Koran by Heart (2011) - full transcript
110 kids from the Islamic world are chosen and arrive in Cairo for the world's oldest Koran reciting contest. KORAN BY HEART follows two boys from Senegal and Tajikistan, and a little girl from Maldives - who go head-to-head with kids nearly twice their age in the pronunciation, recitation and perfected memorization of the Qur'an. Even as their own future hangs in the balance, they are caught between fundamentalist and moderate visions of Islam.
Okay, camera's rolling.
Okay?
"When I got the chance to
participate in the competition,
"I felt glad because I was selected
"from several colleagues
of mine, including me.
"I was looking forward for the trip.
"But as the day of leave
to Egypt came closer,
"I felt kind of nervous.
"I had no idea whom I had to compete with.
It seemed to me that I had
butterflies in my stomach."
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
I left Male on the 25th of August.
I practiced till the last minute.
My mom was my best supporter.
She gave me confidence.
My dad often questioned me
and checked if I had memorized well,
But I missed my mom so much.
I missed my family
and the food back at home.
Allahu akbar.
I was just grabbed by the sound.
I was a music student.
I came to Cairo to learn Arabic originally
and heard this
and wanted to find out how it worked.
But nobody before had put the melody
or the artistry of it together.
Muslims believe that
the Koran is the word of God
and that it's actually the third message.
The first message was given
to the Jews, the Christians,
and then the Muslims got the final cut.
So when you recite the Koran
or when you hear the Koran,
you're experiencing
the moment of revelation.
You're not just hearing a religious text.
The written text of the Koran
is around 600 pages long.
It has 114 chapters
from three verses long to 286 verses.
It's a very, very substantial
text to memorize.
In addition to memorizing the words,
the other thing these kids
are being judged on is Tajweed.
These very specific rules cover rhythm,
pronunciation of different syllables,
whether your voice comes from
your chest or from your throat.
These are called
the "Rules of Tajweed."
"Koran" means "a reciting,"
and it reflects the very first revelation
that was given to the Prophet Muhammad...
Recite, recite in the name of
thy lord who has created you.
Muhammad, the prophet, heard
the text from the angel Gabriel,
and then he recited to his
companions and followers.
After he died, they wrote the text down,
but they wanted to be sure
that the sound was preserved,
so they codified the rules of Tajweed.
And when copies of the Koran were sent out,
they sent along a reciter,
so that people could hear
the sound from the beginning.
So the reciters learn
these very finite rules.
And then the melody has to be
completely improvised.
I mean, it comes inspired by the moment.
He did really well.
I mean, his memorization is
a hundred percent.
He's totally relaxed.
It's selfless somehow.
It's almost trancelike.
I mean, it's...
You can hear it's very euphonic.
There's a lot of internal
rhyme and end rhyme,
and the rhythm is not predictable.
And it's beautiful.
I mean, it's unusually
beautiful for a kid that age.
Who is this man?
This is Judge Ibrahim Sha'aysha.
He's the president of the reciters' union.
He's very well-known and respected.
He memorize...
So you've been training him
and working with him,
but now he can't come back here?
So he cannot continue his
studies here at the moment?
Mm-hmm.
God ordered us to fast.
He says in the Koran that you should fast
from dawn till sunset.
And in a few minutes now,
we'll break our fast.
We usually break it
on water or milk and dates.
And we'll start eating normal.
I gave him a choice of
whether he wanted to fast or not.
He says, "I want
to try it and fast."
And I told him, "If you feel
hungry or thirsty,
let me know and then we'll..."
Is this the first year, first time?
No, it's his second year now. How is it?
- It's good.
- Do you find it hard?
A little bit.
I just want to go up
and get done with this.
Hopefully, I'll get a good mark.
There's a lot of tension and stress.
Some of the parts
of the Koran, they just stay,
and some... it's hard.
You have to think
and remember your mistakes
and what you'd done wrong last time.
But some, it just comes
to you and you recite.
You don't have to think.
And then they say that
a child who learns the Koran...
usually his mind is faster
than a child who doesn't.
And then so in school, even in
the academic, he can do better.
26... that's not good, right?
- We're not here to win,
- I always tell him that.
Everywhere we compete,
I always tell him, we're not here to win.
