Suntou,

Yes, I have taken part in many group Quran recitations, not as a passive 
observer, but an active participant. You are right that some people recite too 
fast, and if I may add, some don’t even recite the Quran properly. However, I 
think these two groups form the minority. I believe the greater majority of 
people who participate in Quran recitation do it to please God. Many verses in 
the Holy Quran promise great rewards for those who recite it or even listen to 
people recite it. I think the overall goal of group Quran recitation is to bring 
Muslims together and celebrate the beauty of the Quran. We cannot condemn 
this practice just because few individuals hijack it for their self-enrichment or 
ignorance. An analogy to this is the case of our Islamic leaders who have 
given up worship of God, the Almighty Mighty, to singing praises to Yahya 
Jammeh. Does it mean we should do away with having Islamic leaders in the 
Gambia? No. What it means is that we need to choose leaders with 
unimpeachable records to lead us and also make them accountable if they 
stray from the right path. 

It is well documented in the traditions of Holy Prophet (SAW) that fragments 
of the Quran were written down during His life time, but it was not compiled in 
a book.  The need to compile the Quran came to center stage after the battle 
of Yamamah and other battles, where many huffaz were martyred.  Sayyidna 
Umar, Radi-Allahu anhu fear that the Quran might get lost to posterity and 
suggested to Sayyidna Abu Bakr, Radi-Allahu anhu to compile the Quran in a 
book form.  At first, Abu Bakr and some other companions hesitated in doing 
something the Holy Prophet had not done. They later agreed and 
commissioned a task force to compiling the Quran. Each verse had to be 
confirmed by four people before it could be included in the Book. They were 
compiled in surahs, but not arranged in its current format.

Then during the rule of Sayyidna Utman Radi-Allahu anhu, Islam spread to non-
Arabs and soon the Quran was recited in many different ways. The problem 
was that the original compilation did not have vowels; it was all written in 
constants and non-Arabs could not tell which vowel to use for proper 
pronunciation. The Christian religion faces a similar problem when they 
translate the Bible from Hebrew to Western languages. 

Utman borrowed the original copy of the Quran from Hafsah (the custodian) 
and had another task force made a copy, included vowels, and arranged the 
Surahs in their current configuration, and finally burnt all other copies in 
circulation. There was no manual dictated by the Prophet as to how the 
Surahs were to be arranged. 

The next major innovation in Islam was the collection and compilation of the 
Hadiths. There was no precedence for this too, but the work was and still is, 
revered by Muslims. A great number of Islamic laws are rooted in the Hadiths. 
Furthermore, in late 8 to mid 9 centuries, four scholars, Abu Hanifa, Malik Ibn 
Anas,  Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i, and Ahmad bin Hanbal developed the 
four schools of Islamic law from their interpretation of the Quran and Hadiths. 
Hanifa developed his laws in Iraq and Muslims of India, Pakistan and the 
surrounding countries follow his law. Malik developed his laws in Medinah, and 
Muslims in most of Africa, excluding Egypt and other north east Africans 
Muslims follow his law. Shafi’I was a student of Malik and his law is followed by 
Muslims in many Middle East countries. And finally, Hanbal developed his law in 
Iraq and is followed in most of the Arabian Peninsula.  These four Madhhab do 
not always agree on the interpretation of Quranic verses and Hadiths. 
However, Islamic scholars agree that all the four schools are valid, and where 
they disagree, Muslims are free to choose anyone of the schools. We utilize 
their innovations to further the cause of Allah and His Messenger. 

A major source of problem in the Gambia today relates to our understanding of 
these schools of Law. Most of our recent scholars get their education in 
Saudi, Egypt and other Middle East countries that follow a different school of 
law and when they returned to the Gambia and find people following Malik, 
they condemn them. Gamo, group Quran recitation, praying for the Holy 
Prophet, and many other rituals accepted under Malik, they label as bidah, 
thereby creating unnecessary confusion.

In fact the Quran itself is not static. If you looked at Meccan Surahs you will 
see that their tones are softer than those of Medina.  We know the prophet 
had wanted to introduce Islam through peaceful means, but when the Arabs 
started persecuting Him and His followers and forced them to migrate to 
Medina, the tone became a little stronger. During the early part of the Hegira, 
enemies of Islam were stronger militarily and determined to wipeout Islam. In 
response, the Quran commanded Muslims to defend their faith and provided 
spiritual and military guidance. During these trying times, the entire Muslim 
community was on the edge of annihilation but miraculously, Muslim ranks 
grew stronger and finally defeated their enemies. Furthermore, in the early 
days of Islam, alcohol was not forbidden; Muslims were asked not to approach 
prayers while under the influence of alcohol. However, it was later forbidden. 
There are many instances in the Quran where a later verse replaces an older 
one. What this shows is that the Quran is living.

What am trying to say is that Islam is supposed to be a complete way of life; 
therefore, it must be alive. Our interpretation of innovation has not helped the 
Muslims very much. Early Muslims sowed the seed of European Renaissance. 
They collected and synthesized the works of Aristotle, Plate, and Socrates 
and other ancient scholars, invented modern bureaucracy, astronomy, 
Algebra, optics, the hospital, and many scientific methods of enquiry. But due 
to our interpretation of innovation, we could not capitalize on these works and 
provide better life for Muslims and human kind. The Quran made explicit 
statements about many aspects of nature, but we discourage people from 
studying them because we interpret such quests as bidah. 
ML Touray

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