THE MELODIES OF ISLAMIC PRAYER

discuss:

Are there melodic elements of your culture or religion that may not be necessarily described as music? How does that impact how you hear and understand those aspects of your culture? How does music encourage intention and reflection in your culture or religion?

Omar opens with the titular character in a state of prayer. He begins with the phrase, “Bismillah hir rahman nir raheem ( �حرلا نحمرلا لهلا سمب ) [In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful].” the beginning of what is often considered to be the first verse of the Qur’an. This phrase is commonly stated by Muslims before starting a task or an action to clarify their intentions and ask for Allah’s blessings as they embark on their endeavor. In Omar, the phrase serves double duty, first setting the stage for the task of performing the opera while illustrating Omar’s faith and prayer to Allah for help. Sung a cappella, or without instruments, Omar’s voice sonically demonstrates the beautifully ornamented sustained lines of Islamic prayer, sung with delicate trills that embellish the ends of each phrase. Though incredibly sonorous, Islamic prayers are not considered musical in the Western understanding. As methods of recitation, both the call to prayer (adhān) and the recitation of the Qur’an are distinct from singing; conversely, musiqa, the Arabic term for music, has often been applied to instrumental music or vocal music with instrumental accompaniment. While there is not any text in the Qur’an or in the traditions of the Prophet (hadīth) that explicitly forbids music, Muslim communities have frequently been mischaracterized as being against music, since some orthodox communities believe that musiqa will lead individuals astray from their devotional life and towards deviant behavior. Scholarly and public debates on the relationship between Islam and music continue today. However, the lack of consensus on the status of music in Islam has allowed forms of popular, secular, and Islamic devotional music to flourish and coexist.

The adhān can be heard up to five times a day, and it signals to the Muslim community the time to pray. Traditionally the adhān is given by the Mu’adhdhin, who climbs the minaret of mosques and projects his voice to the community surrounding the mosque. Today, the adhān can be heard through media and from loudspeakers on the minarets of mosques. The adhān involves an affirmation of Allah and a profession of faith in Allah’s teachings in Arabic, and while there is no fixed melody or meter to the call to prayer, there is careful attention paid to the clarity of the text. Each line of the adhān is recited with long lines based on variations of the Middle Eastern maqam melodic system, and lines can finish with melismatic embellishments, executed by extending one syllable over multiple notes. Above all, both the adhān and the prayer serve to express tawhid, or the idea of “unity with God.”

Listen to a few examples of the adhān