The Controversy over Reciting the Qurʾān with Tones (al‑qirāʾah bi’l‑alḥān)
Whether it is acceptable to recite the Qurʾān with tones (al‑qirāʾah bi’l‑alḥān) touches on two larger issues, the acceptability of music and the distinctiveness of Islam from Christianity and Judaism. Various ḥadīth reports apparently caused difficulty for traditionalists who rejected recitation with tones. The reports themselves were evidently too well established to be rejected. Sometimes they were nullified by more or less strained interpretation, sometimes by paraphrase. Early Ḥanbalī literature is strongly opposed to recitation of the Qurʾān with tones. Mālikī literature also rejects it, but the Ḥanafī school seems to have been divided. By contrast, the earliest Shāfiʿī literature is permissive.
“Their Prayer at the House Is Nothing but Whistling and Clapping of Hands” (Q al-Anfāl 8:35): Negotiating Processions in the Qurʾān
In this article, I argue that the Qurʾān as a post-axial text contains traces of an anti-processional ideal in its position on circumambulation (ṭawāf), the Kaʿbah, and the pilgrimage (ḥajj). This argument is based on the observation that the Qurʾān both presents processional circumambulation as a legitimate ritual of reverence (e.g., Q al-Baqarah 2:125) but also seems to hint at an ideological uneasiness regarding this particular ritual (Q al-Baqarah 2:158, al-Anfāl 8:34–35). Taking a theoretical perspective from the study of religions, particularly the work of Robert Bellah, the article proposes that the Qurʾān negotiates a compromise between an initial anti-processional ideal and the feasibility and long-term durability of its ritual practices. A circumambulation with particular gravitas and without “clapping” and “whistling,” as demanded in Q 8:35, is the pragmatic result of such a negotiation. From this perspective, the most important thing, according to the Qurʾān, is to pray and address one’s devotions to God, but if members of the community feel a need to perform circumambulation, then that is acceptable provided certain conditions are met.
Review Essay: Al-Ḥākim al-Jishumī and the History and Study of Muʿtazilī Exegesis
عن حجة القراءات أيضا. وواضح أن المحقق لم يتفطن لسياق الكالم وأنه عن ِس، فقراءة أبي عمرو هي: ً اإلدغام وليس عن إبدال التاء ياء ُ . ثم إن تعليق المحقق ملب “بل يؤثرون.” أما استشهاد الجشمي بآية: “وزرابي مبثوثة” في هذا السياق، فغريب ًا بالمحقق أن يشير إلى ذلك ويعلله. ثم إن من القراءات ّ وفي غير محله، وكان حري ما أخذه من كتب التفسير المتأخرة كفتح القدير للشوكاني والجامع ألحكام القرآن للقرطبي )ج 10 ،ص 7101.
