Post by littlestudent on Nov 26, 2018 6:37:44 GMT
Who was Qari Anees Ahmad Khan Falahi (ra) and how do we know his students abandoned his pronunciation of ض?
One of my own isnaads goes through Qari Anees (ra) so this matter is very dear to me. Qari Anees Ahmad Khan Falahi (d. 1990) was without a doubt one of the most influential teachers of Qur'an recitation and Tajwid in the Subcontinent. His father was Maulana Abdur Ra'oof Khan (ra), who was known to be one of the most devout students and mureeds of Shaykh-ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood al-Hasan Deobandi. Qari Anees's (ra) mother passed away when he was very young, so he would shadow his father and was thus influenced from the beginning by the constant company of scholars. After graduating from Darul Uloom Deoband, Qari Sahb traveled to Lucknow to specialize further in the science of Qiraa'aat under the most knowledgeable scholars of the science in the Subcontinent at the time. After mastering the science, he was discovered by the principal of a fairly new Madrasa who was searching for a teacher of Qiraa'aat. He was quickly recruited to teach at what is now the famous Darul Uloom Falah-e-Darayn in Tarkeshwar. Qari Anees (ra) was known to be very selective and particular in teaching the Qiraa'aat sciences. He would say, "This is a noble science intended for those of noble character." His careful exclusivity in accepting students is a tradition that has been passed down through his own students to this very day. Qari Sahb (ra) never married, instead devoting his life to the service of the Qur'an.
How did Qari Anees (ra) pronounce the letter ض? Ideally, the way isnaad works is that the student pronounces every letter in exactly the same way taught by their teacher. So the way to determine how Qari Anees (ra) pronounced the ض is to listen to his students pronounce it. However, in my investigation, I found some inconsistencies which required further explanation. Two of Qari Anees's most famous students are Qari Siddiq Falahi, successor of Qari Anees himself and current Shaykh of Qiraa'aat at DU Falah-e-Darayn, and Qari Ayoub Essack, current Shaykh of Qiraa'aat at DU Zakariyya in South Africa (and the teacher of my teacher, Mufti Aamir (db)). Both currently pronounce the ض according to the widespread (د-like) pronunciation. From this, one would assume that Qari Anees also pronounced the ض in this manner. However, that seems to not be the case. I was informed by Maulana Meraj Desai (from California) that he caught Qari Anees (ra) during the last two years of his life and that Qari Sahb would pronounce the ض that resembled ظ in sound, and that he did not change this pronunciation until he passed away. Maulana Meraj also approved of my pronunciation of ض and told me that it was identical to how Qari Anees would pronounce it (i.e. resembling ظ). Moreover, he told me that Qari Sahb's successor, Qari Siddiq (db), also pronounced the ض that resembled ظ during his initial years of teaching, and that he CHANGED his pronunciation later on. Imams Tahir and Ilyas Anwar, students of Qari Siddiq (db), confirmed this for me. They learned the ض that resembled ظ from Qari Siddiq, and he altered his pronunciation after they had left the madrasa. Another student of Qari Anees (ra) is Maulana Zubair AbdurRahman, one of the first Ulemaa of African American descent in the United States. He informed me that he received his ijaazah in the recitation of Hafs from Qari Anees (ra) and that he even translated some of his works into English. I recited Surat-ul-Fatihah myself to Maulana Zubair after Fajr at the Muslim Community Mosque in Phoenix, AZ with the ض that resembles ظ, and he approved and said that was how he heard Qari Anees (ra) recite it.
From this, I believe it is safe to conclude that Qari Anees (ra) definitely pronounced the ض in a manner that resembled ظ, and that some (if not most) of his students altered its pronunciation to conform with the current-day neo-ض. It is important to stress that despite their straying from Qari Anees's teaching, there was no malice or disrespect intended in their alteration of the pronunciation. Rather, it was either due to social pressure or because they, for some reason, were convinced that the neo-ض is closer to the Sunnah, with both of which I would respectfully disagree.
The attached picture is a page from Qari Anees's (ra) book, Fawa'id-e-Tajweediyyah, in which he explains the correct method of pronouncing ض.
