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The
revelation of the Qur’aan in seven styles (ahruf, sing. harf) I have
read that during the third Khalief, Oethmaan, a committee under supervision of
Zaid ibn Thabit has been ordered to make an official editorship of the whole
Koran. But this "Oethmanian" text didn't give yet a uniform reading. Because
early arabic language didn't have vowels and also some consonants had the same
or almost the same form. New signs were introduced to seperate the different
letters. But this still did not stop the different ways of reading. In the
first half of the fourth/tenth century the 'imaam of the Koran readers' in
Baghdad, Ibn Moedjahid, gave a solution to this problem. He said that the word
harf should be put equivalent to kira'a. He declared seven ways of reading
correct. Because according to him the saying of the Prophet (PBUH) that the
Koran was send in seven ahroef means that seven ways of reading are inspired. Nowadays
only to ways of reading are in use, Warsj of Nafi' and Hafs of 'Asim. Praise be to Allaah. Firstly : you should
note, may Allaah bless you, that the Qur’aan was revealed in one style at the
beginning, but the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) kept asking Jibreel until he taught him seven styles, all of which were
complete. The evidence for that is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas who narrated that
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Jibreel 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.” (narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 3047; Muslim, 819) Secondly, what
is meant by styles (ahruf, sing. harf)? The best of
the scholarly opinions concerning what is meant is that there are seven ways of
reciting the Qur’aan, where the wording may differ but the meaning is the same;
if there is a different meaning then it is by way of variations on a theme, not
opposing and contradiction. Thirdly: Some of the
scholars said that what was meant by ahruf was the dialects of the Arabs, but
this is far-fetched, because of the hadeeth of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab who said:
“I heard Hishaam ibn Hakeem reciting Soorat al-Furqaan in a manner different
from that in which I used to recite it and the way in which the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught me to recite
it. I was about to argue with him whilst he was praying, but I waited
until he finished his prayer, and then I tied his garment around his neck and
seized him by it and brought him to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, I heard this
man reciting Soorat-al-Furqaan in a way different to the way you taught it to
me.’ The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said
to him, ‘Recite it,’ and he recited it as I had heard him recite it. The
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, ‘It was
revealed like this.’ Then he said to me, ‘Recite it,’ so I recited it and he
said, ‘It was revealed like this.’ This Qur'aan has been revealed in seven
different ways, so recite it in the way that is easiest for you.’” (Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 2287; Muslim, 818) It is known
that Hishaam was Asadi Qurashi (i.e., from the clan of Bani Asad in Quraysh)
and ‘Umar was ‘Adawi Qurashi (i.e., from the clan of Bani ‘Adiyy in Quraysh).
Both of them were from Quraysh and Quraysh had only one dialect. If the
difference in ahruf (styles) had been a difference in dialects, why would two
men of Quraysh have been different? The scholars
mentioned nearly forty different opinions concerning this matter! Perhaps the
most correct is that which we have mentioned above. And Allaah knows
best. Fourthly: It seems that
the seven styles were revealed with different wordings, as indicated by the
hadeeth of ‘Umar, because ‘Umar’s objection was to the style, not the meaning.
The differences between these styles are not the matter of contradiction and
opposition, rather they are synonymous, as Ibn Mas’ood said: “It is like one of
you saying halumma, aqbil or ta’aal (all different ways of saying ‘Come
here’).” Fifthly: With regard to
the seven recitations (al-qiraa’aat al-saba’), this number is not based on the
Qur’aan and Sunnah, rather it is the ijtihaad of Ibn Mujaahid (may Allaah have
mercy on him). People thought that al-ahruf al-saba’ (the seven styles) were
al-qiraa’aat al-saba’ (the seven recitations) because they happened to be the
same number. But this number may have come about coincidentally, or it may have
been done deliberately by Ibn Mujaahid to match what was narrated about the
number of styles (ahruf) being seven. Some people thought that the styles
(ahruf) were the recitations, but this is a mistake. No such comment is known
among the scholars. The seven recitations are one of the seven styles, and this
is the style that ‘Uthmaan chose for all the Muslims. Sixthly: When ‘Uthmaan
made copies of the Qur’aan, he did so according to one style (harf), but he
omitted the dots and vowel points so that some other styles could also be
accommodated. So the Mus-haf that was copied in his time could be read
according to other styles, and whatever styles were accommodated by the Mus-haf
of ‘Uthmaan remained in use, and the styles that could not be accommodated fell
into disuse. The people had started to criticize one another for reciting
differently, so ‘Uthmaan united them by giving them one style of the Qur’aan. Seventhly: Your saying
that Mujaahid’s different recitations meant the seven styles (ahruf) is not
correct, as was said by Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah. (Majmoo’ah al-Fatawa,
vol. 13, p. 210) Eighthly: The seven
readers or reciters were: 1- Naafi’ al-Madani 2- Ibn Katheer al-Makki 3- ‘Aasim al-Kufi 4- Hamzah al-Zayaat al-Kufi 5- Al-Kisaa’i al-Kufi 6- Abu ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ala’ al-Basri 7- ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Aamir
al-Shaami The ones who
have the strongest isnaad in recitation are Naafi’ and ‘Aasim. The most
eloquent are Abu ‘Amr and al-Kisaa’i. Warsh and
Qaaloon narrated from Naafi’. Hafs and
Shu’bah narrated from ‘Aasim. And Allaah
knows best. Islam
Q&A http://islamqa.com/en/ref/5142 |
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