Noorun Mubeen Publications First Edition, 2021 Cape Town, South Africa Email: [email protected] Website: noorunmubeenpublications.wordpress.com For my two lovely sons and all of the young ones. For those students of mine who study the Divine. إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى “Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have what he intended…” (Sạ hị̄ h ̣ Bukhārī and Muslim) System of Transliteration English Arabic English Arabic أ ’ ظ ̣ z ب b ع ‘ ت t غ gh ث th ف f ج j ق q ح ̣ h ك k خ kh ل l د d م m ذ dh ن n ر r و w ز z ه h س s ي y ش sh َ ا ā ص ṣ َ ي ī ض ̣ d َ و ū ط ṭ َ ي ay َ و ou Introduction All praise is due to Allah N, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the entire universe. And the peace and blessings of Allah be upon Muhammaḍ C, his family and his companions. Recently my wife came across a poem entitled “The Seerah Song”, which outlines the life of Rasūlullah C. There are many such poems composed in Arabic, but this is the first to be written in English. It is composed by Abdullah Misra and performed by Zain Bhikha. One section of the poem details the lineage of the Prophet C, going back to his ancestor Fihr, also known as Quraysh. My wife would play the recording of this song for my three-year-old son, and I was astounded one day when I came home and found him able to recite with ease the entire lineage of the Prophet C! What was amazing about this was not his ability to do it, but rather by how easily he had picked it up. He didn’t sit down and studiously repeat all of these names in order to memorise them – he learned them all simply by listening a couple of times to a few lines of poetry. As I am involved in the field of Qirā’āt, it has always been my desire that my sons should follow suit and study this science as well. So this incident regarding the “Seerah Song” inspired me to try and compose something similar about the Qurrā’, so that they could become familiar with them from a young age. I anticipated it to be difficult as it was the first time I was attempting to write a poem according to a metre, but alhamdulillaḥ , Allah N facilitated its completion and made it far easier than what I expected it to be. Another reason for the compilation of this poem, is that I recently started teaching limited aspects of Qirā’āt to the students at the school I teach at. I also hope to teach this to a wider audience in future in shā Allah, and not all of these students will necessarily be ḥāfiẓ or have a background of having studied Arabic before. Before delving into the rules of Qirā’āt, the student obviously first needs to know who the different Qurrā’ (Readers) and Ruwāt (Narrators) are. It is my hope that this poem will facilitate the learning of their names for these students, rather than them having to grasp it from an Arabic poem. In Islam we have a long legacy of scholars composing didactic poems in virtually all fields of study – from ‘aqīdah to ḥadīth to qirā’āt to naḥw. More recently however, there now seems to be a trend where scholars are writing similar works, but in the English medium. There may be more, but I am aware of two such works which are now available, in addition to the Seerah Song mentioned above: a poem on tajwīd composed by Shaikh Ismail Londt, and a poem on naḥw composed by Moulānā Yazeed Jabaar. This poem of mine was also partly inspired by their efforts and I hope that it in turn will also inspire others to produce works of the same nature. Of the poems written on Qirā’āt, the poem entitled “al-Hirẓ al-Amānī wa Wajh al- Tahānī” by Imām al-Shāṭibī is perhaps the most famous. This poem is better known simply as “The Shāṭibiyyah” and discusses the rules of the Seven Qirā’āt. When encountering this poem for the first time, I immediately fell in love with it. I was mesmerised by the beauty of its composition and blown away by the sheer and utter genius of its author, Imām al-Shāṭibī. The section in which he discusses the names of the Qurrā’ and the Ruwāt has always been one of my favourite, and those who are familiar with the poem will readily see the influence it has had on my own composition. I have included the lines from the Shāṭibiyyah for the benefit of people who know Arabic, so that they may appreciate its beauty and hopefully go on to learn it as well. No translation would be able to do justice to the original, as the beauty is lost in translation and can only be appreciated by reading it in the language in which it was composed. I have thus opted not to translate the lines from the Shāṭibiyyah. In the text of the poem, the names of the Readers are highlighted in red, the names of the first Narrators in green, and the second Narrators in blue. This is so that the reader may easily distinguish between them when looking at the text. Some of the Readers and Narrators are more famously known by a laqab (nickname),1 a kunyah (patronym),2 by the names of their fathers,3 or by an ascription.4 In these cases, I have highlighted in bold the name that they are famously known by, while also mentioning what their actual names are. 1 For example, Qālūn, Warsh and Ruways. 