How ANYONE can have a beautiful voice when reciting the Quran - Step by Step | Arabic101

If you think you have a bad voice when reciting the Qur'an, or if you've been struggling to beautify your Qur'an recitation, or you have been trying to find your own style in recitation but don't know how to do it, you will find answers and solutions to all these problems in this lesson insha'Allah.

And by the end of this video, you will know exactly what you should do step by step to have your own beautiful Qur'an recitation regardless of how gifted you are.

First of all, let us clear a major misconception on this matter.

Only people with the gift of beautiful voice can recite the Qur'an beautifully.

This is definitely not true.

In fact, anyone, and I mean anyone, no matter what your voice is like or how gifted you are, anyone can have a beautiful Quran recitation.

If you're now thinking, no brother, you haven't heard my voice.

It's worse than you think.

Well, the first and the most important point that you have to understand when it comes to Quran recitation is that there is no such thing as someone who can't recite the Quran beautifully because everyone has the ability to.

But what we do have is a good performer and a bad performer when it comes to Quran recitations.

A good performer is a well-trained reciter, knows the limits of his voice, knows how to start and how to end an ayah, is consistent and basically knows what he's doing.

But a bad performer is the one who is just not good at any of these things.

And so a good performer recites beautifully and a bad performer not really.

So you're now saying that anyone can have a beautiful recitation and be like Shaykh Abd al-Basit or Shaykh al-Afasi, for example.

well no this is not exactly what i'm saying such reciters have a unique vocal tone accurate pitch control and basically a strong voice but this is all a gift from allah so these people have a unique ability and so it cannot be learned you cannot become like them unless you have their gift

But what I'm trying to tell you is that, for example, Shaykh Abdul Basit is not Shaykh Abdul Basit that we know today only because of his gift, but rather because he is an excellent performer.

So a gift like Shaykh Abdul Basit's will not necessarily mean that you will be as good as he was.

In fact, I have seen and heard people who have, as they call it, beautiful, strong voices, but they can't recite the Quran as beautiful as you would expect.

So what I'm trying to do here is to make a distinction between the performance and the gift.

And when it comes to Quran recitation, performance is more important than the gift, because if you can perform properly,

you will be able to have a beautiful recitation regardless of having a gift or not.

A gift can certainly add beauty, but not a necessity.

In fact, there are some famous professional Quran reciters who don't particularly possess a unique or a strong voice.

Still, they are very well known worldwide for their really beautiful recitations.

And this is because they have excellent performance.

not because of a certain gift.

You have, for example, Shaykh Ash-Shurim, Shaykh Ali Al-Jabir, and Shaykh Al-Thubayti.

They are all well-known and have very beautiful recitations, but they don't have the gift of a unique, powerful voice.

But still, they have one of the most beautiful recitations that you can listen to.

So the gift cannot be learned, but performance can be learned.

And it is that deciding factor that determines whether you can have a beautiful recitation or not.

So how do you recite with a beautiful performance?

How can you have a unique style of your own?

Well, we can insha'Allah achieve this through five steps.

Make sure to follow closely and don't skip steps as following these steps is very crucial for the whole process.

So let's get started.

Step number one, having good basics of tajweed.

Since we are still learning and acquiring knowledge, you should have a good understanding of the Tajweed rules and know how to find your way when reciting.

It is not wise to start focusing on how you recite or perform before you can get the hang of reciting correctly.

So, your first priority should be to have an acceptable level of Tajweed and then we work on performance.

If you have some mistakes here and there, that is fine and can be corrected as we progress through the steps along the way, inshallah.

Step number two, choose one reciter that you like listening to.

And more importantly, only listen to one style of his recitations.

So what does that mean?

Well, many reciters have different styles when reciting.

Some people call it different maqamat.

Regardless of what it is called, what you want to do is to listen to one variation of his recitations.

So for example, Shaykh al-Husri recites in two or three styles or maqamat.

He also recites in different speeds.

But in order for this method to work for you, you are to follow just one of his styles and one speed.

You can't keep switching between styles because if you do, you just won't pick anything this way.

and when we say listen to a reciter we mean to listen a lot like every day or whenever you get a chance listen a lot and preferably one surah that you are already familiar with and are good at reciting so one reciter one style one speed one surah whenever you get the chance

Now, how long this step should take will differ from one person to another.

Some people pick things up quickly by listening, others not really.

It can take one month, three months.

The longer you listen, the easier the next steps will get.

if you want help in choosing the right reciter that suits your voice and even for women i'll talk about that at the end of this lesson so keep watching step number three after long periods of listening only listening and when the tones of the recitation become very familiar to your ears start reciting along while listening

So you'll basically turn up the volume a little, looking at the Mozhaf, and then recite along at the same time, in the same style, that you have been listening to for quite some time now.

And by now, you should be familiar with where the reciter raises his voice, how he starts, how he ends the ayah, how he performs the med and other techniques he uses.

