Question

Thank you for answering my question previous question on the 10 different ways of recitation below. It was posted on your website on October 3, 2001. I feel little awkward for asking again the question that you have already answered but I am still not clear about the last part of my question. This pertains to the substitution of certain words in Qur'an with different words (but similar meaning) in some ways of qiraa'ah(?). Is there any validity to this? If yes, what are these interchangeable words in Qur'an according to some qiraa'ah?  My apologies to be an annoyance. May Allah reward you for teaching us, and for your patience.

Answer

There is no need to apologize, and there is absolutely no annoyance in your questioning again.  We apologize for not making the response clear enough the first time, and pray that Allah will increase your and all the Muslims' knowledge and reward you greatly for your questions. 

Yes, there are words that one way of recitation (qiraa'aah) reads one way, and another reads that same word as a different word that is similar in meaning.  It is not substitution though, it is part of the revelation.  Each of the seven ways of recitation revealed to the Prophet, , were dialects of the Arabs, and it was as stated before, an ease on them to be able to recite the revealed Qur’an in a way that they were used to using.  If one word is different in one way of recitation than another way, it is because Allah the Exalted, in His infinite Wisdom, saw that one group would understand one word better than the other word.  This occurrence is not very often, but does exist.  The thing to make clear is that there is no way of recitation that contradicts the writing of the ‘Uthmani copy of the Qur’an.  You will find that the “teeth”, “circles” etc. are the same, the dots and the vowels may be different, as they were not used nor present at the time of the Prophet, .  One example is in surah An-Nisaa’, aayah 94.  Three of the current known ten authentic ways of recitation recite the word as  and the rest of the presently known ways recite this same word as: .  If you look, at these two words, and take away the dots, you have the same writing.  All the words that are similar in meaning but have different recitation follow this rule.  The sound of the word was passed down Muslim by Muslim from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah, , and the way of writing is the same as it was when the scribes wrote it down when it was revealed. 

Please note, we have, after further research, had to edit a bit the response to your question that was posted on October 3.  Also, please regard the answer to the question answered today directly before this one on the main q&a page regarding the copies of the Qur’an.