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Islamic PeriodEarly in the 7th century, Muhammad, a religious leader, proclaimed himself a prophet of God to the nomadic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. He founded a community of believers who called themselves Muslims (“those who surrender,” that is, to God's will) and their faith Islam (“surrender”). In Islam, the best place to pray is in a mosque. However, Muslims can also pray at home or anyplace that is clean. Muslims pray fives times a day. The prayers are performed before sunrise (Fajr), early afternoon (Zuhr), late afternoon (Asr), after sunset (Maghrib) and at night (Isha). The normal way the Muslims greet each other is by saying, “assalamualaikum,” the other person would replying, “mualaikum assalam.”Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. During this month, all the Muslims will fast for one month, starting from the sunrise prayer until the sunset. The main purpose of the fasting to show love for their God, Allah. Fasting also helps the Muslims understand the feeling of being poor and hungry. In the following month the Muslims celebrate Eid al Fitr, which means feast of breaking the fast. In Malaysia, it is called Hari Raya Puasa, which is the first day of the tenth month of the Muslim lunar calendar. They greet each other in a traditional way – salam: shaking hands tightly and then touching the left side of the chest (the heart). If we have Muslim students in our classrooms, there are a few things we should be aware of during the month of Ramadan. Muslim students who are above 12 years of age will fast during this month. That means no food or water is allowed during the day, except when the student is sick. Music teachers should continue to teach music as usual, but have to be sensitive when involving these children in some types of musical activities. Singing and dancing might make them tired and thirsty. One of the fasting rules is the tongue shouldn't have contact with anything (Palestinians and Malays have the same rule, the Egyptians are slightly different). Thus, playing recorder is not permitted. In this kind of situation, the teacher could ask the students to do the fingering but not play the recorder. Islamic Art Islamic
music and art:
Islamic (Muslim) art is always non-representative. That means it never shows images of actual people or things, only abstract geometric patterns. Muslims do not believe in open spaces; therefore, their art is very ornate. This ornamentation is evident in their music. There are two kinds of music in this region: For more information, please visit ISLAMIC ART INTRODUCTION The Human Voice: (Jenkins & Olsen, p. 2, 1976) “The human voice is as important – if not more so – as the instruments in Islamis music. Before the year 622 the practice of making music in South-west Asia included a great number of different instruments and styles of singing, which differed from region to region. Although there is no prohibition against music in the Qu’ran itself, and it is known that music was played both at the wedding of the Prophet and, later, of his daughter, the austerity of the legalits who followed outlawed music. Even the cantilation of the Qu’ran was called ‘reading’ rather than singing although both melody and vocal ornamentation are beautifully presented there, and to a lesser extent, in the ‘call to Prayer.’ – Allahu Akhbar (Allah is most great/Allah the greatest) Listen to “Call to prayer.” |
Copyright 2007, Chet-Yeng Loong