MOHAMED and Fatma, two siblings, were taught to recite the Holy Qur'an at a very early age at the hands of the same sheikh. While Mohamed cherished the dream of becoming a professional reciter like Sheikh el-Hossari or Sheikh el-Menshawi, whom he listens to on theradio, his sister never thought of the idea. The reason is that the recitation and the teaching of the Qur'an has always been a job for men. Qur'an reciters have their own union, which grants membership to men wellversed in the rules of one or more of the mten known readings (methods of recitation) of the Qur'an. Applicants are required to pass an allembracing test, written and oral, given by a high profile panel of veteran reciters, before being licensed as teachers or reciters themselves. Although the union opened its doors three years ago to female members, the Qur'an Radio Station is still governed by traditionally minded people who refuse to accredit female reciters, on the grounds that women should not be allowed to sing songs or read the Qur'an in public. The union has so far granted membership to 30 women who have proved to be as meticulous and articulate as their male colleagues. Surprisingly, senior reciters have welcomed the competition, believing that women should have their chance to recite the Qur'an in public. Women teaching and reciting the Qur'an has so far been confined to mosques, where they give lessons to groups of interested girls and young women. Agrowing number of women are actually mshowing an interest in learning the rules of Qur'anic recitation, so that they too can become tutors. But the union has turned down many female applicants because of their ‘insufficient knowledge' of proper recitation and/or discordant voices. Souad Salah, a professor of Sharia m(Islamic Law) at Al-Azhar University, is a staunch supporter of the idea of female reciters. As an academic, she believes there are mno texts in the Qur'an or Hadeeth (sayingsof the Prophet Mohamed) that prevent women from reading the Qur'an in the presence of men. “There is no proof to such claims propagated by rigid-minded scholars,” she told Al-Mussawar Arabic-language magazine. She is surprised that the Cairo-based Qur'an Radio Station, which has a wide base of listeners across the country, is mhappy with the recordings of male reciters alone. Souad believes that the mofficials working for this station are convinced that women's voices are ‘taboo'. Saleh also proved to be an avantgardiste mwhen she was the dean of theFaculty of Islamic Sharia a few years back. She inaugurated a conference where Qur'anic verses were recited by a young woman, a student from Indonesia, in the presence of the late Grand Sheikh of Al- Azhar, Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, who actually praised the girl's performance.Souad wanted this recitation to open the door wide for more women to read mthe Qur'an in public. But her wish has so far remained unfulfilled. Professor Souad believes that the Faculty of Islamic Studies is capable of training many young women to be good reciters. She argues that the absence of female mreciters at the time of the Prophet Mohamed does not mean he would have disapproved of them. “He allowed women to relate his sayings and to issue religious edicts to Muslims,” she says. But Souad does admit that women mreciting the Qur'an before large gatherings mshould show subtlety and seriousness and be committed to a decent Islamic dress code. She believes that a fatwa (religiousedict) needs to be issued, entitling women to take up Qur'anic recitation as a profession. Learning the Qur'an by heart and reciting it according to the rules, is, in Islam, one of the most pious practices ordained for both men and women. Today, there are 250 girls' institutes affiliated to Al-Azhar that teach different readings of the Qur'an, as passed down from one generation to another since the time of the Prophet Mohamed. With more and more women applying for the Reciters' Union membership, perhaps we will hear on the radio very msoon the voices of Sheikha Manal Saleh and Fawzya Mabrouk, who have of late been granted an official ‘reading licence' by the union.
