Abu Sa'id Uthman Ibn Sa‘id al-Qutbi, better known as Warsh (110-197AH), was a significant figure in the history of
Quranic recitation
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. Diffe ...
(''qira'at''), the canonical methods of reciting 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 ...
.
Alongside
Qalun
Abu Musa ‘Isa Ibn Mina al-Zarqi, better known as Qalun (120-220AH),Peter G. RiddellEarly Malay Qur'anic exegical activity p. 164. Taken from ''Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses''. London: C. Hurst & Co., 2001. was ...
, he was one of the two primary transmitters of the canonical
reading method of Nafi‘ al-Madani.
Together, their style is the most common form of Qur'anic recitation in the generality of African mosques outside of Egypt, and is also popular in Yemen
and
Darfur despite the rest of
Sudan following the method of
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 ...
. The method of Warsh and his counterpart Qalun was also the most popular method of recitation in
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
. The majority of printed
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 ...
s today in
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
follow the reading of Warsh.
He died in 812CE.
Warsh recitation
Warsh 'an Naafi' is one of the main canonical methods of reciting 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 ...
. The recitations of the Quran, known in Arabic as
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 ...
, are conducted under the rules of the
Tajwid
In the context of the recitation of the Quran, ''tajwīd'' ( ar, تجويد ', , ' elocution') is a set of rules for the correct pronunciation of the letters with all their qualities and applying the various traditional methods of recitation (' ...
Science. It is attributed to Imam Warsh who in turn got it from his teacher
Nafi‘ al-Madani who was one of the transmitters of the seven recitations. The recitation of Warsh 'an Naafi' is one of two major recitation traditions. The second is
Hafs 'an 'Asim
Abū Amr Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Abi Dawud Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah, al-Asadī al-Kūfī ( ar, أبو عمرو حفص بن سليمان بن المغيرة الأسدي الكوفي), better known as Hafs (706–796 CE; 90–18 ...
.
History
Imam Warsh (110-197AH) was born Uthman Ibn Sa‘id al-Qutbi in Egypt. He was called Warsh, a substance of milk, by his teacher Naafi' because he was light skinned. He learned his recitation from Naafi' at
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
. After finishing his education, he returned to Egypt where he became the senior reciter of the Quran.
In the 10th century, the Muslim scholar
Ibn Mujāhid canonized the seven readings of the Quran including Warsh 'an Naafi'. However, only the transmission of Asim and Warsh remains influential. The Warsh 'an Naafi' recitation became widespread in North Africa, in large part because it was the preferred recitation of Imam Malik ibn Anas, whose Maliki school of jurisprudence predominated in that region of the world. In Medieval times, it was the main Quranic recitation in
Islamic Iberia
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mus ...
. The Warsh 'an Naafi' transmission represents the recitational tradition of Medina.
Comparison of Warsh and Hafs recitation
The
Warsh 'an Naafi' recitation
Abu Sa'id Uthman Ibn Sa‘id al-Qutbi, better known as Warsh (110-197AH), was a significant figure in the history of Quranic recitation (''qira'at''), the canonical methods of reciting the Qur'an. Alongside Qalun, he was one of the two primary ...
of the Quran differs from
Hafs 'an Asim in
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...
. 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 that go beyond 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:
See also
Ten readers and transmitters
*
Nafi‘ al-Madani
**
Qalun
Abu Musa ‘Isa Ibn Mina al-Zarqi, better known as Qalun (120-220AH),Peter G. RiddellEarly Malay Qur'anic exegical activity p. 164. Taken from ''Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses''. London: C. Hurst & Co., 2001. was ...
**Warsh
*
Ibn Kathir al-Makki
Abū Maʿbad (or Abū Bakr) ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr al-Dārānī al-Makkī, better known as Ibn Kathir al-Makki (45-120AH), was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an.Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Sai ...
**
Al-Bazzi
**
Qunbul
Abu ‘Amr Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman, al-Makhzumi, better known as Qunbul (195-291 AH / 808-904 CE), was one of the primary transmitters of one of the Qira'at, or the canonical methods of reading the Qur'an.Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM SaifullahT ...
*
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 ...
**
Ad-Duri
**
Al-Susi
*
Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amir Ibn Yazid Ibn Tamim Ibn Rabi‘ah al-Yahsibi, better known as Ibn Amir (118 AH - 736 CE),Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.Shady Hekmat NasserIbn Mujah ...
**
Hisham ibn Ammar
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, هشام بن عبد الملك, Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; 691 – 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743.
Early life
Hisham was born in Damascus, the administra ...
**
Ibn Dhakwan
*
Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud
Abu Bakr ‘Aasim Ibn Abi al-Najud al-'Asadi (d. 127AH/745CE),Shady Hekmat NasserIbn 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 Eme ...
**
Shu'bah
Abu Bakr Shu‘bah Ibn ‘Ayyash Ibn Salim al-Asadi al-Kufi an-Nahshali (died 809 CE),Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 390. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2004. Abu Dawood, '' Sunan Abu Dawood'', vol. 3, p. 1113. of Trns ...
**
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 ...
*
Hamzah az-Zaiyyat
Abu ‘Imarah Hamzah Ibn Habib al-Zayyat al-Taymi, better known as Hamzah az-Zaiyyat (80-156AH), Edward SellThe Faith of Islam pg. 341. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2013 reprint. Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM SaifullahThe Ten Readers & Their Transmit ...
**
Khalaf
**
Khallad
Abu ‘Isa Khallad Ibn Khalid al-Baghdadi, best known as Khallad (?-220AH),Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016. was a significant early figure in the Qira'at,Aisha BewleyThe Sev ...
*
Al-Kisa'i
Al-Kisā’ī () Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman (), called Bahman ibn Fīrūz (), surnamed Abū ‘Abd Allāh (), and Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Hamzah of al-Kūfah ( d. ca. 804 or 812) was preceptor to th ...
**
Al-Layth Al-Layth ibn Ali ibn al-Layth (died 928) was amir of the Saffarid amirate from 909 until 910. He was the son of Ali ibn al-Layth and nephew of the first two Saffarid rulers, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth and Amr ibn al-Layth.
Biography
In 890 al-Layth ...
**
Ad-Duri
*Abu Ja'far
**'Isa ibn Waddan
**Ibn Jummaz
*Ya'qub al-Yamani
**Ruways
**Rawh
*
Khalaf
**Ishaq
**Idris
:Fa:قرائت ورش از نافع
References
{{Authority control
812 deaths
Quran
Quranic readings
Warsh recitation