2 For example, Abū ‘Amr and Abū Ja‘far. 3 For example, Ibn Kathīr and Ibn ‘Āmir. 4 For example, al-Bazzī and al-Dūrī. These ascriptions could link the individual to one of his ancestors, to a particular place or to a profession. I have added a brief commentary to the poem for added benefit and to clarify certain points. I have included in the commentary a simplified diagram of the chain of narration for each of the Readers. This is so that the reader may appreciate just how closely linked they are to the Prophet C. I have thus generally opted to represent only the shortest possible chain of narration, but the reader should bear in mind that in most cases there are many other links as well. I have tried to avoid lengthy discussions in the commentary so as not to tire the reader. Those interested in learning more about the Qurrā’ may refer to Qāri’ Saleem Gaibie’s book entitled “Narratives on the Seven Great Readers”. To make matters easy for myself, I have relied predominantly on this book for the biographical information included in the commentary. However, at times I would also consult some of the original Arabic works, specifically Ṭabaqāt al-Qurrā’ of al-Dhahabī and Ghāyah al-Nihāyah of Ibn al-Jazarī. The idea behind the composition of this poem is not for it to be studiously memorised through rote repetition. Instead my hope is that people will be able to benefit from it just by listening to it being read. I have thus included recordings of audios of the poem. A few different recordings have been included so that the listener may choose whichever one he prefers. May Allah N this humble effort and make it a means of benefit for the Ummah, āmīn. Acknowledgements Firstly, all thanks and praise is due to Allah N, for all of His countless blessings that He has bestowed upon us. Thereafter, I express my thanks and gratitude to my parents for all that they have done for me. I also wish to thank and say jazākumullah khairan to: my wife, Shaaista, for her feedback regarding the wording of some of the lines of the poem and for affording me the time to do all my writing; to Moulānā Riyaad Obaray and Moulānā Saleem Gaibie for answering certain questions I had regarding the biographies of the Readers and Narrators; and to all of my teachers, especially my English teachers and my teachers of Qirā’āt. I extend a special appreciation and thanks to Qāris Igsaan Sedick, Umar Masoud, Shukri Frydie and Abdul Qaadir Kafaar for kindly giving up of their time to record the recitation of the poem. This was no easy feat as singing a text in English is much harder than doing so in Arabic. May Allah N reward them for their efforts, āmīn. Audio Recordings To listen, scan the QR code or click on the link. Qāri’ Igsaan Sedick Qāri’ Omar Masoud Medley Qāri’ Shukri Frydie Qāri’ Abdul Qaadir Kafaar Video Recording Commentary The Names of the Readers And all their Narrators 1 All praise be to Allah, the One, the Supreme Peace be on Muhammaḍ , who taught us the Dīn 2 Now take from me these few words of metre rhymed The names of noble men, within you will find 3 They preserved the Book, the Qur’an, the Divine Which was sent as Guidance to all humankind 4 The Illustrious Readers are Ten in line The Narrators from them are Twenty Sublime 5 From Madīnah was Nāfi‘ the Scented one Good Qālūn learnt from him, then Warsh the Fair one5 6 ‘Īsā and ‘Uthmān are that which they were named But their names from their teacher are the ones famed 7 Ibn Kathīr, the Makk’n6 Follower, was Acclaimed To him, ‘Abdullāh, are his narrators chained 8 The first one that you’ll see is Ahmaḍ Bazzī Then Muhammaḍ known as Qunbul you’ll agree 5 This line may also be read as: Nāfi‘ from Madīnah was a Tābi‘ī Good Qālūn and Warsh the Fair, they learned from he 6 The word “Makk’n” here should be read as one syllable in order to maintain the poetic metre.