
Of course, the other reason why the track has many views is due to the catchy nature of it, especially the chorus. There are those who feel musical instruments are acceptable as long as the vocals are positive, and those who feel instruments are forbidden. This is important as Muslims are generally split into two categories on the topic of instruments. The end result is a good sounding product without use of musical instruments. They then create similar base sounds using voice only, and adjust the temp/pitch in order to ensure it closely matches the instrumental. Otterbeck explained that the instrumental version is usually passed to a production team, who closely listen to the sounds. At a recent lecture in London, he spoke about the process to creating a non-music version. Jonas Otterbeck studies Islamic music and the Awakening Record label. One technique used by Awakening Records is releasing a non-music version of each of Maher Zain’s songs. This strong experience helps them to create tracks both with and without music. They helped launch Sami Yusuf, brought out the teen-sensation Harris J and recently signed Iman – their first female artist. He recently performed the song on his UK tour, and it was a huge hit with the majority Pakistani crowd.Īwakening Records are the label behind Maher Zain and have much experience when it comes to Islamic Music. Maher tends to sing the Urdu parts during live performances where Atif Aslam is not present. One example of an Urdu track is Allah Hi Allah Kiya Karo, one of his earliest hits.Ĭollaborating with the popular Pakistani artist Atif Aslam in ‘ I’m Alive‘ was a huge success. Maher Zain has also sang a number of tracks in Urdu, helping to draw in the Pakistani community. Many Muslims can speak or vaguely understand Arabic and therefore it’s no surprise that the Arabic version has picked up the most views.
His ability to sing multiple languages helps to bring in a wider audience, and reach people across the globe. Ya Nabi Salam Alayka has a version in English, Arabic and Turkish. The majority of Maher Zain’s songs are sang in three different languages – by Maher himself!
