the seven reciters
Seven members of the third group achieved considerable celebrity; they
became a focus of learning for others. Each of the reciters appointed two
narrators who each propagated a particular style of recitation. The following
is a list of these seven:
first ibn al-kathir, 1
whose narrators were Qanbal and al-Bazzi, with
only one intermediate relator in the chain from Ibn 'Abbas from the leader
of the faithful, 'ali. the second was nafi' 2
and his narrators Qalun and
warsh. the third was 'asim 3 and his narrators were Abu Bakr Shu'bah ibn
al-'Ayyash and Hafs; the Qur'an recitation which is in common use among
Muslims today is according to the reading of 'Asim by a narration of Hafs.
the fourth was hamzah 4 and his narrators were Khalaf and Khallad. The fifth
was al-kisa'is 5 and his narrators were al-Dawri and Abu 'Ali al-Harith.
the sixth was abu 'amr ibn al-'ala'; 6
and his narrators al-Dawri and al-Susi
with one intermediate narra- tor. the seventh was ibn 'amir' 7 and his narrators
were hisham 8 and Ibn Dhakwan with one intermediary narrator. Following the
seven famous recitations are the three recitations of abu ja'far, 9 ya'qub 10
and khalaf. 11
The majority of Scholars recognize the seven types of recitation as
mutawatir, that is, as having been related in unbroken chains of transmissions.
One group of narrators have equated the tradition that the Qur'an was revealed
in seven harf (literally, "word" in Arabic) with the seven different recitations;
this tradition is well known amongst Muslim scholars in general but is
not recognised as being trustworthy. 12
al-zarkshi 13
says in his book al-Burhan, "It is true that these seven
recitations from the seven reciters have come to us via unbroken chain
of transmission but their chain of trans- mission from the Prophet are
open to inspection, since the chains of transmission of the seven reciters
are all of the type of single transmission, that is, related by one single
man to another single man."
Al-Makki says in his book, "Anyone who imagines that the recitation
of such men as Nafi and 'Asim are the same seven 'harf mentioned in the
saying of the Prophet is committing a grave mistake." Moreover, the implication
of this saying is that recitations, other than these seven, are not correct;
this also is a grave mistake since early Islamic Scholars like Abu 'Ubayd
al- Qasim ibn Salam and Abu Hatim al-Sijistani, Abu Ja'far al-Tabari and
isma'il al-qadi have recorded several other recitations besides these seven.
At the beginning of the second century A.H. the people of Basra used
the recitation of Abu 'Amr and Ya'qub and in Kufa the recitations of Hamzah
and 'Asim. In Sham they used that of Ibn 'Amir and in Mecca that of Ibn
Kathir. In Medina that of Nafi' was used. This situation remained unchanged
until the beginning of the third century A.H. when Ibn Mujahid removed
the name of ya'qub and put the name of al-kisa'i in his place.
The reason why scholars paid so much attention to the seven reciters,
despite there being many others of equal or better standing, was that the
number of recitations had multiplied so cluickly that they lost interest
in learning and recording all the traditions about recitation. Thus they
decided to choose several of the recitations which complied with the orthography
of the qur'an and which were easier to learn and record.
Thus for the five copies of the Qur'an which 'Uthman had sent to the
towns of Mecca, Medina, Kufa, Basra and Sham, five reciters were chosen
from the five areas and their recitations were then used. Ibn Jubayr writes
about these five recitations from the five forms. Ibn Mujahid records a
tradition which asserts that 'Uthman sent two other copies to Yemen and
Bahrain, that the number of 'Uthman copies thus numbered seven and that
they chose seven narrators.
Since precise information about this tradition (which states that copies
were sent to Yemen and Bahrain) was not available, they added two of the
reciters of Kufa, to make up the number they had previously chosen, to
seven. This number, which corresponds with the above-mentioned saying and
affirmed that the Qur'an was revealed in seven recitations, was then used
by others who had no knowledge of the matter. They mistakenly supposed
that what was meant by the seven harf which the Prophet spoke of, was the
seven recitations. The only trustworthy recitations are those whose text
is sound and whose meaning corresponds to what is written in the qur'an.
Al-Qurab says in his al-Shefi, "We should look for the seven recitations
amongst the qurra' not from among others." This view is neither tradition
nor sunnah but rather it originated from some of the later Scholars who
collected the seven recitations.
These seven recitations became so well known that people imagined that
other recitations should not be used. this however, has never been claimed.
1 'Abd Allah ibn Kathir al-Makki (d. 120
A.H.) received his instruction in the recitation of the Qur'an from `Abd Allah ibn
al-sa'ib and mijahid.
2 Nafi' ibn
`Abd al-Rahman ibn Nu'aym al-Isfahani al-Madani (d. 159 or 169 A.H.) received his instruction from Yazid ibn al-Qa'qa' and Abu
maymunah mawli umm salmah.
3 Asim ibn Abi al-Najjud al-Kufi (d. 127 or 129 A.H.), a
pupil, in the art of Qur'anic recitation, of Sa'd ibn Ayyas al-Shaybani and Zarr ibn
hubaysh.
4 Hamzah
ibn Habib al-Zayyat al-Tamimi al-Kufi (d. 156 A.H.) was a pupil of `Asim, A'mash, al-Sabi'i and
Mansur ibn al-Mu'tamar. He also studies under the Sixth Imam al-Sadiq and was the first to write about the
mutashabihat of the qur'an.
5 `Ali ibn Hamzah ibn `Abd Allah ibn
Fayruz al-Farisi (d. between 179-193 A.H.), a grammarian and recitor of the Qur'an, was a teacher of the Caliphs
al-Amin and al-Ma'mun. He studied grammar under Yunus al-Nahwi and Khalil ibn
ahmad al-farahidi and qur'anic recitation under hamzah and shu'ba ibn `ayyash.
6 Abu- `Amr Zabban ibn al-'Ala' al-Basri (d. between
154-59 a.h.).
7 'Abd Allah ibn `Amir al-Shafi'i al-Dimashqi (d. 118
a.h.) studied under abu al-dard a' and the companions of `uthman.
8 There are differences
of opinion as to the names of rawah (transmitters) of Ibn `Amir. Those mentioned above are given according to al-Suyuti's
al-itqan.
9 Abu-Ja'far Yazid ibn al-Qa'qa' al-Madani (d. between
128-133 A.H.), a freed slave of Umm Salmah, received his instruction in Qur'anic recitation
from `abd allah ibn `ayyash, ibn `abbas and abu hurayrah.
10 Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Basri al-Hadrami (d. 205 A.H.) was a scholar and
reciter on the authority of salam ibn sulayman, 'asim al-sulami and `ali ibn abi talib.
11 Khalaf ibn Hisham al-Bazzaz (d. 229
A.H.) was a rawi of Hamzah. He studied under Malik ibn Anas and Hammad ibn Zayd and his pupil was
abu `awanah.
12 See
al-Majlisi, bihar al-anwar (section on Qur'an); al-Fayd al-Kashani, al-Safi (introdutory
matter); al-suyuti, al-itqan, vol. 1, p. 47.
13 Al-Suyuti,
op. cit., vol. 1, p. 82.