2nd Muharram al-Harām 1443 AH

Tilāwah: Hūd 103 to 115

Qirāʾah: Warsh, Abū Jaʿfar

The beginning of this unique congregation was indeed unique. It commenced with the recitation of the Qur’an, which on its part, as is the norm, commenced with bayātī and soon ventured into a rare iteration of sīkā. Adorned with the full madds of Warsh, the recitation gradually took a graceful turn into one of the most delicate versions of nahāwand ever heard. The nahāwand was sustained for a couple more breaths before the recitation returned to bayātī. The audience could be seen clasping onto their senses to keep up with the intense flow of melody directly into their hearts. Indeed, this Remembrance of Allah was nothing short of Reassuring.

Some aḥkām from today’s Qira’at:

1. Taghlīẓ al-Lām (thickening the letter lām): Warsh, the narrator of Nāfiʿ al-Madanī reads the lām thickly whenever it is preceded by the following letters: ص، ظ، ط provided that the lām in question has a zabar on it (maftūḥ) and the three letters are either maftūḥ or sākin.

2. Taqlīl: A half or minor imālah where the alif moves towards the yāʾ but stops well short in its inclination.

3. Tarqīq of rāʾ: The unique rules of Warsh where he performs tarqīq of rāʾ even if the letter preceding it has a real kasrah (zayr). There are detailed conditions for this.

The farsh of today’s Qira’at:

The Uṣūl

As most readers of this article would be aware, the tilāwat of Qur’an requires one to comply with Ahkām ut-Tajweed. The Qur’an which we generally read and memorise is in the narration of Hafs ʿan ʿĀṣim. Besides Hafs, there are 19 other narrations attributed to Ten “Reciters” or “Qurrāʾ”. Each of these narrations and readings have their own set of Ahkām ut-Tajweed. Several of these Ahkām are common between all the reciters, such as ghunnah, ikhfā, iẓ-hār, qalqalah, idghām etc. However, when speaking collectively, we use the term “Uṣūl” i.e., “principles” to collectively as well as individually refer to the Ahkām ut-Tajweed of specific Reciters.

Of those principles, let’s today discuss the Chapter of “Basmalah”.

This chapter deals with how the different Reciters prefer to connect the istiʿādhah, the basmalah and the beginning of a given Sūrah with each other.

• All Reciters have consensus (ijmāʿ) in reciting the istiʿādhah (aʿūzu billāhis samīʿ il-ʿalīm) upon beginning the recitation of the Qur’an.
• Al-Shātibī mentions in his Ḥirz al-Amānī that a person may choose to either shorten the istiʿādhah or read it in full by saying aʿūzu billāhis samīʿ il-ʿalīm instead of just aʿūzu billāh. In our tradition, we read it in full and do not shorten it.
• Hamza and Nāfiʿ conceal the istiʿādhah while the rest recite it loudly.
• Qālūn, al-Kisāʾī, ʿĀṣim and Ibn Kathīr recite the basmalah between two Sūrahs while the rest omit the basmalah and connect one Sūrah with the next directly.
• The omitting Reciters either perform a saktah or connect two Sūrahs directly.