Ibn Muj#hid and the Establishment of Seven Qur'anic Readings

Christopher Melchert
Studia Islamica, No. 91. (2000), pp. 5-22.
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Studia Islamica, 2000

Ibn MujHhid

and the Establishment of Seven

Qur' anic Readings

Ibn Mujiihid (d. Baghdad, 3241936) is famous for establishing seven

acceptable textual variants or readings (qiru at) of the Qur'an, beyond which
no reader might go. Two Qur'an readers were famously tried for reciting
unacceptable variants, Ibn Miqsam in 3221934 and Ibn Shannabudh in
3231935. Both were forced to recant. The trials of Ibn Miqsam and Ibn
Shannabudh have been presented as triumphs of the traditionalist party. Ibn
Mujahid did indeed bring some of the forms of hadith science to Qur'an
science. However, he was personally much closer to the traditionalists'
semi-rationalist adversaries. The study and transmission of the qur'anic readings before Ibn Mujahid had been carried on mainly by grammarians and
littkrateurs, not traditionists (muhaddithun). Neither he nor his successors
ever completely assimilated their ways.
a m a d ibn Mus6 ibn al-'Abbas ibn Mujiihid was born in 2451859-860 and
died 3241936.0) He learnt Qur'an and hadith in Baghdad and seems to have
travelled from it only to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Al-Khatib
al-Baghdadi, a notoriously lenient rijcil critic, states that Ibn Mujiihid was
highly reliable in hadith; however, I have found no comment from any other
rijal expert, and it seems safe to say that Ibn Muj%hid was little active in transmitting hadith.(l) There is no record of his studying jurisprudence apart from
hadith, but he was evidently sympathetic to the ShafiLischool. Shafi'i sources
quote him as saying,
Whoever reads the reading of Abu 'Amr, follows al-Shafi'i
(tamadhhaba bi-al-Slzafifi'i; in jurisprudence, perhaps also theology),
( I ) Ibn al-Nadim, KitBb al-Fihrisr, ed. Gustav Flugel, w. Johannes Roedigger & August Mueller (Leipz ~ g F. . C. W. Vogel, 1872), 31. For biographies of Ibn Mujihid, r., al-Dhahat~i,T irikh al-islim, ed. 'Abd
al-Salam Tadmuri, 46 vols. to date (Beirut: Dar al-Kitib al-'Arabi, 1987.) 24 (A.H. 321-330):144fn.
( 2 ) Al-Khatib al-Baghdidi, Tirikh Baghdad, 14 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khinji, 1931), 5:144. lbn
Mujihid is missing from all the major rijal collections; e.g., lbn Hibban, K. a/-Thiqat and K, al-Du'afi , and
Ibn Hajar, Lisarz "a/-Mizin."

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

trades in silk, and relates the poetry of Ibn al-Mu'tazz, his elegance
( z a g is perfected. ( I )
His involvement in adab, indicated here by references to Ibn al-Mu'tazz
and elegance, is confirmed by many anecdotes and quotations. (') With his
admiration for Shafi'i jurisprudence, it bespeaks something other than a traditionalist orientation, probably more positively an adherence to the semirationalist theological party. This agrees also with his association with the
vizier 'Ali ibn 'hi, whom he helped, along with an AbCl al-Husayn
al-Wasiti, to write a Kitab Ma'ani al-Qur'an wa-taf'sirih. (')
I have referred already to the traditionalists and setni-rationalists. The former were those who rejected kalam and accepted only the Qur'an and hadith as
sources of law and theology. In their view, expertise in hadith and expertise in
the law were virtually the same. Asked a juridical question, they preferred to
answer by reciting the relevant hadith reports (including, still, the opinions of
Companions and Followers). (') They called themselves asl~ubal-athar, ah1
al-sunnah, or ah1 al-sunnah ~:a-al-jama'ah. In ninth-century Baghdad, they
were roughly the Hanabilah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his followers.
The semi-rationalists, who presumably called themselves mutakallitni ah1
ul-sunnah, developed jurisprudence as a separate field from hadith and used
the rational techniques of kalatn to defend traditionalist theological tenets.
They were associated with the nascent Shafi'i and Maliki schools of law. The
traditionalists condemned them yet more sharply than their Shi'i, Mu'tazili.
and other contemporaries. (') Among the Hanabilah, the strict traditionalist
position began to be compromised already by the work of al-Khallal (d.
31 11923) in setting up a Hanbali school of law parallel to the Shafi'i and
others. George Makdisi has said of Islamic law in general, "It shunned equally
the rampant Rationalism of the philosophico-theological movement, and the
effete fideism of the hadith movement." (8) Later in the tenth century, leading
( 3 ) Al-lsnaw~.Dbrrqtit al~shafi'ijah,ed. 'Ahd Allah al-Jabun, Ihya' al-Turath al-lslami. ? bols. (Baghdad: Rl'asat Diuan al-Auqaf, 1971 J.2 3 9 4 : al-Dhahabi. Trjrikh 111-islrjnl24 (A.H. 321-330):145.
(4) 1'.al-Khatib al-Baghdadi. Tiirikh B n ~ h d u d5:144-148: Yaqut. The lrshrid 01-arib ilri ~tra'r$~i
cii~ariit~.
ed. D. S. Margoliouth. E. J . W . Gihb Memorial Ser. 6, 7 vols. (Leiden: E. I. Br~ll.1907-27). 2 116-1 19 =
.Mir'/an~01-irrinbu . ed. Ihqan 'Ahbat. 7 vols. (Be~rut:DBr al-Gharh al-ltlami. 1993). 2.520-523.
15) Al-Dhahabi, Tririhlr 01-islam 25 (A.H. 331-350):108. 1 have not identified t h ~ hAbu al-Hu\a)n
al-Wis~!i.He might be Abu al-Hasan al-Wallti (d. 3101922-923 or after). one of Ibn MujahidS\ shaykhh. on
whom 1 . al-Dhahabi. Mri'rrfilr 111-qurrri i l l - l l h ~ red.
. Bashthar 'Awwad Ma'ruf, Shu'ayh al-Arna'ut. &Salth
/i
Mahdi 'Abbai, 2 voli. (Belmt: Mu'aaasat al-Risilah, 1984). 1:250: lbn al-Jazari. Ghawil al~nihn~irlr
!obaqdr 01-qurrij ed. Gotthelf BergstraBer & Otto Pretzl. 3 vols. in 2 (Cairo: Maktahat al-Khanji. 1932.
1935). 2.135f For his J ~ s i t i n gthe b~zier's\on. 1,. YXqi~t.I r s h ~ d2:l 17 = 'Ahbat. ed.. 2:5201. For 'All tbn
'iaa'~~undicalltheolog~cal
stance. I). I.ouib Mass~gnon,The Passror~ofal-Hallrjj, tranb. Herbert Mason. BOIL
lingen Ser. 98. 4 volb. (Princeton: Unt!. P r e s . 1982). l:J09f.
161 C' Susan A. Spectorshy, "Ahmad Ibn Hanbal's Fiqh." Jo~irnnlr f t h e An~errciinOr~enrrilSocreh 102
(1982j.461-465.
( 7 ) 1'. Chnstopher Melchert, "The Adbertaries of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal."Arabira 44 (1997). 234-253.
(81 George Makdiji. The Rise of Hurnnnrsm in Clirssiral I.\lum and the Christian Wesr (Ed~nburgh:Unn
Pre\$. 1990). 19. 1' al\o Chri\topher Melchelt. The ronrmriorr of rlre S r ~ i n i S ~ h o oofl i L r ~ i v(Leiden. Brill. 1997).
chap\ 1. 7

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

Haniibilah began to dabble with kaldm in theology. (') In Ibn Mujiihid's time,
though, Baghdadi traditionalism was still quite extreme.

