This is my note of Shaikh Omar Khan's lecture given at Masjid Toronto. So... it's not perfect, it's just a note =)
The Shaikh - he has ijazah in the ten qira'at
Allah gave us the Qur’an and the purpose of the Qur’an is that we recite it and practice upon it. Right or wrong? If we have the Qur’an and we are reciting it but we are not getting any benefit out of it then we are wasting our time with it obviously and it makes sense. Thus Allah sends us the Qur’an, so that you learn from them, teach is to others, and change our lives.
Now regarding the Qur’an there are many branches. There are some who will focus their mind, attention, and education on tafseer of the Qur’an. There are some who will focus their study on the translation of the Qur’an – it is an art by itself (al-Itqan by Imam as-Suyuti). There are few people who will focus their attention on the different sciences behind the Qur’an. For example fuqaha’ willl focus on those verses that have to do with the ahkam. Scholars of ‘aqidah will focus on verses that has to do with ‘aqidah. Scholars of tibb (medicine) will focus on verses that have to do with medicine.
However, we find that the Qur’an itself can be broken down into smaller pieces. You have sentences: Sentences contain words and words contain letters. There is one part of the science of the Qur’an which has to do with letters; amazingly this part of the Qur’an has been really blessed by Allah. You can have scholars of tafseer who deal with verses, scholars of tarjamah who deal with words, scholars of recitation who deal with letters. Every aspects of the Qur’an is preserved.
In usul tafseer they teach us that translating a specific word of the Qur’an to another specific word is wrong unless there is a specific chain that connects with Rasulullah s.a.w. If the chain goes through Abdullah bin Abbas, then it is more authentic than other tafseer because Ibn Abbas is the most expert in the Qur’an. During the lifetime of the Prophet s.a.w. he went to one sahabi and told him that Allah had ordered you to recite the Qur’an to me – pure recitation. He recited Surah Nisa’ and continued reciting, reciting and reciting. The recitation of the Qur’an is held at such a level that people will continue to recite, recite, and recite, and people will continue to listen, listen, and listen. Compare this to our time?
Hadith: Every letter of the Qur’an will give you ten rewards. Obviously this hadith has to do with recitation. The prophet s.a.w. will make the habit of reciting the Qur’an when revelation comes. For example, I’m going to say to you an Arabic couplet in Arabic only once and you have to memorize it. The wahyu was coming and he s.a.w. had to memorize it straight away. He will move his lip. But Allah says in the Qur’an don’t move your lips; we will put it in your heart.
Ibrahim a.s. made the du’a “O Allah send within this people a prohet from among them, this messenger should recite to them the book and teach it to them”. Note that recitaton and teach it are separate. At the time of the prophet s.a.w. this idea of recitation of the Qur’an is very noble. The Qur’an is the word of Allah. How many of us think that we are blessed with the ability to recite the blessed words? We are the greatest people belonging to the greatest Prophet. The words of Allah are the greatest words. Thus the one who recite the Qur’an must be the greatest people. Hadith: Among the ones who recite the Qur’an and teach it, they are the best of people.
The purpose of our creation is for the hereafter – all of us are going to die. You might be old or young; it is wrong to say that the older the person, the closer he is to death. We never know when we are going to die.
First of all the Qur’an is revealed from Luh Mahfuz to the sky in the month ramadhan during Lailatul Qadr. Then during the Prophet s.a.w lifetime, the Qur’an is being revealed to him: Jibril will come to him and give him wahi. Now, as the wahyu will come to the Prophet s.a.w. there are many hadiths regarding the idea that the Prophet receives wahyu.
Haddith: My ummah won’t be able to bear this. Jibril came to him second time with the same verse; he recites the same verse to him in another harf. Then the Prophet s.a.w. said that I ask Allah for forgiveness and my ummah will not be able to bear this. Jibril came to him third time and recite to him in three harf. This continue until Jibril came to him the seventh time. This Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf, recite one that is easiest for you. This hadith is mutawattir. Uthman said, how many of you remember that the Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf? So many sahabah stand up and said they do. So to consider it as lying is impossible.
Hadith: Hisham bin Haqim was reciting al-Furqan, Umar heard it and said “I heard the Qur’an differently from the Prophet s.a.w.” He (the Prophet s.a.w.) told me differently. He took Hisham and took him to the prophet and told him, “Ya Rasulullah, he has been reciting the Qur’an differently from what you tought me.” Hisham recited it and he said that was how it was revealed. And the Prophet s.a.w. told Umar “you recite it.” He s.a.w. heard it and said that was how it was revealed. Then he s.a.w. said the Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf.
There is a difference of opinion among the scholars as to the meaning of ahruf. The meaning according to Imam at-Tahawi: Sab’atu Ahruf meant the Qur’an is revealed in different synonyms. The limit of a certain words’ synonyms is seven. Another opinion is: Seven famous reading of the Qur’an, however this opinion is rejected by all the scholars. The most taken opinion is opinon of Ibn Jazri, Imam Malik, and Imam Suyuti. Ibn Jazri said, “This hadith of sab’atu ahruf was bothering me for thirty years. Untill Allah open up to me what it can mean. Seven ahruf means seven types of differences which takes place in all of the recitation.” You can have five hundred different ways of reading but if we were to encircle all of the differences we will come out with seven different types of differences.
First is number. One word of Qur’an is singular (wahid) and the other plural (jama’). Another difference is gender. Or a difference of the placement of the harakat. Another difference is the Variation in the verb. Another difference can be a difference in grammar. Another type of difference is the difference in dots. Another difference is the difference in accents. (The Shaikh gives examples but I omitted here).
If you take all of 20 qira’at you will find differences that fit in these seven types. The Qur’an was compiled twice. Once during the time of Abu Bakr, the other is Uthman. Their focus was to preserve the recitation. Abu Bakr version included only verses which are not abrogated.
Hudaifah came to Uthman and told him Islam is spreading wide to arab area and now the a’jam. Keep in mind tha the Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf. The different recitations of the time of Abu Bakr, Uthman, and so on is so common. In our time if we recite in other recitation people will correct you. So it is common, people know, people say my qira’ah is a lot better than your qira’ah. Hudayfah brought this situation to Uthman. So Uthman got all the people of madinah together, “Listen all of you you are living so close to me, so many sahabah are here, along with us you are still saying all other recitation is wrong , this is better, this is worse.” So he said I’m going to compile this Qur’an and I need a few individuals to help me. He sends someone to Hafsah and get the copy from her.
There were lots of steps taken, so many conditions, for every verse compiled there need to be two witnesses. Uthman gathered and told the sahabah, the Qur’an was revealed in the language of the quraish. If anyone differs with zaid (quraysh) on how to write the word, then write the way zayd writes it because the Qur’an was reveled in the language of the quraysh. All the verses that was abrogated was taken off the mushaf, and all the seven ahruf were included in the mushaf. None of the dots, none of the harakah were put in and the specific way the Qur’an is written.
Another thing that was done: He complied seven some says five copies. He sends it to different places and kept one in madinah. He made this announcement. Anyone of you had any copy of the Qur’an burns it, because all of you are falsifying each others recitation. If you one come to the mushaf, go to it, and rewrite it the way that specific mushaf is written. Abdullah ibn Mas’ud wasn’t happy with this decision, to which Ali ibn Abi Talib once stood up (in fathul bari): Don’t say Uthman except which is good, I swear by Allah that whatever that he did regarding the compilation of the mushaf including the seven hurf, all the sahabah agrees with it (consensus).
Basically a few individuals came out and became the masters of the recitation of the Qur’an. There were seven sahabah who were known as the qurra: Uthman, Ali, Ubay, Abdullah bin Masud, Abdullah bin Darda, (missed the other two). The qurra whether old or young were part of the majlis of umar. This idea of recitation and bringing in and working on the recitation and becoming qurra’ was very famous at that time.
Here are the ten a’immah of the Qur’an. Their recitaions are different from the other.
1) Nafi’ of Madinah
2) Ibn Kathir of Makkah
3) Abu Ammar of Basra
4) Ibn ‘Amir
5) Asim of Kkuffah
6) Hamza of Kuffah
7) al-Kisa’i of Kuffah
8) Abu Ja’afar of Madinah
9) Ya’aqub of Basra
10) Khalaf Barzak of Kuffah
The mot famous qira’ah is the qira’ah of Imam Asim. Imam Hafs, who is the student of Imam Asim made the qira’at famous. So qira’at of Hafs is the most popular nowadays and it is from Imam Asim.
There’s always someone shining, like you go to Madinah, you can go to someone and someone, but you should go to Imam Nafi’. He is like the moon among the stars in the science of the recitation of the Qur’an at Madinah. Many people will teach the Qur’an, but out of that many people, there will be one person people would prefer. Why that guy? Because of the recitation of the Qur’an gives the person status. This was how it was during the time of the a’immah. Ask Imam Malik, which qira’ah do you like the most? His answer was the Qira’ah of Madinah. Who among the Madinah? His answer was Imam Nafi’. If I cannot go to him, who else? His answer was Imam Asim.
If I throw you a question, is it possible that there are more than ten qira’at? Yes, however how many are mutawattir? Ten. So when Allah says we reveal the Qur’an and we are going to preserve it. If someone recites the Qur’an in one qira’at and mix it all up; if a qari is there he will say you’re wrong. If you don’t know the usual the rules of the qira’ah you can’t recite it. It is mutawattir to rasulullah s.a.w., you can’t just make your own version up.
If you go to sheikh with a certification of tajweed; if I am going to ask you what stands out in his teaching? They will say that sheikh corrects me with the letters. The second is the harakat. Two things: Letters and the sounds. What’s amazing, once our children are growing up, by two or three, what do we teach them? Letters and sound. If you want your children to be successful in the recitation of the Qur’an, we should teach them the letters and sounds. That is the first step before tajweed. If you get letters and their sounds, you have made up a lot of ground, only then do tajweed. Every single reciter of the Qur’an has all worked on it. Because we want to recite the Qur’an the way Rasulullah s.a.w. recites it. Why we want to do it? We want to attain the pleasure of Allah. Why do we recite it again? So that when Allah calls us back then Allah will be please will us, this is the purpose of the Qur’an.
Finally, the Shaikh mentions something which he forgot to mention earlier: The differences of recitations (qira'at) don't change the meaning of the Qur'an and they are all mutawattir (unbroken chain heard by many) to the Rasulullah s.a.w.
The Shaikh - he has ijazah in the ten qira'atAllah gave us the Qur’an and the purpose of the Qur’an is that we recite it and practice upon it. Right or wrong? If we have the Qur’an and we are reciting it but we are not getting any benefit out of it then we are wasting our time with it obviously and it makes sense. Thus Allah sends us the Qur’an, so that you learn from them, teach is to others, and change our lives.
Now regarding the Qur’an there are many branches. There are some who will focus their mind, attention, and education on tafseer of the Qur’an. There are some who will focus their study on the translation of the Qur’an – it is an art by itself (al-Itqan by Imam as-Suyuti). There are few people who will focus their attention on the different sciences behind the Qur’an. For example fuqaha’ willl focus on those verses that have to do with the ahkam. Scholars of ‘aqidah will focus on verses that has to do with ‘aqidah. Scholars of tibb (medicine) will focus on verses that have to do with medicine.
However, we find that the Qur’an itself can be broken down into smaller pieces. You have sentences: Sentences contain words and words contain letters. There is one part of the science of the Qur’an which has to do with letters; amazingly this part of the Qur’an has been really blessed by Allah. You can have scholars of tafseer who deal with verses, scholars of tarjamah who deal with words, scholars of recitation who deal with letters. Every aspects of the Qur’an is preserved.
In usul tafseer they teach us that translating a specific word of the Qur’an to another specific word is wrong unless there is a specific chain that connects with Rasulullah s.a.w. If the chain goes through Abdullah bin Abbas, then it is more authentic than other tafseer because Ibn Abbas is the most expert in the Qur’an. During the lifetime of the Prophet s.a.w. he went to one sahabi and told him that Allah had ordered you to recite the Qur’an to me – pure recitation. He recited Surah Nisa’ and continued reciting, reciting and reciting. The recitation of the Qur’an is held at such a level that people will continue to recite, recite, and recite, and people will continue to listen, listen, and listen. Compare this to our time?
Hadith: Every letter of the Qur’an will give you ten rewards. Obviously this hadith has to do with recitation. The prophet s.a.w. will make the habit of reciting the Qur’an when revelation comes. For example, I’m going to say to you an Arabic couplet in Arabic only once and you have to memorize it. The wahyu was coming and he s.a.w. had to memorize it straight away. He will move his lip. But Allah says in the Qur’an don’t move your lips; we will put it in your heart.
Ibrahim a.s. made the du’a “O Allah send within this people a prohet from among them, this messenger should recite to them the book and teach it to them”. Note that recitaton and teach it are separate. At the time of the prophet s.a.w. this idea of recitation of the Qur’an is very noble. The Qur’an is the word of Allah. How many of us think that we are blessed with the ability to recite the blessed words? We are the greatest people belonging to the greatest Prophet. The words of Allah are the greatest words. Thus the one who recite the Qur’an must be the greatest people. Hadith: Among the ones who recite the Qur’an and teach it, they are the best of people.
The purpose of our creation is for the hereafter – all of us are going to die. You might be old or young; it is wrong to say that the older the person, the closer he is to death. We never know when we are going to die.
First of all the Qur’an is revealed from Luh Mahfuz to the sky in the month ramadhan during Lailatul Qadr. Then during the Prophet s.a.w lifetime, the Qur’an is being revealed to him: Jibril will come to him and give him wahi. Now, as the wahyu will come to the Prophet s.a.w. there are many hadiths regarding the idea that the Prophet receives wahyu.
Haddith: My ummah won’t be able to bear this. Jibril came to him second time with the same verse; he recites the same verse to him in another harf. Then the Prophet s.a.w. said that I ask Allah for forgiveness and my ummah will not be able to bear this. Jibril came to him third time and recite to him in three harf. This continue until Jibril came to him the seventh time. This Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf, recite one that is easiest for you. This hadith is mutawattir. Uthman said, how many of you remember that the Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf? So many sahabah stand up and said they do. So to consider it as lying is impossible.
Hadith: Hisham bin Haqim was reciting al-Furqan, Umar heard it and said “I heard the Qur’an differently from the Prophet s.a.w.” He (the Prophet s.a.w.) told me differently. He took Hisham and took him to the prophet and told him, “Ya Rasulullah, he has been reciting the Qur’an differently from what you tought me.” Hisham recited it and he said that was how it was revealed. And the Prophet s.a.w. told Umar “you recite it.” He s.a.w. heard it and said that was how it was revealed. Then he s.a.w. said the Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf.
There is a difference of opinion among the scholars as to the meaning of ahruf. The meaning according to Imam at-Tahawi: Sab’atu Ahruf meant the Qur’an is revealed in different synonyms. The limit of a certain words’ synonyms is seven. Another opinion is: Seven famous reading of the Qur’an, however this opinion is rejected by all the scholars. The most taken opinion is opinon of Ibn Jazri, Imam Malik, and Imam Suyuti. Ibn Jazri said, “This hadith of sab’atu ahruf was bothering me for thirty years. Untill Allah open up to me what it can mean. Seven ahruf means seven types of differences which takes place in all of the recitation.” You can have five hundred different ways of reading but if we were to encircle all of the differences we will come out with seven different types of differences.
First is number. One word of Qur’an is singular (wahid) and the other plural (jama’). Another difference is gender. Or a difference of the placement of the harakat. Another difference is the Variation in the verb. Another difference can be a difference in grammar. Another type of difference is the difference in dots. Another difference is the difference in accents. (The Shaikh gives examples but I omitted here).
If you take all of 20 qira’at you will find differences that fit in these seven types. The Qur’an was compiled twice. Once during the time of Abu Bakr, the other is Uthman. Their focus was to preserve the recitation. Abu Bakr version included only verses which are not abrogated.
Hudaifah came to Uthman and told him Islam is spreading wide to arab area and now the a’jam. Keep in mind tha the Qur’an is revealed in seven ahruf. The different recitations of the time of Abu Bakr, Uthman, and so on is so common. In our time if we recite in other recitation people will correct you. So it is common, people know, people say my qira’ah is a lot better than your qira’ah. Hudayfah brought this situation to Uthman. So Uthman got all the people of madinah together, “Listen all of you you are living so close to me, so many sahabah are here, along with us you are still saying all other recitation is wrong , this is better, this is worse.” So he said I’m going to compile this Qur’an and I need a few individuals to help me. He sends someone to Hafsah and get the copy from her.
There were lots of steps taken, so many conditions, for every verse compiled there need to be two witnesses. Uthman gathered and told the sahabah, the Qur’an was revealed in the language of the quraish. If anyone differs with zaid (quraysh) on how to write the word, then write the way zayd writes it because the Qur’an was reveled in the language of the quraysh. All the verses that was abrogated was taken off the mushaf, and all the seven ahruf were included in the mushaf. None of the dots, none of the harakah were put in and the specific way the Qur’an is written.
Another thing that was done: He complied seven some says five copies. He sends it to different places and kept one in madinah. He made this announcement. Anyone of you had any copy of the Qur’an burns it, because all of you are falsifying each others recitation. If you one come to the mushaf, go to it, and rewrite it the way that specific mushaf is written. Abdullah ibn Mas’ud wasn’t happy with this decision, to which Ali ibn Abi Talib once stood up (in fathul bari): Don’t say Uthman except which is good, I swear by Allah that whatever that he did regarding the compilation of the mushaf including the seven hurf, all the sahabah agrees with it (consensus).
Basically a few individuals came out and became the masters of the recitation of the Qur’an. There were seven sahabah who were known as the qurra: Uthman, Ali, Ubay, Abdullah bin Masud, Abdullah bin Darda, (missed the other two). The qurra whether old or young were part of the majlis of umar. This idea of recitation and bringing in and working on the recitation and becoming qurra’ was very famous at that time.
Here are the ten a’immah of the Qur’an. Their recitaions are different from the other.
1) Nafi’ of Madinah
2) Ibn Kathir of Makkah
3) Abu Ammar of Basra
4) Ibn ‘Amir
5) Asim of Kkuffah
6) Hamza of Kuffah
7) al-Kisa’i of Kuffah
8) Abu Ja’afar of Madinah
9) Ya’aqub of Basra
10) Khalaf Barzak of Kuffah
The mot famous qira’ah is the qira’ah of Imam Asim. Imam Hafs, who is the student of Imam Asim made the qira’at famous. So qira’at of Hafs is the most popular nowadays and it is from Imam Asim.
There’s always someone shining, like you go to Madinah, you can go to someone and someone, but you should go to Imam Nafi’. He is like the moon among the stars in the science of the recitation of the Qur’an at Madinah. Many people will teach the Qur’an, but out of that many people, there will be one person people would prefer. Why that guy? Because of the recitation of the Qur’an gives the person status. This was how it was during the time of the a’immah. Ask Imam Malik, which qira’ah do you like the most? His answer was the Qira’ah of Madinah. Who among the Madinah? His answer was Imam Nafi’. If I cannot go to him, who else? His answer was Imam Asim.
If I throw you a question, is it possible that there are more than ten qira’at? Yes, however how many are mutawattir? Ten. So when Allah says we reveal the Qur’an and we are going to preserve it. If someone recites the Qur’an in one qira’at and mix it all up; if a qari is there he will say you’re wrong. If you don’t know the usual the rules of the qira’ah you can’t recite it. It is mutawattir to rasulullah s.a.w., you can’t just make your own version up.
If you go to sheikh with a certification of tajweed; if I am going to ask you what stands out in his teaching? They will say that sheikh corrects me with the letters. The second is the harakat. Two things: Letters and the sounds. What’s amazing, once our children are growing up, by two or three, what do we teach them? Letters and sound. If you want your children to be successful in the recitation of the Qur’an, we should teach them the letters and sounds. That is the first step before tajweed. If you get letters and their sounds, you have made up a lot of ground, only then do tajweed. Every single reciter of the Qur’an has all worked on it. Because we want to recite the Qur’an the way Rasulullah s.a.w. recites it. Why we want to do it? We want to attain the pleasure of Allah. Why do we recite it again? So that when Allah calls us back then Allah will be please will us, this is the purpose of the Qur’an.
Finally, the Shaikh mentions something which he forgot to mention earlier: The differences of recitations (qira'at) don't change the meaning of the Qur'an and they are all mutawattir (unbroken chain heard by many) to the Rasulullah s.a.w.
Brother Ibn Ally reciting Surah Yasin in ten different qira'at.
Shaikhuna (my tajweed teacher) =)
Thx for the info. Sebelum ni aku igtkan bacaan quran ni ade 1 jenis bacaan jer, baru2 ni jugalah aku tau ada banyak jenis bacaan dan bacaan Hafs dari Asim yang paling popular kat sini. In fact, itu jerlah jenis bacaan yang aku dengar kat Malaysia ni, except kalau ada pertandingan tilawah ker ape ker. Btw, masih ramai yang tak tau pasal different types of quran recitations ni. Eloklah juga disebarkan ilmu sebegini. Kalau kita boleh bazir banyak masa utk dengar pelbagai rentak muzik, kenapa kita tidak bazir masa dengar pelbagai jenis bacaan quran dan mempelajarinya? Thx
ReplyDelete- Hafiz.
a few days ago aku terbace.tp tak smpai habis.then cikgu aku tegur, aku ikut hafs 'an 'asim ke.
ReplyDeleteak tercengang, lalu hanye menjawab aku tak pnah bljr qiraat. then aku bace blk kat sini smpai habis.
bestnye ko dpt dgr sume 10 qiraat.aku cari jugak kat tenet, byk gk bacaan bbeze, tp byk tak mention derg guna qiraat mana.
so ni aku nak tanye. long time ago, heard satu bacaan ni, dia sebut in between alif and ya(lbh kurg majreha dalam surah hud). itu qiraat mana?kire betul dan tak merubah maksud la eh?
Hoho.. bagi aku soalan susah ni...
ReplyDeleteYeah, the imalah sound, bunyi antara alif dan ya. Dalam qira'at hafs, the only place dalam Qur'an bunyi tu digunakan ialah surah hud ayat 41 (yep, majreha). Biasanya dalam mushaf ada bubuh dot kecik special to note that.
Tetapi dalam qira'at lain, bunyi imalah ni ada banyak tempat, like sometimes ppl read wadduhee instead of wadduha. Tetapi aku tak tau the details jugak, aku pon tau hafs je (hafs pon tak pass lagi sebenarnye).
But in this world 90% hafs kot. Second paling popular qira'at warsh, or equivalent to qira'at of imam nafi' (mcm asim = hafs). Dekat morocco and some other places norm dierang warsh, so kalau dierang dengar hafs, dierang akan rase pelik dan ingat kita baca salah.
Ha'ah, tu accent, tak merubah maksud.
Allahu'alam.