Rectitation Of The Qur'an In Various Qira'at & Related Issues

We offer the recordings by various reciters of the Holy Qur'an who, by the beauty of their recitation, have enlighted our hearts and have managed to make us feel its profound effect in our very souls. These recordings are mostly directly recorded from renowned mosques in Egypt.

Most of these recordings are performed in the tajwid style including various readings, e.g., Hafs, Warsh, Hamzah, Qalun, al-Duri etc. We did our best to identify the readings in each recitation for the information and the pleasure of our visitors. Comments, suggestions and corrections can be emailed to us.

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Basics Of Qira'at

The Ten Readers & Their Transmitters

Refutation Of Christian Missionary Polemics About Qira'at

Versions Of The Qur'an?

Revelation Of The Qur'an In Seven Ahruf
Difference Between Ahruf & Qira'at
Conditions For The Validity Of Different Qira'at
The Chain of Narration Of Different Qira'at
Hafs & Warsh Qira'at: Are They Different Versions Of The Qur'an?
Recitation Of The Qur'an In Hafs, Warsh & Other Qira'a
Printed Edition Of The Qur'an In Various Qira'at
Books On Mutawatir Qira'at

Reply To Mr. Samuel Green's "The Seven Readings Of The Qur'an"

Introduction
Qira'at Or 'Variant' Readings?
Are Qira'at Due To The Lack Of Vowel & Diacritical Points In The Early Qur'ans?
Masahif Surprises?
The Abuse of Brockett's Material On Qira'at
No Books On Mutawatir Readings Available?
Conclusions

Variant Readings Of The New Testament: Their Origin & Significance
Critical Editions & The Methodlogies
Conclusions

The Qur'anic Recitation In Various Qira'at

Biographies Of Some Professional Reciters Of The Qur'an From Egypt

The recordings below are linked to our sister-website Islamophile. This is done to avoid slowing the access of Islamic Awareness website which already receives a lot of traffic.

 Recitors

Recordings 

Muhammad Siddiq al-Minshawi

9

Mustafa Isma`il

6

Mahmud Khalil al-Husari

6

Mahmud `Ali al-Banna

7

Muhammad Rif`at

2

Kamil Yusuf al-Bahtimi

3

Muhammad Madian

2

Muhammad Basyuni

2

Muhammad Mahmud al-Tablawi

5

Muhammad al-Layti

1

Muhammad Badr Husayn

1

`Abd al-Basit `Abd al-Samad

4

`Antar Sa`id Musallam

5

Al-Shahhat Muhammad Anwar

2

Mahmud `Abd al-Hakam

2

Abu al-`Enein She`eisha`

7

Al-Sayyid Sa`id

7

Al-Sayyid Mitwalli

4

Dr. Ahmad Nu`ayni`

2

Raghib Mustafa Ghalwash

1

`Abd al-Mun`im al-Tukhi

1

The Qira'at In The Qur'anic Manuscripts

Early Qur'anic Manuscripts, unlike the modern printed editions, rarely contain information of the Qira'at in which they were written. Deciphering the Qira'at in the Qur'anic Manuscripts is a recent endeavour and a very tedious task. Scholars like Nabia Abbott had only mentioned about Qira'at in the manuscripts in a very cursory way. Recently, in-depth studies have been undertaken to decipher the Qira'at in the Qur'anic Manuscripts by Dr. Yasin Dutton of University of Edinburgh. He has been looking into various Qur'anic Manuscripts to understand the purpose of using various coloured dots in the writing of the Qur'an and studying the consonantal structure (where dotting is nearly absent as in early Qur'ans written in Hijazi or Ma'il script) to find out the Qira'at in which the Qur'an manuscript was written. Here are a few examples of the manuscripts in which the Qira'at has been identified.

The Qira'at Identified In Qur'anic Manuscripts

We will also mention Dr. Dutton's publications and provide a brief overview. This section is primarily for those who have access to journals in their libraries.

Y. Dutton, "An Early Mushaf According To The Reading Of Ibn `Amir", Journal Of Qur'anic Studies, 2001, Volume III (no. I), pp. 71-89.

This study is based on 1st century Qur'anic manuscript "Arabe 328a" in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, written in Hijazi (or Ma'il) script. This manuscript has enough material to be able to ascertain the reading it represents. This manuscript is almost devoid of dotting and hence the consonantal structure is used to determine the Qira'at and it was found to be that of Ibn `Amir (d. 118 / 736) - one of the reading later to be declared indisputably mutawatir in Ibn Mujahid (d. 324 / 926). This study is first of its kind on early Qur'anic manuscripts.

Y. Dutton, "Red Dots, Green Dots, Yellow Dots & Blue: Some Reflections On The Vocalisation Of Early Qur'anic Manuscripts - Part I", Journal Of Qur'anic Studies, 1999, Volume I (no. I), pp. 115-140.

Y. Dutton, "Red Dots, Green Dots, Yellow Dots & Blue: Some Reflections On The Vocalisation Of Early Qur'anic Manuscripts - Part II", Journal Of Qur'anic Studies, 2000, Volume II (no. I), pp. 1-24.

This two-part detailed study is done on the Qur'anic manuscripts from Bodleian Library (Oxford) that date from 3rd / 4th century of hijra. The broad conclusions of this study are:

  1. Variants, including shadhdh variants, are not only marked, but in a sense, highlighted by the use of different coloured dots.
  2. The presence of shadhdh variants alongside Seven, Ten or Fourteen Qira'a suggests that the shadhdh variants were treated as seriously as the main readings by those responsible for vocalization.
  3. The vocalized manuscript enables us to have some idea of the reading, or readings, represented. Where there are only single or limited folios available this is not usually possible, but where there is either a distinctive feature, or enough of a sufficiently well-vocalized manuscript, it is often possible to fix the reading with some precision.

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