“The Question of Reciting the Qur’ān in Regional Pronunciation: The Case of the Turks”

Turkish reciters of the Qur’ān do not pay sufficient attention to the authentic Arabic style of pronunciation in their practice of recitation. Despite the fact that the Arabic pronunciation of the Holy Book is a worldwide practice, the Turks still insist on reciting the Qur’ān according to their regional pronunciation, i.e., universal the traditional Turkish mouth. This situation is nothing but a typical reflection of obssesive attitudes against international values observable at many levels of the Turkish society. In the past, we would stay away from universal values and claim that our country and everything that belongs to us would be distinctively special. Following this line of logic, we would make up national stances regarding every single matter in this life, though this logic would not produce any positive result but separate us from the rest of mankind. In today’s world too, such obssesive attitudes lead us quite ridiculous situations in a world that has turned into, through globalization, a kind of small village. We Turks should not attempt to determine the phonetics of the Arabic language and stand against their long-lasting conventions. Neither should we claim that we can learn everything solely from books regarding the recitation of the Qur’ān. God has revealed the Qur’ān in a clear Arabic language. We, therefore, should not assume that merely through studying the books available in the field of Qur’ānic studies we can acquire a complete knowledge sufficient for us to learn competently how to recite the Qur’ān, to perform the art of recitation (tajw’ād), to articulate the proper letters and sounds, and the like; for sounds cannot be learned just from books. Both in Turkey and Arab countries teachers and students use the same books on the styles and schools of the Qur’ānic recitation. Then how can we explain the result that we see two inherently different types of recitation? This result indicates that it is not the books, but the teachers that determine these types. In fact, since the earliest Islamic centuries, we know that, as a sound-based scholarly discipline, the Qur’ānic recitation can be learned only from a “qualified mouth” (fem-i mu’āsin), but that which we do not know is the main characteristics of this fem-i muÙsin. The fem-i muÙsin is not a person who has spent his whole life and scholarly energy on teaching the recitation of the Qur’ān. Rather, the real fem-i mu’āsin is an Arab who has acquired the required knowledge and practise in the field, or a non-Arab who can recite the Qur’ān as perfect and authentic as this Arab qualified.