Qur'an transmitters and hadith

Let us begin with the circles in which the qur'anic readings were transmitted and studied until Ibn Mujahid. It is remarkable that most of Ibn
Mujahid's Seven Readings themselves did not, for the most part, come from
notable traditionists. As a rough measure of his activity as a traditionist, the
name of each reader is followed by the proportion of the Six Books in which
his name appears, even in a single isnad.

Table 1: Qur'anic Readers in the Six Books

I) 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amir (d. 118/736), Damascene . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

2) 'Abd All& ibrz Kathir al-Dai (d. 1201737-738). Meccan . . . . . . . 616
3) 'Asim ibn Abi Najjud Bahdalah (d. 1271744-745?),Kufan . . . . . . 616
4) Abu 'Amr Zabban ibn 'Ammiir ibn 'Uryan ibn al-'Ala
(d. 1541770-771?).Basran. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,016
.

5) Hammh ibn Habib (d. 1561772-773?),Kufan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .516

6) Na$' ibn 'Abd al-R&man (d. 1691785-786).Medinese. . . . . . . . . 016

7) 'Ali ibn Hamzah a/-Kisa'i(d. 1891804-805?),Kufan . . . . . . . . . . 016

As can be seen, three of these readers do not appear in the Six Books at
all. Ibn Kathir (no2), a Follower, is the only one to appear in all of the Six
Books. Ahmad ibn Hanbal preferred the reading of 'Asim (no3), but concerning his rank in hadith transmission, even he comments halfheartedly, "He
was good, trustworthy, but al-A'mash kept more than he." Most other rijal
critics depreciated his transmission of hadith. (I0) Hamzah (no4) appears in
five of the Six Books, but most critics gave him only a middling rank, saduq,
in hadith. (I1)
Even the principal transmitters of the Seven Readings were fairly insignificant as traditionists. (I2)
(9) A. Kevin Reinhart, Before Revelation, SUNY Series in Middle Eastern Studies (Albany: State Unlb.
of New York Press, 1995), 21f.
(10) Ibn Hajar, Kirab Tahdhib "al-Tahdhib,"l2 vols. (Hyderahad: Majlis Da'lrat al-Ma'ar~f
al-Nizamiyah, 1325-27). 5: 39.
( I 1) lbn Hajar, Tahdhib 3 27f.
(12) The pnnc~paltransmitters are listed by al-Qayrawini, Talkhi! a/-'ibarar br-la!ifal-rshdratfi 01-qrra at
a/-sub', ed. Subay' Hamzah Ha!ani (Jidda: DBr al-Qiblah lil-Thaqifab al-lslimiyah & Beuut: Mu'assasat 'Ulum
al-Qur'b, 19881, 20. Al-Suyuti probides the same list but points out that some heard not directly from one of the
Seken but from their followers: al-Suyuti, a/-ltqanfi 'ullirn a/-Qur'in, notes by Mustaffi Dib d-Bugha, 2 vols.
(Damascus:DBr Ibn Kathir & DBr al-'Ulum d-lnsiniyah, 1993, 1 :230 (nau ' 20).

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

Table 2: Trarzsrnitters From the Seven in the Six Books

1 ) Hafs ibn Sulayman (d. 1801796-797?). Baghdadi, then

9 ) al-lnxth ibn Khalid (d. 2401854-855), Baghdadi, < al-Kisa'i

016
116

Damascene, < Ibn 'Amir

216
5I6
12) Hisham ibn 'Arnrnar (d
13) Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Bari (d. 2501864465). Meccan, < Ibn

Nine of these readers appear in none of the Six Books. Only Hisham ibn
'Ammar (no 12), preacher for the Umayyad mosque and a minor jurisprudent, made a considerable figure as a traditionist. He was sometimes disparaged for relating hadith reports he had not heard, also for demanding payment for reciting hadith. Ahmad ibn Hanbal condemned him for declaring
that his pronunciation of the Qur'an was created, a distinctive semi-rationalist position. (I3)Rijal critics roundly belittled Ibn 'Ayyash (no 3) as a traditionist. (I4)
(13) V. al-Dhahabi. Tarikh a/-rslam, 18 ( A . H . 211-250):520-528; Ibn Hajar. Tuhdhib 11:52-51; also
al-Khallal, Musnud nun nlusa i l 4 b i 'Abd Allah Ahmud ibn Muhumnlud rbn Hunbul, ed. Diya'uddin Ahmad,
c
of Bangladesh, 1975). 556. I cannot
Ahiatlc Soc~etyof Bangladesh Publication 29 (Dacca. A s ~ a t ~Soc~ety
agree that his ekaluations were so positive as Sezgln reports: Fuat Sezgin, Gerchichre des arabischen Schrrfrtumr, 9 kols. to date (Leiden: E. 1. Brill, 1967.). 1:111. For the d~stlnctionbetween an uncreated Qur'an and
I[\ created pronunciation as a d ~ s t ~ n c t i b
semi-rationalist
e
pohition, i Melchert. "Ahmad." 231.246.

113) Ibn Hajar. Tuhdhih I : 33-37

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

In the Later Middle Ages, six men were renowned as the principal students of the different readings up to and including Ibn Mujiihid. (I5)
Table 3: Principal Students of the Readings
1) Abli 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. Mecca. 224/839?)

2) Ahmad ibn Jubayr al-KGfi (d. Antioch. 2581871472)

3) Isma'il ibn Ishaq al-Jahdami (d. Baghdad, 2821896)

4) Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. Baghdad, 3 101923)

5) Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Dajhni (d. [al-Ramlah] 3 1Ors1923-932)

6) Ahmad ibn MGsC ibn al-'Abbas ibn Mujahid (d. Baghdad, 324/936)

Three of these six were active traditionists (no", 3, and 4). All but one
were apparently associated with Baghdad. The philologist Abu 'Ubayd was
mainly active in Baghdad, moving to Mecca only in 2191834-835, while
Muhammad al-Dajuni probably taught there for a time, as Ibn Mujahid, who
notoriously did not travel, is said to have studied under him. (I6) Only
Ahmad ibn Jubayr, then, is not associated with Baghdad. Compare previous
lists (no one in Table 1, four or five of the fifteen chief transmitters from
them in Table 2).
The same three traditionist Baghdadis were also active in the field of
jurisprudence. The particular approach to jurisprudence of Abii 'Ubayd
(no 1) is difficult to place. He is variously counted a follower of al-Shaybani,
of al-Waqidi, and of al-Shafi'i. ( I 7 ) Isma'il ibn Ishaq al-Jahdami (no3) was a
prominent Maliki. Al-Tabari (no 4) is commonly credited with elaborating
his own system of jurisprudence. Another remarkable feature is the semirationalist tendency of all these jurisprudents. Ahmad ibn Hanbal reproached Abu 'Ubayd for his theological writings. (IX) Al-Tabari's difficulties
with the Hanabilah are well known. (IY)Al-Jahdami's theological position is
harder to specify. However, his chief teacher, the Basran Ahmad ibn
(15) The same six are named by Abu al-Qas~mal-Nuwayn, Sharh "Tayyibar al-nashrfi a/-qrra'at
01-'ashr, ed. 'Abd al-Fatt& al-Sayyid Sulayman Abu Sunnah, Majma' al-Buhuth al-lslimiyah bi-al-Azhar,
3 vols. (Cairo: al-Hay'ah al-'Ammah li-Shu'in al-Matabi' al-Aminyah, 140611986), 1:169f, and by
al-Suyiti, Itqan 1:230f (nau' 20).
(16) Al-Dhahabi, Tirikh al-rslam 23 (A.H. 301-320):638.
(17) For al-Shaybini, v. al-Dhahabi, Siyar a'lam a/-rnubala', 25 vols. (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Risalah), 9
(ed. Kamil al-Kharrat, 1982):135; cf. al-Khatib al-Baghdidi, Tarikh Baghdad, 2.175. For al-Wiqidi, v . Ibn
Hajar, Tahdhib 9:366. For al-Shafi'i, v , al-'Abbadi, Kitab Tabaqat 01-fuqaha' al-shafi'iyah, ed. Gosta Vitestam, Veroffentlichungen der "De Goeje Stiftung" 21 (Leiden: E. J . Brill, 1964). 37.
(18) Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tahaqat al-hanahilah, Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi, 2 vols. (Cairo: Matba'at al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyah. 1952). 1 5 7 .
(19) E.g., v. Franz Rosenthal, "General Introduction,"The Histon' of a[-Tabari. SUNY Ser. in Near Eastern Studies. Bibliotheca Perslca. 38 kols. (Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1985.). 1:71-77.
"

