SONG CLIPS & LYRICS
This album had been in the works for almost exactly 10 years before it was released in December 2008. I had begun working on it in 1998, focusing mostly on Arabic and Urdu content. Over the years, as I read more English translations of the poetic works of earlier generations of Muslims, I was inspired to write and compose my own songs in English. This was very difficult at times – it took me five years to get a complete idea of what I wanted “The Sound Of Tears” to sound like. At other times, it was surprisingly easy – I remember writing the Quest in an inspired mid-afternoon hour in Toronto in July 2001. A similar moment on a busy Dubai freeway was where I wrote “Take My Hand” in 2005 (I pulled over to do the actual writing, in case you were wondering).
Getting the actual production going was frustrating at first. I may have given up hope along the way, had it not been for the consistent support and encouragement of many, many people, and had Allah not shown me time and again that my work was adding real tangible value to the lives of others.
I’ve done quite a bit of experimentation here, whether it’s singing Urdu naats and songs in Arabic and Persian melodic modes, or singing English lyrics to distinctly Turkish tunes. I hope it proves both enjoyable and inspirational to all listeners.
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The Most Beautiful Names
1 -
Marhaba [Urdu, Arabic, Farsi]
2 -
Ahl Al Bayt [Arabic]
3 -
Take My Hand [English]
4 -
Fāsloń Ko Takalluf [Urdu]
5 -
The Sound Of Tears [English]
6 -
Allah Hu [Urdu]
7 -
The Quest [English]
8
CREDIT
ALBUM CREDITS
LYRICS
MUHAMMAD IQBĀL NAQĪBĪ [ALLAH HU]; MUHAMMAD IQBĀL AZĪM [FASLON KO TAKALLUF]; NADER KHAN [TAKE MY HAND, THE SOUND OF TEARS, THE QUEST]
VOCALS
NADER KHAN
BACKING VOCALS
NADER KHAN; MOHAMMAD DBOONI [TAKE MY HAND]
PRODUCER
MOHAMMAD DBOONI; SALIM HASANALI [FĀSLON KO TAKALLUF, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES]
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
ALIM ALI; FARAZ RABBANI; NADER KHAN
RECORDING & MIXING ENGINEER
MOHAMMAD DBOONI [HUMMINGBIRD STUDIOS]; AMER HASSAN [ONE ROOF STUDIOS]
PERCUSSION & RHYTHM
MOHAMMAD DBOONI; SALIM HASANALI [FĀSLON KO TAKALLUF]
ALBUM COMPOSITION
NADER KHAN
ARRANGEMENT
NADER KHAN; MOHAMMAD DBOONI
PRINTING & CD DUPLICATION
DBS DUPLICATION
ALBUM ARTWORK
WAHIBA BUKHARI
DESIGN REVISIONS
ZAHRA HABIBULLAH; HANANE KORCHI; NERMIN MOUFTI
WEBSITE
FARAZ QURESHI; WAQAR KHAN
PHOTOGRAPHY
DOMINIC CHAN
| LYRICS | MUHAMMAD IQBĀL NAQĪBĪ [ALLAH HU]; MUHAMMAD IQBĀL AZĪM [FASLON KO TAKALLUF]; NADER KHAN [TAKE MY HAND, THE SOUND OF TEARS, THE QUEST] |
| VOCALS | NADER KHAN |
| BACKING VOCALS | NADER KHAN; MOHAMMAD DBOONI [TAKE MY HAND] |
| PRODUCER | MOHAMMAD DBOONI; SALIM HASANALI [FĀSLON KO TAKALLUF, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES] |
| EXECUTIVE PRODUCER | ALIM ALI; FARAZ RABBANI; NADER KHAN |
| RECORDING & MIXING ENGINEER | MOHAMMAD DBOONI [HUMMINGBIRD STUDIOS]; AMER HASSAN [ONE ROOF STUDIOS] |
| PERCUSSION & RHYTHM | MOHAMMAD DBOONI; SALIM HASANALI [FĀSLON KO TAKALLUF] |
| ALBUM COMPOSITION | NADER KHAN |
| ARRANGEMENT | NADER KHAN; MOHAMMAD DBOONI |
| PRINTING & CD DUPLICATION | DBS DUPLICATION |
| ALBUM ARTWORK | WAHIBA BUKHARI |
| DESIGN REVISIONS | ZAHRA HABIBULLAH; HANANE KORCHI; NERMIN MOUFTI | WEBSITE | FARAZ QURESHI; WAQAR KHAN |
| PHOTOGRAPHY | DOMINIC CHAN |
ACKNOWLEDGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This album was 10 years in the making before eventually being released in December 2008. I had embarked on this project in December 1998, and as such have built up quite a list of people to thank by its completion, as Allah has used so many people as a means to facilitate the production of this project, all praise and thanks being to Him before any. There was also the felt need to add more people to this list since the most recent production run of the album copies. So, without further ado, my deepest and most heartfelt expression of thanks and gratitude to:
