An Analysis of Internal Rhythmic Structure in the Quran and Its Impact on Conveying Meanings

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 . Assistant Professor, Department of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran (Corresponding Author)

2 . Master's Student in Quranic and Hadith Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

3 . PhD Candidate in Quranic and Hadith Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

Mastery in any discipline necessitates the application of techniques that correspond with its fundamental nature and principles to attain the intended results. The recitation and reading (tilawat) of the Quran, recognized as a specialized art form, exemplify this principle. To execute this art form effectively, one must possess a thorough understanding of the pertinent principles. Central to this understanding is the acknowledgment of the text’s characteristics and a profound comprehension of its deeper meanings. A critical element that significantly influences the art of Quranic recitation is the “internal rhythmic structure of the verses,” which serves as a prominent illustration of the Quran’s rhetorical miracle (i’jaz al-bayani). Considerable effort has been invested in exploring the essence of this rhythmic structure. Grasping this dimension is vital for fulfilling what the Quran describes as “reciting with due right” (haqq tilawat). This analysis adopts a descriptive-analytical methodology to investigate how the internal rhythmic structure of the Quran affects the listener’s understanding of the meanings expressed in the verses. Thus, effectively utilizing the Quran’s internal rhythmic structure to communicate its meanings demands the careful and systematic adherence to recitation principles by the reciter.

