Quran - 5 Recitations: Hafs, Warsh, Hisham, Qalun & Al-Duri

Historically, the Quran was read in various recitations.

The Quran's recitation or Qiraat is the manner of pronounciation of the Quran. The various recitations do not alter the message of the Quran or prove that 'different versions' of the Quran exist.

1 Muhammad receives revelation from God through the Angel Gabrial
2 Muhammad recites the revelation back to this companions, who memorise it
3 The companions verify what they memorised by reciting back the revelation to Muhammad
4 Muhammad allows for minor variations in pronounciations, so long as the original meaning does not change
5 Later, the companions write down the 'memorised' revelation and compile it into a single book, the Quran

The flexibility in the Quran's recitation enriched God's revelation and it enabled Arab tribes, with their own dialects, accent and 'tribal' styles to better understand God's message.

A native American man reads a story to a British man from UK. Both men read the story differently in their own accents, yet both men understand the same story in the English language

The table below lists the five main Quran recitations, in % popularity order.

Hafs

1 of 5

NAME	Abu Bakr 'Asim, Kufah, Iraq
DATE	158 AH / 778 AD
TRANSMISSION	Ibn Ayyash
USAGE	95% of all Muslims* Majority of Muslim world W Qira%27at

Warsh

2 of 5

NAME	Nafi Bin Abdulrahman, Medina, Saudi Arabia
DATE	169 AH / 785 AD
TRANSMISSION	Unknown
USAGE	3% of all Muslims Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia (part), West Africa and Sudan W Warsh_%27an_Naafi%27

Hisham

3 of 5

NAME	Ibn 'Amir, Basra, Iraq
DATE	118 AH / 736 AD
TRANSMISSION	Ibn Dhakwan
USAGE	1% of all Muslims Yemen (part)

Qalun

4 of 5

NAME	Nafi Bin Abdulrahman, Medina, Saudi Arabia
DATE	169 AH / 785 AD
TRANSMISSION	Unknown
USAGE	0.7% of all Muslims Libya, Tunisia and Qatar (part) W Qalun

Al-Duri

5 of 5

NAME	Abu 'Amr al-Ala, Damascus, Syria,
DATE	153 AH / 770 AD
TRANSMISSION	Al-Suri
USAGE	0.3% of all Muslims Sudan (part) and West Africa W Al-Duri

To see the word variations between the Hafs and Warsh Quran, click here

* Popularity, percentage usage in Muslim world

CREDIT
http://www.qurantext.org/qiraat.html
http://www.free-minds.org/which-quran
http://answering-islam.org/Green/seven.htm#appendix_4
http://quransmessage.com/articles/seven%20readings%20FM3.htm
https://refutingansweringislam.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/textual-integrity-the-different-seven-versions-of-quran/
The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, Cyril Glasse, p324

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Quran - 5 Recitations: Hafs, Warsh, Hisham, Qalun & Al-Duri

Historically, the Quran was read in various recitations.

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