Qira'at

According to Islamic tradition the Qur'an and its qira'at are recorded in the preserved tablet in heaven, and revealed to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel.[8][9] It was passed down from one generation to the next, by one or more prominent reciters of that style of narration, before the variations were finally committed entirely to writing. Each reciter had variations in their tajwid rules and occasional words in their recitation of the Qur'an are different or of a different morphology with the same root. The different words compliment other recitations and add to the meaning, and are a source of exegesis.[10]

Abu Ubaid al-Qasim bin Salam (774 - 838 CE) was the first to develop a recorded science for tajwid, giving the rules of tajwid names and putting it into writing in his book called al-Qiraat. He wrote about 25 reciters, including the 7 mutawatir reciters.[11] He made the reality, transmitted through reciters of every generation, a science with defined rules, terms, and enunciation.[12][13]

Abu Bakr Ibn Mujāhid (859 - 936 CE) wrote a book called Kitab al-Sab’ fil-qirā’āt. He is the first to limit the number of reciters to the seven known. Some scholars, such as Ibn al-Jazari, took this list of seven from Ibn Mujahid and added three other reciters (Abu Ja’far from Madinah, Ya’qub from Basrah, and Khalaf from Kufa) to form the canonical list of ten.[11][14]

Imam Al-Shatibi (1320 - 1388 CE) wrote a poem outlining the two most famous ways passed down from each of seven strong imams, known as ash-Shatibiyyah. In it, he documented the rules of recitation of Naafi’, Ibn Katheer, Abu ‘Amr, Ibn ‘Aamir, ‘Aasim, al-Kisaa’i, and Hamzah. It is 1173 lines long and a major reference for the seven qira’aat.[15]

Ibn al-Jazari (1350 - 1429 CE) wrote two large poems about Qira'at and tajwid. One was Durrat Al-Maa'nia (Arabic: الدرة المعنية‎) , in the readings of three major reciters, added to the seven in the Shatibiyyah, making it ten. The other is Tayyibat An-Nashr (Arabic: طيبة النشر‎), which is 1014 lines on the ten major reciters in great detail, of which he also wrote a commentary.

All accepted qira'at follow three basic rules:

1. Conformity to the consonantal skeleton of the Uthmānic codex.
2. Consistency with Arabic grammar.
3. Authentic chain of transmission.

The qira'at that do not meet these conditions are called shaadh (anomalous/irregular). The other recitations reported from companions that differ from the Uthmānic codex may represent an abrogated or abandoned ḥarf, or a recitation containing word alterations for commentary or for facilitation for a learner. It is not permissible to recite the shaadh narrations in prayer, but they can be studied academically.[14]

Hadith literature differs on variants of the Quran. According to some hadith, the Quran was revealed in seven Ahruf (the plural of harf) or styles; Muhammad listens to their recitations and approves each of them. According to Saalih al-Munajjid, "the best of the scholarly opinions" defining Ahruf is wording which differs but has the same meaning.[2] The best-known hadith on Ahruf is reported in the Muwatta, compiled by Malik ibn Anas. According to Malik,[3]

Abd Al-Rahman Ibn Abd al-Qari narrated: "Umar Ibn al-Khattab said before me: I heard Hisham Ibn Hakim Ibn Hizam reading Surat Al-Furqan in a different way from the one I used to read it, and the Prophet himself had read out this surah to me. Consequently, as soon as I heard him, I wanted to get hold of him. However, I gave him respite until he had finished the prayer. Then I got hold of his cloak and dragged him to the Prophet. I said to him: "I have heard this person [Hisham Ibn Hakim Ibn Hizam] reading Surah Al Furqan in a different way from the one you had read it out to me." The Prophet said: "Leave him alone [O 'Umar]." Then he said to Hisham: "Read [it]." [Umar said:] "He read it out in the same way as he had done before me." [At this,] the Prophet said: "It was revealed thus." Then the Prophet asked me to read it out. So I read it out. [At this], he said: "It was revealed thus; this Quran has been revealed in seven Ahruf. You can read it in any of them you find easy from among them.

