Two Questions

May Allah reward you greatly for your answers to our questions and in particular for my question about imaalah.  You mentioned in your answer about the different recitations.  Could you please explain about these; are they all from the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him)?

I have heard there are 10 or 7 different ways of reading the Holy Qur’an.  Which is the correct number? How soon do you think one can start learning these different ways? Are all these different ways of reading done by different populations now in various areas of the world? How would one go about finding a Qur’an center that would teach all these different ways of reading?

Answer to both questions

Subhana Allah Who revealed the Qur’an to His servant, the Messenger of Islam, Prophet Mohammed  in the clear 'Arabic language, to guide mankind, and to be easy to recite.  The Qur’an was revealed in the seven dialects of the Arabs.  This means that all seven dialects are part of the revelation, but at the same time, they have their own identity, and cannot be intermixed.  These seven dialects have within them authentic and revealed variations, all acceptable, all part of the revelation, all related by the Prophet to the companions, and recited to the Prophet by the companions.  The Messenger of Allah,  then, after hearing their complete recitation of the Qur’an, gave them permission, or “ijaazah”, to teach others the ways they had recited to the Prophet, .  These same companions then went out to different parts of the world, as Islam spread, and taught others the Qur’an, listening to every letter recited, and making sure no inaccuracies were present in the students’ recitations.  When each student recited the whole Qur’an from memory in a particular way, or more than one authentic way, that student then was given “ijaazah” or permission to teach others the Qur’an.  This very careful way of preserving the Qur’an in a particular authentic recitation exists to this very day. 

The seven qira’aat of today, are part of the seven dialects that the Qur’an was revealed in to our Messenger, , but they are not the seven dialects in their entirety.  Some of the ways of the authentic variations of the revealed seven dialects have become extinct with the passage of time and with the lack of vigor the Muslims have shown for preserving all of the revealed ways of recitation of the Qur’an.  The seven ways of recitation famous today are the seven ways documented by Al-Imaam Ash-Shatabiyy in his prose.  They are known as the seven qira’aat by the way of ash-Shatabiyyah.  There are three more, again authentic, that are also well known among modern day Muslim scholars documented by Al-Imaam Al-Jazariyy in another prose.  Again, these ways of recitation are only a portion of the seven dialects that make up the complete revelation of the Qur’an to the Prophet Mohammed, . The student of the Qur’an who wishes to learn these ways needs first to memorize the Qur’an in its entirety.  An intense study of these authentic ways of recitation, and their valid and revealed variations should then be undertaken.  This usually is done by memorizing the Shatabiyyah poem, and/or the Durrah poem of Al-Jazariyy.  The explanation of the poems is studied simultaneously with the memorization.  The student then starts practicing reciting each individual way and any variations within it.  When the student becomes accomplished at reciting the different ways, an ijaazah is then started, where the student recites the entire Qur’an in any or all of the ways of recitation to a Sheikh that received an ijaazah from another Sheikh.  Each Sheikh that has an ijaazah has a chain of transmission back to the Prophet, . 

The vast majority of the Muslims in the world today recite the Qur’an by the way of Hafs ‘an ‘Aasim by the way of Shatabiyyah.  There are however, Muslims in North African, most notably Morocco, Tunis and Algeria, that recite by the way of Warsh ‘an Naafi’, by the way of Shatabiyyah.  There are a few small groups that recite by the way of Qaaloon ‘an Naafi’ by the way of Shatabiyyah, and even less that recite by the way of ad-Duree ‘an al-Basriyy by the way of Shatabiyyah. 

The student that wishes to pursue this noble and honorable path of knowledge needs to find a Sheikh with a chain of transmission going back to the Messenger of Allah, .  There are many Sheikhs that have this ijaazah, but most are located in the Arab countries in the Middle East.