bushra lana with ya kawkaba l-asri, inlam tashhad and waLlahi bu suhba - Manaqib Nashids

Maher Zain - I Love You So Allah - Vocals Only

1- Introduction المقدمة

O My Heart, how much you bear patiently.  This love you experience drives you mad and baffles.
Bear your love. Do not feel regret. Your position is a wise one.
You have thrown your spirit in a bounteous ocean; the sea of love, but you fear getting splashed.
Lose yourself in your Lover and you will live a life of bliss. There you will find all you seek.

O Heart How Much Patience You Show

This album has been a long time coming. It showcases a very specific form of Islamic devotional singing from South Asia / The Indian Subcontinent, commonly referred to as “Na’at”, literally “description” in the Arabic origin of the word, and specifically in praise of The Prophet (ﷺ). Most of the more commonly spoken languages in this region have a na’at tradition – Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, and others. For this album, I’ve selected a few from my most favourite Urdu ones that I’ve heard and sung growing up. (There’s more than a few that I’ve deferred for future releases.)

For those who are new to the Na’at genre, it comprises of poems recited in solo acapella, without any dependence as such on any accompanying percussion or backup vocals. This is a difficult genre to excel in – there’s nothing whatsoever for the vocals to hide behind, and it takes a certain amount of fearlessness to do this live. Many talented and accomplished contemporary reciters have experimented in recent years by adding a vocal chanting percussion, but I wanted to go totally old school with this rendition.


DEDICATIONS:
I’m specifically dedicating this album to first to the elders in my family – both sets of my late grandparents, and both sets of my wife’s late grandparents. My wife’s grandmother, Nani Ammi, was the most recent to pass away from among our grandparents. Whenever we would visit her, after our meals, she would make the entire family go silent (all 536 of them!), sit me down by her knees, and announce, “Everyone will be silent now! My son will recite some na’at!” I now make it a habit to recite a na’at every time I visit her grave in Sheffield UK, and have hope in my Lord’s generosity that He allows her to hear it.

This album is also dedicated to my parents and to my parents-in-law, who have always appreciated these na’ats every time I’ve recited them in their presence.

And lastly, this album is also dedicated to our dear recently departed sister, Sr. Parween Baksh, who would often request these Urdu recitations whenever we would visit her home and would enjoy them greatly.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Many thanks go to my wife, Dr. Bano Murtuja, who had been encouraging me for over a decade to record and release a na’at album. She was also instrumental in the actual recording process by being my soundboard and director in the studio. Like many of my professional achievements, this wouldn’t have happened without her involvement and encouragement.

Thanks are also due to my dear friend Mohamed Adel Rassoul, who snapped the picture on the cover art when we visited the Best Of Creation (ﷺ) in March of 2022, and to my producer in Toronto, Norm Sabourin, who did an amazing job with the final production, creating just the right ambience for a sound that’s entrancing, contemplative, and sacred.

All album credits, lyrics, and translations, will insha’Allah be posted on the Discography page when this album becomes publicly available on Monday, Dec 12, 2022.


Please recite the Fatiha** and send prayers on the Beloved Messenger (ﷺ) on behalf of everyone who has worked to bring this song to you.

__________________________
** The first chapter of the Holy Qur’an

1- Introduction المقدمة

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