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

al-Mu'adhdhal (d. ca. 2401854-855), was surely a semi-rationalist: he engaged in kalam, for which Ahmad ibn Hanbal disparaged him, (20) and he abstained from declaring whether the Qur'an was created. (") Ibn Mujahid, too
(no 6), is plausibly located amongst the semi-rationalists, as I have argued
above. Finally, Abu 'Ubayd, al-Jahdami, al-Tabari, and Ibn Mujahid were
all active in adab, for which see their biographies in Yaqut's dictionary of
litterateurs. (") This suggests that, just as the chief qur'anic readings were
transmitted apart from hadith, by separate experts, so the specialized study
of variant qur'anic readings developed above all in Baghdadi belletrist
circles.
Curiously missing from al-Suyuti's list of the most prominent students of
the readings are Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276/889), whose K, al-Qira'at is mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim, (") and Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Diwud (d. 316/929), author
of K, al-Masahif (not mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim). Like Abu 'Ubayd,
al-Jahdami, al-Tabari, and Ibn Mujiihid, Ibn Qutaybah and Ibn Abi Dawud
were active mainly in Baghdad. Like them, both were active in the field of
adab and both were close to court circles. Ibn Qutaybah is famous as an apologist for traditionalism, but the traditionalists themselves did not embrace
him, and he sometimes endorsed semi-rationalist positions. (") Ibn Abi
Dawud, however, was known primarily as a traditionist and apparently led
the Hanbali assault on al-Tabari. They seem to be examples of how accidents of manuscript preservation and modern publication have helped make
some medieval writers far more prominent in modern scholarship than they
were in their own time.
This is not to argue that traditionalists were uninterested in the qur'anic
readings. Ibn al-Nadim attributes books on the readings to half a dozen traditionalist jurisprudents Cfuqaha'ashab al-hadith). (") However, the section
he devotes exclusively to books about the readings is indeed dominated by
grammarians and other litterateurs, not traditionists. ( ' 6 ) What became the
120) Al-Dhahahi. Turikh a/-l.sium. 17 (A.H 231-250):52. 51, engagement in kalrm~noted by the M i l ~ k l
hlographer Ihn Farhun. ui-Dil~njmi-mirrlhmhhab. ed. Muhammad al-Ahmadi Ahu al-Nur. 2 vols. ICalro. Dir
al-Turath. 1972. 1976). I . 1 1 1
(21I Al-Dhahahi. Tirrkh (11-l,s/nm I7 (A.H. 231-2501, 54. Si~cir-I I (ed S j l ~ hal-Samr, 1982): 2 0 .
(22) Yaqut. Mu jrm~. ed. 'Ahhss. 5.2198-2202 (Ahu 'Ubayd). 2.617-651 (al-Jahdami). 6:ZJJI-69
(al-Tahanl. 2: 520-523 (Ibn M u j j h ~ d ) .
(23) Ihn al-Nadim. Fihr~sr.35.
(24) Cf. Gerard Lecornte, ibn Qurmybu (Damascus: lnst~tutF r a n ~ a i sde Damas. 1965). pt. 2, chap. 1 For
endorsement of seml-mtionalist position\, I , , esp. Ihn Qutayhah. 01-ikhtilif j7 01-lmf: n,a-ul-rr~rld' i ~ l d
r r / - j n h m ~ u / ~ rn-ni-mushnbbihnh,ed Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari (Cairo. Maktabat al-Quds~. 1319:
unacknofiledged reprint from Beirut: Dar al-Kutuh al-'llmiyah, 140511985).
(25) In chronological order. Za'ldah ihn Qudimah (d. Asla Minor. 161/777-7781), K a / - Q l r i ut (226. 1.
17); Hushaym ihn Bashir (d. Baghdad, 18317991. K a/-Qtru 2t (35, I. 17: 228, I. 9). Surayj ~ h nYunua (d
735/84Y). K 01-Qirrr rrt (231. 1 15): Khalifah ~ h nKhayyat al-'U\furi (d. 2401854-855"), Baaran. K. Tuhaqdr
01-qurr~i. K. Ajr5 mi-Qur un (232.11. 1 6 0 ; al-Fad1 ihn Shadhan (d. 290's1903-9 13'7).K ril-Qlr2 a t (35. 1. 20:
d Baghdad. 3181930). K a l - Q ~ r ~i j (233.
t
1 18): reference? to Ibn al-Nadim. Flh231. I 23). and Ibn S a ~ Id
I.;\/.

126)Ibn al-Nadini, I;'ihri\t. 35. listing tuenly hook\

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

classical tradition of qur'anic textual studies thus apparently neglected the

work of earlier hadith specialists, building rather on a particular tradition at
the intersection of hadith, grammar, jurisprudence, adab, and Sunni kalam.

Similarities between Qur'an and hadith sciences

One expects similarity between Qur'an transmission and hadith transmission because both involved learning a more or less set body of data from one
shaykh or several. Biographies of Qur'an readers come in virtually the same
form as biographies of traditionists: the essential data are name, shaykhs,
and dates. Qur'an readers kept track of chains of transmission much as did
traditionists. There are suggestions that Qur'an specialists began to keep
more careful track of chains of transmitters about the time of Ibn Muj5hid.
I have made a random sample of Qur'an readers who died from A.H. 200 to
400 inclusive (A.D. 815, 1010) in the most comprehensive extant biographical dictionary of Qur'an readers, Ibn al-Jazari, Ghayat al-nihayah. About
two-thirds of these readers died in A.H. 324 (i.e., when Ibn Mujahid died) or
before. Ibn al-Jazari usually names their chief authorities; that is, the shaykhs from whom they learnt the Qur'an. The average comes to 1.9 named
shaykhs for those who died in 324 or before, 5.5 for those who died after.
After Ibn Mujahid's time, then, Qur'an readers evidently came to gather
their material more in the manner of traditionists, carefully keeping track of
their sources.
The most common terms describing the transmission of the Qur'an are
qira ah (reading, recitation), tilawah (reading aloud), and 'ard (submission
to criticism). The phrase qara a al-qira at 'ardan, followed by a list of
authorities, suggests that the student read the Qur'an before his master,
enabling the master to point out any mistake. The phrases raw6 al-qirci'at
'ardan and akhadha al-qira'ah 'ardan presumably mean the same.
I have found no primary or secondary source that asserts a difference between qira ah and 'ard. (") Al-Suyufi strongly suggests that they were the
same when he states, "Further evidence in favor of reading before
(al-qira ah 'ala) one's shaykh (as opposed to merely hearing him) is the
Prophet's ... submission to ('ard 'ala) Gabriel during Ramadan of each
year."(")
If qira ah and 'ard were virtually synonymous, sarna'ah was different.
For example, Ibn al-Jazari tells us that Ibn Ghalbun (d. Old Cairo, 399/1009)
learnt the readings by 'ard from one set of authorities but simply heard
(27) They are identified by, among others. Gotthelf BergstraBer & 0. Pretzl, Geschichre des Qorans 3:
Die Geschichre des Koranrexts (Leipzig: D~eterich.1938). 170. and Gregor Schoeler, "Die Frage der schriftlichen oder miindlichen ijberllefemng der Wissenschaften in f ~ h e nIslam." Der Islam 62 (1985):204.
(28) Al-Suyuti, Irqan 1 : 312 (naw' 34).

