What exactly are the different Qiraat? (1)

Assalam Alaikum

Lately I came to know that the Quran today exists in 7 different Qiraats or readings and that all seven of them are being taught at Islamic madarsas.

What is the nature of the difference between these readings? Are these Qiraats merely different styles of reading the Quran, such that reciters of the seven qiraats would all be able to recite in their particular style from the same written text or is it a difference of pronunciation of the sounds of the various Arabic letters (like duad pronounced as zuad, as in the Indian subcontinent) or is it a difference in

pronunciation of words (like mlk can be pronounced as maliki or muliki or miliki etc) or is it a case of the presence of the some words in one reading and their absence in another.

If you have researched and sorted out this issue then help me out.

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Please refer to the following:

http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/i...nt.aspx?id=571

Please read the attached appendices as well.

As a side note, the references link seem sto be confirmed by modern archaeological ecxcavations as well. Early Quranic scripts found on such things as rocks, reveals the use of orthography, which rejects the view that the orthography was introduced later on to sttandradize a reading. The Quran was obviously revealed in one standard dialect, the languae of Quraysh, which was the common language of all of Arabia.

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"A single leap of love wrapped up the whole story; these heavens and earth I had taken to be boundless."

- Iqbal

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May Allah be pleased with you Sister Ihsan . Indeed great & reliable source . I was just thinking : how on earth am I going to translate the answer into English ??!! You saved me the trouble , Jazaki Allah Khairan .

May I just point out that the Qiraat are different from recitation : we recite the Holy Quran following one certain Qiraa ( Some learn more than one Qiraa) . There are only ten qiraats but many many recitors . For instance I have learned Quran by heart following the Qiraa of Hafs حفص عن عاصم . Inshallah I intend to recite the Quran in the ten Qiraats .

I do not know how to put it more clearly >> is it clear like that ??

You may want to check this link , if you please :
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Qiraat/

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You may find this helpul as well

http://www.altafsir.com/index.asp

As salamu `alaykum,

With all due respect, the following link represents the more standard, classical view held by Qur'anic exegesis and people of tajwid for the past 1,200 years:

http://islamthought.wordpress.com/20...-of-the-quran/

I also highly recommend An Approach to the Qur'anic Sciences by Mufti Taqi Usmani, which is a masterful summary of the subjects related to ulum al-Qur'an, which also answers your question and was written with the expressed intent to dispel the most common contemporary misunderstandings, which is especially relevant to this thread given that Mufti Taqi Usmani is a Pakistani scholar and the previous article cited represents a contemporary Pakistani school of thought. The book more directly addresses the misconception that the ahruf and qira'at are synonymous, which seems to be the basis upon which the article Ihsan quoted revolves. If I can find an online copy of it, I will be sure to post it, in sha Allah.

And Allah knows best.

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