8 Different Maqams and Their Emotional Meanings
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Brother Faisal, we know that there are different Maqams, where we can read Quran differently. So what is the purpose of it? Can you explain this to us. So for those of us who don't know what maqam are maqamat are Maqamat are essentially different melodies. Now they don't necessarily come from Quran but they are different melodies in which you can recite in. The issue is when people start making Quran about maqamat Quran is not about maqamat Quran is about the words of Allah (swt) contemplating them, learning them, memorizing them, implementing them.
But the melodies help us, like Allah (swt) says in the Quran وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْاٰنَ تَرْتٖيلاًؕ and recite the Quran with measured and beautiful intonations and reciting in different melodies helps us and enables us to recite the verses with their diligence, with their emotion, because the words are beautiful and it is up to us to recite in a beautiful voice. So the different maqamat now that we're talking about that helps us to recite verses in the proper emotion, because each melody comes with its own emotion, and you'll hear it when I give examples, inshallah, right? So for example, I would not recite the verses about Jahannam in a happy melody. It doesn't make sense. Right.
So let me give you an example. Let's start basic. Yes. So the most neutral and most basic maqam there's about seven or eight major ones. I'm probably good at like five or six. Okay. So I'll give you the ones that I'm good at, inshallah. Seeka, I cannot do so I will not give you the demonstration for that one. A good example of Seeka is the Nasheed. Tala'a Al-Badru 'Alayna طَلَعَ الْبَدْرُ عَلَيْنَا The original melody, that's Seeka. The most basic one in the most neutral one. You have maqam Bayati. With maqam Bayati you can go into the other maqamat Okey, there's openings in the melody. So the example of maqam bayati is..
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ Saba is a very, very sad maqam. You can be sad when you're reciting about verses, about Jahannam. You can be sad, like happier sad when you're reciting verses about Jannah. You know, it's all about the emotion that the verses bring out of you. So Saba is... إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ مَفَازًا حَدَآئِقَ وَأَعْنَـٰبًۭا ٣٢ وَكَوَاعِبَ أَتْرَابًۭا وَكَأْسًۭا دِهَاقًۭا لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ فِيهَا لَغْوًۭا وَلَا كِذَّٰبًۭا ٣٥ جَزَآءًۭ مِّن رَّبِّكَ عَطَآءً حِسَابًۭا ٣٦ Saba is difficult for me because I always tend to go into Hijaz.
But this is a basic and very simple demonstration of the different melodies and maqamats that can be used when you recite the words of Allah (swt) If you hear the melody kind of repeats itself. Is it a neutral maqam? Very neutral. I'm going up and down, but I'm staying in the same little general area. Okey, so that’s maqam bayati with each maqam you can do several things, meaning you can go high or you can go low. If you go low, it's called Qarar if you go lower than low as low as possible, it’s called Qararun qarar And then the opposite side of the spectrum is Jawab. And Jawabun jawab so high and even higher. Okay. Next one, I'll give you an example of is maqam Rast.
People are really familiar with this one because sheikh in the Haram reciting this a lot specifically sheikh Sudais, sheikh Shuraim, sheikh Juhany recites Rast a lot. But Sheikh Sudais and Shuraim are the most common. so it's like. ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧ Ameen. This is maqam Rast. Which emotion does this maqam give? What is it give you? It's a bit fast paced.
It's like I would use this when I'm telling the story, you know if like in the Quran you come to a story depending on the emotion of the story, I would use this maqam. You know, it's a very general maqam, you can use it for several things, but it fits one that doesn't fit. I'll give you one that doesn't fit. Maqam Ajam is a very happy one. Okey. with the happiness that this maqam brings and the likeness to it. You would not recite this with verses of Jahannam, for example. Listen, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧ Ameen. it's like a lullaby melody. Yeah, a lullaby. It's like a butterflies flying, you know, like I will not recite verses about Jahannam I'm not going to say where or who the sheikh was, but the sheikh recited verses about jahannam in this maqam And people after Salat were like, What are you doing? Like the jama’ah was like, bro verses about jahannam. Like it's not a happy subject, you know.
