A Critical Study of the Multiplicity and Transmission of Qur'anic Readings: A New Approach

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Corresponding author, Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

Abstract

Undoubtedly, the original text of the Noble Qur’an has been transmitted through definitive tawātur (mass transmission), but the various modes of its recitation encompass diverse forms. Since early times in Qur’anic studies, the question has been raised as to whether this multiplicity of readings originates from the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) verbal teaching or approval—hence a divinely sanctioned phenomenon—or whether it is the outcome of post-prophetic developments influenced by historical, linguistic, and geographical factors, thus reflecting human intervention. It is important to note, however, that denying the tawātur of recitations does not necessarily entail the existence of a single, unified mode of recitation. Scholars from both Sunni and Shi'a traditions have expressed differing views on this matter: some assert a Prophetic origin for the variant readings, while others consider them the result of later developments. Each camp supports its position with various arguments and textual evidence. In this paper, using a library-based data collection method and a descriptive-analytical approach, the arguments for the multiplicity and tawātur of Qur'anic recitations are examined and critiqued. Ultimately, the study explicates the view of the Imams from the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), which advocates for the unity of recitation
 

Keywords

References

The Noble Qurʾān (Qurʾān al‑Karīm).
Abū Shāmah, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Ismāʿīl. Al-Murshid al-Wajīz ilā ʿUlūm Tataʿallaq bi al-Kitāb al-ʿAzīz (A Concise Guide to Sciences Related to the Noble Qur’an). Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1975 CE (1395 AH).
al-ʿAryān, Muḥammad Saʿīd. Taʿlīqah ʿalā Kitāb Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān li al-Rāfiʿī (Annotations on al-Rāfiʿī’s Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān). Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1990 CE (1410 AH).
al-Faḍlī, ʿAbd al-Hādī. Al-Qirāʾāt al-Qurʾāniyyah (Qur’anic Recitations). Beirut: Dār al-Qalam, n.d.
al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī. Al-Iʿtiqādāt (Creeds of the Shia). Tehran: Radhawī Publications, 1984 CE (1363 SH).
al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī. Khiṣāl (Characteristics). Qom: Andīsha-ye Hādī, 2006 CE (1385 SH).
al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad bin Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-Bayān (The Comprehensive Commentary). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1999 CE (1420 AH).
al-Ṭabrisī, Faḍl bin Ḥasan. Majmaʿ al-Bayān (The Compilation of Explanation). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, 1987 CE (1408 AH).
al-Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn bin Muḥammad. Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn (The Union of the Two Seas). Beirut: Dār wa Maktabat al-Hilāl, 1985 CE.
al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan. Al-Tibyān (The Elucidation). n.p.: Maktab al-Iʿlām al-Islāmī, 1988 CE (1409 AH).
Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. Kitāb al-Ṣalāh (The Book of Prayer). Qom: Islamic Thought Institute, 2010 CE (1431 AH).
Anṣārīyān, Muḥammad Taqī. Marjaʿ al-Muttaqīn (The Reference of the Pious). Qom: Anṣārīyān Publishing, 2020 CE (1399 SH).
Anwārī, Jaʿfar. Angārah-ye Taḥrīf-i Qurʾān (The Concept of Qur’anic Distortion). Qom: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, 2011 CE (1390 SH).