Saalih al-Munajjid cites a hadith of Abd Allah ibn Abbas, who narrated that Muhammad said that the angel Jibreel (Gabriel, who revealed the Quran to Muhammad) "taught me one style and I reviewed it until he taught me more, and I kept asking him for more and he gave me more until finally there were seven styles".[4][2]

Suyuti, a noted 15th-century Islamic theologian, concludes his discussion of this hadith:[16]

And to me the best opinion in this regard is that of the people who say that this Hadith is from among matters of mutashabihat, the meaning of which cannot be understood.

However, other reports contradict the presence of variant readings.[17] Abu Abd Al-Rahman al-Sulami writes, "The reading of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Zayd ibn Thabit and that of all the Muhajirun and the Ansar was the same. They would read the Quran according to the Qira'at al-'ammah. This is the same reading which was read out twice by the Prophet to Gabriel in the year of his death. Zayd ibn Thabit was also present in this reading [called] the 'Ardah-i akhirah. It was this very reading that he taught the Quran to people till his death".[18] According to Ibn Sirin, "The reading on which the Quran was read out to the prophet in the year of his death is the same according to which people are reading the Quran today".[19]

*Rasm (in black) was the only script found in the earliest surviving fragments of the Quran. Most variations of the Quran that had different rasm were found in Ahruf variants.[21]
*I‘jām or nuqat al-I'jam (examples in red) was added in later arabic (possibly around 700 CE)[22] so that consonants letters such as these five letters ـبـ ـتـ ـثـ ـنـ ـيـ could be distinguished.
*Ḥarakāt or nuqaṭ ali'rab (examples in blue) indicate short vowels which have been used in the Quran but not in most written arabic. Variations among Qira'at tend to involve only harakat.

Although both Qira'at and Ahruf refer to recitation of the Quran, they are not the same. Ahruf variants were more significant (involving differences in the consonants of the some words of the Quran) and Caliph 'Uthman is believed to have eliminated all but one.[22] The seven Qira'at readings which are currently notable were selected by Abu Bakr Ibn Mujahid (died 324 AH, 936 CE) from prominent reciters of his time, three from Kufa and one each from Mecca, Medina, and Basra and Damascus.[23]

Bilal Philips writes that the Quran continued to be read according to the seven ahruf until midway through Caliph 'Uthman's rule, when confusion developed in the outlying provinces about the Quran's recitation. Some Arab tribes boasted about the superiority of their ahruf, and rivalries began; new Muslims also began combining the forms of recitation out of ignorance. Caliph 'Uthman decided to make official copies of the Quran according to the writing conventions of the Quraysh and send them with the Quranic reciters to the Islamic centres. His decision was approved by Sahaabah, and all unofficial copies of the Quran were ordered destroyed; Uthman carried out the order. After the distribution of the official copies, the other ahruf were dropped and the Quran began to be read in one harf. The Quran which is currently available worldwide is written and recited according to the harf of Quraysh.[5]

Philips writes that Qira'at is primarily a method of pronunciation used in recitations of the Quran. These methods are different from the seven forms, or modes (ahruf), in which the Quran was revealed. The methods have been traced back to Muhammad through a number of Sahaabah (companions) who were noted for their Quranic recitations; they recited the Quran to Muhammad (or in his presence), and received his approval. The Sahaabah included:

• Ubayy Ibn Kab
• Ali Ibn Abi Talib
• Zayd Ibn Thaabit
• Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud
• Abu ad-Dardaa
• Abu Musa al-Ash'aree

Many of the other Sahaabah learned from them; master Quran commentator Ibn 'Abbaas learned from Ubayy and Zayd.[5] (pp. 29–30)

