The word · The Qur’an
القِراءات
Qira'at
The canonical ways of reciting the Qur'an, each carried by chain from the Prophet through a named reader.
Also written · Qiraat · Qira'aat · Qiraah · Qira'ah · Qiraa'at · Qirat · Kiraat · Qiraat al-ashr · ten qiraat · readings of the Quran · recitation styles
The meaning
What Qira'at means in Islam
Ten readings are accepted as authentic, each passed on by two main transmitters, giving twenty transmissions in common use. The differences are small and mostly touch vowels, lengthening or a single letter; they rarely change meaning, and where they do the two meanings sit alongside each other rather than clash. A reading counts as authentic only if it has a sound chain, fits the Uthmanic skeleton and is valid Arabic.
Evidence · Sunnah · Established in the authentic Sunnah
Read beside it
Rooms that name it
Words that sit beside it
- Hafs an AsimThe reading found in most printed mushafs today, transmitted by Hafs from his teacher Asim of Kufa.حَفْصٌ عَنْ عاصِم
- Warsh an NafiThe reading common in North and West Africa, transmitted by Warsh from Nafi of Madinah.وَرْشٌ عَنْ نافِع
- Al-Ahruf as-Sab'ahThe seven modes in which the Qur'an was revealed, an ease for the community; what a mode is stays disputed.الأَحْرُفُ السَّبْعَة
- Rasm UthmaniThe spelling of the Uthmanic copies, kept in mushafs even where it differs from modern Arabic spelling.الرَّسْمُ العُثْمانِيّ
- Ijazah (in recitation)A licence to teach a reading, granted after reciting the entire Qur'an to a qualified teacher.إِجازَة
More from The Qur’an
- Al-FatihahThe seven verse opening surah, recited in the prayer; most schools require it in every unit.الفاتِحَة
- HifzMemorising the Qur'an by heart, traditionally with a teacher who hears you every day.الحِفْظ
- IzharPronouncing a nun sakinah or tanwin clearly, with no nasal hum, before one of six throat letters.الإِظْهار
- ManzilOne of seven divisions of the Qur'an, used by those who complete a full reading each week.مَنْزِل
- Nuzul al-Qur'anThe sending down of the Qur'an: gradually, over roughly twenty three years, alongside real events.نُزولُ القُرْآن
- SurahA chapter of the Qur'an; there are 114, arranged in the mushaf rather than by date of revelation.سورَة