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Ramadan and Hip-Hop From Poets to Prophets through Revelation in Rhyme By Demetric Muhammad I am so thankful to Allah (God) that he has blessed me to make it through another year’s observance of Ramadan. During this month I grew to see Ramadan as really a “celebration of revelation.” It is not a celebration like many of us who grew up in America are accustomed to. For what we grew up with as celebrations often involved alcoholic beverages, loud music and our own tailored mixture of vice and hedonism. There wasn’t much in those traditional secular celebrations that we could be too proud of today, now that our moral consciousness has been awakened. Ramadan is affectionately referred to as the “month of the Qur’an.” It is the month when Prophet Muhammad (saw) first received divinely revealed guidance from Allah (God) approximately 1435 years ago. The Holy Prophet’s experience during that time in the month of Ramadan began a process that would not be completed until 23 years later. The process of Allah (God) communicating to Prophet Muhammad guidance in the form of verses of instruction, warning and good news is what produced the Holy Qur’an. The Holy Qur’an is not a book that was authored by Prophet Muhammad. Allah (God) is its author. It is a book that follows a long history of Prophets and Messengers receiving through distinct ways, a divine message from Allah (God) that was to serve as a prescription to cure the ills of their respective peoples and nations. This process is according to the Holy Qur’an a universal phenomenon. It is called “divine revelation” because the Prophets and Messengers receive wisdom and guidance that was previously concealed and known only to Allah (God) Himself. Yet out of Allah’s (God’s) love for the people, he reveals his secrets to his servants the Prophets. Every since I formally became a Muslim, I have always been interested in the intersections and relationship between Islam and popular culture. And I have been especially interested in the relationship between Islam and the music and culture of my youth, which is Hip-Hop. As I looked at the history of Islam and the history of the Holy Qur’an, I have read where scholars and linguists have identified that there is a rhythmic cadence to the Qur’anic Arabic language. The rhythmic cadence or rhyme scheme of the Qur’anic Arabic language is what facilitates ease for those who memorize the Qur’an, which is a popular practice in Islamic societies. Professor and hip-hop researcher H. Samy Alim wrote a section on Hip-Hop and Islam for the book Muslim Networks: From Hajj to Hip-Hop. He discusses the rhyme scheme of the Holy Qur’an with Muslim rapper Mos Def. “The reason that people are able to be hafiz [one who memorizes the entire Quran through constant repetition and study] is because the entire Quran rhymes. [Mos Def WWW.RESEARCHMINISTER.COM
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begins reciting Islamic verses from the Quran.] ‘Bismillah AlRahman Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulillahi Rabb Al-Alameen.’’ Like everything . . . Like, you see what I’m saying? I mean, it’s any surah that I could name. ‘‘Qul huwa Allahu ahad, Allahu samud. Lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakun lahu kufwan ahad.’’ It’s all like that. Like, you don’t even notice it. ‘‘Idha ja_a nasru Allahi wal fath.Wa ra_aita al-nas yadkhuluna fi dini Allahi afwajan. Fa sabbih bi hamdi rabbika wa istaghfirhu innahu kana tawwab.’’ Like, there’s a rhyme scheme in all of it. You see what I’m saying? And it holds fast to your memory. And then you start to have a deeper relationship with it on recitation. Like, you know, you learn Surat Al-Ikhlas, right. You learn Al-Fatiha. And you learn it and you recite it. And you learn it and you recite it. Then one day you’re reciting it, and you start to understand! You really have a deeper relationship with what you’re reciting. ‘‘Audhu billahi min alshaitan al-rajim. . . .’’ You be like, ‘‘Wow!’’ You understand what I’m saying? Hip Hop has the ability to do that—on a poetic level.” The rhythm of the Qur’an caused the recitation of its verses to sound like poetry. And this gave rise to criticism of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw), that he was not a prophet of God, but was instead a poet. The Holy Qur’an actually contains several passages that document the history of the Prophet being condemned as a poet. “Nay, say they: Medleys of dreams! Nay, he has forged it! Nay, he is a poet!...” Surah 21:5 “And said: Shall we give up our gods for a mad poet?” Surah 37:36 “Or say they: A poet — we wait for him the evil accidents of time.” Surah 52:30 “And it is not the word of a poet. Little is it that you believe!” Surah 69:41 “And We have not taught him poetry, nor is it meet for him. This is naught but a Reminder and a plain Qur’an,” Surah 36:69 The pre-Islamic Arabs were familiar with poets. Poetry occupied a very influential place in their lives during the period of time known as Jahiliyah (the Days of Ignorance). In an article entitled Arabia in the Pre-Islamic Period written by Nihal Şahin Utku, PhD. “In the desert life, where people experienced harsh conditions in vast lands, Arabian society found itself in a very different field, composed of poetry and oration. This was their way of resisting the hardships of life and became very significant in uniting a society that was continuously on the move from one place to another. Arabic poetry had WWW.RESEARCHMINISTER.COM
