Order Of The Qur’an And Multiple Recitation Styles
I am writing this because this may be a topic that confuses many people, Muslims and non Muslims alike. Being a طالب العلم (Student of Knowledge), I feel that I have a responsibility in answering this to the best of my ability. The order of the Qur’an is a long and interesting topic, with difference of opinion among the scholars of Islam being very little. The second topic I will talk about are the multiple recitation styles of the Qur’an. This is a topic that even few Muslims know about, but before begin to write about the Ahruf and Qira’at of the Qur’an; I would like to say that all these have the same meaning. There is one Qur’an, and the different recitations do not have different meanings. Some vocabulary that will be used: Ayah(verses of Qur’an), Surah(chapters of Qur’an), Ijma(consensus), Alim(Scholar), Ullema(Scholars, plural form of Alim), Harf(dialect), Ahruf(dialects, plural form of Harf), Qira’at(recitation styles), Mashuf(physical copy of Qur’an).
I will begin with the order of the Qur’an. First, the Ijma (consensus) of the Ullema (scholars) is that Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had taught order of the Qur’an to his companions. The reason for the consensus among scholars is because of the authentic narrations that the Prophet had taught his companions the order. Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid was asked a question about the order of Ayah(verses) of the Qur’an. Some of the things he said were “The fact there is scholarly consensus, and many texts stating the order of aayahs in one soorah, that is very well known. The consensus was reported by many scholars, including Al-Zarkashi in al-Burhaan and Abu Ja’far, who said: “The order of the aayahs in their soorahs came about because this is how it was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and there is no dispute among the Muslims with regard to this matter.”
Another scholarly opinion on the subject is “Al-Qaadi Abu Bakr said in al-Intisaar: “The order of the aayahs is something that is obligatory and binding. Jibreel used to say (to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)), ‘Put such and such an aayah in such and such a place.” He also said: “What we think is that all of the Qur’aan which Allaah revealed and commanded that it should be written down, and which was not abrogated after being revealed, is that which is contained between the covers of the Mus-haf of ‘Uthmaan, and that there is nothing lacking or added to it. Its order is the same as that commanded by Allaah, may He be exalted, and instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Nobody has moved any aayah backwards or forwards. The Ummah learned from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) the order of the aayahs of each soorah properly, just as they learned from him the correct pronunciation and recitation.”
Many scholars in Islam have had similar narrations. Include muhadith(people who record sayings of Muhammad and his companions) such as Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Imam Abu Dawood, Imam al-Tirmidhi, al-Nisaa’i, Ibn Hibbaan and al-Haakim from the companion Ibn ‘Abbaas(may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “I said to ‘Uthmaan, ‘What made you put al-Anfaal which is one of the Mathaani, next to Baraa’ah [al-Tawbah], which is one of the Mi’een? Why did you not put the line Bismillaah ir-Rahmaan ir-Raheem in between them when you put it at the beginning of the rest of al-Sab’ al-Tiwaal [the long seven soorahs]?” ‘Uthmaan said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to receive revelation of soorahs with many aayahs. When they were revealed, he would call his scribes and tell them, ‘Put these aayahs in the soorah where such-and-such is mentioned.”
Imam Ahmad narrated in al-Musnad (4/218) with a hasan isnaad(Good Chain of Narration) from ‘Uthmaan ibn Abi’l-‘Aas that he said: “I was sitting with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he fixed his gaze on something, then lowered his gaze until he was almost looking at the ground, then he gazed at something. He said, ‘Jibreel (peace be upon him) came to me and told me to put this aayah in this place in this soorah(Nahl 16:90)
Imam As Suyuti narrated this story: Abu Ja’far al-Nahhaas al-Mukhtaar said that the soorahs were compiled in this order from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) because of the hadeeth of Waathilah, “In place of the Tawraat I was given the seven long soorahs.” He said: “This hadeeth indicates that the order of the Qur’aan was taken from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Ibn Hajar said, “the fact that the soorahs , or most of them, are in a given order does not contradict the idea that this was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). What proves that this was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is the report narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawood from Aws ibn Hudhayfah, who said: ‘We asked the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the morning, “How did you write down the Qur’aan in chapters?” They said, “We wrote it down in chapters of six soorahs, five soorahs, seven soorahs, nine soorahs, eleven soorahs and thirteen soorahs, and the chapter of al-Mufassal, from Qaaf until the end. This indicates that the order of the soorahs – as it appears in the Mus-haf now – existed at the time of the Messenger of Allaah, or it is possible that what was known in order at that time was Hizb al-Mufassal specifically, which is not the case with the rest.”
See al-Itqaan fi ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan by al-Suyooti, 1/62-65)
From the opinions of Muslim scholars it can be understood that there is a reasoning the verse of the Qur’an must be understood in context, because it is a Muslim belief, that theses verses were divinely guided in order.
Now moving onto the topic of multiple recitation styles of the Qur’an. This is a topic that might catch many Muslims and non Muslims off guard. It is something that is usually not understood by the masses but has been widely known among people of knowledge. Arabic is a language that came with many different dialects. Just like today there are different types of Arabic, there is Arabic from North Africa, There is Levantinan Arabic which is spoken in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, then there is Egyptian Arabic, there also Iraqi Arabic, and then there is Classical Arabic. Classical Arabic, is what the Qur’an came from, the Arabic of the people of Quraish(Tribe from Mecca at the time of Muhammad). The Qur’an originally was revealed in the Quraishi harf. Then it came in six more dialects. Making the total number of dialects the Qur’an was revealed in to be seven.
The evidence for that is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas who narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Jibreel taught me one style and I reviewed it until he taught me more, and I kept asking him for more and he gave me more until finally there were seven styles.”
(narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3047; Muslim, 819)
Later on after the death of Muhammad, Uthman the companion of the Prophet, burned six of the versions of the Qur’an to make it simpler for the people. The copy he kept was the original version of the Qur’an in the Quraishi Hafs. Now the different recitation styles come from the one Quraishi Hafs. This to not be confused with the seven Ahruf. It is often confused because there are seven authentic Qir’at, and ten in total. In Arabic, often time vowels are not written and people just know the word from the root letters used. From that one copy of the Qur’an there are multiple ways to recite it. Remember, the meaning of the Qur’an does not change, the root words always mean the same thing, just the vowels are used differently. Here are links from Sheykh Muhammad Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy reciting Surah Fatiha(Chapter One) and Surah Ikhlas(Chapter One Hundred and Twelve) in the 10 Qir’at, the translations are given so you can see they have the same meaning.
