Statements at the Illuminating Gathering of Connection with the Quran on the First Day of the Blessed Month of Ramadan

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Today was a very sweet and desirable session for us. Truly, today you have made the beginning of Ramadan, which you have ushered in with your presence and your attractive and beautiful programs, sweet for us with this beautiful and sweet start; thank you very much. The programs that were executed were very good; Mr. Yaraghabafan was also, as always, engaged in golden recitation; may God preserve him, God willing.

I listen to the Quran recitation radio and the Quranic programs on television to some extent. Whenever I hear a recitation that seems attractive, mature, and outstanding to me, I sincerely thank God; and thanks be to God, this happens frequently; that is, today we have many outstanding, beautiful, and correct reciters who are familiar with good recitation methods in the country. Truly, one observes them one after another. We must thank God. If we want to compare with before the revolution, it is not even comparable. Before the revolution, in all of Mashhad, which was considered one of the important centers of recitation and reading, perhaps the number of reciters who could read the Quran correctly and well was only two or at most three. Now, I am not talking about those old masters. Those who participated in our sessions and we saw them, for example, consider Mr. Fatemi, Mr. Mokhtari, there were only these two or three more; but today, they are countless. Thanks be to God, there are many Quran reciters all over the country.

Well, you saw this young man from Bushehr that I remembered, the year he recited here, it was explained that he is from a village where all of them are engaged in Quranic work. It is a village that is a center for the Quran. You observe these, and there are many like this throughout the country, thanks be to God, and it is a cause for gratitude. Friends have reported to me that the growth of the Quran in society is higher than all other growth indicators in the country; this is very gratifying and pleasing.

I would like to say one sentence so that the value of the reciter and the Quran reciter becomes clear to all of us and to themselves as well. The reciter and the one who recites the Quran is the messenger of the message of the Almighty God to the listeners. That is, you who sit here and recite, you are performing a mission, you are delivering a message, and you are conveying God's message to our hearts; this is a very high and distinguished rank, this is a very great honor. To convey this message well, tools are necessary, one of which is a good voice, and one is effective techniques, such as tone and some other characteristics that I will briefly mention later. I see that some of our dear reciters, whose voices I hear from the Quran recitation radio, are fully familiar with these points and apply them, they utilize them, and the impact of their recitation multiplies.

Listening to the Quran is a necessary and obligatory task; whether through reciting the Quran for oneself or listening to the Quran from another; in any case, this is a necessary task. First, it is a prerequisite for faith in revelation; those to whom We have given the Book recite it with its due recitation; these are the ones who believe in it; thus, reciting the Quran is a prerequisite for faith. Or it is stated: "Do they not reflect upon the Quran?" Well, when does reflection occur? It occurs when you recite or listen; in this case. Therefore, listening to the Quran is not a trivial matter. I always tell various friends, officials and non-officials, young people, whenever the occasion arises and we talk about the Quran, I say you must read the Quran every day. Now, I am not saying you should read, for example, half a part or a whole part; even read half a page a day, read one page a day, but do not neglect it. Throughout the year, there should not be a day that you do not open the Quran and do not recite it. Well, this listening to the Quran is firstly a duty due to faith, secondly, it is a precursor to divine mercy; as it is stated: "And when the Quran is recited, listen to it and be silent, that you may receive mercy"; that is, hearing the Quran and listening to the Quran is a precursor to divine mercy; what could be better than this! This is one of the most important factors that can familiarize a person with divine mercy.

Recitation must be done with reflection. Of course, the problem of our dear people is that they do not have a proper familiarity with the language of the Quran. In Arab countries, you observe that ordinary people who are sitting for prayer, for example, in the Imam Hussein Mosque or elsewhere, when reciters read the Quran before prayer, people understand the meaning directly, that is, the apparent meaning of the Quran; which, of course, "Its apparent is beautiful and its hidden is deep"; it has a deep hidden meaning that most of it may not be accessible to the general public and requires interpretation and explanation from its scholars, but the apparent meaning of the Quran is useful for everyone; everyone can benefit from these apparents; our problem is here; this must be resolved somehow.