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

(sanzi'a) the variants from another set and Ibn Mujiihid's Seven from yet
another.(") The natural interpretation is that whereas reading before the
shaykh was necessary for the valid transmission of one reading, the student
more often learnt the variants by taking notes as his shaykh listed off his
peculiar choices. The student did not need to read back what he had taken
down. At that, one also sees q a r a ' a used of learning the variants. (9
Al-Suyuti urges that the student should read before his master, or repeat
the master's reading, so that the master may correct mistakes. It is not
enough, he says, merely to hear the shaykh's recitation, for, unlike in the
field of hadith, precise pronunciation is critical. 0')
From Ibn al-Jazari's biographies of specialists, it appears that reading back to the shaykh was the
usual procedure. Perhaps two or three might recite at the same time. (")
'Abd Allah ibn Salih al-'Ijli (d. 21 118264327), a Kufan transmitter, would go
through the Qur'an fifty verses at a time ('7 ; however, I have no information on other transmitters for comparison on this point.
Preference for 'ard and qira 'ah over sama 'ah is understandable; yet mere
sama'ah must always have been common, not least because it took less of
the shaykh's time and attention. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahim (d. Baghdad, 2961908-909) spent 80,000 dirhams in Old Cairo on 80,000 complete
recitations. (9 Ibn Mujahid would take one dinar for a reading, the difference presumably reflecting in part the greater care it required of him to correct a student. (") A description of his circle as including 84 deputies
(khallfah) suggests that he also read for others merely to hear. 0') Another
description indicates a circle comprising 300 students. (37) Ibn al-Anbari
relates of al-Kisa'i, "They would flock to him concerning the readings, so he
gathered them and sat on a chair and read out the Qur'an from first to last.
They would listen and correct (yadbi~una)from him, even the w a d and
ibtida'."(") The last points, concerning oral delivery, are just the sort of
subtleties one would most expect to elude written transmission, or to be faultily annotated. At that, there is some uncertainty over the precise mode of
transmission among early students of the Qur'an. Hence, for example, Ibn
Mujahid states that Hamzah read before (qara'a 'ala') al-A'mash in Kufa,
(29) Ibn al-Jazari, Ghayot al-nihayrrh 1:339.
(30) E.g., "It is said that Hamzah did not read the Qur'an before al-A'mash, but rather read before hini
the disputed letters (qara a 'alayhi huruf al-ikhrilrjn": al-Andarabi. Qira'at a/-qurra a/-m'rufin, ed. Ahmad
Nasif al-Janibi (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Risalah, 1985). 116.
(31) Al-Suyuti, Irqan 1:312 (naw' 34)
(32) Al-Suyuti. ltqan 1 3 1 2 (naw' 34).
(33) Al-Andarabi, Qira ar a/-qurra . 115.
(34) Al-Dhahabi. Tarikh al-islam 22 (A.H. 291-300): 276f.
(35) Al-Dhahabi, Tarikh (11-islam 24 (A.H. 321 -330): 145 Ibn M u j i h ~ d ' sDamascene student al-Husayn
lbn 'Uthman (d. Baghdad. 40411013). the last of his students to die. likewise charged one dinar for reading
the Qur'an (Ibn al-Jazari. Ghayat al-nihayah 1: 2430.
(36) Al-Dhahabi. Tdrrkli al-rslam 24 (A.H. 321-330). 146.
(37) Ibn al-Jazan. Ghayat ul-nlhuyah 1. 142
(38) lbn al-Anbiri. irpurl Ibn Hajar, Tfihdhih 7.314. Cf. al-Khatlb al-Baghdadi, Turikh Br~ghdririI I ' 409

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

then acknowledges that, alternatively, he was said merely to have heard

(sami ' a ) al-A 'mash's reading. (") Presumably, earlier students of the
qur'anic readings had been less careful to distinguish how they had learnt
them.
In the field of hadith, likewise, qira'ah and 'ard meant reading hadith
back to the shaykh, while sama'ah meant simply hearing the shaykh and
taking notes. For much the same reasons that Qur'an specialists preferred
reading back, careful traditionists preferred it, too. ("0) The terms akhbarani
and haddathani normally indicate whether one has repeated a hadith report
to a shaykh, who has given his approval of it, or actually heard it from the
shaykh's own lips. And as with Qur'an transmission, there was some confusion in practice, so that some traditionists reversed akhbarani and haddathani. ( 4 ' )

Differences between qur'an and hadith sciences

The special vocabularies of the sciences of Qur'an and hadith developed
at about the same time, perhaps that of Qur'an science slightly earlier in the
tenth century. Western scholars have variously identified Ibn Abi Hitim (d.
327/938), Ibn Khallid al-Rimahurmuzi (d. ca. 3601970-971), and al-H&m
al-Naysaburi (d. 40511014) as the first to systematize the vocabulary of
hadith science.
Apart from the distinction between qara'a and sami'a,
though, the two sciences seem to have shared little. For example, Ibn
Mujihid applies the term hafiz to anyone who has memorized the Qur'an,
however insecurely. ( 4 3 ) The same term is prominent in biographies of traditionists, but signifying not that someone has memorized a minimal amount,
rather that he has memorized great quantities and often relates from
memory, although without any strong implication of accurate relation. (")
The traditionists who used the term seem to have been uninfluenced by its
meaning in Qur'an science, suggesting distance between the two fields.
Another term of Qur'an science is tajarrada, which Ibn Mujithid seems to
use in the sense of "specialize." Hence, for example, Hamzah was among
those who specialized in (tajarrada li-) recitation ("1 ; Ibn Muhaysin
(39) Ibn Mujihid, K. al-Sab'ahfi al-qira at, ed. Shawqi Dayf (Cairo: Dir al-Ma-irif, 1972). 72.
(40) Al-Khatib al-Baghdidi, al-Kifdyah fi 'ilm al-riwayah, ed. Ahmad 'Umar Hishim (Beirut: D k
al-Kitib al-'Arabi. 1986), 296-316; bab al-yawl f i al-qira ah ... V. also Khaldun Ahdab. Asbab ikhrilaf
al-mukaddrthin, 2 vols. (ledda: al-Dir al-SaXdiyah lil-Nashr wa-at-Tawzi', 140511985), 1: 152
(41) V. Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edn., s.v. "Hadi&,"by J. Robson.
(42) V. Eerik Nael Dickinson, "The Development of Early Muslim Hadith Criticism: The 'Taqdima' of
Ihn Abi Hatim al-Rizi (d.327/938),"Ph.D. diss'n. Yale Univ., 1992: Leonard T. Librande, "Contrasts in the
Two Earliest Manuals of 'ulum al-hadith: The Beginnings of the Genre,"Ph. D. diss'n, McGill Univ., 1976.
(43) Ibn Mujih~d,Sab'ah, 45.
(44) Leonard T. Lihrande, "The Scholars of Hadith and the Retentive Memory,"Cahiers d'onomastique
arabe, 1988-92 (1993). 39-48.
(45) Ibn Mujihid. Sab'ah, 72.