You're here just to see your level
and to challenge yourself
and to see how good you are.
Winning... we'll never compete
against Muslims, you know?
It was very difficult actually,
a very difficult situation.
Rifdha was sleeping
from 10:00 to 2:30.
She was sleeping in the chair.
Around 2:30 she woke up,
and I put some water on
her face and washed her face.
And that's it.
She went.
Rasheed... Mohamed Rasheed.
You can understand if a child just wakes up
and starts using everything in her mind,
it will be very difficult.
Islam has served us well
in the past nine centuries or so.
We have very small homogeneous people
And we have always practiced
a very moderate form
of Islam in the Maldives.
We allow women to go out to work
and to interact with men.
But the trend to go back in history,
to return to early Islam
is felt all over the Muslim world.
Even if you consider women's clothes...
in the 1950s and '60s, women used to wear
very short skirts, very western clothes.
It was later on in the 1980s and the 1990s
the more fundamental influences
began to come here.
And then because of that,
now the majority of women
do wear the headscarf.
- Assalamu alaikum.
- Alaikum assalaam.
How are you this morning? - Fine.
You're okay?
- Assalamu alaikum.
- Alaikum assalaam.
- I hope you are well too.
- Yeah.
A lot of our students
go abroad for education.
And then when they come back
from some countries,
they tend to become of a more
fundamentalist view of Islam
than us here in the Maldives.
It should be left...
No .
No, no, no, no.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum.
He's the best child who knows
the saying of the prophet.
Before you be the best Muslim,
you have to know the saying
of the prophet first.
And we believe he's the best
of the best in the Muslim world.
We're all thinking about him, pray for him.
Djamil.
Wait, wait.
Don't worry.
Okay, come on.
Wait, wait.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
Hi.
Lean back. Lean back. Lean back.
No!
No! No!
No, no, no, no.
I'm okay.
I'm okay.
No, no, no.
Wait. Last one,
last one. Take it.
Ow!
When... I don't know...
Actually my dream stops, uh,
She has to be educated,
but she will be a housewife.
She will not be doing any job.
She will not be doing any job to earn,
but she has to be educated.
She has to be a housewife.
Huh?
"I met so many people.
"My parents, my family,
"and my whole nation was proud of me.
"It was a very exciting journey.
Its memories will remain deep
in my heart forever, inshallah."
Okay?
"When I got the chance to
participate in the competition,
"I felt glad because I was selected
"from several colleagues
of mine, including me.
"I was looking forward for the trip.
"But as the day of leave
to Egypt came closer,
"I felt kind of nervous.
"I had no idea whom I had to compete with.
It seemed to me that I had
butterflies in my stomach."
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
I left Male on the 25th of August.
I practiced till the last minute.
My mom was my best supporter.
She gave me confidence.
My dad often questioned me
and checked if I had memorized well,
But I missed my mom so much.
I missed my family
and the food back at home.
Allahu akbar.
I was just grabbed by the sound.
I was a music student.
I came to Cairo to learn Arabic originally
and heard this
and wanted to find out how it worked.
But nobody before had put the melody
or the artistry of it together.
Muslims believe that
the Koran is the word of God
and that it's actually the third message.
The first message was given
to the Jews, the Christians,
and then the Muslims got the final cut.
So when you recite the Koran
or when you hear the Koran,
you're experiencing
the moment of revelation.
You're not just hearing a religious text.
The written text of the Koran
is around 600 pages long.
It has 114 chapters
from three verses long to 286 verses.
It's a very, very substantial
text to memorize.
In addition to memorizing the words,
the other thing these kids
are being judged on is Tajweed.
These very specific rules cover rhythm,
pronunciation of different syllables,
whether your voice comes from
your chest or from your throat.
These are called
the "Rules of Tajweed."
"Koran" means "a reciting,"
and it reflects the very first revelation
that was given to the Prophet Muhammad...
Recite, recite in the name of
thy lord who has created you.
Muhammad, the prophet, heard
the text from the angel Gabriel,
and then he recited to his
companions and followers.
After he died, they wrote the text down,
but they wanted to be sure
that the sound was preserved,
so they codified the rules of Tajweed.
