“ICH KANN NICHT”: GERMAN MUSLIM WOMEN CONVERTS AND THEIR STRUGGLES TO LEARN THE QURʾAN

Abstract

This paper describes the challenges some German Muslim women converts face while learning Qurʾan recitation particularly in their attempts to articulate the Qurʾanic letters (makhārij al-ḥurūf). It focusses on the connection between makhārij al-ḥurūf with piety cultivation (khushūʿ) and rituals (ibādāt) while adding to both Gade’s and Brusius’s work on recitation. The paper also raises positionality questions with regards to the author being both a researcher and teacher of recitation writing about her students.