Anwārī, Jaʿfar. Qurʾān dar Āʾīna-ye Tārīkh (The Qur’an in the Mirror of History). Qom: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, 2011 CE (1390 SH).
Ardabīlī, Aḥmad. Majmaʿ al-Fāʾidah wa al-Burhān (Collection of Benefits and Proofs). Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute, 1991 CE (1412 AH).
Baḥrānī, Yūsuf. Al-Ḥadāʾiq al-Nāḍirah (The Blooming Gardens). Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ, 1985 CE (1405 AH).
Balāghī, Muḥammad Jawād. Ālāʾ al-Raḥmān (The Bounties of the Merciful). Qom: Baʿthat Institute, 1999 CE (1420 AH).
Blachère, Régis. Dar Āstāna-ye Qurʾān (In the Presence of the Qur’an). Tehran: Islamic Culture Publishing Office, 1980 CE (1359 SH).
Bukhārī, Muḥammad bin Ismāʿīl. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (The Authentic Book of al-Bukhārī). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 2004 CE (1425 AH).
Dīyārī, & Sākī. “Nigarish-i Tārīkhī-Rivāyī bih Ikhtilāf-i Qirāʾat Mālik/Malik” (“A Historical-Narrative Perspective on the Recitation Variant Mālik/Malik”). Kitāb-i Qayyim, no. 5, Meybod, Yazd, 2012 CE (1391 SH).
Fāḍil Lankarānī, Muḥammad. Madkhal al-Tafsīr (Introduction to Qur’anic Exegesis). Tehran: Ḥaydarī Press, 1976 CE (1396 AH).
Fākar Mīybadī, Muḥammad. “Ikhtilāf-i Qirāʾat wa Naqsh-i Ān dar Tafsīr az Didgāh-i ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī” (“Reading Variants and Their Role in Tafsir According to ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī”). Qurʾān-shinākht, no. 8, Autumn–Winter 2011 CE (1390 SH).
Fārisī, Ḥasan bin Aḥmad. Al-Ḥujjah li al-Qurrāʾ al-Sabʿah (The Proof for the Seven Readers). Damascus: Dār al-Maʾmūn li al-Turāth, 1992 CE (1413 AH).
Fayḍ Kāshānī, Muḥsin. Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī (The Pure Exegesis). Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1999 CE (1419 AH).
Ghaffārī, ʿAbd al-Rasūl. Al-Qirāʾāt wa al-Aḥruf al-Sabʿah (The Readings and the Seven Letters). Qom: Al-Muṣṭafā Publishing, 2010 CE (1391 AH).
Ḥājī-Ismāʿīlī, Muḥammad Riḍā. “Muṭālaʿāt-i Qirāʾat-i Qurʾān” (“Studies in Qur’anic Recitation”). Jāmiʿat al-Muṣṭafā al-ʿĀlamiyyah, no. 2, Qom, 2014 CE (1393 SH).
Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī, Muḥammad bin ʿAbdullah. Al-Mustadrak ʿalā al-Ṣaḥīḥayn (The Supplement to the Two Sahihs). Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, n.d.
Ḥakīm, Muḥsin. Ḥaqāʾiq al-Uṣūl (Truths of the Principles). Najaf: Maṭbaʿah al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1953 CE (1372 AH).
Ḥakīm, Muḥsin. Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-Wuthqā (The Grasp of the Firmest Handle). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.
Hamadānī, Riḍā. Miṣbāḥ al-Faqīh (The Jurist’s Lamp). Qom: Āvā-yi Nūr, 2017 CE (1438 AH).
Ḥillī, Ḥasan bin Yūsuf. Tadhkirat al-Fuqahāʾ (The Memorandum of Jurists). Qom: Āl al-Bayt Institute, 1994 CE (1414 AH).
Ḥurr ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad bin Ḥasan. Al-Fawāʾid al-Ṭūsiyyah (The Tusian Benefits). Qom: Maṭbaʿat al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1983 CE (1403 AH).
Ḥurr ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad bin Ḥasan. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿah (The Means of the Shia). Qom: Āl al-Bayt Institute, 1989 CE (1409 AH).
Ibn al-Jazarī, Muḥammad bin Muḥammad. Al-Nashr fī al-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshr (The Transmission of the Ten Recitations). Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, n.d.
Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq bin Ghālib. Muqaddimatān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān (Two Introductions to Qur’anic Sciences). Cairo: Maktabat al-Khānajī, 1970 CE (1390 AH).
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī. Fatḥ al-Bārī (Victory of the Creator) [Commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī]. Cairo: Dār al-Rayyān li al-Turāth, 1987 CE (1407 AH).
Ibn Jinnī, ʿUthmān. Al-Muḥtasab fī Tabiyān Wujūh Shawādh al-Qirāʾāt wa al-Īḍāḥ ʿanhā (An Explanation of the Irregular Qur’anic Readings). Cairo: Ministry of Religious Affairs, 1994 CE (1415 AH).
Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī bin Mūsā. Saʿd al-Suʿūd (Joy of the Fortunate). Qom: Dalīl, 2000 CE (1421 AH).
Iṣfahānī Kampānī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Ḥāshiyat al-Makāsib (Notes on al-Makāsib). Qom: Majmaʿ al-Dhakhāʾir al-Islāmiyyah, 1984 CE (1363 SH).
Jazāʾirī, Niʿmatullah. Al-Anwār al-Nuʿmāniyyah (The Nuʿmanian Lights). Beirut: Dār al-Qārīʾ, 2008 CE (1429 AH).
Kāẓimī, Muḥsin. “Barrasi-ye Dalāʾil-i Tawātur-i Qirāʾāt Rāyij” (“Analysis of the Evidence for the Mutawātir Nature of Common Readings”). Qurʾān Recitation Studies, no. 3, 2014 CE (1393 SH).
Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān (The Clarification in Qur’anic Exegesis). Qom: Dār al-Thaqalayn, 1998 CE (1418 AH).
Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Al-Muʿtamid fī Sharḥ al-Manāsik (The Reliable in Explaining the Rites). Qom: Institute for Reviving Khūʾī’s Works, 2007 CE (1428 AH).
Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Muʿjam Rijāl al-Ḥadīth (Biographical Dictionary of Ḥadīth Narrators). Beirut: Dār al-Zahrāʾ, 1989 CE (1409 AH).
Kulaynī, Muḥammad bin Yaʿqūb. Al-Kāfī (The Sufficient). Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1999 CE (1378 SH).
Kulaynī, Muḥammad bin Yaʿqūb. Uṣūl al-Kāfī (The Principles of al-Kāfī). Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf, 1990 CE (1411 AH).
Maḥsīn, Muḥammad Sālim. Al-Hādī; Sharḥ Ṭayyibat al-Nashr wa Kashf ʿIlal al-Qirāʾāt (The Guide; Commentary on Ṭayyibat al-Nashr and the Causes of Recitations). Beirut: Dār al-Jīl, 1997 CE (1417 AH).
Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir. Biḥār al-Anwār (Seas of Lights). Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, n.d.
Makkī bin Abī Ṭālib. Al-Ibānah ʿan Maʿānī al-Qirāʾāt (Explanation of the Meanings of Readings). Egypt: Dār Nahḍat Miṣr, n.d.
Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Al-Tamhīd fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān (The Introduction to Qur’anic Sciences). Qom: al-Tamhīd Institute, 2008 CE (1429 AH).
Muʾaddib, Riḍā, & Muḥammadī-Fard, ʿAlī-Reżā. “Angārah-ye Tawātur-i Qirāʾāt” (“The Theory of Recitation Mutawātir Status”). Qurʾān Recitation Studies, no. 2, 2014 CE (1393 SH).
Muʾaddib, Riḍā. Nuzūl-i Qurʾān wa Ruʾyā-yi Haft Ḥarf (Revelation of the Qur’an and the Dream of Seven Letters). Qom: Islamic Propagation Office, 1999 CE (1378 SH).
Muḥaqqiq Karkī, ʿAlī bin Ḥusayn. Jāmiʿ al-Maqāṣid fī Sharḥ al-Qawāʿid (Compendium of Objectives in Commentary on Legal Principles). Qom: Āl al-Bayt Institute, 1987 CE (1408 AH).
Mūsawī Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥullah. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Majīd (Interpretation of the Noble Qur’an; From the Works of Imām Khomeinī). Ed. Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī Īyāzī. Tehran: ʿUruj Publishing, 2005 CE (1384 SH).
Mūsawī Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥullah. Tahdhīb al-Uṣūl (Refinement of Principles). Qom: Dār al-Fikr, 1948 CE (1367 AH).
Mūsawī Khwānsārī, Aḥmad. Jāmiʿ al-Madārik (Compendium of Evidences). Qom: Maktabat al-Ṣadūq, 1985 CE (1405 AH).