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

(d. 1231740-741) was among those who specialized in and undertook (tajarrada li-, aqcirna bi-) qur'an6 recitation. ("6) Similarly, Ahmad ibn Hanbal is
quoted as saying, "I do not care for anyone who writes books. One should
concentrate on (yujarridu) hadith."(") These usages are close enough to the
non-technical meaning of jarrada that they need not imply borrowing between specialists in Qur'an and hadith. Moreover, there are hints that tajrid
in Qur'an science refers to specialization in one particular reading, which
has no analogue on the side of hadith. (J8)In jurisprudence, tajrid normally
refers to stripping juridical discussions of all reference to actual cases. (Jq)
If Ibn Mujiihid and his contemporaries tended to assimilate Qur'an transmission to hadith transmission by stressing acceptable chains of transmission,
their assimilation was very incomplete. Ibn Mujahid appears to have been
careless about chains of transmission, himself, omitting to mention intermediary links in his account of his own chosen seven. ( 5 0 ) Also, he did not assert
that~theseven readings of his choice were the product of integral transmission.
For example, the reading of Nafi' was said to be his personal synthesis of five
earlier Medinese readings, the reading of al-Kisa'i his personal synthesis of
the readings of Hamzah and others. ( 5 ' ) Such systematic mixing and matching
has no analogue in hadith transmission. Al-Suyufi (d. 91 111505) lays out rules
for reckoning the quality of different isnads for the recitation of the Qur'an,
and states at the end that no one else had done this before him. ( 5 2 ) Here is a
sign of how incomplete the assimilation of Qur'an transmission to hadith
transmission had remained until his time. Not even al-Suyuti proposes to
introduce the terminology of rijal criticism so oddly missing from biographies
of Qur'an transmitters: thiqah, saduq, and so forth.
Ibn Abi Dawud (d. 3161929) offers a chapter on the permissibility of copying
the Qur'an for payment, followed by a chapter on its hatefulness. (53) Presumably, the practice became prevalent before moralists had pondered it and decided
against. We have numerous reports of shaykhs who taught the qur'anic variants
for payment, including Ibn Mujhid. By contrast, reports of ninth-century traditionists who took money for relating hadith are few and entirely disparaging. ('7
Again, Qur'an science lines up more closely with grammar, where payment for
instruction was usual, than with hadith.
(46) Ibn M u j a i d , Sab'ah, 65. V. also Bergstraier & Pretzl, Geschrchte 3: 166, 189.
(47) Ibn Hani'. Musu il ul-imunz Ahrnud rbn Hunbrrl, ed. Zuhayr al-Shiwish, 2 vols. (Beirut: al-Maktab
nl-lslami, 1400), 2:245.
(48) See Maqdis~(Muqaddasi), Ahsan a/-raqasi~n,ed. M. J. De Goeje, Bibliotheca geographorum Arab~corum3. 2nd edn. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1906). 144, where the nzujarrad (particular) reading is contrasted to
the la il, the usual reading that everyone knows.
(49) Wael Hallaq. "From Fatwas to F u r u : Growth and Change in Islamic Substantive Law,"lsla~nrcLrii,,
and Socieh 1 (1994): 44.
(50) Al-Suyu!i, lrqun 1: 230 (naw" 20).
(51) Ibn Mujahid. Sab'ah. 62, 78; al-Andarabi. Qiru'af 01-q~irru. 119.
(52) Al-Suyuti, Irqan 1: 235 (naw" 21).
(53) Ibn Abi Dawud. K. a/-Ma@hif; ed. A. Jefferey (Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1937). 130.133.
(54) l f ~ a h i mlbn 'Ammar has been mcntloned already. V , also al-Khatib al-Baghdadi. Kifrjyoh, 184188:
bib kanihrrf ukhdh 01-ojr-

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

Several recent works have treated the question of whether knowledge was
usually transmitted orally or by writing. (55)Written notes cannot have been
necessary to Qur'an transmission, for one often reads of blind Qur'an readers. For example, the Baghdadi al-Duri mentioned above among major
transmitters from the seven (Table 2, no 10) was blind, likewise the Palestinian al-Dajiini mentioned among leading students of the readings (Table 3,
no. 5). Blind men make up roughly a tenth of the Qur'an readers mentioned
in al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, and a similar proportion in the
random sample of Qur'an readers who died from A.H. 200 to 400 inclusive
(A.D. 815, 1010) in Ibn al-Jazari, Ghayat al-nihayah. By contrast, blind
men make up roughly one in a hundred traditionists in Tarikh Baghdad, likewise in a rough sample from al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-islam. In practice, then,
writing was less crucial to the transmission of the Qur'an than to the transmission of hadith. Presumably, oral transmission is responsible for many of
the variant readings; for example, at Q 1.6, where the accepted readings are
ihdina al-siraf al-mustaqim, al-siraf, and al-ziraf.
Still, some of the variant readings are explicable only by written transmission; for example, at Q 2.58, where the accepted readings include naghfir lakum khafayakum, yughfar lakum, and tughfar. If transmission had been
always oral, there never would have arisen the vexed question of whether
any reading consistent with the unpointed text was permissible. Ibn Mujahid
argues that it is a blameworthy innovation to read any variant that agrees
with the unpointed text, regardless of whether a previous authority has so
read. (56)Obviously, then, some (not only Ibn Miqsam) did rely on the written text to this degree. Reliance on written transmission is in line with the
predominance of litt~rateursamong students of the qur'anic variants, for
such reliance was always more characteristic of literary studies than of law
and hadith. P7)
~,We do read that certain transmitters had nuskhahs from their
masters.
Al-SuyUti states that it is not necessary to the validity of one's
reading to a shaykh that it be by memory (rnin al-hifj). Reading from a written copy (rnin al-mushafl is an acceptable alternative. (59)Finally, let us
recall the story that the caliph 'Uthmin controlled variation not by training
reciters but by sending out written copies and having others destroyed. Muslims would not have believed it unless they had been accustomed to relying
on writing for the transmission of the Qur'an. By contrast, written notes
always played a supporting r61e in hadith transmission, inasmuch as only
(55) Schoeler, "Frage," Der Islam 62 (1985): 201-230; idem, "Mundl~cheThora und Hadit. Uberlieferung, Schreibverhot, Redakt~on,"DerIslam 66 (1989): 213-251; idetn. "Schreihen und Veroffentlichen. Zu
Verwendung und Funktion der Schrift in den ersten islamischen lahrhunderten," Der Islatn 69 (1992): 1-43;
Norman Calder, Studies in Early Muslitn Jurisprudence (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993). ch. 7; Michael
Cook, "The Opponents of the Writing of Tradition in Early Islam," Arahica 44 (1997): 437-530.
(56) Ibn Mujahid, Sah'ah, 46f.
(57) Makdisi, Rise of Humanistn, 76f.
(58) For a list of early examples, v. BergstraOer & Pretzl, Geschichre 3: 206.
(59) Al-Suyuti, l f q a n I: 312 (naw' 34).

