8/10/2019 Sonic Epistemology in Islam

1/5

Sonic Epistemology in Islam

By Zachary Markwith

Recite in the Name of thy Lord Who created!1-Quran 96:1

Listen to the reed how it narrates a tale2

-Jalal al-Din Rumi

Spiritual music is the audition and vision of Divine Presence.3-Ruzbahan Baqli

Modern surveys of Islam and Islamic philosophy tend to confine knowledge to thewritten word and thought alone. Great books and the ability to think clearly, logically and

critically are certainly helpful, but these fail to capture the full scope of knowledge inIslamic and other traditional civilizations.4Guy Beck has discussed the centrality of

sound in the Hindu tradition in his influential work Sonic Theology: Hinduism andSacred Sound.

5Islam itself is based upon the descent of the Word of God as sound to the

unlettered Prophet. Before the Quran or the Recitation was written down, it was andremains primarily an oral revelation. The difference between reading and reciting the

Quran is in many ways analogous to reading musical notation and playing an actual pieceof music. Most Muslims in our own time do not read the theological treatises of Abul-

Hasan al-Ashari or Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, but they do recite Surat al-Fatihah, Surat al-Ikhlasand other chapters of the Quran in their daily prayers. The meaning of the Quran

and the Divine Presence Itself is known and experienced by Muslims through sound.6

One can thus speak of the primacy of sound in Islamic rites, theology, spirituality and the

religion as a whole.7

Mulla Sadra famously based his philosophical knowledge upon three primary

sources: Revelation (Quran and Hadith), gnosis (irfan), and rational demonstration(burhan).

8 How then does one know God or nature of things through sound in Islam?

Below we present a complementary sonic epistemology in Islam based upon recitation(qiraah), audition (sama), and presence (hadrah). We argue that sound is more central

and fundamental to the Islamic tradition than mental or conceptual knowledge, eventhough these are not fundamentally opposed and are for many necessary complements.

Muslim philosophers and gnostics themselves engaged in sonoral spiritual practicesderived from the Quran and Sunnahof the Prophet Muhammad.9What we observe below

is not new, but it seems to have been overlooked by many scholars in recent years orrather fallen on deaf ears.

The Quran begins not with the word see or think, but Recite! (Iqra). (96:1) TheBook and its primary imperative for humanity is recitation, a Divine recitation which is

sanctified and sanctifying. God and humanity meet through the Word. If God becameflesh according to Christian belief, He became sound according to Islam. The Divine

8/10/2019 Sonic Epistemology in Islam

2/5

incarnation in Christianity is mirrored in Islam by the Divine invocation. Moreover, whilethe Quran affirms that God spoke many times in the language of each people, God speaks

in the Quran to Muslims through the Arabic tongue. According to tradition, God is theAuthor and Reciter of the Quran, which descended to the Prophet Muhammad and

humanity via the Angel of Revelation Gabriel. The Recitation leads the soul from

ignorance to knowledge, forgetfulness to remembrance, and multiplicity to Unity. Everypracticing Muslim recites theFatihahand other short chapters during their daily prayers.Pious Muslims engage in additional acts of worship, such as the Sunnahprayers, and the

recitation of chapters, litanies, and Divine Names from the Quran. God is at the center ofthe Islamic cosmos and the human heart in particular through the manifestation of the

Logos, which is the sonoral sacred art of Quranic recitation.Ontology and cosmogony in Islam are also closely related to sound. We recite in

the Quran, His command when He desires a thing is only to say to it, Be! and it is.(36:82) The creative Act is Gods Word Be or Kunin Arabic, which engenders all of

existence and is the innermost substance of our own being. There is thus a directrelationship between primordial sound and the existentiation and very being of things.

10

In many ways,Kunis analogous to Omin Hinduism and the Logos recalled in the Gospelof John. If our creation is determined by the Word of God, our return or eschatological

hope is also facilitated by the Word. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said,The key to Paradise is prayer. And, Prayer is the spiritual ascent (miraj) of the

believer. A felicitous return to God after death and for some in this life is assuredthrough prayer and the Divine descent contained therein. In this context, one can also

speak of dhikr, the remembrance or invocation of God, which is practiced by aspirants onthe Sufi path and pious Muslims in general.

11 In fact, all Muslims are enjoined by the

Recitation to remember and invoke the Names of God:

Say, Call upon God (Allah) or call upon the All-Merciful (al-Rahman).

Whichever you call upon, to Him belong the most beautiful Names. And be not

loud in your prayer, nor too quiet therein, but seek a way between. (17:110)

Recite that which has been revealed unto thee of the Book, and perform the

prayer. Truly prayer prevents against indecency and abomination, but the

remembrance of God is surely greater (wa la-dhikruLlahi akbar). And God

knows whatsoever you do. (29:45)

O you who believe! Remember God with frequent remembrance (udhkuruLlaha

dhikran kathiran), And glorify Him morning and evening. (33:41-42)

And remember the Name of thy Lord (wa udhkuri isma Rabbika) morning and

evening. (76:25)

The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said,

Shall I not tell you about the best and purest of your works for your Lord, and

the most exalted of them in your ranks, and the work that is better for you than

giving silver and gold, and better for you than encountering your enemy, with

you striking their necks and them striking your necks? Thereupon the people

addressed by him said: What is that, O emissary of God? He said, The

8/10/2019 Sonic Epistemology in Islam

3/5

perpetual invocation of Godexalted and glorious (dhikruLlah azza wa jalla

daiman).12

Renew your faith by multiplying the repetition of the formula There is no god

but God (La ilaha illaLlah).13

Multiply the invocation of Godexalted be Heuntil they say: there is a fool.14

A man asked, O Messenger of God, the prescriptions of the Divine Law are too

numerous for me: teach me something to which I can cling firmly! The Prophet

told him: Let your tongue be always busy with the invocation of God.15

The revealed Names of God communicate the Reality they denote. Through the

instruction of a spiritual guide or shaykh, the invoker concentrates upon and recites aDivine Name from the Quran, such as God (Allah), the All-Merciful (al-Rahman), or the

Real (al-Haqq). By invoking al-Haqq, for example, one becomes immediately aware ofthe Presence of the Real. Other Quranic and traditional formulas are also frequently

invoked by Muslims, including God forgive me (AstaghfiruLlah), O God sendblessings upon Muhammad (Allahumma salli ala Muhammad), and There is no god

but God (La ilaha illaLlah). The Prophet himself advised his daughter Fatimah to say,Glory be to God (SubhanaLlah), All praise is due to God (AlhamduliLlah), and

God is greater (Allahu akbar) thirty-three times each after the canonical prayer.A necessary concomitant to recitation or invocation is audition or sama in

Arabic. Jalal al-Din Rumi begins his Mathnawi with the word Listen or bishnu inPersian. Audition suggests an inner receptivity to the Divine that is synonymous with

Muhammadan poverty (al-faqr al-muhammadi). To hear the Word of God one must beable to quiet the mind and the soul. Just as there is an eye of the heart ( ayn al-qalb) there

is also an ear of the heart (udhun al-qalb). Ultimately, God Himself is the All-Hearing

(al-Sami) or the Inner Ear within every ear. When one listens deeply to the words andmelody of the Quran, one hears the Voice of the Supreme Beloved. Listening is a form ofcontemplation that allows the Divine Word and the meanings contained therein to settle

upon the heart. One must also pay attention to the words of the prophets and, forMuslims, the Prophet Muhammad in particular. The recitation of the Quran and Hadith is

not sufficient, but awareness or mindfulness of the sound and meanings. Even practicaladvice is only of value if the listener hears and understands what is being said. Virtue and

ethics is entirely dependent upon knowing or being cognizant of the Reality and Presenceof God, which is accomplished in Islam through reciting and listening to the Word of

God. The more in-depth meanings of the shahadah, such as There is no reality butGod, become apparent when we allow the Word to penetrate our being.

Samabecame systematized in many Sufi orders, where initiates recite and listento verses and Divine Names from the Quran, which is often followed by sacred music,

dancing, and the recitation of poetry. The most well known example of samain the Westare the ceremonies associated with Rumis Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes or

samazans. Traditional music in many Muslim cultures has been preserved andperformed by Sufi musicians and orders over the centuries, including much of classical

Arab, African, Persian, Turkish, Indian, Pakistani, and Malay-Indonesian music. Thismusic has reached the West largely through musicians connected to Sufi orders, such as

8/10/2019 Sonic Epistemology in Islam

4/5

Hazrat Inayat Khan, Ostad Elahi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Hamza El Din, and Musa DiengKala. What must be kept in mind is that traditionally Sufi music is a sacred and initiatic

rite. While it has the power to attract many souls to the Beloved, new challenges areraised when it is introduced to western listeners as world music and simply another

genre among other forms of popular music.

Listening with the heart is of course not limited to sacred and inspired music. In asense, these are openings to the perpetual audition of the underlying Be or Being of allthat is. Whether entering into dialogue with another human being or appreciating the

silent majesty and beauty of nature, the heart is the faculty capable of being attentive tothe Sacred in things. An audible message may or may not be heard, but there is a

harmony or silent symphony that connects all life. When we turn off our gadgets, quietthe mind, and simply listen, we can cultivate a sense of the Sacred. Listening in this sense

is a kind of fasting from the cacophony of modern life. When the world as dunyais shutoff, then it will naturally resonate around us as theosony. As the Quran reminds us,

Whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth glorifies God, theSovereign, the Holy, the Mighty, the Wise. (62:1)

