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se ceR C9iC 5201 80 King St. S. + Waterl00, ON * N2J 1P5 o Office: (519)886â€"2360 ext. 241 @ Email: lay.che@investorsgroup.com MCEACHNIE e soice" of the ~Francial BR Enanoatar FINANCIAL & TAX PLANNING TEAM TOYS TO LOVE AND LEARN FROM Watch for your 2002 TOYX BOOK coming next week in this newspaper! At Turtle Pond Toys we sell high quality products that are not only safe and durable, but that are guaranteed to captivate your child‘s imagination and challenge them in their g development. Stop by and find fundamental skills while having fun. We have knowledgeable, friendly staff who can help you choose just the right toy for the children in your life this holiday season. ; Let your child‘s imagination run wild! $100 SAVINGS on Madetin« Dolf Nouse Ptanning Tip of the Day" on KOOL - A en ave 105.3 FM and OLDIES 1090 AM Gmup u4 ® Touring Quranic vocalists blend science, art and faith A;liminu(ive figure stood lone on onstage, her face framed by a delicate silk scarf, hands gently grasping the podium, as she read firmly and clearly to a hall filled with rapt listeners. Every phrase of her brief By Pavune FincH For The Chronicle LAURELWOOD SHOPPING CENTRE (Fischerâ€"Hallman & Columbia) WATERLOO But as she spoke before nearly 180 at the University of Waterloo Humanities Theatre last week â€" far from her native Indonesia and its 40â€"degree Celsins weather â€" there was no mistaking the warm resoâ€" nance of a voice that seemed always poised on the edge of song. prepared text was measured and paused; even so, Dr. Maria Ulfah‘s precisely choâ€" sen English words were so deeply accented, one often had to concentrate hard to follow them. For more than half of her audience, Dr. Ulfah (who heads a major school of Quranic recitation in Jakarâ€" ta) could have chosen to communicate solely in Araâ€" bic to recount the exacting, centuriesâ€"old oral tradition of learning to present the Qur‘an, Islam‘s foundationâ€" al scripture, in unaccompaâ€" nied vocal chant. $60 SAVINGS on She spoke in English, however, to mark a historic occasion for Muslim comâ€" munities coast to coast in this country â€" the Canadiâ€" an Islamic Congress‘s inauâ€" gural annual Islam Awareâ€" ness Week, held Oct. 20 â€"27. In the space of barely a week, all four â€" each a disâ€" tinct artistic and interpretive personality â€" presented musical Qur‘an passages to enthusiastic audiences in Ottawa, Toronto, London, Hamilton, Montreal, and Waterloo. And if their local twoâ€" hoursâ€"plus sampling from one of the Muslim world‘s most beloved cultural tradiâ€" tions was any indication, it‘s no wonder the ensemble was suddenly noticed everyâ€" where it went by English, French and multicultural media, both in print and on Along with male reciters Dr. Ysnar Yusuf (also from Indonesia), and Majid Alâ€" Onizi and Fahad Alâ€" Kundary, rising young "stars" who both hail from Kuwait, Dr. Ulfah has been touring Canada to share the littleâ€"known art and science of publicly singing the Qur‘an to people who might otherwise never hear it live and inâ€"person. For while the western world has traditionally treatâ€" ed the Qur‘an only as a writâ€" ten document, Muslims have never forgotten its illustrious 1,400â€"year history as an oral work, the form in which God/Allah is said to have revealed the entire text to Muhammad during the sixth century CE. Today, one can find the printed Qur‘an nearly everyâ€" where, both in the original Arabic poetry that uniquely Travel light and right in style with TilleySilks, a colourful collection designed for women on the move. Woven from Japanese microfibre, TilleySilks look and feel like real silk but with a practical elegance all their own. Supremely wrinkle resistant, TilleySilks pack effortlessly and require minimal care. Equally at home at the Captain‘s Table or in a business meeting, TilleySilks help you gracefully rise to any occasion. We invite you to visit us and scrunch TilleySilks for yourself â€" exclusively yours from Tilley, proud makers of the finest travel and 7 adventure clothing in the world. Head to Toe Elegance you can scrunch into the palm of your hand. _ $ available at conveys its meaning, and in numerous translations, or paraphrases (the term preâ€" ferred by most Islamic scholars). But there are few greater spiritual and intellectual accomplishments for any Muslim than to commit its entire 114 "surahs," or chapâ€" ters, to memory â€" a feat that Fahad Alâ€"Kundary (now 20) managed in only 18 months before the age of 12. Yet it can take a decade or more beyond that to fully master the numerous melodic styles, expressive techniques, and inward spiritual discipline (a proper understanding of the muchâ€" abused term "jihad") to attain the poise and profiâ€" ciency of Wednesday‘s preâ€" senters. Is it worth the thousands of hours and lifelong dediâ€" cation to send out God‘s Word on the sculpted strains of mouratel and mojawad (traditional fast and slow forms), even to those who may never literally underâ€" stand the text? Whether heard in Ulfah‘s vibrant, nuanced contralto (this consummate artist could sing grand opera if she wanted to), Yusuf‘s serenely introspective bassâ€" baritone, or the supple midâ€" tenor range of both personâ€" able young Kuwaitis, the pulsing poetry and its draâ€" There was really never any doubt, from either side of the stage. As local listenâ€" ers discovered in last Wednesday‘s evocative chanted texts, there is simâ€" ply nothing to compare with the experience of receiving the Qur‘an through gently thythmic melodies that can turn the most mundane space into holy ground. Upstaire in River Works, St. Jacobs 664â€"2668 matically inflected changes of mood proved mesmerizâ€" ing â€" even to fascinated preâ€"school children, like threeâ€"yearâ€"old Hassan in the next seat, who approached the whole thing with wideâ€" eyed wonder. Many of their parents, like Hassan‘s mom and dad, have come from all over the Muslim world to live and study in Kâ€"W, and when their thoughts turn to "home," it is often to places where the sound of Qur‘anic recitation can be head at any hour of the day or night â€" not only in mosques and masjids (where Muslims worship together) but on the street, in taxis, on buses, in shops, in schools, at offiâ€" cial public ceremonies, even at family gatherings to mark marriages, funerals, birthâ€" days, anniversaries or other occasions. In fact, recordings of the most popular Quranic reciters, who are given respectful titles such as Qari‘, Hafez, or Sheikh, sell annually in the millions, yet are scarcely known to exist in North America. So how could one tell, beyond the externals of capâ€" tivating sound, that Ulfah, Yusuf, Alâ€"Onizi and Alâ€" Kundary were "the real thing?" That part was easy. Every so often, quiet Arabic exclamations of assent and approval â€" were â€" heard throughout the hall, telling those of us with lessâ€"experiâ€" enced ears that we were all in the presence of greatness. (In recent years, a numâ€" ber of books have appeared that are geared to English readers wanting to know Continued on page 13