Irab al-Qiraat al-Sab wa Ilaliha
- Author died
- 370 AH
- Editions
- Ta al-Ilmiyya · t al-Uthaymin
I'rab al-Qira'at al-Sab' wa-'Ilaliha (The Grammatical Analysis and Rationale of the Seven Readings) is a work on Quranic variants and Arabic syntax by the grammarian and philologist Ibn Khalawayh (d. 370 AH / 980 CE) . It focuses on explaining the desinential inflection (i'rab) and linguistic justifications ('ilal) for the canonical variants attributed to the seven readers across the major regional centers of Mecca, Medina, Basra, Kufa, and the Levant (al-Sham) .
Purpose and Scope
In his introduction, Ibn Khalawayh notes that he composed the work in an abridged format to provide a quick reference for students and a reminder for seasoned scholars . He intentionally restricted the text to the syntactic analysis and justification of the seven regional reading traditions, omitting broader syntactical difficulties, rare vocabulary explanations (gharib), and anomalous readings (al-shawadhh), for which he authored separate comprehensive treatises . The text represents an abridgment of his own larger work I'rab al-Qur'an and belongs to a wider group of his Quranic studies—including al-Mufid, al-Badi', al-Idah, and al-Sab'a—distinct from his monograph I'rab Thalathin Sura .
Method and Content
The book proceeds through the Quranic chapters, addressing words subject to variation among the seven eponymous readers:
- He frequently substantiates one Quranic reading by citing parallel usage from another verse elsewhere in the Quran, noting that this method of using scripture to elucidate scripture reflects the practice of the Companions and Successors .
- He adduces Arabic poetry (shawahid) and dialectal usages of early Arab tribes to support different grammatical and phonological readings .
- He provides concise syntactical arguments justifying the varying vocalizations, inflections, assimilations, and vowelless endings across the seven traditions .
Manuscripts and Publication
In several manuscript catalogues, the work was recorded simply under the general title al-Qira'at, while its second part explicitly bears the title I'rab al-Qira'at al-Sab' wa-'Ilaliha . A unique manuscript preserved at the Murad Mulla library in Turkey suffered from gaps estimated at nearly one quarter of the work . Encouraged by the scholar Mahmud Muhammad Shakir, the text was critically edited from this manuscript by Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Uthaymin and published by Maktabat al-Khanji in Cairo in 1413 AH / 1992 CE .
A related work, titled al-Hujjah fi al-Qira'at al-Sab', was also edited under Ibn Khalawayh's name by Abd al-Al Salim Mukarram; however, that attribution was contested by researchers including Muhammad al-Abid al-Fasi and Subhi Abd al-Mun'im, who suggested it was either a separate abridgment or a work by Ahmad ibn al-Saqr al-Manbiji (d. 366 AH) .
Answer updated