نشریه مطالعات قرائت قرآن
سال هشتم شماره 14 (بهار و تابستان 1399)

The commentators of the Qur'an in their interpretive efforts have not been needless to refer to the Qur’anic readings (qira'at). Therefore, although some Qur'anic scholars have considered the Qur'an and the recitations as two different facts. However, they considered the diligence of recitations in facing the interpretation of the Qur'an to be inevitable. Among these, the interpretation of Rawd al-Jannan can be mentioned as the first Shiite commentary in Persian that has quoted and presented opinions in the face of differences in readings. This descriptive-analytical study examines Razi's approach in the face of various readings and eventually believes that he was not required to explain the interpretation of the verses to a specific reading, but by mentioning the differences with different narrative, literary and interpretive criteria and ... tries to prefer a single reading. In some cases, this reading is not the reading of Hafs from Asim. Also, sometimes the commentator's interpretive perceptions have been influenced by his reading preference.

The issue of differences in Qur’anic readings has long been an important issue in the discussion of Qur’anic sciences and has been addressed by Islamic thinkers and commentators. Differences in readings are not a complicated issue for Muslim scholars; but in recent times, this issue has become very immense in the eyes of orientalists and a lot of research has been devoted to it in the West. One of the recent approaches of Orientalists to determine the correct reading is to employ words from non-Arabic languages, such as Hebrew, Syriac, Nabataean, and so on. The approach of substituting the foreing vocabulary has also been used by New Testament scholars and has been proposed as criteria such as the criterion of the Greek language and its context and the criterion of the Semitic phenomenon (Aramaic) or the environmental characteristics of Palestine. The leading article has explained this approach in the Qur'an and the New Testament in a descriptive-analytical way and has evaluated and criticized its application in the issue of differences in Qur'anic readings. The results of this study show that, however, the importance of this approach and its success in critical New Testament studies should not be overlooked. However, its application in cases of differences in Qur'anic readings is faced with problems such as incorrect generalization, disconnection from objective and historical understanding, the illusion of public conspiracy, being more ambiguous and confusing than the official recitation of the Qur'an and invalidating the readings’ document.

One of the theoretical and practical topics of reciting the Qur'an is familiarity with the manners (sifāt) of the letters, the letters that form the basis of reciting the Qur'an; because without familiarity with these manners, it may have been mispronounced, as was pronounced in the language of the Prophet (PBUH). These manners are divided into contradictory and non-contradictory manners. The two manners: izhlaq and ismat are contradictory manners,. Thus, apparently familiarity with them has a special effect on the correct recitation of the Qur'an. But do these two manners actually have such an effect? What is the correct definition of the two? Does their presence among the contradictory manners in the books of tajweed has any effect on it? This article, in a descriptive-analytical method and relying on the library method, seeks to examine the definitions related to these two manners and also to evaluate their effect and their utilitarian usefulness. Finally, it turns out that these two adjectives have no Tajweed-related application and no effect on correcting the recitation of the Qur'an. Therefore, mentioning them in Tajweed books has no benefit in teaching and learning Tajweed and should be removed from these books.

One of the most important Islamic arts is the art of reciting the Holy Quran, which is popular in various Islamic countries. One of the most important factors in promoting and achieving the perfection of Qur’anic recitation and one of the most important spiritual etiquettes of recitation is the meaning-oriented issue. Meaning based recitation is the one that’s based on the meaning and concept of the verses. In this research, which has been done by descriptive-analytical method, while explaining the meaning-oriented position, its obvious characteristics, such as effectiveness, humility (khushu’) and heartedly motivation, as well as its effects, such as sanctifying the goals of recitation, reviving the true position of the reciter and the recitation of the Holy Quran in society, creating an atmosphere of thinking, reasoning and contemplating in Qur’anic circles has been studied. According to this research, not every recitation is desirable for the holy verses and hadiths, and the meaning-based approach in recitation is the basis of a desirable recitation, which leads to familiarity with the Qur'an in society at its general and specific levels.

