A Research on the Correct Reading of the Qur ān

Correct qarā’at (reading) of the Qur’ān is one of the important discourses in the field of the Qur’ān and jurisprudence, because, in addition to the emphatic preference of reading the Qur’ān in general, the reading of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa and Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ is obligatory in the prayer as well. Most of the verses of the Qur’ān have not been read except for reading according to the present diacritics of the verses since the Revelation of the Qur’ān and there is no difference in the correct reading of them. However, in some parts of the verses, other readings than the reading according to their diacritics have been reported and in the correct reading of this group of verses some other viewpoints have come up. Some have, according to viewing the seven-fold or ten-fold readings as being mutiwātir (recurrent), maintained the correctness of all of them; some have not regarded their tawātur (recurrence) to be constant and have legally judged the correctness of those readings on the basis of knowing them as authentic; and some have regarded the correct reading as the reading according to the present diacritics of the verses. In this article, the evidences of this viewpoint are critically reviewed and the determination of the correctness of reading according to diacritics – except in some verses – is reasoned and emphasized.