Editing Quran (section)

== Recitation ==
[[File:Men reading the Koran in Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria.jpg|thumb|left|Men reading the Quran at the [[Umayyad Mosque]], [[Damascus]], [[Syria]]]]

=== Rules of recitation ===
{{See also|Tajwid}}
The proper recitation of the Quran is the subject of a separate discipline named ''[[tajwid]]'' which determines in detail how the Quran should be recited, how each individual syllable is to be pronounced, the need to pay attention to the places where there should be a pause, to [[elision]]s, where the pronunciation should be long or short, where letters should be sounded together and where they should be kept separate, etc. It may be said that this discipline studies the laws and methods of the proper recitation of the Quran and covers three main areas: the proper pronunciation of [[consonant]]s and [[vowel]]s (the articulation of the Quranic [[phoneme]]s), the rules of pause in recitation and of resumption of recitation, and the musical and melodious features of recitation.<ref name="Routledge-2006">{{Citation |date=2006 |title=[[iarchive:quranencyclopedi2006unse|The Qur'an: an Encyclopedia]] |editor-link=Oliver Leaman |editor-first=Oliver |editor-last=Leaman |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-32639-1}}:{{Bulleted list|"Art and the Qur'an" by [[Tamara Sonn]], pp. 71–81;|"Reading," by Stefan Wild, pp. 532–35.}}</ref>

In order to avoid incorrect pronunciation, reciters follow a program of training with a qualified teacher. The two most popular texts used as references for {{Transliteration|ar|tajwid}} rules are Matn al-Jazariyyah by [[Ibn al-Jazari]]<ref name="ilm-gate-jazari">{{cite web |last1=Thānawi |first1=Qāri Izhār |title=The Great Imām of Qirā'ah: Muhammad Ibn al-Jazari |url=https://www.ilmgate.org/the-great-imam-of-qiraah-muhammad-ibn-al-jazari/ |website=IlmGate |access-date=9 September 2020 |date=21 January 2019}}</ref> and Tuhfat al-Atfal by Sulayman al-Jamzuri.

The recitations of a few Egyptian reciters, like [[El Minshawy]], [[Al-Hussary]], [[Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad|Abdul Basit]], [[Mustafa Ismail]], were highly influential in the development of current styles of recitation.<ref name="big41">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thedawoodibohras.com/2018/02/02/khalaf-from-hamzah-a-look-at-the-features-of-recitation-of-al-quran-by-shahzada-husain-bhaisaheb/|title=Khalaf from Hamzah – A look at the features of recitation of al-Qur'an by Shahzada Husain Bhaisaheb|date=2 February 2018|orig-date=28 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519004648/https://www.thedawoodibohras.com/2018/02/02/khalaf-from-hamzah-a-look-at-the-features-of-recitation-of-al-quran-by-shahzada-husain-bhaisaheb/|archive-date=19 May 2020|author=Taha Shoeb|work=The Dawoodi Bohras}}</ref><ref name=big42>{{Cite web|title=A Meeting with the Egyptian Giants, al-Minshāwī, al-Huṣrī, Muṣṭafā Ismāʿīl and ʿAbdul-Bāsit ʿAbdus-Ṣamad|work=islam21c.com|author=Ejaz Taj|url=https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/shaykh-khalil-abdul-rahman-al-qari-a-quranic-legacy/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518025709/https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/shaykh-khalil-abdul-rahman-al-qari-a-quranic-legacy/|archive-date=18 May 2020|access-date=18 May 2020|date=6 September 2018}}</ref><ref name="big44">{{cite book |editor-last1=Nooshin |editor-first1=Laundan |first1=Michael |last1=Frishkopf |date=28 December 2009|title=In Music and Play of Power in the Middle East |chapter-url=https://pdfslide.net/documents/mediated-quranic-recitation-and-the-contestation-of-islam-in-.html |chapter=Mediated Qur'anic Recitation and the Contestation of Islam in Contemporary Egypt |language=en |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7546-3457-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519171344/https://pdfslide.net/documents/mediated-quranic-recitation-and-the-contestation-of-islam-in-.html |archive-date=19 May 2020|via=pdfslide.net}}</ref>{{rp|83}} Southeast Asia is well known for world-class recitation, evidenced in the popularity of the woman reciters such as [[Maria Ulfah]] of [[Jakarta]].<ref name="Routledge-2006" /> Today, crowds fill auditoriums for public [[International Quran Recital Competition|Quran recitation competition]]s.<ref name="big43">{{Cite web|url=https://iqna.ir/en/news/3471344/best-quran-recitation-competition-for-students-planned-in-egypt|title=Best Quran Recitation Competition for Students Planned in Egypt|date=4 May 2020|website=iqna.ir|archive-date=19 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519023215/https://iqna.ir/en/news/3471344/best-quran-recitation-competition-for-students-planned-in-egypt}}</ref><ref name=Esposito/>

There are generally two types of recitation (based on pace of recitation):

# {{Transliteration|ar|Murattal}} is a recitation at moderate pace, used for study and practice.
# ''[[Mujawwad]]'' refers to a slower recitation that deploys heightened technical artistry and melodic modulation, as in public performances by trained experts. It is directed to and dependent upon an audience for the {{Transliteration|ar|mujawwad}} reciter seeks to involve the listeners.<ref name="nelson">{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Kristina|title=The art of reciting the Qur'an|year=2001|publisher=American Univ. in Cairo Press|location=Cairo [u.a.]|isbn=978-977-424-594-7|edition=New}}</ref>

