The Treatment of Anomalous Qur'anic Readings by Ibn al-Shajari (d. 542 AH) in His Amali

Abstract

Abstract:

The research discusses the science of directing Quranic recitations, a precise and significant field that has received considerable attention from major exegetes, reciters, and linguists. Their approaches to serving this science varied: some dedicated independent, comprehensive works to it, such as Abu Mansur al-Azhari, Ibn Khalawayh, Abu Ali al-Farisi, Ibn Jinni, Ibn Zanjala, Makki ibn Abi Talib, and Ibn Abi Maryam al-Fasawi, while others addressed it within specific books, ensuring no ambiguous aspect of the recitations was left without clarification, as done by exegetes like al-Tabari, al-Zamakhshari, al-Tha‘labi, Ibn ‘Atiyya, Abu Hayyan, and al-Qurtubi, among others.

Among the sources for directing recitations are books not typically expected to contain such material due to their apparent disconnection from the subject, such as works of literature, history, and hadith commentaries. The research highlights that the book Al-Amali by Ibn al-Shajari contains a significant amount of material on directing recitations. The study focuses specifically on analyzing the direction of irregular (shawadh) recitations in this work, through two main points.

The primary objective of the research is to draw researchers' attention to the wealth of material on directing recitations found in unexpected sources, encouraging further exploration, verification, and documentation of these resources.