Learning the Quran is important, as it is a great act of worship that Allah loves. It is His word, the Almighty, and He has commanded us to recite it and act according to it. It is the constitution and law of Muslims until the Day of Judgment, and it is the last of the heavenly books for people that have not been distorted as happened with the other holy books. So today we will talk about a specialized matter of the Quran that many Muslims do not know. This matter is an additional miracle to the miracles of the Great Quran, which is the ten readings that Muslims have read the Quran around the world since the day it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, until this day.
What are the readings, and what is their importance in learning the Holy Quran? They are readings that were transmitted from the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, meaning that they are ways in which we read the Quran.
All of these methods were transmitted from the Prophet, the Companions, and the Followers correctly and by a very large number of people, so there is no doubt about them. They use the same methods in their writing, but there are some differences in the way of pronunciation, diacritics, or meaning sometimes, or differences in the places of stopping and starting, for example.
But the writing is the same, as the Quran was revealed in seven letters, as stated in the noble hadith, and this difference in pronunciation, stopping, or diacritics came about due to the differences in the pronunciation of words by the ancient Arabs or the presence of some different linguistic phenomena among some tribes.
There is no doubt about the importance of having readings in learning the Holy Quran. The presence of readings means that there is, for example, a verse written in one word and one line, but it has more than one pronunciation or diacritics that add a new meaning to the meanings of this verse.
We must remember that all of these readings were read by the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, in front of the Companions and were transmitted by the Prophet Muhammad through Gabriel, peace be upon him, and this is considered a great miracle added to the miracles of the Quran.
In this regard, the Messenger of God said, “The Quran has been revealed on seven aḥruf, all of them healing and sufficient, so recite as you have been taught”.
These readings were transmitted to us by scholars and memorized by the hearts of millions of Muslims in every era, and people transmitted them to others until they reached us, even young children learn the Quran with readings, praise be to God, in every age.
Since the companion Uthman bin Affan, may God be pleased with him, collected the Quran in one Mushaf, the matter has been settled and the Quran has been memorized in one form in writing to this day, just as the Quran has been memorized in the hearts of millions in every era.
To illustrate the importance of readings in learning the Quran, we mention here an incident narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim that occurred between the companion Omar bin Al-Khattab and the companion Hisham bin Hakim, may Allah be pleased with them.
Omar bin Al-Khattab heard the companion Hisham reading Surat Al-Furqan in prayer and became very angry and almost hit him, but Omar asked Hisham (Who taught you this Surah like this?) Hisham said: The Messenger of Allah taught it to me. Omar said to him: You lied. He took him to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Omar said to the Prophet: Hisham reads Surat Al-Furqan with incorrect letters and in an incorrect manner. The Prophet said to Hisham: Recite Surat Al-Furqan. Hisham recited it.
The Prophet said to him: This is how it was revealed from the sky. He said to Amr: Recite Surat Al-Furqan. He recited it. The Prophet said to him: This is how it was revealed from the sky. Then the Prophet said to them: This Quran was revealed in seven letters – meaning in seven Arabic dialects – so recite whatever is easy for you from it.
We learn from this hadith that the Quran was revealed in seven dialects, and the Prophet recited the Quran in all of them and taught the companions that. The reason for these readings is the difference in the dialects of the Arabs. The companions transmitted these readings to the followers, and the followers transmitted them to those who came after them, until they reached us through millions of readers in every era. This is the great importance of readings in learning the Holy Quran.
Scholars in the past worked on documenting books in all of these readings. They did not invent anything, but rather wrote for us about these readings and made rules for them so that people would learn them generation after generation.
Every scholar in the past was known for a specific reading when he worked hard and documented its rules and when he taught it to his students, but it existed before these scholars in the Quran and in people’s hearts, even children knew it and memorized it.
As for the readings today, they exist as they did in the time of the Prophet and the Companions, and Muslims around the world do not read with one reading. For example, millions around the world read according to the narration of Hafs from Asim, as in Egypt and elsewhere, and millions who read according to the narration of Warsh from Nafi’, as in the countries of the Maghreb, and there are those who read according to the narration of Qalun, as in Libya and elsewhere…
These readings, as we have explained, arose through the difference in dialects in the Arabian Peninsula between the tribes, as the spaces between each tribe were large, and each tribe had a dialect and linguistic phenomena that were different from the others.
We ask God to teach us what we do not know and to benefit us from what we have learned.
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