The Common Recitation in Iran in the Fifth and Sixth Lunar Centuries: A Case Study of Strong Recitations in Astan Quds Razavi's Masāḥif

In order to discover common recitations in the 5th and 6th centuries of Iran, this research has investigated the recitations recorded in three Qur'ans from the fifth century and three Qur'ans from the sixth century in the library of Astan Quds Razavi. Therefore, a table containing 1000 words was prepared. After preparing the statistics of the degree of similarity of the reading of these words with each of the ten readings as well as the remaining cases from Abu Hatem's authority, it was concluded that the calligraphy of this book is most similar to the script of Būm of Basrah, and then Kufah. It has the least resemblance to the Shami script. In this sense, there has been no change compared to the fourth century. Examining the "field of the letters" (farsh al-ḥorūf) of the Qur'an and comparing it with the ten recitations also shows that these Qur'an were not subject to a single reading, but they contain an authority, one of the criteria of which is the approval of more reciters. In general, the recitation of these books is similar to the recitation of ʿĀṣim and then Khalaf". In comparison with the fourth century, the common recitation has turned away from being more similar to Abu Amr's Basri recitation and is inclined to the Kufic recitations, especially the Ḥafs narration of the ʿĀṣim recitation.