And when copies of the Koran were sent out,
they sent along a reciter,
so that people could hear
the sound from the beginning.
So the reciters learn
these very finite rules.
And then the melody has to be
completely improvised.
I mean, it comes inspired by the moment.
He did really well.
I mean, his memorization is
a hundred percent.
He's totally relaxed.
It's selfless somehow.
It's almost trancelike.
I mean, it's...
You can hear it's very euphonic.
There's a lot of internal
rhyme and end rhyme,
and the rhythm is not predictable.
And it's beautiful.
I mean, it's unusually
beautiful for a kid that age.
Who is this man?
This is Judge Ibrahim Sha'aysha.
He's the president of the reciters' union.
He's very well-known and respected.
He memorize...
So you've been training him
and working with him,
but now he can't come back here?
So he cannot continue his
studies here at the moment?
Mm-hmm.
God ordered us to fast.
He says in the Koran that you should fast
from dawn till sunset.
And in a few minutes now,
we'll break our fast.
We usually break it
on water or milk and dates.
And we'll start eating normal.
I gave him a choice of
whether he wanted to fast or not.
He says, "I want
to try it and fast."
And I told him, "If you feel
hungry or thirsty,
let me know and then we'll..."
Is this the first year, first time?
No, it's his second year now. How is it?
- It's good.
- Do you find it hard?
A little bit.
I just want to go up
and get done with this.
Hopefully, I'll get a good mark.
There's a lot of tension and stress.
Some of the parts
of the Koran, they just stay,
and some... it's hard.
You have to think
and remember your mistakes
and what you'd done wrong last time.
But some, it just comes
to you and you recite.
You don't have to think.
And then they say that
a child who learns the Koran...
usually his mind is faster
than a child who doesn't.
And then so in school, even in
the academic, he can do better.
26... that's not good, right?
- We're not here to win,
- I always tell him that.
Everywhere we compete,
I always tell him, we're not here to win.
You're here just to see your level
and to challenge yourself
and to see how good you are.
Winning... we'll never compete
against Muslims, you know?
It was very difficult actually,
a very difficult situation.
Rifdha was sleeping
from 10:00 to 2:30.
She was sleeping in the chair.
Around 2:30 she woke up,
and I put some water on
her face and washed her face.
And that's it.
She went.
Rasheed... Mohamed Rasheed.
You can understand if a child just wakes up
and starts using everything in her mind,
it will be very difficult.
Islam has served us well
in the past nine centuries or so.
We have very small homogeneous people
And we have always practiced
a very moderate form
of Islam in the Maldives.
We allow women to go out to work
and to interact with men.
But the trend to go back in history,
to return to early Islam
is felt all over the Muslim world.
Even if you consider women's clothes...
in the 1950s and '60s, women used to wear
very short skirts, very western clothes.
It was later on in the 1980s and the 1990s
the more fundamental influences
began to come here.
And then because of that,
now the majority of women
do wear the headscarf.
- Assalamu alaikum.
- Alaikum assalaam.
How are you this morning? - Fine.
You're okay?
- Assalamu alaikum.
- Alaikum assalaam.
- I hope you are well too.
- Yeah.
A lot of our students
go abroad for education.
And then when they come back
from some countries,
they tend to become of a more
fundamentalist view of Islam
than us here in the Maldives.
It should be left...
No .
No, no, no, no.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum.
He's the best child who knows
the saying of the prophet.
Before you be the best Muslim,
you have to know the saying
of the prophet first.
And we believe he's the best
of the best in the Muslim world.
We're all thinking about him, pray for him.
Djamil.
Wait, wait.
Don't worry.
Okay, come on.
Wait, wait.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
Hi.
Lean back. Lean back. Lean back.
No!
No! No!
No, no, no, no.
I'm okay.
I'm okay.
No, no, no.
Wait. Last one,
last one. Take it.
Ow!
When... I don't know...
Actually my dream stops, uh,
She has to be educated,
but she will be a housewife.
She will not be doing any job.
She will not be doing any job to earn,
but she has to be educated.
She has to be a housewife.
Huh?
"I met so many people.
"My parents, my family,
"and my whole nation was proud of me.
"It was a very exciting journey.
Its memories will remain deep
in my heart forever, inshallah."