Now I have noted here that one of the important tasks is that we can blend the recitation of the Quran with interpretative translation, not just a literal translation of the meanings of words; an interpretative translation that some of the translations that are currently prevalent and in the hands of people have this characteristic that they have pointed out some points there. Very good and fluent interpretations also fortunately exist today; that is, today we do not have a problem in terms of books, in terms of Quran translations, in terms of interpretations; thanks be to God, there is plenty available; this sample interpretation, other interpretations that exist, there are many interpretations of this kind. A form and a method must be found; this must be the responsibility of the specialists in Quranic work and those who are engaged in these matters to find a way that we can incorporate the translation into the Quranic gatherings where the Quran is recited.

Of course, there is a small task currently being done on the Quran recitation radio that I like: before they broadcast the recitation, the presenter summarizes the content of one or two verses of the verses that this reciter is about to read from the common interpretations that exist; this is very good; this is very good. Now, even if the reciter may read twenty verses, thirty verses, this presenter mentions one verse, two verses, but that much is also valuable. This is a task that is currently being done on the Quran recitation radio. I used to do something similar before the revolution in the sessions where I spoke about Quranic issues. It was such that I would discuss a detailed explanation for about an hour about a topic; we had selected the verses of that topic. After my speech, one of the reciters, these friends who were in Mashhad — some of whom, thanks be to God, are still alive, some have passed away — they would come and sit; I would say [to others] that I place the Quran as the introduction to my speech, I place my speech as the introduction to the Quran; I would stand and give my speech — there was a chair there, a pulpit, the reciter would come and sit on that pulpit and recite the Quran; we used to do this at that time, now I do not know how much such tasks are possible in these sessions. In any case, a method must be chosen. This task may be the responsibility of these Quranic groups to see what can be done so that when you recite, people can grasp the meanings and concepts as they are.

One of the very good tasks is to promote the recitation and listening to the Quran in all mosques. Some mosques are such that recitation is done there. My point is that if we can make every mosque a Quranic base; that is, invite one reciter, two reciters — thanks be to God, there are many reciters — to come there before prayer; now if it is possible, to do this every day, which is a bit difficult, at least once a week, a reciter, a Quran reciter should come to the mosque and sit and read the Quran, and people listen; now perhaps either he himself or someone next to him should also provide a short interpretative translation for the understanding of the people. In my opinion, these are good.

We must pay attention to the issues related to the Quran. The Quran is the book of life, the book of wisdom, the book of lessons; we have spoken a lot in this regard, I do not want to repeat what we have said. The Quran has lessons for all aspects of life. Every page of the Quran that you look at, when we pay attention, reflect, we can find dozens of essential points for life in every page of the Quran. These are important issues. Not only the issues related to the hereafter — which are very heavy and prominent in the Quran — but even the issues related to our personal lives, our family lives, our governance issues, our international relations, regarding all of these and for all of these, there is wisdom in the Quran, there is guidance. Well, we must utilize this, utilize the Quran.

Thanks be to God, the Quranic community today is vast. There was a time when we used to say these things, there was no infrastructure for it; at that time, only a few were familiar with the Quran, and those who advised and spoke to the people did not often use the Quran in their statements and such. Today, thanks be to God, there is a lot of infrastructure; we have many Quran reciters, many Quran memorizers, many Quran reciters, many listeners and enthusiasts of the Quran; they participate in Quranic gatherings, one sees. Therefore, we must work on the issue of Quran recitation, on the issue of familiarity with the Quran and with the meanings of the Quran, as much as possible, and work more; this issue is an important issue.