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

someone who had personally heard a hadith report from the last-named
authority in its isnad was qualified to pass it on.
There were several reasons why the transmission of the Qur'an should
have differed from that of hadith. The main difference may be the extent of
the materials to be mastered. The whole Qur'an is said to be about twothirds as long as an Arabic translation of the New Testament. The Sahih of
al-Bukhiiri, comprising some 7,000 hadith reports, occupies four volumes.
Abu Zur'ah al-Razi (d. Ray, 264/878) said, "I am amazed by one who gives
juridical opinions concerning questions of divorce when he knows by heart
fewer than a hundred thousand hadith reports."(hO)This would fill forty or
fifty volumes. Abu Zur'ah al-Razi expressly compared Qur'an with hadith.
indicating that hadith required far more frequent practice.
When I become ill for a rnonth or two, it noticeably affects my memorization of the Qur'an. As for hadith, you will notice the effect if you leave it
for (a few) days. ( h ' )

That is, Abu Zur'ah continually returned to his notebooks in private to

refresh his memory of hadith, whereas it was enough to go through the
whole Qur'an once a month to retain it in his memory. Al-Suyuti quotes
authorities who considered it sufficient to recite the Qur'an twice a year. ("')
Surely this is why more blind men practiced Qur'an recitation than hadith;
that is, the far greater extent of the hadith to be mastered forced traditionists
to rely more heavily on written notes.
Another reason why the transmission of the Qur'an should have differed
from that of hadith is the devotional function of the Qur'an. Studies by
Denny, Graham, and Nelson have reminded us strongly that the Qur'an was
not primarily a collection of propositions to be looked up but a liturgy to be
recited. (6') It was the uncreated word of God according to both traditionalist and semi-rationalist theologians. By contrast, hadith was mainly the
transmitted basis of the law. Its sacral character lay not so much in the exact
words as in, first. its presentation of propositions on which to base a righteous life and, second, the social setting of its transmission, reproducing the
(60) Al-Dhahabi. S y a r 13 (ed. 'Ah Abu Zayd, 1983): 69.

(611 Al-Dhahabi, Sivor 13: 79.

(62) Al-Suyu!i, lrqari I : 327 ( n m ~' 3.5).

(63) Frederick M. Denny. "Exegesis and Recltation: Their Debelopment as Classical Forms of Qur'anic
Piety." pp. 91-123 in Frank E. Reynolds & Theodore M. Ludwig, eds.. Tronsitioris ond Tror~sjbrmarionsm
the H i s t o y ofReligion: Essnis in Honor ofJoseph M Kitagowo (Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1980); idem. "The Adab
of Qur'an Recltation: Text and Context," pp. 143-160 in A. H. Johns, ed., lnternatlonal Congress for the
Study of the Qur'an, 2nd edn. (Canberra: Australian National Unibersit), 1982); idem, "Qur'Bn Recltatlon:
A Tradition of Oral Performance and Transmission."Oral Tradirion 411.2 (January-May 1989), 5-26.
William A. Graham. R e ~ o n dtire LVritrm LVord: Oral .4spects of S~uiprurein the Histon of Religion (New
York: Cambridge Uni\. Press. 19871: Kr~stlnaNelson. The Arr of Reciting rhe Qur a n (Austin: Uni\. of
Trxat Pre5\. 1985).

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

experience of the Companions and putting the traditionist in communication

with the Prophet. (M)
Because it was difficult to remember the exact wording of thousands
upon thousands of hadith reports, traditionists accepted that hadith would be
transmitted with textual variants. Sufyiin al-Thawri (d. 1611777-778) was
quoted as saying, "If I start relating hadith to you 'just as I have heard,' do
not believe me."(b5)One has only to look up the references in a line or two
of Wensinck's Concordance to see extensive variation from one collection
to another. The Qur'an, too, was related with textual variants, but the differences are remarkably narrow. Widespread paraphrase of hadith is the reason why philologists continually quoted the Qur'an to establish the best Arabic usage but seldom quoted hadith. (") AS the shorter text, the Qur'an was
easier to transmit without variation, while its nature made exactness more
desirable. This very comparison was urged in favor of paraphrasing hadith:
Yahyfi ibn Sa'id al-Qattiin (d. Basra, 1981813) is said to have feared to overburden people by insisting on verbatim transmission of hadith, "for the
Qur'an is more sacred (aktharu hurmatan), yet it is permissible to recite
variants of it (an yuqra a 'ala wujuh) so long as the meaning is the same":
all the more, he implies, one must allow variation in hadith transmission. (67)
The transmission of hadith verbatim (al-riwayah bi-al-lafz), rather than
by paraphrase (bi-al-ma'na), seems to have become more usual, though,
during Ibn Mujiihid's lifetime. Al-Hiikim al-Naysiiburi devotes one chapter
of his handbook of hadith science to the problem of garbled asanid (chains
of transmitters), another to the problem of garbled mutun (the actual texts of
hadith reports). (68) Whereas a l - H a m ' s examples of distorted asanid
involve transpositions or outright substitutions, his examples of distorted
mutun are all about misinterpreting written notes; for example, reading
al-muqit (one who sets a time) for al-mughith (one who gives aid), or 'an7ah
(goat) for 'ana7ah (spear). I infer that increasing reliance on notebooks is
what made it possible to demand relation verbatim. The examples of mistakes that al-Hakim cites in the chapter on asanid are mainly from traditio(64) On the connection with the Prophet, v. William A. Graham. "Traditionalism in Islam," Journal of
Interdi~ciplinayHisroy 23 (1992-93): 495-522. For a contrasting interpretation of Islamic law as making
present the life of the Prophet, v. Aziz al-Azmeh, "Orthodoxy and Hanbalite Fideism." Arabicn 35 (1988):
253-266: idem. "Muslim Genealogies of Knowledge," Histoy of Religions 31 (1992): 403-41 1
(65) Al-Khatib al-Baghdidi, Kgayah, 245: bab dhikr marl kana yadhhabrr ild ija?at nl-riwayah 'nla
... The whole chapter is relevant, likewise the one before.
(11-mo't~d
(66) V. now Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edn., s.\. "~awAhid."by CI. Gilliot.
(67) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Kijayah, 246; bab dhikr marl kurm yodhhabu ild ijnyot 01-riwayah ... Unplanned \ariation still happens. I once prepared an exact transcription of Q.81.1-14 for a class, then played for them
a tape of 'Abd al-Baslt's recitation of it. I was astonished by an added lam at the beginning of v. 14, 'alimat
n a f ~ u mma ahdarat. It is not a variant recognized by Ibn Mujahid. It is said of Ibn Muj&id himself that he
twice reclted the Qur'an to God in h ~ sleep,
s
both times making mistakes. He was dejected, but God comforted
ed. 'Abbas, 2:521f.
him, "Perfection is for me. perfect~onis for me": Yaqut, Irshad 2: 118 = M u
(68) Al-HBkim al-Naysaburi, Ma'rifat 'ulum al-hadith, ed. Mu'azzam Husayn (Cairo: D ~ al-Kutub
I
al-Misriyah. 1937: repr. Medina: al-Maktabah alL'Ilmiyah, 19771. 146-153.

am.

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

nists of the eighth century, suggesting that the problem was recognized
early. By contrast, the examples in the chapter on mutun (where paraphrase
is an issue) come from the ninth and early tenth centuries. If word-for-word
accuracy was increasingly demanded in the field of hadith, all the more it
must have been demanded in the field of qur'anic recitation.
A longstanding concern for reciting the Qur'an verbatim partly explains the
predominance of grammarians among students of the readings. Ibn Mujhid
required the Qur'an reader to know Arabic grammar for the sake of accuracy.
He asserts that someone who does not know grammar but merely repeats what
he has heard will soon forget the precise i'rab (case endings). ("9) Among
tenth-century traditionists, concern for accuracy led not to the demand that one
know grammar but that one know jurisprudence, for then alone would one
understand the significance of any particular wording and avoid mistakes. (")
The concern for relating the Qur'an verbatim seems to have been earlier and
more urgent than for relating hadith verbatim. Still, rising concern for relating
hadith verbatim is another example of how the sciences of hadith and Qur'an
became more similar in the time of Ibn Mujahid without being completely
alike.

