The Qurʾānic Melodic Modes, the Differences between Them, and the Famous Reciters WHO Applied Them

Abstract

The article sets out the place and the significance of the science of the melodic modes (maqāmāt) in the recitation of the Noble Qurʾān. It defines the principal terms of the discipline – maqām, laḥn, nushūz, qarār, jawāb, jawāb al-jawāb and muʿarrif – and establishes that the study of intonation and of the readings necessarily precedes the study of the modes. The seven modes employed in Qurʾānic recitation – ṣabā, nahāwand, ʿajam, bayāt, sīkā, ḥijāz and rāst – are described one by one, together with the sentiments each expresses, the categories of verses suited to it, and the modes with which it is most readily joined. The four methods of recitation (tartīl, ḥadr, tadwīr and taḥqīq) and the four styles of melodious recitation (muwassaʿa, tarkīziyya, mutanawwiʿa and tarkībiyya) are likewise set out. The second part of the article is devoted to the biographies and the recitational methods of five celebrated Egyptian reciters – Muṣṭafā Ismāʿīl, Maḥmūd Khalīl al-Ḥuṣarī, Muḥammad Ṣiddīq al-Minshāwī, Maḥmūd ʿAlī al- Bannā and ʿAbd al-Bāsiṭ Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ṣamad – since the science of the modes is mastered principally by observation and practical application.