If you feel you can't keep up with the reciter as you listen and read, this means you need to listen a little bit more and get more familiar.

But if you can follow, no problem, start listening to other surahs in the same style and do the same thing to get more and more familiar with this style.

Step 4.

After having practiced along with the reciter and feeling you got the hang of the style and can follow along easily, you will now start recording your own voice reciting the same surahs in the same style.

After recording, listen to yourself, then to the reciter and compare, and then see which areas or ayat you need to improve on to imitate the style even better.

And as you can see and hear me repeat, we are imitating the style, not the vocal abilities of the reciter.

And that's what you should be focusing on.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, let's say you are listening to Shaykh Al-Affasy.

As an average person, you don't have the same strength of voice as the Shaykh.

So the high notes or pitch control can be more challenging for an average person to imitate exactly.

So for example, if the Shaykh performs a med, he would use all of his vocal capabilities.

But what you should do is to imitate the style as straightforward as possible.

because we are after the style, not the technique and the pitch control of the Shaykh.

To understand this point fully, since it is a very important point to understand, let us look at a practical example to know how you can get around this point inshallah.

We'll listen to Shaykh Al-Afasi recite an ayah in a certain style, but he applies Tarjiya, which is a form of vocal control that requires some gift and some practice.

Now, when I try to imitate his style, I'll recite this med straight without tarji'a or any pitch control because I am focusing only on the style or the tone of the recitation, like so.

That's why we call this a straight recitation that focuses on the style

rather than the technique.

So put your focus when recording on following the tone of the recitation, how the ayah starts and how it ends, and then when you know the style well enough, the other techniques will come by themselves in a form that suits the capabilities of your voice.

Now, at this stage, it is very normal that you feel limited in how you recite or feel as if you are walking on a very narrow road following the exact footsteps of the reciter.

That is normal at the beginning.

The more you recite, the more comfortable you will feel in that style.

Most important thing is that you keep practicing, listening and more practicing.

Step number five, apply and adapt.

Once you've become very familiar with the style that you've been practicing, by now you should have some sort of a mental image of how your reciter would recite a surah, even if you haven't heard him recite it.

At this point, you should be able to recite other surahs that you haven't practiced.

But now,

you will start adapting the style and the techniques used by the reciter to suit your voice capabilities, which would then be your own personal style.

And this is essentially how any Shaykh that you know and hear today have got their own style from.

They learned from their own Shaykh and after lots of practice, they adapted that style to have a new personal style that suits their abilities.

At this point, you can repeat the steps again to acquire another style of that same reciter and familiarize yourself with the transitions and the different techniques that he uses in his recitation.

Now, for the most important question, how do you choose a reciter that suits you?

To choose the right reciter, make sure to consider the following points.

One, only choose a reciter that you love listening to.

You will be listening to that Shaykh for long extended periods of time.

So choose one that you like to listen to and one that has many recordings or the full recording of the Quran.

Number two, don't choose a Mujawwad or slow style.

Always choose a reciter that has an average pace or Murattal, which will then enable you to later be able to adjust the speed yourself when you pick up that style.

It is just more flexible.

If you follow a Mujawwad style, it will limit your options tremendously.

Number three, choose a reciter with a similar voice, so not much heavier or much lighter than your own voice.

This means that if you have, for example, a deep, heavy voice, it won't be advisable to listen to, for example, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ajami or Al-Ghamdi, who are known to have a higher pitch voice.

because if you imitate their recitations, it would put a lot of pressure on your vocal cords and it would tire you much faster.

So record your voice and listen side by side to the desired reciter to see how close or far you are.

Number four, don't choose a reciter that uses too many techniques or changes the tone too often in the same recitation because it would be too difficult to pick up his style or it would take longer.

Finally, avoid reciters that use the auto-tune or too much sound effects like reverb and echoes and these kind of things since this affects the clarity of each sound when you try to imitate it.

Now, if you want to pick up a style quickly and easily, then it is best to choose a reciter who has a straightforward recitation.

Here's a list of some of the reciters that I think could help you achieve that quickly and easily, inshallah.

And for sisters, I recommend Shaykha Zainab Talha.

These reciters should cover inshallah most common voices so that you can get started already.

These are just suggestions and you may choose another one that you like more or suits your voice better.

I left some recordings and information for all the mentioned names in the description of this lesson, so check them out to see what their recitation sounds like.

Finally, if you do feel fatigue when you practice for some time, or you have a short breath so you can't keep up with the reciter, there are some techniques and exercises to do to extend your breath when reciting the Qur'an

If you're interested to learn about those techniques and exercises, let me know in the comments and I'll upload a guide on that matter insha'Allah.

Thanks for watching.

If you want to start learning the Tajweed, then start with this playlist.

And also, don't forget to check my latest book about Tajweed and download the companion app.

Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.