Ramadan and Hip-Hop 1
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
DEMETRIC.MUHAMMAD