The difference in Qur’anic readings as an undeniable fact in the Prophetic era began due to differences in the dialect and accent of Muslims. In order to provide a better context for understanding the language of the Qur'an and its expressive style, the Messenger of God (PBUH) allowed the companions to express and explain their understanding of the Qur'an while reading the Qur'an. Therefore, in the readings of the Companions, their explanatory, interpretive and descriptive words and sentences have been reported in a mixed way (along with Quranic phrases and verses). Although the Holy Prophet allowed the Companions to express their understanding of the Qur'an while reading and reciting it, but they always emphasized that it should not be recorded and included in the original text of the Qur'an. There are Qur’anic readings narrated from Ubay ibn Ka'b, the eminent Qur'anic reciter and teacher and companion of the Messenger of God, to whom he presented the Qur'an several times, which the present article has tried to categorize by reporting them.

One of the issues raised about the reasons for the difference in Qur’anic readings is the issue of expertion (ijtihad), which is raised under the title of ijtihad of reciters and companions. Great figures such as Ayatollah Khoei and Ayatollah Maarefat have raised the issue of ijtihad in recitation. In this article, which is written in a descriptive-analytical method, the reasons for and against the discussion of ijtihad on the issue of differences in readings were examined. The main reason for the agreement was the practice of the tastes of the companions and the reciters, which has been mentioned as one of the important factors in influencing the difference of readings. While the opponents have considered the recitations as evidence based on listening and narration and have stated that ijtihad in recitation has been confused with the word ikhtiar in recitation. But by referring to the history of recitations, it becomes clear that ijtihad existed in recitations and these ijtihads are not done only by a few unknown people whom that most Muslims has ignored.

One of the Qur’anic sciences that have a direct effect on the understanding, translation and interpretation of the divine word is the science of reciting the Quran. For this reason, the commentators have been trying for a long time to consider the different readings and their effect on the understanding of the Qur'an, so that the best interpretation can be presented according to the acceptable reading. In this article, the types of differences in readings from the seven famous readings in chapter of Yusuf have been studied and analyzed. Studies show that the narrations around the axis of chapter of Yusuf are either in the field of differences in readings that do not harm the protection of the Qur'an from distortion or in the position of expressing the meaning and interpretation of the verse which has been proposed as a difference of readings. It can be acknowledged that the difference in readings in most of the disputed words is such as the difference in the quality of reading (in terms of imalah, fath, idgham, izhar, tafkhim, tarqiq, and etc.) or the difference in the i’rab of a word that does not interrupt the meaning. By comparative research method, it is possible to study the context of verses, morphological and syntactic rules, consistency with the meaning of verses, coherence in the words of verses and its harmony, something can lead the researcher to the correct reading, which is the famous reading of the Qur’an.

Two issues of distortion and difference in the readings of the Qur'an are among the issues that have provoked many discussions among Qur'anic scholars since the first centuries of Islam. On the other hand, the existence of weak narrations in the books of the two sects has created the illusion of distortion in the Qur'an. On the other hand, due to the close connection between the distortion and the difference in recitation, the different readings of the Qur'an have raised the issue of distortion of the Qur'an. Orientalists have used the historiography of the Qur'an to show the human process in forming the Qur'an, and in the meantime have attached great importance to the differences in readings and the distortion of the Qur'an. Using a library method and through analytical-descriptive method, this article seeks to show that the differences in the Qur’anic readings along with the motivations and research methods of orientalists have had a significant effect on the formation of the illusion of the distortion of the Qur'an.

The science of qira’at (readings) the Holy Quran is one of the oldest and most widely written subjects in the Quran. The impact of this knowledge on the science of interpretation and Arabic literature doubles its importance. The writing of various readings of the Holy Quran began after the era of oral narration of readings and from the first centuries AH it was paid special attention by scholars, writers, commentators and Quranic researchers and many works were written in this field. These works are first as a part of commentaries and books on Quranic sciences, hadith and Arabic literature, and then as independent writings in various formats such as "mufradah" (monography), "encyclopedia" (polygraphy) and justification of the reasons of Quranic readings either in disciplined methods (mundabit) or free style (muharrarah) was compiled. The present research provides an overview of the works written in the science of reading and by examining the first books of the science of reading, shows the antiquity of this knowledge. Also, by following the important books of Quranic sciences, commentary, hadith and literature, the prevalence and extent of the science of recitation in each of such books among the works of Shiites and Sunnis is examined. In addition, the present article with the typology of books related to the science of reading acquaints the reader with different types of researches pertaining to the reading science. Thus, the present article can be a good guide for researchers in the field of Quranic sciences to know the works written in the science of Quranic readings and can use these works in their research.

