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 | |
| NAME | Abu Bakr 'Asim, Kufah, Iraq |
| DATE | 158 AH / 778 AD |
| TRANSMISSION | Ibn Ayyash |
| USAGE | 95% of all Muslims* Majority of Muslim world |
| Warsh | |
| 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 |
| Hisham | |
| NAME | Ibn 'Amir, Basra, Iraq |
| DATE | 118 AH / 736 AD |
| TRANSMISSION | Ibn Dhakwan |
| USAGE | 1% of all Muslims Yemen (part) |
| Qalun | |
| 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) |
| Al-Duri | |
| 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 |
To see the word variations between the Hafs and Warsh Quran, click here
* Popularity, percentage usage in Muslim world
174-quran-5-recitations
| Author: Guest • Updated: 06 Sep 2026 • 32,270 views | 2 hrs ago |
Explore More
What is The Quran?Quran, literally meaning "the recitation" is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God (Allah). It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature. The Quran is divided into chapters (surah in Arabic), which are then divided into
verses (ayah). Muslims believe that the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibril), gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam and ended with Muhammad.
Who are ONS?
