Maria Ulfah (; born 21 December 1955) is an Indonesian
qāriʾ
A qāriʾ (, plural ''qurrāʾ'' or ''qaraʾa''; feminine form: qāriʾa ) is a person who recites the Quran with the proper rules of recitation ('' tajwid'').
Although it is encouraged, a qāriʾ does not necessarily have to memorize the Qura ...
ah (reciter of the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
) and manager of the Central Institute for the Development of Quranic Recitation. She is the winner of two Indonesian national Qur'an recitation contests and is internationally recognized as one of the world's master reciters and teachers of recitation.
[Kathryn M. Coughlin]
Muslim Cultures Today: A Reference Guide
pg. 87. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Publishing Group
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of ...
, 2006. She is also a lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Qur'an and at the National Islamic University in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
,
as well as the first woman to win an international Qur'an recitation award in
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
in 1980.
[ She's considered an internationally significant figure in the field, and has been referred to as ]Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
's premier female reciter of the Qur'an.
Personal life
Ulfah was born in Lamongan Regency
Lamongan Regency () is a regency () of the East Java Province of Indonesia. It has a total land area of approximately or + 3.78% of the area of East Java Province. With a length of along the coastline (comprising Paciran and Brondong Distric ...
, East Java
East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...
, on December 21, 1955, to Haji Mudhoffar and Hajjah Ruminah.University of Indonesia
The University of Indonesia (UI; ) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...
. She has three children: Ahmad Nabries, Mohammad Labib, and Rifky Mubarak.[
]
Career
Ulfah was introduced to Qur'an recitation by her father, Haji Mudhoffar, who taught her that she was equal to any man or woman. He staged Qur'an reciting competitions in their hometown to give his daughter experience.[ Ulfah is a scholar of the history of Qur'anic recitation in the Indonesian archipelago, as well as a lecturer at the Institute for Qur'anic Studies in ]Jakarta
Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
.[
Ulfah's recitation was featured on the companion CD to ''Approaching the Qur'an'' by Michael Sells,][Anna M. Gade]
Perfection Makes Practice: Learning, Emotion, and the Recited Qurʼān in Indonesia
pg. 279. Honolulu
Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
: University of Hawaii Press
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, 2004. Canada, and several European countries.[ her trip was hosted by the Middle East Studies Association of North America.][ Jane Dammen McAuliffe]
Disparity and Context: Teaching Quranic Studies in North America
pg. 106. Taken from ''Teaching Islam''. Ed. Brannon M. Wheeler. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
See also
* Muammar Z.A.
* Mu'min Ainul Mubarak
External links
Personal website
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulfah, Maria
1955 births
Indonesian Muslims
Indonesian Quran reciters
Javanese people
Living people
People from Lamongan Regency
Women scholars of Islam
20th-century Indonesian women
Indonesian people of Egyptian descent