والله أعلم بالصواب
One of my own isnaads goes through Qari Anees (ra) so this matter is very dear to me. Qari Anees Ahmad Khan Falahi (d. 1990) was without a doubt one of the most influential teachers of Qur'an recitation and Tajwid in the Subcontinent. His father was Maulana Abdur Ra'oof Khan (ra), who was known to be one of the most devout students and mureeds of Shaykh-ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood al-Hasan Deobandi. Qari Anees's (ra) mother passed away when he was very young, so he would shadow his father and was thus influenced from the beginning by the constant company of scholars. After graduating from Darul Uloom Deoband, Qari Sahb traveled to Lucknow to specialize further in the science of Qiraa'aat under the most knowledgeable scholars of the science in the Subcontinent at the time. After mastering the science, he was discovered by the principal of a fairly new Madrasa who was searching for a teacher of Qiraa'aat. He was quickly recruited to teach at what is now the famous Darul Uloom Falah-e-Darayn in Tarkeshwar. Qari Anees (ra) was known to be very selective and particular in teaching the Qiraa'aat sciences. He would say, "This is a noble science intended for those of noble character." His careful exclusivity in accepting students is a tradition that has been passed down through his own students to this very day. Qari Sahb (ra) never married, instead devoting his life to the service of the Qur'an.
How did Qari Anees (ra) pronounce the letter ض? Ideally, the way isnaad works is that the student pronounces every letter in exactly the same way taught by their teacher. So the way to determine how Qari Anees (ra) pronounced the ض is to listen to his students pronounce it. However, in my investigation, I found some inconsistencies which required further explanation. Two of Qari Anees's most famous students are Qari Siddiq Falahi, successor of Qari Anees himself and current Shaykh of Qiraa'aat at DU Falah-e-Darayn, and Qari Ayoub Essack, current Shaykh of Qiraa'aat at DU Zakariyya in South Africa (and the teacher of my teacher, Mufti Aamir (db)). Both currently pronounce the ض according to the widespread (د-like) pronunciation. From this, one would assume that Qari Anees also pronounced the ض in this manner. However, that seems to not be the case. I was informed by Maulana Meraj Desai (from California) that he caught Qari Anees (ra) during the last two years of his life and that Qari Sahb would pronounce the ض that resembled ظ in sound, and that he did not change this pronunciation until he passed away. Maulana Meraj also approved of my pronunciation of ض and told me that it was identical to how Qari Anees would pronounce it (i.e. resembling ظ). Moreover, he told me that Qari Sahb's successor, Qari Siddiq (db), also pronounced the ض that resembled ظ during his initial years of teaching, and that he CHANGED his pronunciation later on. Imams Tahir and Ilyas Anwar, students of Qari Siddiq (db), confirmed this for me. They learned the ض that resembled ظ from Qari Siddiq, and he altered his pronunciation after they had left the madrasa. Another student of Qari Anees (ra) is Maulana Zubair AbdurRahman, one of the first Ulemaa of African American descent in the United States. He informed me that he received his ijaazah in the recitation of Hafs from Qari Anees (ra) and that he even translated some of his works into English. I recited Surat-ul-Fatihah myself to Maulana Zubair after Fajr at the Muslim Community Mosque in Phoenix, AZ with the ض that resembles ظ, and he approved and said that was how he heard Qari Anees (ra) recite it.
From this, I believe it is safe to conclude that Qari Anees (ra) definitely pronounced the ض in a manner that resembled ظ, and that some (if not most) of his students altered its pronunciation to conform with the current-day neo-ض. It is important to stress that despite their straying from Qari Anees's teaching, there was no malice or disrespect intended in their alteration of the pronunciation. Rather, it was either due to social pressure or because they, for some reason, were convinced that the neo-ض is closer to the Sunnah, with both of which I would respectfully disagree.
The attached picture is a page from Qari Anees's (ra) book, Fawa'id-e-Tajweediyyah, in which he explains the correct method of pronouncing ض.
والله أعلم بالصواب