Abu Bakr ‘Aasim Ibn Abi al-Najud al-'Asadi (d. 127AH/745CE),Shady Hekmat Nasser
Ibn Mujahid and the Canonization of the Seven Readings
p. 57. Taken from ''The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur'an: The Problem of Tawaatur and the Emergence of Shawaadhdh''.

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

: Brill Publishers, 2012. Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah
The Ten Readers & Their Transmitters
(c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016. commonly known as ‘Aasim ibn Abi an-Najud, was one of the seven primary transmitters of the

Qira'at In Islam, ''Qirāah'', (pl. ''Qirāāt''; ar, قراءات , lit= recitations or readings) are different linguistic, lexical, phonetic, morphological and syntactical forms permitted with reciting the holy book of Islam, the Quran. Differ ...

, or variant readings of the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. Of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

origin, his method of reciting the Qur'an as transmitted by

Hafs Abū Amr Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Abi Dawud al-Asadī al-Kūfī ( ar, أبو عمرو حفص بن سليمان بن المغيرة الأسدي الكوفي), better known as Hafs (706–796 CE; 90–180 AH according to the Is ...

is the most common and popular way of reciting the holy book in the

Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

in general.Bewley, Aishah
"The Seven Qira'at of the Qur'an"
, ''Aisha Bewley's Islamic Home Page'' Though he lived much of his life in

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...

, he was associated with

Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah ( ar, ابن أسد بن خزيمة ) is an Arab tribe. They are Adnanite Arabs, powerful and one of the most famous tribes. They are widely respected by many Arab tribes, respected by Shia Muslims because they have burie ...

due to a pact. His fellow recitation transmitter

Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala' Abu ʻAmr ibn al-ʻAlāʼ al-Basri ( ar, أبو عمرو بن العلاء; died 770 CE/154 AH) was the Qur'an reciter of Basra, Iraq and an Arab linguist. He was born in Mecca in . Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated by William ...

also studied under him. Despite being from Kufa, Aasim's reading was not popular there at first.Nasser, ''Canonization'', p. 57. Unlike most reciters in Kufa, he did not accept the pre-Uthmanic style of the Qur'an written by the companion of the Prophet,

Abdullah ibn Masud Abdullah ibn Masūd, or Abdullah ibn Masood, or Abdullah Ben Messaoud ( ar, عبد الله بن مسعود, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʽūd; c.594-c.653), was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who he is regarded the greatest mufassir of Qu ...

; most of the people of Kufa continued reciting based on that style for a period even after the Uthmanic version became canon. Eventually this changed with the standardisation of the

mushaf A muṣḥaf ( ar, مُصْحَفْ, ; plural ''maṣāḥif'') is an Arabic word for a codex or collection of sheets, but also refers to a written copy of the Quran. The chapters of the Quran, which Muslims believe was revealed during a 23-year ...

, and in time Aasim's reading became the norm for the Muslim world. In fact, of the seven primary methods of recitation, only two have become particularly common in the Muslim world: that of Nafi‘ al-Madani in much of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

outside of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and that of Aasim in the rest of the Muslim world in general. He died in the year 745CE, corresponding to the year 127AH.

Comparison of Warsh and Aasim's recitation

The Warsh 'an Naafi' recitation of the Quran differs from Hafs 'an Aasim' in orthography. The majority of differences do not affect the meaning. Yet in some cases the differences change the implications of the verse. In verse 2:184 Hafs recites the verse to be "... a ransom s substituteof feeding a poor person...". On the other hand, Warsh reads it "... a ransom s substituteof feeding poor people..."A.Brockett, ''Studies in Two Transmission of the Qur'an'', doctorate thesis, University of St. Andrews,Scotland, 1984, p.138 Other variants orthography include : Another major difference between Hafs and Warsh recitation of the Quran is the pronunciation of the words. Modern Qurans have diacritical marks (known as Tashkil) and in some cases pronouncing the word differently could imply different meaning. Here are some examples:

References

{{Quranic qira'ates 745 deaths Quranic readings 8th-century Iranian people