The lyrics of the Islamic hymns rehearsed in a small studio just outside Cairo are well known to Egyptian Muslims, but they have never sounded so different. Here they are sung by women.

Songs of praise to God and the Prophet Mohammad of Islam are a common religious custom in Egypt and the Middle East, but they are almost always performed by men and boys.

Members of Al Hur, Egypt’s first all-female Muslim recitation choir, are determined to change that by challenging deep-rooted taboos about women singing in public or reciting the Quran in this socially conservative country.

“Having women in Muslim religious singing doesn’t just shatter social stereotypes about female singers. It also gives a distinctive new style to an art that has long been dominated by men alone, ”said Al Hur founder Nema Fathi, 26.

Sitting on chairs in the wood-paneled studio during a recent rehearsal, seven young women and girls scanned the lyrics on their cellphones before closing their eyes and singing the hymns, accompanied by a piano and drums.

“Widespread attacks”

Fathi practices a religious musical form known as “inshad,” or chanting, in which religious words and praise to God and the Prophet Muhammad are sung.

While the practice has both secular and religious uses in the Middle East, nasheeds are almost always sung by men, while women who play music or sing in public are often seen as promiscuous.

This makes performers even more taboo, and Fathi said she has faced repeated criticism since launching Al Hur in 2017 after meeting other women and girls who wanted to follow their passion for fitness. musical.

“Since the founding of the choir, we have faced widespread attacks from some leading figures in Muslim singing who have discouraged us from taking this step,” she said.

“Some have told us that a woman’s voice is dishonorable. “How can girls sing religious songs? ” they said. But we challenged ourselves to make this group a success, ”added Fathi.

The lack of time and money also weighed on the ambitions of the choir.

Fathi pays around 500 Egyptian pounds ($ 32) an hour to rent the studio, where she offers free weekly rehearsals lasting three to five hours.

Still, choir members have to pay for transportation to attend rehearsals and some 50 concerts over the past four years.

This has brought the membership from 30 to just 10 at present.

“Most of them got married and started taking care of their families,” Fathi said, adding that the women’s husbands had not supported their membership in the group.

“Unique flavor”

But despite the difficulties they face, the members of Alhour are determined to continue.

Some of the young women come to train with their mothers, who listened with obvious pride to the recent rehearsal, where conductor Ahmed Galal was the only man in the studio.

Fathi struggled to find a female conductor for the choir, and Galal offered to train them for free.

Sondos Medhat, who at 14 is the youngest member of the group, attended the practice with his mother, Amira, who ignored the idea that only men should perform nasheeds.

“On the contrary, historically Muslim women have been part of the realm of song and recitation. In addition, they give a special and unique flavor to art, very different from that presented by men, ”the 45-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The group are busy rehearsing for a religious music festival next month and are also working on a remix of nasheed about Prophet Mohammad which will be posted on the YouTube video-sharing site later this year.

Fathi said she hopes to one day open her own singing school, despite financial and bureaucratic hurdles.

“It has always been a dream for me to create an academy to teach new generations of girls religious songs – an academy that can make feminine rhymes with Muslim songs. “