So he wasn't aware of what he was reciting. Maybe. Yeah, probably. But chances are he didn't understand what he was or the other side of it is. Maybe that's just the only maqam he knew how to reciting. And so, like I said, it's not about the maqam, but it's good to know enough to be able to diversify your recitation. So the Qari should know some maqams to not get in trouble. Naturally, though, an individual each recites in their own melody. So my voice is more inclined to for example Nahawand. This is our fourth maqam. Okay, so Nahawand goes like this, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ This is maqam Nahawand. This is a favorite of people. This is another one of those maqams like you can I would use in a place where Allah (swt) emphasizing something. Allah (swt) is talking about something that one of the anbiya went through or someone else went through. You know, this is a good maqam for that. My voice is inclined to is Kurd. Kurd is very soft, very melodious and very heart touching and heartfelt. So that's where you use this maqam. And again, it's not limited to the topics besides the obvious ones that I said right?
Like Ajam not for Jahannam right? Whatever you feel. That's the essence of it all. Recite what you feel when you recite the Quran. And the words of Allah (swt) Mishary Alafasy is most known and famous for using this maqam. And it goes like... ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧ Ameen. Very emotional.
We've done Bayati, Rast, Ajam, Nahawand, Kurd I'm giving you like the basic generic versions of the maqam which by the way, are in their own style Like sheikh Minshavi’s Nahavand is very different. You know. His version of Nahavand is very famous. I'm not going to do it because I'll probably destroy it. Another maqam is maqam Hijaz obviously stemming from the Hijaz countries. You hear this a lot in the adhan. الله أكبر، الله أكبر That’s Hijaz. Know if I do this in a recitation, I'm going to change for Fatiha let's do to another verse. Bismillah.
إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ مَفَازًا حَدَآئِقَ وَأَعْنَـٰبًۭا ٣٢ وَكَوَاعِبَ أَتْرَابًۭا وَكَأْسًۭا دِهَاقًۭا لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ فِيهَا لَغْوًۭا وَلَا كِذَّٰبًۭا ٣٥ This is Hijaz. Another maqam Seeka. But remember, it's never about the melody, it's never about the voice. You know, we appreciate people's voices. We appreciate people's melodies. These are gifts from Allah (swt) and practice has been put into this. But at the end of the day, it is about the words of Allah (swt) Such a rich tradition we have. We weren't aware of this. Thank you, brother.
But the melodies help us, like Allah (swt) says in the Quran وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْاٰنَ تَرْتٖيلاًؕ and recite the Quran with measured and beautiful intonations and reciting in different melodies helps us and enables us to recite the verses with their diligence, with their emotion, because the words are beautiful and it is up to us to recite in a beautiful voice. So the different maqamat now that we're talking about that helps us to recite verses in the proper emotion, because each melody comes with its own emotion, and you'll hear it when I give examples, inshallah, right? So for example, I would not recite the verses about Jahannam in a happy melody. It doesn't make sense. Right.
So let me give you an example. Let's start basic. Yes. So the most neutral and most basic maqam there's about seven or eight major ones. I'm probably good at like five or six. Okay. So I'll give you the ones that I'm good at, inshallah. Seeka, I cannot do so I will not give you the demonstration for that one. A good example of Seeka is the Nasheed. Tala'a Al-Badru 'Alayna طَلَعَ الْبَدْرُ عَلَيْنَا The original melody, that's Seeka. The most basic one in the most neutral one. You have maqam Bayati. With maqam Bayati you can go into the other maqamat Okey, there's openings in the melody. So the example of maqam bayati is..
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ Saba is a very, very sad maqam. You can be sad when you're reciting about verses, about Jahannam. You can be sad, like happier sad when you're reciting verses about Jannah. You know, it's all about the emotion that the verses bring out of you. So Saba is... إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ مَفَازًا حَدَآئِقَ وَأَعْنَـٰبًۭا ٣٢ وَكَوَاعِبَ أَتْرَابًۭا وَكَأْسًۭا دِهَاقًۭا لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ فِيهَا لَغْوًۭا وَلَا كِذَّٰبًۭا ٣٥ جَزَآءًۭ مِّن رَّبِّكَ عَطَآءً حِسَابًۭا ٣٦ Saba is difficult for me because I always tend to go into Hijaz.