I would like to mention a few points for the reciters; to you who now recite and people benefit and this great honor has been granted to you by the Almighty God, you have gained this great success that you can be the bearer of the divine message to the people and address our hearts, I would like to mention a few points. Recitation should be for the purpose of impacting the audience, which of course has its techniques that I will mention some of them later; of course, most of you are familiar; "impacting the audience"; that is, when you start reciting, your intention should be that your recitation impacts your audience. We have two types of recitation: one type is the recitation whose goal is impact, and another type is the recitation whose goal is singing. You may be surprised? Do not be surprised. Now, you all, thanks be to God, because you are all good and pure and have sincere intentions, it may be surprising to you; but no, someone who is familiar with these external reciters — I will not mention the name of the country — sees that some of them, when they recite, it seems that their intention is to constantly showcase the tones and styles to the listener! The listener is also professional, there are a number of professional listeners; this noise you hear — the uproar, they shout, and one does not understand what they are saying! — these are the professionals; often they are after this. In public gatherings, you see people shouting, saying "Allah", sometimes crying, that is impact; but in these specific gatherings where it is evident that, for example, there are twenty, fifty, or a hundred people surrounding the reciter, making noise, this is not a desirable recitation; the recitation should be for impact. Of course, impact primarily relates to the reciter himself. If the reciter himself is affected by his recitation — which one sees that some Egyptian reciters are truly affected by their recitation — its impact is naturally greater; there are also techniques that I will mention some of them now. Of course, I have a purpose; not that I want to teach you that technique; you know better than I do; I have a purpose in this.

One of the techniques is to use the differences in recitation. Some people read the differences in recitation only for self-display, meaning it really has no benefit; weak and rare recitations. Sometimes a verse is repeated in five or six different recitations, it has no benefit. This kind of reading of differences in recitation is not desirable, I do not recommend it; although some differences in recitation are very good, which I will mention some examples of. Some differences in recitation are very good, but there are places where the difference in recitation — which leads to repetition — has no benefit for impact; none; sometimes it even distracts the mind, makes one focus on other things; but there are places where it is very good. I will mention two or three examples: one is this recitation of Abdul Basit in Surah Yusuf, "Hayta Lak", where he keeps repeating, meaning he does not wait for the verse to finish before repeating. "And she said, 'Hayta Lak', and she said, 'Heeta Lak', and she said, 'Heetu Lak';" he keeps repeating. He wants to show the importance of the situation; he wants to highlight the importance. If he reads it like this and passes, such an important situation will not be noticed by the listener. A young man in a secluded room and such a woman is insisting on him, and he refuses. This is the importance of this issue; that is, he wants to make the situation so clear in the listener's mind that it seems to be happening right before their eyes, hence he repeats. Such repetition is rare among good Arab reciters who immediately repeat like this. This is one example. These are good; if friends practice these and act like this, and if there is a place where there is a difference in recitation, they express it, it seems very good. Now, for example, in that "Salamun Ala Ilyasin", the recitation of Warsh is "Aal Yasin". "Salamun Ala Ilyasin", "Salamun Ala Aal Yasin"; only Warsh reads it here as "Aal Yasin"; the rest all read it as "Ilyasin". For example, repeating it is not bad; "Salamun Ala Ilyasin", "Salamun Ala Aal Yasin".

Another interesting example that was very sweet and attractive to me was the recitation of Sheikh Mustafa Ismail in Surah Naml when the Prophet says, "Which of you will bring me her throne?"; here "A'firiti min al-jinn"; this [difference in recitation] shows itself. Moreover, the jinn were under the command of Prophet Solomon, but their hearts were not with him, as it is stated, "The jinn realized that if they knew the unseen, they would not have remained in the humiliating punishment" — which is in Surah Saba — this indicates that they were under command, they were forced, the Prophet had subdued them, but their hearts were not with the Prophet. Now here [when it is said] "A'firiti min al-jinn said, 'I will bring it to you before you rise from your place'"; what does Sheikh Mustafa Ismail do? He first reads this: "A'firiti min al-jinn said, 'I will bring it to you before you rise from your place'"; [then] he reads "Ana Atika Bih" with the recitation of Warsh; that is, he repeats the matter in the form of the recitation of Warsh; why? Because the recitation of Warsh here shows the arrogance of this 'ifrit' more. You see, this way of reading shows itself; hence he repeats. In my opinion, Mustafa Ismail — with the understanding one has of this great and distinguished reciter — intentionally repeats this recitation here; that is, he does not let the verse finish, then start; right there after "Ana Atika" which is the famous recitation of Hafs from Asim, he repeats the recitation of Warsh to show that he is boasting about himself.

