al-Qiraat al-Mashhura fi al-Amsar al-Atiya Maji al-Tawatur
- Author died
- 456 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ma‘ārif
al-Qiraat al-Mashhura fi al-Amsar al-Atiya Maji al-Tawatur (Arabic: القراءات المشهورة في الأمصار الآتية مجيء التواتر, lit. 'The Famous Readings in the Regional Capitals Transmitted by Successive Transmission') is a short treatise by Ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH / 1064 CE) documenting the prominent canonical Quranic readings and their transmission chains across key Islamic metropolitan centers .
Content and Structure
The treatise provides an outline of the leading Quranic readers associated with major garrison cities, their dates of death, and their lines of transmission back to the Companions and the Prophet Muhammad:
- Mecca: The reading of Abdullah ibn Kathir al-Dari (d. 120 AH), who recited under Abdullah ibn al-Sa'ib al-Makhzumi (who read under Ubayy ibn Ka'b) and under Mujahid (who read under Ibn Abbas, through Ubayy and Zayd ibn Thabit from the Prophet) .
- Medina: The reading of Nafi ibn Abi Nu'aym (d. 169 AH), who studied under Yazid ibn al-Qa'qa, Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz al-A'raj, Muslim ibn Jundab al-Hudhali, Yazid ibn Ruman, and Shayba ibn Nassah, all of whom transmitted through Abu Hurayra, Ibn Abbas, and Abdullah ibn Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi'a al-Makhzumi from Ubayy ibn Ka'b .
- Basra: The reading of Abu Amr (d. 154 AH), who received the recitation from Meccan scholars (including Mujahid, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Ikrima ibn Khalid al-Makhzumi, Ata ibn Abi Rabah, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhaysin, and Humayd ibn Qays al-A'raj), Medinan scholars (Yazid ibn al-Qa'qa, Yazid ibn Ruman, and Shayba ibn Nassah), and Basran authorities (such as al-Hasan and Yahya ibn Ya'mar), who traced their lines back to the Companions . Ibn Hazm also mentions for Basra the reading of Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Hadrami, who studied under Abu Amr and others .
- Syria (al-Sham): The reading of Abdullah ibn Amir (d. 118 AH), who read under Abu al-Darda and al-Mughira ibn Abi Shihab al-Makhzumi, the latter having studied under Uthman .
Ibn Hazm concludes the work with a legal ruling stating that any variants transmitted from these prominent authorities that did not achieve widespread renown (شهرة) are unlawful to recite in ritual prayer or to write down into Quranic codices (masahif), though they may still be learned and studied .
Transmission and Publication
The text survived as an appendix in a single manuscript preserved at the Habibiyya Library in India, copied in 1354 AH alongside Ibn Hazm's biographical work Jawami al-Sira and four other short treatises . It was edited by Ihsan Abbas and Nasir al-Din al-Asad and published in Cairo by Dar al-Ma'arif in 1956 (1375 AH) as an addendum to Jawami al-Sira, spanning pages 269–271 . Due to the absence of external quotations of the treatise in other classical works, the editors relied directly on standard works of Quranic recitations to verify and establish its text .
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