The Function of Abdullāh ibn Ma's ūd's Reading of the Qur an in the Clarification of Āyāt al-Ahkām

The present article investigates, with regard to ’Āyāt al-Ahkām, the Qur’anic exegetes’ attitudes toward seven typical sides of Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd’s reading of the Qur’an. It shows that the Qur’anic exegetes do not share the same view on the permissibility of favoring those sides which contradict the ‘Uthmani orthography’. To adopt a scholarly and methodical position toward this issue, one needs to determine and distinguish the basic preliminaries of it; preliminaries regarding the questions such as whether the Qur’an is revealed with multiple sides, or is it one-sided? Do multiple sides of the readings of the Qur’an intend to convey the same message or not? Could Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd’s reading of the Qur’an be considered as an exegesis? If so, is his exegesis based on what he has heard from the Prophet? Or is it the result of his independent reasoning (ijtihād)?
Through the combination of such preliminaries, the present article ends up with the introduction of six assumptions each of which result in a different verdict on the permissibility of favoring Abdullah’s reading.