THE AIMMAH OF QIRAAT The different dialects of the Quraan which were recited by Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam)

were revealed from Allah Taala. The Sahaaba (Radhiallaahu Anhum) narrated a particular dialect which they heard from Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). Hadhrat Uthmaan (Radhiallaahu Anhu) compiled the Quraan during his era of Khilaafat. That was the official Quraan which was circulated among the Sahaaba and Taabieen (RA). During the first two centuries, there were approximately 25 different Qiraats, but they were not compiled. It was only in the third century that Imaam Abu Ubayd Qaasim ibn Salaam compiled the first book on Qiraat, Kitaab al-Qiraat. Thereafter, in the fourth century, Imaam Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Moosa ibn Abbaas ibn Mujaahid compiled a Kitaab, namely Kitaab asSabah in which he gathered seven Qiraat which were common in his era and commonly known as Qiraat as-Sabah. Imaam Abu Muhammad Makki (RA) states that there were approximately 70 other Qiraats. However, he chose, only seven Qiraats and since he was a popular personality, his Kitaab also became very famous. That led to people concentrating only on the seven types of Qiraat. Many great Aimmah disagreed with Imaam ibn Mujaahid of confining the Qiraats to seven and leaving out the other Qiraats. Therefore, they wrote Kitaabs consisting of the other Qiraats. Thus, we find that Qiraat alThalaathah (3 additional Qiraats) which we call Asharah. Many people also have a misconception that the seven dialects that are mentioned in the Hadith is the famously known Qiraat Sabah, i.e. the Riwaayats (narrations) of Imaam Naafie, Ibn Kathir, etc. That is incorrect as these Qurraa, Imaam Naafiee, Imaam, ibn Kathir, etc. were not even born during the time of Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). The Aimmah of Qiraat and their narrators Imaam ; Narrator 1; Narrator 2 1. Imaam Naafie Madni; Imaam Qaaloon;Imaam Warsh 2. Imaam Ibn Katheer Makki; Imaam Bazzi;Imaam Qumbul 3. Imaam Abu Amr Basri; Imaam Doori;Imaam Soosi 4. Imaam Ibn Aamir Shaami; Imaam Hishaam;Imaam ibn Zakwan

5. Imaam Aasim Koofi; Imaam Shubah;Imaam Hafs 6. Imaam Hamza; Imaam Khalaf;Imaam Khallaad 7. Imaam Kisaaie; Imaam Abul Harith;Imaam Doori 8. Imaam Abu Jafar Yazid Madni; Imaam ibn Wardaan;Imaam Ibn Jammaaz 9. Imaam Abu Yacub Hazrami; Imaam Ruwais;Imaam Rawh 10. Imaam Khalaf Bazzaar Kufi; Imaam Is-haaq Warraaq;Imaam Idrees ibn Abdul Kareem Qari Ismail Abdul-Aziz Head: Department of Qiraat Madrasah Inaamiyyah, Camperdown An expert in the fields of Qiraat (Seven dialects and ten dialects of Qiraat)

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As-Salamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh: Sahih Muslim: "'Umar b. Khattab said: I heard Hisham b. Hakim b. Hizam reciting Surah al-Furqan in a Style different from that in which I used to recite it, and in which Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) had taught me to recite it. I was about to dispute with him (on this Style) but I delayed till he had finished that (the recitation). Then I caught hold of his cloak and brought him to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Messenger of Allah, I heard this man reciting Surah al-Furqan in a Style different from the one in which you taught me to recite. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) told (me) to leave him alone and asked him to recite. He then recited in the Style in which I beard him recite it. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) then said: Thus was it sent down. He then told me to recite and I recited it, and he said: Thus was it sent down. The Qur'an was sent down in seven dialects. So recite what seems easy therefrom. (Book #004, Hadith #1782)" "Ibn 'Abbas reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Gabriel taught me to recite in one Style. I replied to him and kept asking him to give more (Styles), till he reached seven modes (of recitation). Ibn Shibab said: It has reached me that these seven Styles are essentially one, not differing about what is permitted and what is forbidden. (Book #004, Hadith #1785)" The Prophet(SalAllahu 'Alayhi was-salam) asked for the Qur'an to be revealed in more than one style. -------------------Dear Brother/Sister;