But this is a basic and very simple demonstration of the different melodies and maqamats that can be used when you recite the words of Allah (swt) If you hear the melody kind of repeats itself. Is it a neutral maqam? Very neutral. I'm going up and down, but I'm staying in the same little general area. Okey, so that’s maqam bayati with each maqam you can do several things, meaning you can go high or you can go low. If you go low, it's called Qarar if you go lower than low as low as possible, it’s called Qararun qarar And then the opposite side of the spectrum is Jawab. And Jawabun jawab so high and even higher. Okay. Next one, I'll give you an example of is maqam Rast.
People are really familiar with this one because sheikh in the Haram reciting this a lot specifically sheikh Sudais, sheikh Shuraim, sheikh Juhany recites Rast a lot. But Sheikh Sudais and Shuraim are the most common. so it's like. ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧ Ameen. This is maqam Rast. Which emotion does this maqam give? What is it give you? It's a bit fast paced.
It's like I would use this when I'm telling the story, you know if like in the Quran you come to a story depending on the emotion of the story, I would use this maqam. You know, it's a very general maqam, you can use it for several things, but it fits one that doesn't fit. I'll give you one that doesn't fit. Maqam Ajam is a very happy one. Okey. with the happiness that this maqam brings and the likeness to it. You would not recite this with verses of Jahannam, for example. Listen, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧ Ameen. it's like a lullaby melody. Yeah, a lullaby. It's like a butterflies flying, you know, like I will not recite verses about Jahannam I'm not going to say where or who the sheikh was, but the sheikh recited verses about jahannam in this maqam And people after Salat were like, What are you doing? Like the jama’ah was like, bro verses about jahannam. Like it's not a happy subject, you know.
So he wasn't aware of what he was reciting. Maybe. Yeah, probably. But chances are he didn't understand what he was or the other side of it is. Maybe that's just the only maqam he knew how to reciting. And so, like I said, it's not about the maqam, but it's good to know enough to be able to diversify your recitation. So the Qari should know some maqams to not get in trouble. Naturally, though, an individual each recites in their own melody. So my voice is more inclined to for example Nahawand. This is our fourth maqam. Okay, so Nahawand goes like this, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ This is maqam Nahawand. This is a favorite of people. This is another one of those maqams like you can I would use in a place where Allah (swt) emphasizing something. Allah (swt) is talking about something that one of the anbiya went through or someone else went through. You know, this is a good maqam for that. My voice is inclined to is Kurd. Kurd is very soft, very melodious and very heart touching and heartfelt. So that's where you use this maqam. And again, it's not limited to the topics besides the obvious ones that I said right?
Like Ajam not for Jahannam right? Whatever you feel. That's the essence of it all. Recite what you feel when you recite the Quran. And the words of Allah (swt) Mishary Alafasy is most known and famous for using this maqam. And it goes like... ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧ Ameen. Very emotional.
We've done Bayati, Rast, Ajam, Nahawand, Kurd I'm giving you like the basic generic versions of the maqam which by the way, are in their own style Like sheikh Minshavi’s Nahavand is very different. You know. His version of Nahavand is very famous. I'm not going to do it because I'll probably destroy it. Another maqam is maqam Hijaz obviously stemming from the Hijaz countries. You hear this a lot in the adhan. الله أكبر، الله أكبر That’s Hijaz. Know if I do this in a recitation, I'm going to change for Fatiha let's do to another verse. Bismillah.
إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ مَفَازًا حَدَآئِقَ وَأَعْنَـٰبًۭا ٣٢ وَكَوَاعِبَ أَتْرَابًۭا وَكَأْسًۭا دِهَاقًۭا لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ فِيهَا لَغْوًۭا وَلَا كِذَّٰبًۭا ٣٥ This is Hijaz. Another maqam Seeka. But remember, it's never about the melody, it's never about the voice. You know, we appreciate people's voices. We appreciate people's melodies. These are gifts from Allah (swt) and practice has been put into this. But at the end of the day, it is about the words of Allah (swt) Such a rich tradition we have. We weren't aware of this. Thank you, brother.