Indepth Islam

Introduction to the Science of Qirāʼāt

In Islam, Qirāʼah, (pl. Qirāʼāt ) (Arabic: قِراءة, lit. 'recitations or readings') which are different linguistic, lexical, phonetic, morphological and syntactical forms permitted with reciting the holy book of Islam, the Quran[clarification needed]. Differences between Qiraʼat are slight and include varying rules regarding the prolongation, intonation, and pronunciation of words,[2] but also differences in stops, vowels, consonants (leading to different pronouns and verb forms), and less frequently entire words. Qiraʼat also refers to the branch of Islamic studies that deals with these modes of recitation.

There are ten different recognised schools of qiraʼat, each one deriving its name from a noted Quran reciter or "reader" (qāriʾ pl. qāriʾūn or qurr'aʿ), such as Nafi‘ al-Madani, Ibn Kathir al-Makki, Abu Amr of Basra, Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi, Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud, Hamzah az-Zaiyyat, Al-Kisa'i. While these readers lived in the second and third century of Islam, the scholar who approved the first seven qira'at (Abu Bakr Ibn Mujāhid) lived a century later, and the readings themselves have a chain of transmission (like hadith) going back to the time of Prophet Muhammad SAWS. Consequently, the readers/qurr'aʿ who give their name to Qira'at are part of a chain of transmission called a riwaya. The lines of transmission passed down from a riwaya are called turuq, and those passed down from a turuq are called wujuh.

Qiraʼat should not be confused with Tajwid—the rules of pronunciation, intonation, and caesuras of the Quran. Each Qira'at has its own Tajwid. Qiraʼat are called readings or recitations because the Quran was originally spread and passed down orally, and though there was a written text, it did not include most vowels or distinguish between many consonants, allowing for much variation.[8] (Qiraʼat now each have their own text in modern Arabic script.) Qira'at are also sometimes confused with Ahruf—both being variants of the Quran with "unbroken chain(s) of transmission going back to the Prophet",and both often said to have seven different varieties. There are multiple views on the nature of the ahruf and how they relate to the qira'at, a common one being that caliph Uthman eliminated all but one variety of ahruf sometime in the mid-7th century CE. The seven readings, or Qira'at, were selected later and canonized in the 9-10th century CE.

Even after centuries of Islamic scholarship, the variants of the Qira'at have been said to continue "to astound and puzzle" Islamic scholars (by Ammar Khatib and Nazir Khan),

Qira'at must not be confused with the actual Qur'anic verses. Qira'at does not change the verse of the Qur’an, just how it is read aloud.Quran "exists exactly as it had been revealed to the Prophet; not a word - nay, not a dot of it - has been changed", Muslims always knew there were multiple approved reading of the Qur'an and not only one reading of the Quran. The evidence of this is the hadith of Omar reported by Bukhārī and Muslim saying

"The Qur’ān was sent down in seven modes of reading, so recite according to what comes most easily"

The maṣḥaf Quran that is in "general use" throughout almost all the Muslim world today, about 95% is based on the Qira'at "reading of Ḥafṣ on the authority of `Asim", (Ḥafṣ being the Rawi, or "transmitter", and `Asim being the Qari or "reader"). (Excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qira%CA%BCat)