Differences in the Recitations of Sūrah Al-Isrā’ As Evaluated by Fariqain’s Commentaries

The science of recitation concerns reciting the Qur’an which is the revealed Word and the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) eternal miracle. Thus, recognizing the differences in the recitations of Qur’anic terms and examining their role in interpretations is of particular significance. In the present article, instances of discord among the seven reciters on some words of Sūrah Al-Isrā’ have been studied and the interpretive discrepancies of these cases have been analyzed comparatively. Moreover, the amount of difference according to Hafs’s recitation from ‘Āsim, as the most well-known recitation, is illustrated in tables and diagrams and the role of differences in recitations of some words of this Sūrah in changing or not changing the meanings of its words and verses has been considered. In doing the research, we have used library resources and a descriptive-analytical method. According to the findings of this study, the claim about the non-existence of distortion in the Qur’an indicates that there is no distortion in the form of addition or removal in the Qur’an, not any type of distortion, for spiritual distortion has occurred in the form of various translations and interpretations. Although the issue of “discord in recitations” regards verbal distortion, the extent of its impact on the meanings of words in the verses of Sūrah Al-Isrā’ is negligible and eventually, the same meaning is often obtained from the verse. Every now and then changes have been made, such as exaggeration and emphasis or changes of address from third person to second person or vice versa, or from singular to plural or the reverse. In some cases, however, it has led to a change in the meaning of the verse. Out of 28 instances of difference in recitations of Sūrah Al-Isrā’, 12 cases are with semantic change and 16 cases are without semantic change.