Muslim bin Ḥajjāj. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (The Authentic Book of Muslim). Beirut: ʿIzz al-Dīn Publishing, 1986 CE (1407 AH).
Muttaqī, ʿAlī bin Ḥisām al-Dīn. Kanz al-ʿUmmāl (The Treasure of the Doers). Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1979 CE (1399 AH).
Muẓaffar, Muḥammad Riḍā. Uṣūl al-Fiqh (Principles of Jurisprudence). Qom: Islamic Publishing Office, 2004 CE (1425 AH).
Najafī, Ḥasan. Jawāhir al-Kalām (Jewels of Speech). Najaf: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1960 CE (1380 AH).
Nayshābūrī, Maḥmūd bin Abī al-Ḥasan. Tafsīr Gharāʾib al-Qurʾān (Commentary on the Marvels of the Qur’an). Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1995 CE.
Qummī, ʿAlī bin Ibrāhīm. Tafsīr al-Qummī (The Exegesis of al-Qummī). Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1984 CE (1404 AH).
Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn bin Muḥammad. Al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurʾān (Vocabulary of the Rare Words of the Qur’an). Qom: Dhawī al-Qurbā, 2003 CE (1424 AH).
Rashīd Riḍā, Muḥammad. Tafsīr al-Manār (The Exegesis of al-Manār). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.
Shāhīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn bin ʿAlī. Rasāʾil al-Shahīd al-Thānī (al-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshr al-Mutawātirah) (Treatises of the Second Martyr: The Ten Canonical Recitations). Qom: Islamic Propagation Office, 2001 CE (1422 AH).
Sharʿī Abū Zayd, Muḥammad. Kitāb Jamʿ al-Qurʾān (The Compilation of the Qur’an). Kuwait: University of Kuwait, 1998 CE (1419 AH).
Sharīfī-Nasab, ʿAlī, & Bahādarī, Muḥammad. “Muṭālaʿāt-i Qirāʾat-i Qurʾān” (“Studies in Qur’anic Recitation”). Qurʾān Recitation Studies, no. 22, 2024 CE (1403 SH).
Shubayrī Zanjānī, Mūsā. Durūs Khārij al-Nikāḥ (Advanced Lectures on Jurisprudence: Marriage). Qom: Imam Muḥammad Bāqir Jurisprudence Center, 2017 CE (1396 SH).
Sijistānī, ʿAbdullah bin Sulaymān (Abū Dāwūd). Al-Maṣāḥif (The Codices). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1985 CE (1405 AH).
Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Abī Bakr. Al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān (The Perfect Guide to the Sciences of the Qur'an). Qom: Radhī & Bīdār Publishers, n.d.
Sūzanchī, Ḥusayn. “Taʿaddud-i Qirāʾāt wa Masʾalah-ye Taḥrīf” (“Multiplicity of Readings and the Issue of Distortion”). Unpublished Manuscript, n.d.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān (The Balance in Interpreting the Qur'an). Qom: Islamic Publishing Office, 1996 CE (1417 AH).
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Mihr-i Tābān (The Radiant Sun). Mashhad: ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī Publications, 2000 CE (1421 AH).
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Qurʾān dar Islām (The Qur'an in Islam). Qom: Bustān-i Kitāb, 2010 CE (1389 SH).
Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd. Al-Kashshāf (The Revealer) [Tafsir]. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1987 CE (1407 AH).
Zarkashī, Badr al-Dīn. Al-Burhān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān (The Proof in Qur’anic Sciences). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1988 CE (1408 AH).
Zarqānī, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm. Manāhil al-ʿIrfān (The Sources of Knowledge). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1988 CE (1408 AH).

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 10 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 05 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 05 May 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics