In today’s Waaz Mubarak, Al Syed al Ajal Shehzada Husain Bhaisaheb Burhanuddin DM recited the first thirteen verses of Sūrah al-Ḥujurāt, mostly in the Reading of Ḥamzah from the Tarīq of Tayyibah. This Tarīq is dotted with saktahs whenever a sukūn or madd occurs before a hamz.

The fourth verse of the Sūrah was repeated in the Reading of Abū Jaʿfar after first being recited in the Reading of Ḥamzah.

Verse 6, after being recited in Ḥamzah was repeated in Ḥafṣ. An audio note is presented here.

Point to note: When reciting in Ḥamzah, the saktah of “al” i.e. the saktah on the hamz occurring after the alif and lām of the maʿrefah word turns into naql upon waqf. The reciter may choose between the option of naql or saktah.

Shehzada Saheb DM repeated the second half of Verse 7 in the Reading of Yaʿqūb from the Tarīq of Tayyibah by pronouncing the hāʾ al-sakt on the nūn of the word “al-rāshidūn” as seen in the image below.

Listen to the audio note here:

After continuing the recitation in Ḥamzah, Shehzada Saheb DM repeated the tenth verse in the Reading of Yaʿqūb thus:

The recitation continued in the Reading of Ḥamzah from the Tarīq of Tayyibah until the end of Verse 13.

History Lane

Mahmoud Ali al-Banna

Another of the Egyptian stalwarts, Mahmoud al-Banna, was born in a village in Shebeen El Kom in the Nile Delta region of Egypt. At the young age of 12, his father enrolled him in an institute in Tanta where his teachers observed that he could imitate erstwhile reciters to the last beat. Shaikh al-Banna said in an interview with Izāʿah Radio that his ability to imitate contemporary reciters developed as a result of him listening to their recitations for long durations, and then practicing extensively to sound exactly like them.

Due to his obsession with the recitation of the Qur’an, the Shaikh did not pay much heed to academics and hence was advised to seek admission in a specialist institute in Tanta itself and continue his journey of Qur’anic recitation. He soon moved to Cairo where he was admitted as a reciter in the Izāʿah. His first recitation of Sūrah Ṭāhā was aired in the February of 1949.

Shaikh al-Banna’s voice was fertile, sweet and supple, just like the environment of the Nile Delta where the Shaikh came from. A baritone voice, the Shaikh had a strong base voice and a clear high tone. He had the ability to enable the audience to picturize the verses he recited. This was achieved through his musical background with Shaikh Dervish al-Hariri. Shaikh Mustafa Ismail said of him: “His pronunciations were immaculate. His ʿayn was one of the most perfect ones and, in general, his letters had a lot of weight and force in their articulation.

Al-Banna’s career coincided with other great reciters of the Egyptian school. He passed away in 1985.

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