The result of recitation and audition is presence or hadrah, which isetymologically related to the verb hadara or to be present. The Word of God, when

spoken and felt in the recesses of ones being, naturally communicates the Presence ofGod. If philosophers speak of rational demonstration, many also speak of presence as a

proof of God. One knows by presence or presential knowledge (ilm al-huduri) and canalso recognize the true knowers (ulama and urafa) by the presence of God they

convey.16The knowers of God are attuned to the Word of God and through it perceiveGod in all things. One often adds the word hadratas an honorific before the names of the

prophets and great saints in Islam, such as the Prophet himself, his daughter Fatimah al-Zahra, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Abd al-Qadir Jilani, and Jalal al-Din

Rumi, for example. Through their reception of the Word they have ascended to thetranscendent Reality and realized the immanent Presence of God in the heart. According

to the Prophet, The heart of the faithful is the Throne of the All-Merciful (al-Rahman).Just as there are Five Divine Presences (al-hadarat al-ilahiyyat al-khams), more

or less, in traditional Sufi metaphysics and cosmology, one can also speak of fivecorresponding levels of recitation and audition: the Divine Essence (al-hahut) which is

Sacred Silence, the Divine Names and Qualities (al-lahut) which correspond to thecosmogonic Act and Revelation, the angelic world (al-jabarut) which is the recitation

and audition of the angels and Spirit, the subtle and psychic world (al-malakut) which isthat of the jinn and soul, and the physical world (al-mulk) which is that of natural forms

and the body.17

These are both objective or macrocosmic and subjective or microcosmicorders or levels of reality that are so many extensions or possibilities of the One

Metacosmic Reality or Presence. The presence conveyed by sacred recitation andaudition, not to speak of Sacred Silence, allows the subtle majesty and beauty of Heaven

to resonate here on earth.Engaging in Divine recitation suggests an intellectual and aesthetic discernment

between the harmony of the Word of God and the discord of the world. According to theQuran, Say, God, then leave them to play at their vain discourse. (6:91) Audition is

the perpetual concentration upon the recitation or the sonoral form of God. Recitation canbe heard as an echo of the supreme Object, while audition is a function of the innermost

8/10/2019 Sonic Epistemology in Islam

5/5

Subject. Presence is the union between Object and Subject that leads to felicity. In Islam,the Quran is the Word of God spoken to the Prophet Muhammad. Every Muslim can

participate in the Divine descent through its recitation, the spiritual ascent of the Prophetthrough audition in prayer, and the Unity or Union of the attentive heart in repose.

My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than thereligious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near

to me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am

his hearing with which he hears18

Hadith qudsi

1 The Quranic translations throughout this essay are based uponHarperCollins Study Quran,

trans. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (San Francisco: HarperOne, forthcoming 2014).2Trans. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi(Oakton, Virginia:

Foundation for Traditional Studies, 2007), p. 72-73.3Trans. Seyyed Hossein Nasr,Islamic Art and Spirituality (Albany, NY: State University of New

York Press, 1987), p. 155.4Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Bugbear of Literacy (Bedfont, Middlesex: Perennial Books

Ltd., 1979), pp. 33-49.5Guy L. Beck, Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (Columbia, South Carolina:

University of South Carolina Press, 1993).6This is especially evident when Muslims recite the enigmatic letters (muqattaat) or sacred

syllables that begin twenty-nine chapters of the Quran.7

Sadiq Alam, Sonic Theology from Sufi Islamic Perspective (2013)

http://www.mysticsaint.info/2013/01/sonic-theology-from-sufi-islamic.html .8Zailan Moris, Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra:

An Analysis of the al-Hikmah al-Arshiyyah(New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003).9

Mohammad Azadpur, Reason Unbound: On Spiritual Practice in Islamic Peripatetic

Philosophy(Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2011).10See Ahson Azmat, Between Kafand Nun Sophiavol. 12, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2006), pp.

143-172.11

David Dakake, The Practice of dhikr in the Early Islamic Community, in Zailan Moris, ed.,

Knowledge is Light: Essays in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Chicago, IL: ABC International

Group Inc., 1999).12

Trans. Reza Shah-Kazemi,Justice and Remembrance: Introducing the Spirituality of Imam Ali

(London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2006), p. 138.13

Trans. by Tayeb Chourief and Edin Q. Lohja, Spiritual Teachings of the Prophet (Louisville,

Kentucky: Fons Vitae, 2011), p. 138.14

Ibid., p. 147.15

Ibid., p. 150.16

See Mehdi Hairi Yazdi, The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy: Knowledge byPresence(Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1992).17

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Garden of Truth (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), pp. 197-199;

and William Chittick, The Five Divine Presences: From al-Qunawi to al-Qaysari, The Muslim

Worldvol. 72, issue 2 (April 1982), pp. 107-128.18

Forty Hadith Qudsi, trans. Ezzeddin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies (Cambridge: The

Islamic Texts Society, 1997), p. 104.