According to Philips, in the next generation of Muslims (referred to as Tabi'in) were many scholars who learned the methods of recitation from the Sahaabah and taught them to others. Centres of Quranic recitation developed in al-Madeenah, Makkah, Kufa, Basrah and Syria, leading to the development of Quranic recitation as a science. By the mid-eighth century CE, a large number of scholars were considered specialists in the field of recitation. Most of their methods were authenticated by chains of reliable narrators, going back to Muhammad. The methods which were supported by a large number of reliable narrators on each level of their chain were called mutawaatir, and were considered the most accurate. Methods in which the number of narrators were few (or only one) on any level of the chain were known as shaadhdh. Some scholars of the following period began the practice of designating a set number of individual scholars from the previous period as the most noteworthy and accurate. The number seven became popular by the mid-10th century, since it coincided with the number of dialects in which the Quran was revealed.[5] (p. 30)

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi writes about hadith in Muwatta[3] that if Ahruf are taken in the context of pronunciation (for which the words are lughat and lahjat), the content of the hadith rejects this meaning; Umar and Hisham belonged to the same tribe (the Quraysh), and members of the same tribe cannot use different pronunciations. Ghamidi questions the hadith which claim "variant readings", on the basis of Quranic verses (^{[Quran 87:6-7]}, ^{[Quran 75:16-19]}), the Quran was compiled during Muhammad's lifetime and questions the hadith which report its compilation during Uthman's reign.[17] Since most of these narrations are reported by Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, Imam Layth Ibn Sa'd wrote to Imam Malik:[17][24]

And when we would meet Ibn Shihab, there would arise a difference of opinion in many issues. When any one of us would ask him in writing about some issue, he, in spite of being so learned, would give three very different answers, and he would not even be aware of what he had already said. It is because of this that I have left him – something which you did not like.

Abu 'Ubayd Qasim Ibn Sallam (died 224 AH) reportedly selected twenty-five readings in his book. The seven readings which are currently notable were selected by Abu Bakr Ibn Mujahid (died 324 AH, 936 CE) at the end of the third century. It is generally accepted that although their number cannot be ascertained, every reading is Quran which has been reported through a chain of narration and is linguistically correct. Some readings are regarded as mutawatir, but their chains of narration indicate that they are ahad (isolate) and their narrators are suspect in the eyes of rijal authorities.[17]

To ensure the correct reading of the Quran (particularly for those following the first generation of Muslims), gradual steps were taken to improve its orthography. This began with the introduction of dots to distinguish similarly-shaped consonants, followed by dots (to indicate different vowels) and nunation in different-coloured ink from the text. The work was done primarily by Abu'l Aswad ad-Du'alî (d. 69 AH/688 CE), Naṣr Ibn ʿĀṣim (d. 89 AH/707 CE) and Yaḥya Ibn Yaʿmur (d. 129 AH/746 CE). There was initial opposition to any additions to the Quran. Although Ibn ʿUmar (73/692) disliked the dotting, others welcomed it because it ensured the proper reading of the Quran as received from Muhammad; the latter view has been accepted by most Muslims throughout the Muslim world since the Tabi'un. The people of Madinah reportedly used red dots for vowels (tanwin, tashdid, takhfif, sukun, waṣl and madd) and yellow dots for hamzas. Naqt (dotting the rasm), became a separate subject of study.

In addition to the above, three readers are collected separately from the Seven:

The Qur'an in all 10 Qira'at can be downloaded and listened to for free on the webpage islamweb.net.[26]

There are many consonantal differences between the various readings – for example, between Al-Duri and Ḥafs:

• Qari
• Tajweed
• Ibn al-Jazari
• Bible study (Christian)
• Khutbah
• Pani patti
• Saad El Ghamidi
• Sermon, in Christianity
• Torah reading and cantillation in Judaism

• Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-88-8.

• Motivation and interest in reading engagement
• Gade, Anna M. Perfection Makes Practice: Learning, Emotion, and the Recited Qur'ân in Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004.

• The Origins of the Variant Readings of the Qur’an, Yaqeen Institute
• Online Quran Project Community Site.
• Frequent Questions around qiraat about: the different Qiraat, including REFUTING The Claim of Differences in Quran and other useful information