Koranic Recitation: Obsession or passion?

I wasn’t quite sure how to react to Koran By Heart. The documentary certainly stirred up a plethora of powerful reactions for me: I was amazed at these children’s ability to memorize an entire book. I was in awe at the sheer beauty of the recitations. But I was admittedly very taken back by the extremism and single-minded view of some of the parents in the film. 

To be sure, I see nothing wrong with someone dedicating his or her entire life to Koranic recitation. If it makes you happy, brings you fulfillment, and that’s what you see value in, more power to you. However, I think a problem arises when young children are encouraged (and in some cases, as we saw, forced) to dedicate their lives to Koranic recitation at the expense of a comprehensive education and a well-balanced childhood.

Nabiollah was obviously a smart kid. Heck, he memorized the entire Koran, and he didn’t even speak Arabic. As Anna mentioned, he simply memorized the words and likely didn’t understand what they meant. This is a problem in and of itself, but I think the real problem is that he was illiterate because he was forced to spend all his time memorizing the Koran.

With that said, I must confess that the film did provide me with a better understanding of why the Koran has such a strong oral tradition; it truly is beautiful in its recitation. As Sells writes, “only God’s recitation could adequately enunciate its beauty and perfection” (145). Perhaps this is why these competitions exist: it’s a never-ending quest to come as close as possibly to replicating the beauty of God’s recitation.

On a related note, I think the fact that Quranic recitation is just as much about aesthetics (ie the rhythm and sound patterns) as the words themselves helps to answer a somewhat puzzling question: if revelation is transcendent, how can we describe it? Sells acknowledges this somewhat indirectly as he urges the reader to “imagine the effect of far deeper patterns extended through a sacred text that raises questions about the meaning of life, the source of life, the end of life, and the source of knowledge” (165). It’s interesting to see how it is not just Buddhism (note: the Vimalakirti) that makes use of aesthetics to help the reader have some sort of spiritual experience through a sacred text that elicits a powerful reaction (the image of one of the judges crying while listening to a recitation, for example).