Keywords

References

  1. ‘Abbās-Nizād, Moḥsen, Mabānī wa Muqaddimāt Rābiṭah-yi Quran wa ‘Ulūm-i Rūz (Foundations and Introduction to the Relationship between the Quran and Contemporary Sciences), Tehran: n.p., 1385 SH (2006 CE).
  2. Asadzādah, Hushang, & Asadzādah, Ibrāhīm, Mūsīqī (Music), N.p.: Āftāb-i Gītī Publications, 1394 SH (2015 CE).
  3. Bayhaqī, Aḥmad bin ‘Alī, Tāj al-Maṣādir (The Crown of Sources), Tehran: Hādī ‘Ālamzādah, 1375 SH (1996 CE).
  4. Bint al-Shāṭī’, ‘Ā’ishah, Al-I’jāz al-Bayānī wa Masā’il Ibn al-Azraq (The Miraculous Eloquence and Issues of Ibn al-Azraq), Egypt: Dar al-Ma’ārīf, 1361 AH (1942 CE).
  5. Dīyānī, Akram, “Darāmadī bar Shnākhit-i Mūsīqī-yi Quran, Adyān, Mazāhib wa ‘Irfān” (An Introduction to the Understanding of Quranic Music, Religions, Sects, and Mysticism), Nashrīyah-yi Andīshah-yi Taqrīb (Journal of Convergence Thought), 1385 SH (2006 CE).
  6. Ḥosām-pūr, Sa’īd, & Jabārah, ‘Aẓīm, “Barresī-yi Maqāmāt-i Quranī dar Tilāwat-i Chand Tan az Qārīān” (Examination of Quranic Modes in the Recitation of Several Reciters), Maqālāt-i Islāmī, ‘Ulūm-i Quran wa Ḥadīth (Islamic Studies Journal, Quran and Hadith Sciences), Issue 85, Autumn and Winter, 1389 SH (2010 CE).
  7. Ibn Fārīs, Abū al-Hossein, Maqāyīs al-Lughah (The Standards of Language), Qom: Maktab al-’Ālām al-Islāmī, 1404 AH (1984 CE).
  8. Ibn Khaldūn, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, Muqaddimat Ibn Khaldūn (The Prolegomena of Ibn Khaldūn), Translated by Mohammad Parvīn Gunābādī, Tehran: ‘Ilmī wa Farhangī Publications, 1375 SH (1996 CE).
  9. Ibn Rashīq, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qayrawānī al-Azdī, Al-’Umda (The Authority), Edited by Mohammad Muḥy al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd, N.p., n.p., 1992 CE.
  10. Ja’farī, Ya’qūb, Tafsīr Kausar (The Kausar Commentary), Qom: Hijrat Publications, 1376 SH (1997 CE).
  11. Kulayni, Mohammad bin Ya’qūb, Uṣūl al-Kāfī, Beirut: Dar al-T’āruf li al-Maṭbū’āt, 1990 CE.
  12. Ma’arifat, Mohammad Hādī, ‘Ulūm-i Quranī (Quranic Sciences), Qom: Intishārāt-i Tamhīd, 1398 SH (2019 CE).
  13. Ma’arifat, Mohammad Hādī, Al-Tamhīd (The Introduction), Qom: Intishārāt-i Tamhīd, 1381 SH (2002 CE).
  14. Maḥmūd, Muṣṭafā, Al-Quran Muḥāwalāh li Fahm al-’Aṣrī (The Quran: An Attempt to Understand Modernity), Dar al-Ma’ārīf, 1976 CE.
  15. Majlisī, Mohammad Bāqir, Biḥār al-Anwār (Seas of Lights), Beirut: Dar Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-’Arabī, 1403 AH (1983 CE).
  16. Moshkīn Fām, Dr. Batūl, & Khāliqīān, Umm al-Banīn, Mūsīqī Kalimāt-i Quran wa Asar-i Ān bar Ma’nā-bakhshī-yi Vāzhagān (The Music of Quranic Words and Its Effect on the Meaning of Words), Nashrīyah-yi Taḥqīqāt-i ‘Ulūm-i Quran wa Ḥadīth (Journal of Quranic and Hadith Studies), 1386 SH (2007 CE).
  17. Naqī Pūr, Walī-Allāh, Tadabbur dar Quran (Contemplation in the Quran), Qom: Intishārāt-i Aswah, 1371 SH (1992 CE).
  18. Nīk-Bakht, ‘Alī Reẓā, Isti’ānāh az Quran-i Karīm (Seeking Help from the Noble Quran), Tehran: Qiblah Publications, 1378 SH (1999 CE).
  19. Qāsim Niyā, Salmān, et al., “Mūsīqī Quran dar Farāyand-i Tarkīb wa Ārayesh-i Maṭn-i Vāzhagān” (The Music of the Quran in the Process of Combining and Arranging Lexical Meanings), Nashrīyah-yi Kitāb Qayyam (Journal of the Noble Book), 1396 SH (2017 CE).
  20. Rāfi’ī, Muṣṭafā Ṣādiq, & Ibn al-Dīn, ‘Abd al-Hossein, I’jāz-i Quran wa Balāghat-i Mohammad (The Miraculous Nature of the Quran and the Eloquence of Mohammad), Tehran: Bunyād-i Quran, 1361 SH (1982 CE).
  21. Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Hossein bin Mohammad, Al-Mufradāt fī Ghārīb al-Quran (The Unique Terms in the Quran), Beirut: Dar al-Shāmiyyah, 1412 AH (1992 CE).
  22. Sādiqī Mīzīdī, Majīd, & Farḥanākī Būshahrī, Ḥamīd, “Nagarshī bar Māhiyyat-i Taghannī dar Tilāwat-i Quran” (A Perspective on the Nature of Chanting in Quranic Recitation), Mutāla’āt-i Qirā’at-i Quran (Quranic Recitation Studies), 7(12), 1398 SH (2019 CE), pp. 189-206. doi: 10.22034/qer.2019.2718.
  23. Ṣaghīr, Mohammad Hossein ‘Alī, Al-Ṣawt al-Lughawī fī al-Quran (Phonetic Sounds in the Quran), Beirut: Dar al-Murakhkhin al-’Arabī, 1420 AH (1999 CE).
  24. Seyyedī, Seyyed Hossein and Shāhwurdī, Farahnāz, “Darāmadī bar Zībā’ī-yi Shenāsī-yi Takrār-i Ḥurūf dar Naẓm-i Āhang-i Dākhilī-yi Āyāt-i Quran” (An Introduction to the Aesthetics of Repetition of Letters in the Internal Rhythm of Quranic Verses), Nashrīyah-yi Pazhuhishhā-yi Quranī (Journal of Quranic Research), 1392 SH (2013 CE).
  25. Seyyedī, Seyyed Hossein, Sabad-Sabad-i Shukūfah-yi Shab-Bū (Basket-Basket of Night-Blooming Jasmine), Qom: Mū’assasah-yi Farhangī Intishārāt-i Naqsh, 1377 SH (1998 CE).
  26. Shādhilī, Seyyed bin Qutb, Al-Taswīr al-Fannī fī al-Quran (Artistic Imagery in the Quran), Translated by Mohammad ‘Alī ‘Ābidī, Intishārāt-i Enqelāb, 1395 SH (2016 CE).
  27. Shāh-Mīwah Isfahanī, Gholām-Rezā, “Pajūheshi dar Jlawah-hā-yi Mūsīqī-ā’ī Hunar-i Tilāwat” (A Study on the Musical Aspects of Recitation Art), N.p.: Nashr-i Tilāwat, 1387 SH (2008 CE).
  28. Shakurbīgī, Nargis, & Marvatī, Suhrāb, “Barresī-yi Janbah-hā-yi Zībā’ī-ṣh Shīnāṣī-yi Mūsīqī Quran-i Karīm” (Examining the Aesthetic Aspects of Quranic Music), Nashrīyah-yi Adabīyāt wa ‘Ulūm-i Insānī (Journal of Literature and Humanities), 1391 SH (2012 CE).
  29. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Seyyed Mohammad Hossein, Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Quran (The Balance in Quranic Exegesis), Beirut: Mu’assasah al-’Ālmī li al-Maṭbū’āt, 1390 AH (1970 CE).
  30. Ṭāliqānī, Seyyed Maḥmūd, Partowī az Quran (A Glimpse of the Quran), Volume 1, N.p.: Shirkah-yi Shāhāmī Intishār, 1390 SH (2011 CE).
  31. Ṭībī, Al-Tibyān fī ‘Ilm al-Ma’ānī wa al-Badī’ wa al-Bayān (The Clarification in the Science of Meanings, Eloquence, and Rhetoric), Beirut: n.p., 1365 SH (1986 CE).
  32. Tolstoy, Leo Nikolaevich, What Is Art? (Art What Is), Translated by Kāveh Dehgān, Tehran: Amīrkabīr Publications, 1383 SH (2004 CE).
  33. Ṭūsī, Mohammad bin Ḥasan, Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Quran (The Clarification in Quranic Exegesis), Qom: Jam’iyyat-i Mudarrisīn, 1413 AH (1993 CE).
  34. Zarrīnkūb, ‘Abd al-Hossein, Naqd-i Adabī (Literary Criticism), Tehran: Amīrkabīr Publications, 1361 SH (1982 CE).
Studies of Quran Reading
Volume 12, Issue 22 - Serial Number 22
September 2024
Pages 153-172

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 23 April 2023
  • Revise Date: 17 January 2024
  • Accept Date: 24 March 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics