Jami al-Bayan fi al-Qiraat al-Sab
- Author died
- 444 AH
- Editions
- University of Sharjah
Jami al-Bayan fi al-Qiraat al-Sab (The Comprehensive Exposition of the Seven Readings) is a major compendium on Quranic variant readings (qira'at) by the Andalusian scholar Abu Amr al-Dani (371–444 AH / 981–1053 CE), documenting the transmissions, underlying principles, and word-by-word variations of the seven canonical recitations.
Scope and Sources
In Jami al-Bayan, al-Dani documented the seven readings through 40 distinct transmissions (riwayat) and 160 primary paths (turuq), with detailed chains of transmission (isnad) numbering over 400, and exceeding 500 when accounting for upper-level branches. The work is distinguished by its extensive coverage compared to his shorter, widely circulated manual al-Taysir fi al-Qiraat al-Sab, whose 31 transmission paths are fully subsumed within Jami al-Bayan.
Al-Dani based the book's material on direct oral transmission from over thirty teachers, both through complete recitations from memory (ard) and through the study of individual textual variants (riwayat al-huruf). The bulk of his material derived from five primary authorities: Faris ibn Ahmad al-Himsi, Abd al-Aziz ibn Jafar al-Farisi, Abu Muslim Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi, Tahir ibn Abd al-Mun'im ibn Ghalbun, and Khalaf ibn Ibrahim ibn Khaqan. In addition to oral transmission, he incorporated early authoritative texts on Quranic readings, grammar, and exegesis, including works by Ibn Mujahid, Ibn al-Anbari, and Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam.
Reception and Significance
Jami al-Bayan is regarded among the foremost reference works in the literature of Quranic recitations. Ibn al-Jazari noted that it was said al-Dani gathered in it all that he knew of this science, remarking that anyone who examines his writings—especially Jami al-Bayan—recognizes the author's extraordinary mastery. Ibn al-Jazari relied on the book as one of the fundamental written authorities for his foundational compilation al-Nashr fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr, quoting from it and transmitting readings through its chains. Al-Dhahabi described al-Dani's works as being of the highest beauty and precision, citing Jami al-Bayan under the title Jami al-Bayan fi al-Qiraat al-Sab wa-Turuqiha al-Mashhurah wa-l-Gharib.
Biographical and bibliographic records describe the physical scope of the work in manuscript form as consisting of three volumes, or as two volumes comprising twenty fascicles (ajza').
Printed Editions
The work has appeared in multiple modern editions:
- An edition edited by Muhammad Kamal Atik, published in Ankara (1999).
- An edition edited by Muhammad Saduq al-Jaza'iri, published by Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah in Beirut (1426 AH / 2005 CE).
- A four-volume critical edition prepared from master's theses at Umm al-Qura University by a team of scholars (Abd al-Muhaymin al-Tahhan, Talhah Muhammad Tawfiq, Sami Umar, and Khalid al-Ghamidi), published by the University of Sharjah (1428 AH / 2007 CE).
Answer updated