Then, that "The one who has knowledge of the Book" hits this; he also says, "I will bring it to you before you can blink". Here too [Sheikh Mustafa Ismail] does the same thing, here too he reads it like this; that is, in fact, a boastful wrong move of the 'ifrit' is answered by a pure believer from the companions of Prophet Solomon, and in fact, he hits him in the mouth. You see, this use of the difference in recitation in this way is completely good; but if the differences in recitation are done without these aspects, without these subtleties and attentions, now in a thin limit, in my opinion, it is not a problem. You know because Warsh was based in Egypt and in fact, the Egyptian heritage is this recitation of Warsh from Nafi, hence they give importance to it. You must have heard that there they even have recitations solely with the recitation of Warsh; from beginning to end, only the recitation of Warsh. In Egypt and some North African countries that are the west of the Islamic world, the recitation of Warsh from Nafi is prevalent. The recitation of Hamzah also has a beauty due to the hamzah after the silent letter that creates a pause, which is also not problematic in some cases; but excessive emphasis on expressing these various recitations and resorting to all sorts of their strange and odd pronunciations that one really cannot digest why this is so, is not correct. I also do not think that today in the Arab world any Arab speaks in this way; perhaps the day when, for example, Mr. Hamzah — one of the seven reciters — expressed this, it was prevalent, but I do not think that today in the Arab world — I mean I have not heard or seen until now — they speak in this way or pronounce the kasras in this way. In any case, this is regarding this meaning.

Another point is actually a technique regarding cuts and connections. One of the respected reciters who recited here today was very good in this regard; that is, almost all the gentlemen who recited today, especially one of them, very well made cuts that made the listener pay attention to that point. Sometimes a cut in the verse of the Quran makes the matter stick in the mind, sometimes it shows the importance of the matter and a characteristic and point in the matter; sometimes it is like this that of course these must be exemplified to be clearly understood what is meant, which now there is no time, I do not remember many of them. Now what is in my mind, again the recitation of Mustafa Ismail in Surah Qasas: "Then one of them came to him walking shyly". Well, how would we read this? We read it like this: "Then one of them came to him walking shyly"; one of those two girls came, she was moving with modesty; very well, this is the ordinary reading. Mustafa Ismail does not read it like this; he says "Then one of them came to him walking", he does not say "shyly"; he makes a pause, then says "shyly"; why? Because this modesty of the girl has meaning. Well, this is the same girl who half an hour before this or an hour before this was next to this young man watering her sheep and went; now why is she shy, [but] at that time she was not shy? [Because] they have gone to talk to her father and praised this young man, a conversation has taken place in the house regarding this young man, hence this girl has a modest demeanor when she comes; "shyly". He wants to specify this, he wants to highlight this; hence he separates "walking" and says "shyly" separately. There are many such cases; if attention is paid to these, in my opinion, it is very good. Or repeating some verses or repeating some sentences or raising and lowering the voice — going up and down the voice — in some places, all these are important techniques that help the impact of the Quran in hearts.

In any case, your work is an important task, a great task, a distinguished task, a technical task, a compound art. What you do is an art; reciting the Quran is a great and compound art; that is, it is a combination of melody and various characteristics that are considered in recitation to enable a person to have an impact. Just be careful that recitation is not done for the sake of the tone; recitation should be done with any tone you read, with the intention of impacting the other side; that is, the intention and goal should be this, not like some of these famous Arab singers; now I praised Mustafa Ismail, but he sometimes does the same; sometimes he reads in such a way that one feels as if he wants to showcase the tone and quality of reading to the audience and impress them, but in many cases, his recitation is a spiritually impactful recitation.

We hope, God willing, that the Almighty God grants all of you success, grants all of us success to become more familiar with the Quran, to become more acquainted with the Quran, and may we be able to fulfill our duty in this area of Quranic issues, God willing. The important part is acting upon the Quran, which is another chapter and a very broad topic; in the section related to recitation and respect for the Quran, we have presented these characteristics. We hope, God willing, that God will grant you success.

O Lord! By the right of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, unite us with the Quran; keep us alive with the Quran; resurrect us with the Quran in the grave and the Day of Resurrection; grant us the greatest Quranic benefit; make our society a Quranic society; those who taught us the Quran, those who taught us Tajweed, those who taught us the secrets of the Quran, O Lord! Include them in Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness; may God, God willing, unite our Quranic teachers with His saints.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.