Qiraat

The ten readers and their rawis

Each line is a riwayah: it joins a rawi to the reader he transmits from, which is where its name comes from, for example Hafs an Asim.

حَفْص عَن عَاصِمHafs an Asim

hafsthe rawianfromasimthe reader

Asim is conventionally paired with the Kufi ayah numbering: 6,236 ayahs.

Muqri — المقرئ

Definition: One who has received the recitation, mastered it, and transmits it to learners.

Purpose: Used to represent the role of teaching, receiving and granting the recitation, which is distinct from being a reciter.

Related: reciter, rawi, qiraah

Sources:

• النشر في القراءات العشر — 1/268

Qiraah — القراءة

Definition: One of the ways of reciting the Quran, attributed to one of the imams of the qiraat, from which the riwayahs and tariqs branch.

Purpose: Represents the top level of the qiraat model and ties together the riwayahs, the tariqs and the texts bound to them.

Related: riwayah, rawi, tariq, muqri, ayah_numbering_system, qiraah_mark

Sources:

• مباحث في علوم القرآن — 1/171

Rawi — الراوي

Definition: One to whom a transmission from an imam of a qiraah is attributed.

Purpose: Used to represent the person a riwayah is bound to.

• A rawi is the transmitter a riwayah is attributed to; a reciter is the performer of a recording. A performer is not a rawi merely because they recite in his riwayah.

Related: riwayah, qiraah, reciter, muqri

Sources:

• مباحث في علوم القرآن — 1/171
• النشر في القراءات العشر — 1/115

Riwayah — الرواية

Definition: What is attributed to a transmitter from an imam of a qiraah, such as the riwayah of Hafs from Asim.

Purpose: Used to state which riwayah a text, a mushaf, a recording or a dataset follows.

Related: qiraah, rawi, tariq, recitation, mushaf_edition, wajh

Sources:

• مباحث في علوم القرآن — 1/171
• النشر في القراءات العشر — 1/115

Tariq — الطريق

Definition: A path of transmission taken from a rawi through those below him in the chain of transmission of a qiraah.

Purpose: Used when data needs a finer level than the riwayah to tell paths of delivery and transmission apart.

The four named routes applications store — shatibiyyah, tayyibat_al_nashr, durrah, taysir — are in registries/tariq.tsv; the full enumeration, some 980 turuq of al-Nashr, is still open.

Related: riwayah, qiraah, wajh

Sources:

• النشر في القراءات العشر — 1/115
• النشر في القراءات العشر — 1/146

Wajh — الوجه

Definition: One of several manners of delivery, any of which may be taken within one riwayah or one tariq, such as the wajhs of madd arid li al-sukun.

Purpose: Used when a recording or a lesson needs to state which of the permitted wajhs was taken, without attributing the difference to a riwayah or a tariq.

• A wajh does not change what the reading is attributed to; a tariq does.

Related: tariq, riwayah, madd_arid_li_al_sukun