al-Hujja lil-Qurra al-Sabaa
- Author died
- 377 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Maʼmūn lil-Turāth
al-Hujja lil-Qurra al-Sabaa (The Argument for the Seven Readers) is a foundational treatise on the grammatical, morphological, and phonetic justification of the seven canonical Quranic readings by the grammarian Abu Ali al-Farisi (288–377 AH / 901–987 CE) . Composed for the Buyid ruler Adud al-Dawla, it serves as an extensive commentary justifying the variant readings documented by the scholar Ibn Mujahid .
Title and Composition
In his introduction, al-Farisi states that the work provides the linguistic rationale for the variants documented in the book of Ibn Mujahid (d. 324 AH), which established the readings of the seven regional authorities of the Hijaz, Iraq, and the Levant . The full title appears as al-Hujja lil-Qurra al-Sabaa Aimmat al-Amsar bi-al-Hijaz wa-al-Iraq wa-al-Sham alladhina Dhakarahum Abu Bakr ibn Mujahid .
Biographical sources cite the work under slight variations of the title: al-Khatib al-Baghdadi recorded it as al-Hujja fi Ilal al-Qiraat, while Ibn Khallikan, Ibn al-Athir, and Ibn Taghribirdi called it al-Hujja fi al-Qiraat . Ibn al-Anbari cited it as al-Hujja fi Ilal al-Qiraat al-Sab, whereas Ibn al-Nadim, Yaqut al-Hamawi, Ibn Atiyya, al-Suyuti, and Ibn al-Jazari referred to it simply as al-Hujja .
Method and Sources
The book is arranged according to the text-and-commentary (matn wa-sharh) method . Al-Farisi presents each variant transmission reported by Ibn Mujahid, naming him or using the phrase "they differed" (ikhtalafu), followed by the grammatical justification . For Surat al-Fatiha and Surat al-Baqara, he incorporates the commentary of his teacher Ibn al-Sarraj (d. 316 AH), who had begun an unfinished work on the justification of readings, before continuing with his own analysis marked by "Abu Ali said" (qala Abu Ali) .
Al-Farisi's analytical method rests on establishing linguistic evidence (ihtijaj) for each reading through:
- Established rules and consensus positions of the Basran grammatical school .
- Analogical reasoning (qiyas), comparison of grammatical parallels, and uncovering subtle linguistic causes (ilal) .
- Textual citations from other Quranic verses, authentic pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry, Prophetic hadith, Arabic proverbs, and dialectal variations of Arab tribes .
- Authoritative statements of earlier grammarians, foremost among them Sibawayh, whose al-Kitab is cited extensively throughout the work .
The text is known for its depth and extensive digressions (istitrad), transitioning from specific variant pronunciations or case endings into broader exegesis, semantic analysis, and morphological exposition .
Influence and Transmission
al-Hujja served as a foundational standard for subsequent literature on the justification of Quranic readings (tawjih al-qiraat) . Al-Farisi's student Ibn Jinni (d. 392 AH) wrote al-Muhtasib on non-canonical readings (al-qiraat al-shawadhdh) specifically as a complement to al-Farisi's work on the canonical seven .
The work was abridged by several scholars, including Makki ibn Abi Talib (d. 437 AH) and Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Shurayh al-Muqri' in his Ikhtisar al-Hujja . Transmissions of the book in al-Andalus were recorded by Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili through chains tracing back to al-Farisi via Ali ibn Ma'qil and Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Isa al-Rummani .
Editions
The first volume of the work was edited by Ali al-Najdi Nasif, Abd al-Halim al-Najjar, and Abd al-Fattah Shalabi, published by Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi in Cairo . A complete edition was edited by Badr al-Din Qahwaji and Bashir Juwayjati, reviewed by Abd al-Aziz Rabbah and Ahmad Yusuf al-Daqqaq, and published in seven volumes by Dar al-Ma'mun lil-Turath in Damascus and Beirut (1404 AH / 1984 CE; second edition 1413 AH / 1993 CE), with the final volume dedicated to analytical indexes .
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