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many themes, like love, wine, battle, victory, bravery, hatred against the enemy, hunting, nature, tribal virtues; it came in some way to mirror Bedouin life. Everything that entered the life of a Bedouin was transferred to the poems. Numerous wives and children, large flocks, camels and horses, trade, raids and attacks, assaults, wine, and women were the basic social foundation of pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula, and these were the themes that were mentioned and praised in Arabic poetry and oration. The poets, who were masters of their art and who received a great deal of respect in the country, were regarded as the spokespeople, guides, wise men, orators, and even historians of their community. It was believed that they were supported by a divine power that was not possible for a common man to achieve and they were believed to have been blessed with a special intellect. It was fairly common for the poets to write poems that praised their tribes and criticized enemy tribes. In these poems, there were sections that attacked and sections that were written as answers; these had to be written in the same meter and constitute the same rhyme. The satirical or laudatory poems were the best appreciated. However, satire could easily shift to imprecation while praise could easily shift to adulation.” The enemies of Prophet Muhammad not only condemned him as no more than a “mad poet,” but they also employed poets to use their poetry against him. According to author Betty Kelen in her book Muhammad: Messenger of God, “One day a Jewish businessman passed by a group of young Muslims laughing together and could hardly believe his eyes. They were Aws and Khazraj, behaving like friends! Such a short time back they had been at one another’s throats, dragging all Medina, Jews and Arabs alike, into a frenzy of killing. It gave this man to wonder if something much worse might not happen to Jews if Arabs should cease to squabble. He sent out young Jews into the streets to remind Aws and Khazraj of their old bitterness, wherever they were seen consorting, and to start whatever other trouble they could. To Mecca was dispatched a famous poet, Ka’b, to sing songs of sad anger against Muhammad, which would have made the stones of the desert damp with tears.” As the Prophet and his followers continued to work among their people, there were poets from the Days of Ignorance (jahiliyah) who accepted Islam and joined the brotherhood of the Muslims. Among them were the poets Labid and Hassan. It was the poet Hassan that used his gift of rhythmic verse to write poems against the Prophet’s enemies. The Prophet reportedly directed Hassan to respond to the negative propaganda of his enemies when he said “Abuse the infidels in your verse, for surely (the angel) Jabril will help you.” The history of poets, poetry and the establishment of the religion of Islam on the Arabian Peninsula prefigured the history of modern poetry in the form of Rap or Hip-Hop music in America. Hip-Hop music is today the dominant culture among the youth of the world. But in its present state it is more analogous to the poetry of the Days of Ignorance. In its present condition Hip-Hop supports and is a marker of the modern day American culture WWW.RESEARCHMINISTER.COM
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of “jahiliyah” or ignorance. Its contents promote materialism, sexism, vice and the sexual misuse and abuse of women. And much like the pre-Islamic Arabian “jahiliyah” modern poets or rappers belong to various tribes in the form of street gangs, geographic groups (East vs. West vs. South) and record label families. But despite the problems with Hip-Hop its influence among young people greatly exceeds that of the church, the mosque, the schools and parents. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has made a call for a cultural revolution. He is asking the Hip-Hop artists to become culture warriors in the fight against the systemic and treacherous “dumbing down” of the American people. Arabia grew and evolved from being under the influence of poets to being under the influence of a Prophet. And it was the revelation of God’s hidden truth, in the rhyming verses of the Holy Qur’an that ended the Days of Ignorance. The Holy Qur’an propelled a once fallen people to being a people in charge of a golden age of science, technology, civilization, engineering, medicine and commerce. Our rappers today have all the ingredients available to drive a desperately needed revolution of thought in America. They literally have the power to change behaviors, establish new trends and effect political outcomes all within the time it takes to make one song! I encourage the Hip-Hop artists to see this history of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an as a sign of today. I encourage them to heed the loving advice of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and grow, evolve and mature; to become teachers, guides and leaders of their people. -Demetric Muhammad
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