Taraveeh, these days, is held at so many venues besides mosques. The attendance of devotees is as large in clubs, bungalows and Islamic institutions as in the masjids. Nevertheless, the number of days in Ramazan devoted to taraveeh keeps decreasing. Once it was the trend to complete the recitation of the Holy Qur'an on the 27th; later, in order to cater to the growing commercialism of the city, it was reduced to fifteen days, still later to ten and now it is down to just one week of the blessed month.
It seems as if people want to fulfil the pious duty quickly so as to be free to pursue other interests. It is not just that the number of taraveeh days has decreased, but the ability to read the Arabic text has also declined. The most unfortunate thing is that people who were themselves taught to read the Qur'an in Arabic do not make an effort to teach recitation to their children. It has become a matter of choice allowed to the kids. "She does not want to read," said a nephew about his five-year-old daughter. His attitude is the same as that of too many people in the middle-class and affluent class. If the child had said she does not want to go to school, the mother and father would show no leniency.
Interestingly, some men who know how to read the Arabic text have never touched the Holy Qur'an since the day of their Ameen (when the child completes the first reading of the Book). In Ramazan such men think they have done their duty by attending a taraveeh. In short, they do not think it is far more important to read the Qur'an yourself than to merely hear it recited. Women are a bit more conscious, but only just a bit.
It is quite shocking that in many upper-class homes in Karachi you will not find a copy of the Qur'an. You will find a translation. In fact, a bride's dowry may not include the Qur'an. "What is the use of giving her the Qur'an since she cannot read it. I have given her a fine translation in English instead," a lady once told me. Such women treat the translation as if it was the Qur'an. At soyems one often sees them carrying their precious translation, removing it from a juzdaan (protective cloth envelope in which the Qur'an is usually stored), cover their heads and begin reading it with great devotion.
If you tell them Marmaduke Pickthall or Muhammad Asad are not God, nor do they claim to be God, they passionately defend their translations. The usual excuse is that the Qur'an is a Book of Guidance, so how are we to be guided if we cannot understand Arabic? This is merely an excuse. The truth is that nobody is guided by what is written in the Book; we are guided by sectarian traditions and values. If we were guided by God's Word, there would be no fanatics.
It is a mistake to think a translation is the same as the original Arabic text of the Qur'an. The recitation of the Arabic text is as important, (in my personal opinion far more important) as reading a translation. While it is important to know what the Qur'an says, and you can learn that through a translation, of course; the preservation of God's Word in absolute purity of text is the sole purpose for which the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) created the Muslim Umma.
The revelation of the Qur'an began in 610 CE in Makkah. God commanded the Holy Prophet to convey the Divine Message to the whole world. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) knew this task could not be achieved by him alone or even by his followers in one or two generations. So he had the Qur'an written and memorised. But the persecution he and his followers suffered in Makkah made him realise this was not enough. He feared the Qur'an would be altered or even lost if his followers were weak and could not protect it after him. He therefore set out to create a community with a distinct identity based on the guidance of the Qur'an which would also be strong economically and militarily.
If he had not created a self-assured and powerful Umma, the fate of the Qur'an would have been like that of the Zubur, Torah and Injeel. These earlier revelations survive, but not in original text and there is much human interpolation. The world has only one unadulterated text: the Qur'an. It is the duty of Muslims to preserve it, and that is only possible by means of regular recitation of the Arabic text.
Publishing is a business. If people stop reading the Arabic text it will not be profitable to print it in massive quantity, which also reduces the price at which a copy can be purchased. In many parts of the world, specially UK, USA, Canada, Australia and several European countries the Qur'an is not recited. The demand there is for translations. In Pakistan it is declining. In a soyem in Clifton, three siparas were read in the men's section and eight in the women's section. The attendance of mourners, however, was easily in the hundreds.
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