My parents Nasir Mohammed Khan and Sultana Fatima, kids Nurah, Mustafa, Fatima & Zahra, siblings Yasir (Bhaijan) & Zaker, sister-in-law Sufia Lodhi (Bhabijan), my little niece Zara-Noor Khan, two of my closest friends Sidi Mostafa Azzam & Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, extended family across the Greater Toronto Area and across the globe, wherever you all are – this includes uncles, aunts, cousins close and distant, all my teachers including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Shaykh Talal Ahdab, Shaykh Abdullah al Kadi, Shaykh Nuh Keller, Shaykh Jamal Adh-Dhahabi, Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Faisal Abdur-Razzak, Sidi Nazim Baksh, Shaykh Muhammad Zahid, Shaykh Zahir Bacchus, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Amjad Rasheed, Sidi Abdul- Rehman Malik, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Dr. Umar Abdullah, Sidi Omar Mahmood, Sidi Usama Canon, Sidi Mustafa Davis, and any other teachers whom I’ve forgotten to mention, Ustadh Adnan Srajeldin, Shaykh Salah Al Kurdi, Sidi Hatim Yousef, Mrs. Shaheen Hyder, Sidi Hussein Hamdani, Omar Shabbir Khan, Sidi Alim Ali, Br. Salim Hasanali, Amer Hassan, Sidi Mohammed Dbooni, Sidi Waleed Hilal, Faraz Qureshi, Wahiba Bukhari, Hanane Korchi, Nermin Moufti, Dominic Chan, DBS Duplication, Sr. Seema, Hammad Din, Br. Jawad (Praji) Jafry, Sidi Moustafa Elqabbany, Sidi M. R., Sidi Hamidur Rahman Shibly, Sr. Nazima Yusuf, Dr. J Kreps, Br. A. Syed, Carter Hammett, Tina Bauer, Uncle Fareed Rabbani & Aunty Attiya Rabbani, Zaheer Razack, Saif Syed, Shiraz Sheikh, Omaira Alam, Joshua Herald, Mohammed Moinuddin, Dawud Wharnsby, Musa Uncle & Baby Aunty, Mahmood Matin, Tariq Sheikh (and the entire Scottish Sheikh Clan), Ahson Ahmad & Eman Tai, Rebecca Lemaire & Rajinder Deo.
And in a separate paragraph entirely on its own, I’d like to thank my dear wife Dr. Bano Murtuja, for everything she is, and everything she does, in facilitating my sharing these songs with all of you. Without all her hard work and dedication not just in being my manager, but also in bringing all these vivid colours into every facet of my life, none of this would have been possible. For all this, and for all her patience in putting up with the likes of me, thank you.
There are so many others to thank. I am truly grateful to virtually every single person I’ve ever come in contact with during my life, regardless of how short a time, because they’ve had a hand in getting me to where I am. If I’ve failed to mention you, it’s from my shortcomings and I apologize.
I also want to thank you, the listener, for taking an interest in my work, and for buying this album in a time when piracy is rampant, cheap and accessible. Thank you for doing your part in helping me raise funds for worthy causes, and for ensuring that I will have the resources to produce and release more songs and albums in the future.
SHARE
#ShareTheProphet
Nader is committed to #ShareTheProphet (ﷺ) in word and deed. In a world with an increasing frequency of ugly representations of the Prophet’s pure and beautiful message, it is all the more important to openly exemplify The Prophet’s mercy (ﷺ), concern and generosity for all creation.
You can help Nader #ShareTheProphet by contributing to the production of his upcoming albums. Just click below and follow the instructions.
#ShareTheProphet
Usually production and distribution of independent albums is financed by investors who recoup their principal (plus a profit) via album sales. The album is in debt even before it’s recorded, and the entire sales and marketing strategy is governed by their return on investment.
In a radical departure from this model, in 2013 Nader embarked on a daring new endeavour bringing together service and devotion, by channeling 100% of his sales revenue from future albums into humanitarian causes. Seed funding for the album’s production is raised through individual sponsors, crowdsourcing and donations, which then allows Nader the freedom to channel 100% of sales revenue towards designated humanitarian causes. This way, Nader makes devotional art a powerful means of service for generations to come. In fact, by now songs from the recently release album WATER have helped raise over CAD$2 million for various charitable causes in the first 2 years after its release.
“My work has always been about bringing together devotional music and positive change – both in people’s hearts and in the world around us. We just hadn’t found a model that did both things justice … until now”.
NEWS
TAKE MY HAND : IN THE MAKING
- Marhaba – The Backstory -- Nov 4, 2015 -- I’d first heard this Urdu/Arabic/Farsi song in praise of the Prophet (ﷺ) in the 1990 Bollywood movie Hina, musically composed by the Indian music director Ravindra Jain and sung by Mohammad Aziz. It has popularly been rendered across the Indian subcontinent in many different tunes – many variant renditions can be found online on YouTube. The ...