Seven Letters (qiraat) is a permission given to Muslims in order to read and understand the Quran well. As a matter of fact, the issue is explicitly explained in the relevant hadiths. The aim of the permission should be to enable the Quran to spread fast and the Muslims to understand and adopt the religion easily. The Quran has orthographic rules peculiar to it. They are present in the versions of the Quran duplicated by Hazrat Uthman. Those differences are the basic references for the mutawatir (reaching us in an unbroken chain) forms of qiraat (reading). However, the difference is not in the same manuscript but in different manuscripts. For instance, the word wassa in the 132nd verse of Chapter al-Baqara, is also pronounced as awsa. They wrote one form of it in one manuscript and the other from in another manuscript. If those different forms had been written in the same manuscripts, it would have raised doubt that the word had been revealed twice. Some words were pronounced differently because the dots were not used. For instance; it became possible to pronounce the word fa tabayyanu in the sixth verse of Chapter al-Hujurat as fa tasabbatu as a different qiraat when the dots were not used. Similarly, thanks to that orthography rule, the word nunshizuha in the 259th verse of Chapter al-Baqara is also pronounced as Nunshiruha. (See Zurqani, Manahilul-Irfan, I/257-258). In addition, the word Maalik in Chapter al-Fatiha was written as malik (without an alif); thus, it became possible for the word to mean both owner and king. As you will appreciate, it is very difficult to show that difference using the Latin alphabet. However, we hope that it will be understood. Since scholars did not agree on a certain seven qiraat, there naturally appeared more than seven types. Now, let us examine them separately:

1) The type that the haraka (sign written above or below a letter) changes but the spelling does not change 2) The type that the haraka changes but the meaning does not change: 3) The type that the letters and the meaning change but the appearance does not change: 4) The type that the letters and the appearance change but the meaning does not change: 5) The type that occurs when a word is replaced by another word without any change in meaning: 6) The type that occurs with a change in meaning and appearance: 7) The type that occurs when a letter is transformed to another letter of the same or close articulation point: 8) The type that occurs when two words are transposed: 9) The type that occurs due to an addition or lacking: 10) The different types of nouns in terms of being singular, dual or plural and masculine-feminine: 11) The type that occurs due to the different pronunciation by dialects: In addition, more types can be mentioned apart from those types mentioned above. As it is seen, those who put forward the seven letters (qiraat) as seven types could not agree on a certain seven types. Moreover, they forced themselves to restrict the types as seven.

The words that are permitted to be pronounced in different forms in accordance with the permission of Seven Qiraat are very few. There are not any different kinds of pronunciation in most parts of the Quran. The types of seven Qiraat cannot be expressed as contradiction and contrast. They should be evaluated as ease and mercy. The Seven Letters expresses variety in reciting the Quran. It does not express controversy and contrast. The word seven in the phrase seven letters does not mean seven. It shows multitude because in Sami languages, the numbers like seven, seventy, seven hundred are used to express multitude as in the other languages. The fact that the Quran was sent down in the form of Seven Letters is ease for pronunciation not for spelling. It originated from the differences of dialects, styles, etc of people who recited the Quran differently in a period and place that the writing styles were not developed, writing materials were not abundant, people depended on oral culture rather than written culture and memorized and recited the Quran as much as they could. It was very difficult for some Arabs who could not read and write to recite the Quran orally. The issue of Seven Letters is a permission regarding the issue. And although that permission contained the differences in pronunciation not in spelling and writing, it is understood that some different words having the same meaning are also used. It was because the Glorious Quran was written by Quraishi scribes during the period of Makkah, and a group of Ansar (residents of Madinah) wrote the verses of the Quran in the period of Madinah. It was completed while Hazrat Prophet was alive. It was collected in one book during the period of Hazrat Abu Bakr; the correction of the manuscripted copies were completed during the period of Hazrat

Uthman and they were sent to the cities that were under the sovereignty of Muslims. In todays conditions, it is not possible to read a text (the Quran), whose writing, harakas and spelling were completed, in different forms and with different words. It is because there exists a book (the Quran), which underwent all necessary acts to be read by people. With our best wishes... Questions on Islam Editor"

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Was-Salamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.