October 13, 2006--Fanaticism XLXIX--The Holy Koran Award
In a version of American Idol, what might be thought of the Dubai Idol is underway there during Ramadan.
Dubai’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Marktoum has been sponsoring this event for the past 10 years. It is the Holy Koran Contest open to males (females need not apply) age 21 or younger. The completion, which is broadcast by satellite TV around the Islamic world, requires contestants to recite the Koran from memory.
According to the NY Times (article below), here’s how it works—the youngsters sit on an elaborate stage in a manner reminiscent of an American spelling bee. When called upon, they get up out of their chairs and,while standing at a microphone, are asked by the panel of judges to recite any randomly selected passage from the Koran. Contestants have to know the passage instantly and recite for as long as the judges demand—it can be for 15 minutes or more! If a mistake is made, the judges ring a bell and the contestant is given a moment to correct himself before continuing. As you know, there are no second chances in a spelling bee.
The contest, which draws competitors from as far away as Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Indonesia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and of course Iraq, runs for two exhausting weeks, all the while everyone is fasting because of the holiday.
The judges look for more than mere rote memorization. They also award what might be thought of as “style points”—for the quality of the voices and the quality of the reading as determined by the rules of tajweed.
Tajweed, for the uninitiated, requires that public Koran reading must be based on the use of one to three tones only. Similarly, each melodic passage centers on a single tone level, but the melodic contour and melodic passages are largely shaped by creating passages of different lengths whose temporal expansion is set apart via caesuras.
In addition to needing to know and carry out the tajweed (I listed just one of the dozens of rules), the Koran itself is about as long as the New Testament. It is made up of 114 chapters (sura) many of which contain more than 200 verses. So to win the Holy Koran Award ($70,000) requires considerable skill.
Most of the contestants are between the ages of 10 and 15 and thus it is remarkable that so many qualify to compete since it takes so long to become proficient enough to participate. And most are not planning to become clerics—they see winning the money as a way to help support their families or to go to school.
In a few months I’ll be preparing the 500th Behind the (New York) Times posting and have been thinking about what to do for the next iteration of the Behind contest. The first competition back in February was based on spelling; this time, who knows . . . . But fair warning!
Sorry though--the prize will not be anything like 2,600,000 dirham.
Dubai’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Marktoum has been sponsoring this event for the past 10 years. It is the Holy Koran Contest open to males (females need not apply) age 21 or younger. The completion, which is broadcast by satellite TV around the Islamic world, requires contestants to recite the Koran from memory.
According to the NY Times (article below), here’s how it works—the youngsters sit on an elaborate stage in a manner reminiscent of an American spelling bee. When called upon, they get up out of their chairs and,while standing at a microphone, are asked by the panel of judges to recite any randomly selected passage from the Koran. Contestants have to know the passage instantly and recite for as long as the judges demand—it can be for 15 minutes or more! If a mistake is made, the judges ring a bell and the contestant is given a moment to correct himself before continuing. As you know, there are no second chances in a spelling bee.
The contest, which draws competitors from as far away as Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Indonesia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and of course Iraq, runs for two exhausting weeks, all the while everyone is fasting because of the holiday.
The judges look for more than mere rote memorization. They also award what might be thought of as “style points”—for the quality of the voices and the quality of the reading as determined by the rules of tajweed.
Tajweed, for the uninitiated, requires that public Koran reading must be based on the use of one to three tones only. Similarly, each melodic passage centers on a single tone level, but the melodic contour and melodic passages are largely shaped by creating passages of different lengths whose temporal expansion is set apart via caesuras.
In addition to needing to know and carry out the tajweed (I listed just one of the dozens of rules), the Koran itself is about as long as the New Testament. It is made up of 114 chapters (sura) many of which contain more than 200 verses. So to win the Holy Koran Award ($70,000) requires considerable skill.
Most of the contestants are between the ages of 10 and 15 and thus it is remarkable that so many qualify to compete since it takes so long to become proficient enough to participate. And most are not planning to become clerics—they see winning the money as a way to help support their families or to go to school.
In a few months I’ll be preparing the 500th Behind the (New York) Times posting and have been thinking about what to do for the next iteration of the Behind contest. The first competition back in February was based on spelling; this time, who knows . . . . But fair warning!
Sorry though--the prize will not be anything like 2,600,000 dirham.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:14 AM
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