=== Variant readings ===
{{See also|Qira'at|Ahruf|Seven readers|Ten recitations}}
[[File:Qur'an folio 11th century kufic.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Page of the Quran with vocalization marks]]
The variant readings of the Quran are one type of textual variant.<ref>{{harvnb|Rippin|2006}}:{{Bulleted list|"Written Transmission," by [[François Déroche]], pp. 172–87.|"Recitation," by Anna M. Gade, pp. 481–93}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Small| first = Keith E.| publisher = Lexington Books| isbn = 978-0-7391-4291-2| title = Textual Criticism and Qur'an Manuscripts| date = 2011 |pages=109–111}}</ref> According to Melchert (2008), the majority of disagreements have to do with vowels to supply, most of them in turn not conceivably reflecting dialectal differences and about one in eight disagreements has to do with whether to place dots above or below the line.<ref name=Melchert>{{cite journal|last=Melchert|first=Christopher|title=The Relation of the [[Ten recitations|Ten Readings]] to One Another|journal=Journal of Quranic Studies|year=2008|volume=10|issue=2|pages=73–87|doi=10.3366/e1465359109000424}}</ref> Nasser categorizes variant readings into various subtypes, including internal vowels, long vowels, [[gemination]] (''[[shaddah]]''), [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]] and [[Alternation (linguistics)|alternation]].<ref name=nasser>{{cite book|last=Hekmat Nasser|first=Shady|title=The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Quran: The Problem of Tawatur and the Emergence of Shawdhdh|year=2012|publisher=Brill Academic Pub|isbn=978-90-04-24081-0}}</ref>

It is generally stated that there are small differences between readings. However, these small changes may also include differences that may lead to serious differences in Islam, ranging from the definition of God{{efn-lr|Qira’at: All except for ʻAsem, Al-Kesa’i, Yaʻqub and Khalaf in one of his narrations read [māliki yawmi-d-dīn(i)] as ''{{verse||4}} King of the Day of Judgement.}} to practices such as the [[wudu|formal conditions of ablution]].<ref name="Combat">{{cite book |last1=Al-Hurr al-Amili |first1=Muhammad |title=Combat with the Self |year=2003 |publisher=Saqi Books (November 8, 2003) |isbn=978-1904063148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3g5I3nORiUC |author1-link=Al-Hurr al-Amili |access-date=19 July 2024 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009193156/https://books.google.com/books?id=p3g5I3nORiUC |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The first Quranic manuscripts lacked marks, enabling multiple possible recitations to be conveyed by the same written text. The 10th-century Muslim scholar from [[Baghdad]], [[Abu Bakr Ibn Mujāhid|Ibn Mujāhid]], is famous for establishing seven acceptable textual readings of the Quran. He studied various readings and their trustworthiness and chose seven 8th-century readers from the cities of [[Mecca]], [[Medina]], [[Kufa]], [[Basra]] and [[Damascus]]. Ibn Mujahid did not explain why he chose [[seven readers]], rather than six or ten, but this may be related to a prophetic tradition (Muhammad's saying) reporting that the Quran had been revealed in seven ''[[ahruf]]''. Today, the most popular readings are those transmitted by [[Hafs|Ḥafṣ]] (d. 796) and [[Warsh]] (d. 812) which are according to two of Ibn Mujahid's reciters, [[Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud]] (Kufa, d. 745) and [[Nafiʽ al-Madani]] (Medina, d. 785), respectively. The influential standard [[History of the Quran#1924 Cairo edition|Quran of Cairo]] uses an elaborate system of modified vowel-signs and a set of additional symbols for minute details and is based on ʻAsim's recitation, the 8th-century recitation of Kufa. This edition has become the standard for modern printings of the Quran.<ref name=rippin /><ref name=melchert2>{{cite journal|last=Melchert|first=Christopher|title=Ibn Mujahid and the Establishment of Seven Qur'anic Readings|journal=Studia Islamica|year=2000|issue=91|pages=5–22|doi=10.2307/1596266|jstor=1596266}}</ref> Occasionally, an early Quran shows compatibility with a particular reading. A Syrian manuscript from the 8th century is shown to have been written according to the reading of [[Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi]].<ref name=dutton>{{cite journal|last=Dutton|first=Yasin|title=An Early Mushaf According To The Reading Of Ibn ʻAmir|journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies|year=2001|volume=3|issue=2|pages=71–89|doi=10.3366/jqs.2001.3.1.71}}</ref> Another study suggests that this manuscript bears the vocalization of [[homs|himsi]] region.<ref name=rabb>{{cite journal|last=Rabb|first=Intisar|title=Non-Canonical Readings of the Qur'an: Recognition and Authenticity (The Ḥimṣī Reading)|journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies|year=2006|volume=8|issue=2|pages=88–127|doi=10.3366/jqs.2006.8.2.84}}</ref>

According to [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] vocalization markers indicating specific vowel sounds ([[Arabic diacritics|''tashkeel'']]) were introduced into the text of the Quran during the lifetimes of the last [[Companions of the Prophet|Sahabah]].<ref name="Ibn Taymiyyah" />