The establishment of seven readings

A. T. Welch has characterized Ibn Mujahid's purpose in limiting the
acceptable variants to seven as being to "renounce the attempts of some
scholars to achieve absolute uniformity (something which he realised was
impossible), and at least ameliorate if not bring to an end the rivalry among
scholars, each of whom claimed to possess the one correct reading." (") This
is possible, although I myself have not come across any claim to possess the
one correct reading. When someone asked Ibn Mujahid why he had not himself chosen one reading, he said, "We need to engage ourselves in memorizing what our imams have gone over more than we need to choose a variant
for those after us to recite."(") This might point to a realization that it was
impossible to achieve absolute uniformity. It still seems to me more indicative of a perceived need to put a stop to the multiplication of readings, hence
limiting the burden of qur'anic scholarship. This seems to be the drift of
al-Suyuti's explanation: that people wished to limit themselves to what
might easily be memorized and checked. (")
(69) Ibn Mujihid, Snb'uh. 45f.
ed. Hammam 'Abd al-Rahim Sa'id. 2 \ole.
(70) Ihn Hihban, npud Ihn Rajah. Shnr!? "'llu1"al-T~midhi,
(al-Zarqa'. Jordan: Maktabat al-Manar, 1987). I :430. Ibn Rajab asserts that no one had made such a requirement before Ihn Hibban (d. 3541965). complaining that strictly applied it would make one reject moqt of
the great memorizers, such as al-A'mash (d. 3481765?).
(71) En<,?clopaedia(I/ Islam. new edn.. s.v. "Kur'an." by A. T. Welch.

1721 Al-Dhahabi. liirikh ol-islbm 24 (A.H. 321.330): 146.

(711 ,Mo J N I hi1111

/ r~/:~lhil
it (l-~(l~ihi(
~ r / - i / i or h~ hrh: al-Suyuti. lrqfiri I: 25 If ( r ~ u'~22-27)

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

Western scholars have also asserted that Ibn Mujahid's choice of seven
acceptable readings was related to the hadith report that the Qur'an had been
revealed in seven ahruf. (74)That hadith report does seem to deal with textual variants. Yet al-Tabari interprets it as referring to seven recensions of
which only one had been preserved, the other six irretrievably lost in
'Uthman's codification (75)Al-Tabari's Kitab al-Jami'fi al-qira at proposes
twenty readings (76): piainly, he thought the seven ahruf had nothing to do
with the gird i t . A little later, Ibn Hibban (d. 3541965) would write of
thirty-five to forty different explanations for the hadith report of seven ahruf.
(77)Ibn Mujahid himself does not explain why he has seven readings rather
than six or ten. Al-Suyuti explains that an Ibn Jubayr al-Makki, a predecessor to Ibn Mujahid, had composed a book on five acceptable readings, one
from each city to which 'Uthman had directed a codex. Ibn Mujahid's seven
were also related to 'Uthman's codices, Ibn Jubayr's five plus two more to
represent copies sent to Yemen and Bahrain. Nothing further had been
heard of these last two, so Ibn Muj2hid exchanged two additional Kufan readings for them to complete the number.
Al-Suyuti quotes half a dozen authorities against identifying the Seven
Readings with the seven ahruf of the hadith report. (7') He even quotes a reader of the earlier eleventh century, al-Mahdawi, as wishing that Ibn Mujahid
had chosen some other number than seven in order to prevent confusion with
the hadith report.
If Ibn Mujahid's choice of seven was not related to the
seven ahruf, it becomes easier to explain why other scholars, both before
and after Ibn Mujahid, wrote books about six, eight, ten, eleven, and other
numbers of acceptable readings.
It also explains why no one undertook
to identify the different readings with different Companions, as they should
have if the Muslims of the Classical period had held the variants to be dialectal differences from the Prophet's time.
(74) E.g., Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edn., s.v. "Kur'an," by A. T. Welch: Encyclopedia of Religion,
s.v. "Qur'an: The Text and Its History," by Charles J. Adams. Presumably, the tradition goes back to Noldeke, perhaps by msunderstanding: I.. the qualified endorsement of BergstriBer & Pretzl, Geschichte 3: 184.
(75) Al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Tabari, ed. Mahmud Muhammad ShHkir & Ahmad Muhammad Sh&ir,
30 vols., 2nd edn. (Cairo: D% al-Ma'arif, 1969), 1: 58-64 = Jami' al-bayan fi tafsir al-Qur'an, 31 vols.
(Cairo: al-Matba'ah al-Maymaniyah, 1321), 1:20-22.
(76) Claude Gilliot, Langue er theologie en islam: 1 exigese coranique de Tabari (m. 311/923), Etudes
musulmanes 32 (Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 1990), 136. Chap. 6 treats the problem of variant readings at length.
(77) Theodor Noldeke, Geschichte des Qorans 1 . iiber den Ursprung des Qorans (Leipzig: Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. 1909). 50.
(78) Al-Suyuti, Itqan 1:252 (naw' 23-27). I have not certainly identified this Ibn Jubayr. It is tempting
to identify him with the Ahmad ibn Jubayr al-Kifi mentioned above (Table 3, no. 2).
(79) Abu Shamah (d. 66511268), Abu al-'Abbas Ibn ' A m m a (al-Mahdawi; d, after 43011038)), Abu Bakr
Ibn al-'Arabi (al-Ishbili, d. 543111481, Abu Hayy%n (d. 745/1345), and Maki (al-Qaysi, d. 43711045):
al-Suyuti, Itqdn 1: 250f (naw' 23-27, tanbih 3). Similarly, BergstriBer & Pretzl, Geschichte 3: 184f.
(80) Al-Suyuti, Itqdn 1:250.
(8 1) V. BergstiBer & Pretzl, Geschichre 3:207-209, 224-228; Ahmad Nasif al-Janibi, "Dirisah," Qiri at
al-qurra by al-Andarabi, 33f.

