al-Kamil fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr wa al-Arbaeen al-Zaida Alayha
- Author died
- 465 AH
- Editions
- مؤسسة سما للتوزيع والنشر
al-Kamil fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr wa al-Arbaeen al-Zaida Alayha (The Complete Work on the Ten Recitations and the Forty Additional Recitations Beyond Them) is an encyclopedic treatise on Quranic recitations compiled by the Maghrebi scholar Abu al-Qasim Yusuf ibn Ali ibn Jubarah al-Hudhali (d. 465 AH / 1072–1073 CE) .
Scope and Content
The work brings together fifty distinct Quranic reading systems—comprising the ten recognized readings along with forty additional systems—drawn from a total of 1,459 transmissions (riwayāt) and transmission paths (ṭuruq) . In other historical records, the work is also referred to as al-Kamil fi al-Qiraat al-Khamsin (The Complete Work on the Fifty Recitations) and al-Kamil al-Muhkam ala Kitab Ahl al-Asr fi al-Qiraat .
The text presents both overarching reading rules (uṣūl) and surah-by-surah textual variations (farsh al-ḥurūf), systematically attributing variant pronunciations, phonetic treatments (such as idghām, imālah, and tashīl), and particular vocalizations to their respective authorities and transmitters .
Composition and Sources
Al-Hudhali composed the book after extensive travels across the Islamic world, which began in 425 AH (1033–1034 CE) and took him from the western Islamic lands through Ghazna to Transoxiana and the gates of Farghana . He recorded that he met 365 teachers—and in another report, 355 authorities who had reached the standing of independent transmission selection—from whom he received readings directly . Al-Hudhali designed the book to serve as a comprehensive compendium of recited paths and established readings, stating that its compilation superseded his own earlier writings, such as al-Wajiz and al-Hadi .
Transmission and Reception
The book was transmitted through several chains of reciters, notably through the Iraqi scholar Abu al-Izz Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Bundar al-Qalanisi . Reciters across later centuries, such as Siraj al-Din al-Qazwini, documented completing full recitations of the Quran according to all the paths and variants preserved in the work . It served as a principal reference for subsequent master works in the discipline, most prominently Ibn al-Jazari's foundational compendium al-Nashr fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr, which frequently cites and analyzes al-Hudhali's unique transmissions and authoritative preferences .
Print Edition
A single-volume edition edited by Jamal ibn al-Sayyid ibn Rifa'i al-Shayib was published by Mu'assasat Sama in 1428 AH / 2007 CE .
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