Tilāwah: Sūrah al-Balad, Sūrah al-Ghāshiyah

Riwāyah: Khalaf ʿan Ḥamzah

Archive: Karachi, 1439

The Recitation

It was a sight to behold when nahāwand, unable to conceal its longing towards ḥijāz, flaunted its grace and dedicated itself to the recitation of Sūrah al-Balad; the balad being Makkah, the heart of Ḥijāz. It was a fitting performance since the Haven of Peace ought to be remembered with a maqām that is integral to the emotions of tranquility and graceful repose.

The two sūrahs covered by today’s recitation followed the riwāyah of Khalaf throughout their course. Let us analyse the distinctions thereof:

The Khalaf Distinctions

Khalaf performs the saktah on the sākin before the hamzah al-qatʿ. This was demonstrated clearly in the previous article. The imālah is also very common in the riwāyah of Khalaf. The third distinctive feature of Khalaf is the iẓ-hār that replaces the idghām ṣaghīr for the letters wāw and yāʾ.

Khalaf departs from the Ḥafṣ reading in the last āyat of Sūrah al-Balad where the word ʿalayhim is recited as ʿalayhum. See below:

Similar is the case in Sūrah al-Ghāshiyah. Apart from the saktah, imālah and iẓ-hār replacing the idghām ṣaghīr in wāw and yāʾ, Khalaf departs from Ḥafṣ in the following āyat:

Readers are encouraged to post questions related to the riwāyah of Khalaf ʿan Ḥamzah in the comment section below.

---

Transitions of Sheikh Mustafa Ismail – Chapter 3

This article discusses the essential difference between the maqāms ʿajam and jihārkāh, allowing us to understand how Sheikh Mustafa Ismail uses the maqām ʿajam in conjunction with nahāwand. The very idea of using ʿajam with nahāwand indicates the Sheikh’s unparalleled expertise in the field of maqāmāt.

One of the previous articles mentioned that qurrāʾ prefer to stay away from reciting longer passages inʿajam because of its frequent ascents and descents into the qarār and jawāb. Thus, ʿajam in its pure form does not suit the excellence and grandeur of Allah Taʿālā’s word.

Here it is important to distinguish between the maqāms ʿajam and jihārkāh. Firstly, whereas ʿajam is a primary maqām, jihārkāh is secondary. Jihārkāh is used by all qurrāʾ because of its stability which makes it suitable for the Qurʾān’s recitation.

Let us go through some examples of ʿajam to understand its frequent ascents and descents. We will also hear some examples of jihārkāh to appreciate its stability and realize why qurrāʾ use it without hesitation.

Examples of ʿAjam

Examples of Jihārkāh

These examples are sufficient to perceive the difference between the maqāms ʿajam and jihārkāh in the context of what has been discussed above.

The following audio clip is Sheikh Mustafa Ismail reciting exclusively in jihārkāh from Sūrah al-Muzzammil. It will help understand the intricacies of this maqām better. The clip ends with the Sheikh transitioning into bayāti.