An Investigation on al-Kisā ī: His Character and Features of Recitation

Alī ibn Ḥamzah al-Kisā’ī is one of the seven reciters of the Qur’an (ghurā’ al-sab‘ah) and the chief of the grammar school (maktab al-naḥwī) in Kūfah. He was precepted by more than twenty-five grammar and recitation teachers to the extent that none of his teachers became as successful as him.
Most of his disagreement with other reciters returns to the verbal rules which has nothing to do with the meaning of the verses; the word ’imālat, for example, is read, according to al-Kisā’ī, as containing a disjunctive glottal catch (hamzah) and a pause on the feminine marker (t). In most cases of disagreement between al-Kisā’ī and other reciters, al-Kisā’ī’s recitation accords with that of his teacher, Ḥamzah al-Ziyāt.
The present article, investigates not only special cases in al-Kisā’ī’s recitation, but also his academic character as well as his types of arguments and justifications in support of his recitation, with the help of grammar, conjugation, rhetoric, vocabulary and orthography.