The Qur'an and Its Study. Adnan Zarzour
b.Varied diacritics that change the meaning, but not the written form.
Example 1: the verse that means: ‘You shall not be questioned about those who are destined for the blazing fire’ (2: 119). The phrase that means ‘you shall not be questioned’ is read wala tus’alu. Nāfi‘ and Ya‘qūb, however, read it wala tas’al, to make the meaning: ‘Do not ask.’243
Example 2: the verse that means: ‘Thus, goodly seemed to Pharaoh the evil of his deed, and he was barred from the right path’ (40: 37). The word that means ‘he was barred’ in the Arabic text is ṣudda. This is how it is read by ‘Āṣim, Ḥamzah, al-Kisā’ī and Ya‘qūb, but the other readings make it ṣadda, which means ‘he barred others’.244
ii.Variation of letters and sounds. This includes three types:
c.Variations changing the written form and the meaning.
Example 1: The verse that means: ‘He does not grudge the secrets of the unseen’ (81: 24). In the Arabic text the word that means ‘does not grudge’ is ḍanīn. This is a reference to the Prophet (peace be upon him) who gives the information he receives. He does not keep it to himself or require payment for it. However, Ibn Kathīr, Abū ‘Amr, al-Kisā’ī and Ya‘qūb read it ẓanīn, which means ‘suspected of misinformation’. The statement thus reconfirms that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is truthful in all that he says about God.245
Example 2: The verse that says: ‘Any revelation We annul or consign to oblivion’ (2: 106). The Arabic equivalent of ‘consign to oblivion’ is the word nunsīhā, but it is read by Ibn Kathīr and Abū ‘Amr as nansa’ahā, with a change of the diacritic on the first ‘n’ and the addition of a glottal stop. This changes the meaning so that it becomes: ‘Any revelation We annul or delay.’246
d.Variations changing the written form only, but not the meaning.
Example: The verse that means: ‘It is God who straitens people’s circumstances and it is He who gives abundantly’ (2: 245). The Arabic word that means ‘gives abundantly’ is yabsuṭ, and this how Ibn Kathīr, Abū ‘Amr and ‘Āṣim read it, but the others read it with a velarized ‘s’, which is a different phoneme in Arabic.247
e.Variations that change the meaning only, but not the written form.
Example: The verse that means: ‘There and then every soul will realise what it had done in the past’ (10: 30). The Arabic word used here for ‘realise’ is tablu, but Ḥamzah and al-Kisā’ī read tatlū which means ‘read’.
These are five types of variations or ḥarfs, to which we may add the following two:
f.Addition and omission.
Example 1: ‘And they say: God has taken to Him a son’ (2: 116). Ibn ‘Āmir reads it without ‘and’ at the beginning, which is in Arabic the one letter ‘w’. All other readings read it with ‘and’.248
Example 2: The verse that says: ‘Abraham enjoined the same on his children’ (2: 132). The Arabic equivalent of ‘enjoined’ is wawaṣṣa which is how it occurs in all readings except those of Nāfi‘ and Ibn ‘Āmir who read it as wa’awṣā. This variant requires the addition of a glottal stop with a diacritic in writing it. The two words have exactly the same meaning.
g.Changing word order.
Example 1: The verse that means: ‘The stupor of death brings with it the full truth’ (50: 19). In the Arabic text it reads wa jā’t sakrat al-mawt bil-ḥaqq. Ibn Mas‘ūd reads it: wa jā’t sakrat al-ḥaqq bil-mawt.
Example 2: is taken from Verse 111 in Surah 9 which includes yaqtulūn wa yuqtalūn. Ḥamzah and al-Kisā’ī read it as: yuqtulūn wa yaqtalūn.249
We thus complete seven types, but another may be added, which is referred to by Ibn al-Jazarī as ‘the variations of realisation or assimilation of sounds, different ways of realising the last sound of an utterance, reduction, glide and substitution...’. He then adds: ‘However, such variations do not affect the words or the meaning. These are features of articulation none of which changes the word itself. Even if such a change occurs, it will be of the first type which involves no change in meaning or written form.’250
This means that Ibn al-Jazarī considers this type, which includes the variation of dialects, as part of an earlier type. Whether we accept his view or consider this as an eighth type, we may say in the light of the classifications made by al-Baqillānī and Ibn al-Jazarī, or the one mentioned by al-Rāzī and others that no explanation or view about the seven ḥarfs has remained free of criticism or some disagreement with some versions of the Hadith mentioning them. Therefore, we may make the following conclusion.
3.4 The Preferred View
We note that the two classifications of the seven ḥarfs or the types of variation, accommodate even the odd variants or those which do not conform to the written form. This shows that the permission to read in any of these ḥarfs was of great value in making things easier. In other words, these ḥarfs have done what they were intended to do. We should realise that the concession applies in its general term, or rather its widest meaning. Hence, they should not be restricted to a particular number. This is confirmed by the Prophet’s reference to the young readers, the weak and the elderly. It is further supported by the fact that the concession was given in Madinah, not in Makkah.
We find it difficult to take the number seven, mentioned in the Hadith, literally instead of its usage by the Arabs, which indicates the concession and the making of things easy. Such restriction is incompatible with the Prophet’s statement: ‘My nation cannot do this,’ meaning that they find it very difficult to read the Qur’an in one or two or three ways of pronunciation. When the number was made seven, the concession was complete and perfect. It then included the dialects of different tribes, different ages and the standards of people’s training and education, etc. The angel Gabriel said to the Prophet (peace be upon him): ‘Whatever ḥarf they use they do well.’ The ḥarf here means any type of difference. It may be said that the phraseology of the Hadith indicates that the number seven refers to the actual number that lies between six and eight, because the request for more stopped when seven was mentioned. We feel that we must read the Hadith as meaning all types that make things easy, without restriction to a particular number. That is the only way that enables us to apply all the versions of the Hadith. This is confirmed by the fact that in the Hadith that mentions Bani Ghifār’s water, the increase moves from three to seven directly, without mentioning any of the intervening numbers. On the other hand, it is not possible to see how any one of these seven types could be read. Does reading in one type mean that they were allowed the variation of forms of nouns at one time, and the variation of verb tenses at another, and so on until they completed the seven? We should bear in mind that what the angel read to the Prophet (peace be upon him) included the main consideration of different dialects and pronunciations.
Therefore, we are more inclined to say that the seven ḥarfs indicate the complete concession to make things easy. It is not meant as a specific number. This is the view adopted by Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ and the scholars who shared his view.251 Al-Rāfi‘ī makes a fine point about the number seven. He says: ‘The number was made seven because the Arabs associated this number with perfection... This is a symbol that carries the finest of meanings, making the Qur’an, in its language and construction, as a framework that includes all Arabic speech. Yet it remains free of conflict and contradiction.’252 But God knows best.
4. The Seven Pronunciations: A Temporary Concession or Permanent?
The question we need to review is whether scholars considered the concession to be temporary, ending when ‘Uthmān made the copies and sent them to the various provinces, or was it something God had established and so cannot be revoked by anyone? If it’s the latter, then anyone can read any of these ḥarfs at any time or place, as long as the reader abides by the conditions applicable to them.
Ibn