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

As mentioned at the beginning, two Qur'an readers were tried for reciting
unacceptable variants, Ibn Miqsam (d. 3541965) in 3221934 and Ibn Shannabudh (d. 3281939) in 3231935. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ya'qub ibn
al-Hasan ibn Miqsam was a traditionist, grammarian, and Qur'an reader. (")
Like that of other Qur'an specialists, his transmission of hadith was rejected by
ri@l critics. (") He is credited with three versions (long, medium-length, and
short) of a book on seven readings; also with a book in favor of the readers of
the great centers. (") Like Ibn MujFihid, then, he seems to have accepted the principle of limiting variants. Unlike Ibn MujFihid, he advocated complete freedom
to vowel the received consonantal outline in any fashion consistent with Kufan
grammar. At the instigation of Ibn MujFihid, he was arrested, tried before the
qadis and witness-notaries, and made to recant on threat of chastisement. ( 8 5 )
Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ayyub ibn al-Salt ibn Shannabudh (alternatively Shanbudh and Shanabudh) was a major Qur'an reader, the list of
whose students is very long. ('9 A near-contemporary source states that he
would recite variants that had been "related of 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud,
Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and others, from what had been recited before the collection of the official Qur'an (mushaj) by 'Uthman ibn 'Affan." Ibn Shannabudh argued for these rare variants (shawadhdh) and refused to recant
before the vizier (Ibn Muqlah) and a convention of qadis, jurisprudents, and
Qur'an readers. (Ibn al-Jawzi mentions in particular the Maliki qadi Abu
al-Husayn [d. 32819401 and Ibn Mujahid.) (") He was chastised and recanted after ten lashes.
His recantation states, "I used to recite variants differing from what is in the codex (mushaf) of 'Uthman ibn 'Affan . . . which
is subject to consensus and on which were agreed the Companions." It was
signed by at least three witnesses, Ibn Mujahid at the head of the list. (8y)
(82) For biographies of Ibn Miqsam. 1'. Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte 8 : 158; 9: 149.
(83) "A great liar," "untrustworthy." "transmitted from persons he had not seen," "blameworthy". Ibn
Hajar, Lisun "a/-Miran.' 7 vols. (Hyderabad: Majlis Dairat al-Ma'arif, 1329-31). 1.260f = ed. Muhammad
'Abd al-Rahman al-Mar'ashli. 9 vols. (Beirut: Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi & Mu'assasat al-Tarikh
al-'Arabi, 1995), 1: 394. The standard edition of al-Khatib al-Baghdidi, Tarikh Baghdad, states that Ibn
Miqsam was trustworthy (2:206); yet Ibn Hajar quotes al-Khatib to exactly the opposite effect. Until there
appears a scientific edition of Tarikh Baghdad, the question of al-Khatib's actual opinion must remain open.
(84) V. Sezgin, Geschrchte 9: 149f.
(85) Abu Tahir Ibn Abi Hashim (d. 3491960). A'. 01-Bayan, apud al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad
2:207f.
(86) On his students, above all v . Ibn al-Jazari. Ghayat al-nihayah 2:52f. For other biographies of Ibn
Shannabudh, v al-Dhahabi, Tdrikh al-isldm 24 (A.H.321-330):233fn. and The Encyclopaedia of Islam. new
edn., s.v. "Ibn Shanabudh," by R. Paret.
(87) Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Munta;amfi tarlkh a/-muluk wa-al-umam, s.a. 328; ed. Muhammad 'Abd al-Qadir
'Ata & Mustafa 'Abd al-Qidir 'Ati, w. Nu'aym Zurzur. 18 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyah. 1992).
13i.348.
(88) Isma'il ibn 'Ali al-KhuLabi (d. 3501961), K. al-Tarikh, apud al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad
I: 280; after ten to twenty lashes, according to 'Abd al-Salam al-Qazwini (d. 48811095), Afit'dj a/-qurra
apud Yaqut, Irshdd 6: 302 = Mu'jam, ed. 'Abbas, 5: 2325.
(89) The recantation is quoted by al-Suli. Akhbdr al-Radi bi-Alinh wa-a/-Muttaqi lillah. ed. J a m e ~He?worth-Dunne (Cairo: Matba'at al-Sawi. 19351, h2f: Ibn al-Nadim. Fihri~t.32: Yaqut. Ir~iirid6: 30?t =
M~r)nm.e d. 'Abba~.5: 2325f.

IBN MUJAHID : SEVEN QUR'ANIC READINGS

There was an element of personal rivalry between Ibn Shannabudh and

Ibn Mujahid. Ibn Shannabudh would complain that this 'Atshi (after Suq
al-'Atsh; i.e., "this local boy") had never made his feet dusty in pursuit of
knowledge; that is, had not travelled as Ibn Shannabudh had. (90) However,
Ibn Mujihid had to persuade a vizier, a qadi, and a crowd of jurisprudents
that Ibn Shannabudh should recant, so his personal enmity does not alone
explain what happened to Ibn Shannabudh.
Some scholars have presented the trials of Ibn Miqsam and especially of
Ibn Shannabudh as triumphs of the traditionalist party. (91) To the contrary,
however, no medieval account actually mentions the Hanabilah. Moreover,
it was the Hanabilah's manner at this time not to raise complaints to the
constituted authorities but rather to take the law into their own hands. In
3211933, the Hanbali leader al-Barbahari was forced into hiding over opposition to a proposal to curse Mu'awiyah. He seems unlikely to have shortly
influenced the vizier, qadis, and others, to arrest someone else. In 3231935,
the Hanabilah looted shops, attacked wine sellers and singing girls, and smashed musical instruments. (") Neither the Maliki qadi Abu al-Husayn nor
Ibn Mujahid the belletrist and admirer of al-Shafi'i looks notably traditionalist. It does not appear that Ibn Mujiihid chose his seven according to traditionalist preferences. Ahmad ibn Hanbal considered "hateful" two of Ibn
Mujaid's Seven, namely the readings of Hamzah and al-Kisa'i. ('7 Finally,
the traditionalist tendency was not to codify and simplify traditional learning, but rather to stick to it in all its immensity without spinning theories or
aslung new questions. Ahmad himself could be cited in favor of putting
together one's own reading of the Qur'an on the basis of known variants,
just as Ibn Shannabudh had done. (")
Neither should we interpret these trials as endorsements by non-Hanbali
scholars of Ibn Mujahid's particular choice of seven readings. No account of
Ibn Miqsam's trial mentions the Seven of Ibn Mujahid. Rather, all accounts
stress the issue of interpreting the consonantal outline and departing from
received tradition. Likewise, no account of Ibn Shannabudh's trial mentions
the Seven. Rather, all accounts stress the issue of rase variants, shawadhdh,
(90) Al-Dhahabi, Ma'rifat al-qurra' 1:277 For Ibn MujHhid's residence in Suq al-'Atsh, v. Ibn al-Nadim,
Fihrist, 31. Al-Dhahabi objects that in fact Ibn M u j ~ i dhad travelled, making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
(91) E.g., by Simha Sabari, Mouvements populaires a Bagdad d 1 Ppoque "Abbaside," Centre "Shiloah
des ~ t u d e du
s Moyen-Orient et de I'Afrique, UniversitC de Tel Aviv, ~ t u d e de
s Civilisation et d'Histoire Islamiques (Pans: Librairie d3AmCrique et d30rientAdrien Maisonneuve, 1981). 106, 149, n. 44; Makdisi, Rise
of Humanism, 6.
(92) Henri Laoust, La Profession de foi d'lbn Ba.t!a (Damascus: Institut Fran~aisde Damas, 1958).
xxxvii-xli; Enc~clopaediaof Islam, new edn., s v. "al-Barbahan," by H. Laoust.
(93) Ibn Ahi Ya'la, Tabaqat al-hanabilah, 1: 146f, 325 (s.nn. Harb ibn IsmTil, Hubaysh ibn Sindi, and
Muhammad ibn al-Haythamj. His objections mainly concern pronunciation, secondarily that these readings
were little used (contra Ibn M u j a i d , who asserted that the reading of Hamzah had prevailed in Kufa to his
own time: Sab'ah, 71). They seem to he the two readings Ibn Mujahid added to Ibn Jubayr's list.
(94) Al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-rslam 24 (A.H. 321-330): 235.

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT

his own confession the issue of non- 'Uthmanic variants in particular. (9') If
these trials had amounted to endorsements of Ibn Mujahid's Seven, no later
scholar should have proposed a different set of acceptable readings.
On the whole, then, the Seven Readings of the Qur'an are to be classified
with the "canonical" Six Books of hadith: they were never formally ratified,
or even universally accepted; they did restrain growing complexity; modem
scholars have had difficulty talking about them without simplifying historical reality; but indeed their recognition, however halting and incomplete, did
mark a widely observable turn in the tenth century towards limited agreement and manageability.
Christopher MELCHERT
(Princeton, N.J.)
Now at the University
of Oxford, Oxford, V.K.

( 9 5 ) V. note 86, also al-Hamadhani. Tlikmliar turikh al-Tahari, ed. Albert Yusuf Kan'an (Br~rut:
al-Matba'ah al-Kathulikiyah. 1958). $7