The richness of Quranic literature has led to the development of literary and syntactic rules of the Arabic language and has influenced the science of Quranic readings. Then the literary style became the basis for measuring readings with the standard of Arabic language and choosing the correct reading. The historical stages of measuring readings with the standard of Arabic language and its most important results are as follows: 1- In the era of Successors (Tābi‘īn) until the advent of Ibn Mujahid, syntactic rules were not organized. After the formulation of the rules, the critique of recitations with the standard of Arabic language became widespread and ijtihad-based discussions in recitation became popular; 2- In the era after Ibn Mujahid until the advent of Ibn Jazari, weekly readings became popular and legitimized, and the importance of the art of reading became increasingly important. The reading market flourished with a fanatical and holistic approach. Two views were formed on the critique of readings with the standard of the Arabic language and the sanctification of readings with the belief in its revelation; 3- In the era after Ibn Jazari until the present era, the belief in the revelation of readings became widespread. Attempts were made to justify poor readings with literary minimums. Writing valuable books in the science of reading, its development and the formation of reading characteristics are other events of this period. In the present study, an attempt is made to examine the three stages with a historical-analytical approach, and in the light of it, to express the characteristics of recitation to recognize and select the correct and preferred reading based on rational reasons (including the impossibility of deviating from the recitation of the Holy Prophet and to not contradict rational reasons) as well as narrative arguments (including explicit and frequent text of the Qur'an, public recitation and emphasis of the Ahl al-Bayt on its practical commitment, compatibility with the existing Qur'an and calligraphy of Qur'anic words, first diacritical mark, original literature and eloquent rules of Arabic). The research method in this article is descriptive-analytical using library resources.

Ibn Mujahid, the reciter of Baghdad, in the fourth century AH, using the position of Sheykh al-Qurra’ (the head reciter) and political influence, and according to the prevalence and reputation of the hadith of the revelation of the Qur'an through Seven Letters, formalized seven readings from five important cities and gradually over time other readings became known as Shazz (unreliable). While many of these shazz readings had the qualifications of a correct reading. In this research, the author intends to examine the recitation of Zayd ibn Ali, which is among the popular readings; because according to the narration of Sheikh Tusi in the Fehrest, Zayd was sure of the correctness of his recitation and attributed it to Imam Ali (a.s). Hence, the author tries to retrieve the criteria of the correctness of the recitation of Zayd with the criteria of reading accuracy from Ibn Jazari's point of view with an analytical-historical approach on how the recitation of Zayd was formed in Medina. Finally, according to the study, it should be said that the recitation of Zayd ibn Ali has the criteria for the recitation accuracy to a large extent, also the study of the effect of Zayd recitation on the interpretation of the Qur'an, is another component of this research.

The Qur'an is the word of Allah and the "Qiraat" reflect the different readings of the people from the single text of the Qur'an. "Difference of Qiraat" appeared at the same time with the teaching, promotion and consolidation of the single text of the Qur'an in the Prophetic era and under the auspices of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and with the expansion of the Qur'an, it continued to expand until the early fourth century AH. However, it was continuously developed until it almost stopped with the compilation of seven indicative and disciplined readings by Ibn Mujahid. By describing and analyzing historical data, this study has tried to show that the Qur'an is different from readings, and despite the formation of differences in readings in the Prophetic era, the audio text of the word of God was transferred to the next generation and taught, the recitation that in the first century AH has been referred to as "Qiraat’un Nas" or "Qira’at al-Ammah" (popular recitation). With the popularity of the Seven Readings attributed to the seven reciters, in which about 98% of the words of the Qur'an are recited in the same way, it became clear that only Asim’s recitation according to Hafs narration which is away from any ijtihad in recitation, is consistent with Qiraat’un Nas and the frequented narrations of the Messenger of God (PBUH), which is still widespread and prevalent in almost all parts of the Islamic world