That's how I understand the issue too, Abdal Qadir. The seven ahruf can be looked at as variables, which can change. The mutawatir qiraa'aat will each be composed of these 7 ahruf in different ways. Thus, potentially, there could have been more than 10 mutawatir narrations, but that's just how things unfolded in time. All are equally valid since they only vary in terms of those ahruf, but they do this in different ways. So yes, I'd tend to agree with your last statement, unless a knowledgable brother like sayyidi Abu Hasan could correct us. That would bring me on to the next issue: Is it really a requirement that the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam be heard reciting the entire Qur'an in every single way, exhausting the various possible ways that the ahruf could be changed? Surely that would be impractical, considering how many potential possibilities there could be. As long as the qiraa'aat only varied by the ahruf, they would be valid as per the hadith, no? The fact that people like az-Zayyat were known for mixing the qira'aat narrated from Imam 'Ali and Ibn Mas'ud (which were different, owing to the Quraysh vs. Hudhayl difference) seems to reinforce this idea.
basically the 10 "qira'aat/recitations" are really 10 NARRATIONS/RIWAYAT OF these same 7 ahruf/recitations that were revealed unto the Prophet, 3alaihis salam would it be right to state that the 10 narrations through the 10 primary narrators and then through the 20 major narrators would then involve some mixing between the 7 ahruf?
the analogy of hadith books is relevant in another sense. there are many hadith which overlap. some found in bukhari and muslim, some found in tirmidhi and muslim, some found in bukhari alone etc. similarly, the elements of qira'at overlap. this is to clear the misconception - if there is - that difference is found in every aspect and seven differences in every such aspect. a much broader summation would be: differences in some parts and the differences are not necessarily uniform, nor consistent [except in tajweed/pronunciation; even there we have very minute differences]. this is because of the revelation and revelation is confirmed only by authentic reports. it is an article of faith for every muslim to believe in the 7 qira'at and that all 7 recitations are the Word of Allah. Allah ta'ala knows best.
sayyiduna `uthman unified the script or the writing of the qur'an and that is why it is called 'rasm al-`uthmani', written according to the [standardized] script of `uthman. Allah ta'ala knows best. --- update: actually, sayyiduna `uthman collected the qur'an in one mus'Haf and all other transcripts were destroyed. this is perhaps a good example of standardization. prior to this various verses were written on paper, parchment and shoulder-blades of [edible?] animals. they were not in book form and in order. --- aside: zakir naik can now safely proclaim that we invented standardization , forerunners of ISO etc. [/funny]
in bukhari is the hadith: 'the qur'an was revealed in seven letters' [sab'a aHruf] here aHruf/letters are a phrase to mean, in seven recitations. --- so it is like asking, which Hadith from bukhari, muslim or tirmidhi did RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam utter? the answer would be all of them [rigorously authenticated, to be safe] but this was 'reported' by bukhari and that was 'narrated' by muslim and so forth. similarly, the names of qira'at are after the ruwwat - or the narrators. --- each qira'at/recitation has further been reported by two major narrators and hence fourteen qira'at. these seven [fourteen] are famous; there are three others [3x2=6] which are not so famous. imam jazri's book an-nashr [fi'l qira'ati'l `ashar] is perhaps the definitive guide on all these ten qira'ats [and their further minor subdivisions]. indeed, imam shaTibi's 'Hirz al-amani wa wajhu't tahani' precedes imam jazri and is considered the final word among the qira'at specialists. but Hirz is a complex poem, which only the specialists understand! now, what do we mean by qira'at and what are the 'types' of differences? in brief, there is a difference in pronunciation mainly. accent for example [qaaf for example, or the elongated alif being slanted - imalah], or articulation [like surah yusuf: bushraa is recited bushraya, bushraa, bushrey, etc.] a difference in declension [m-l-k in surah fatihah is recited maaliki and maliki], a difference in assimilation [idgham] like in surah yusuf where bal-sawwalat is recited by some as ba's sawwalat; they have assimilation of lam and sin where as we recite [HafS] without assimilation [iz'har]. a notable difference between the two major [in the sense well-known, widespread] qir'aat of warsh and HafS is the stopped-hamza. ma'kul in surah al-feel for example or mu'min is recited with stop at hamzah by HafS; and warsh recites it as an elongation. maakul and muuminin. there is a difference of a letter being different like sirat al-mustaqim is recited by seen and Saad. etc. ---- an excellent demonstration - my favorite - are `abdul basiT's live recitations. listen to them online here: http://www.islamophile.org/spip/article651.html and i am sure we have it somewhere here on our forum in mp3. his recitation of surah yusuf is simply beautiful. or is that of surah mariyam better? check the short surahs starting from fatihah. Allah ta'ala knows best.
so sayyidina Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wasallam recited them all? i was confused because i thought that when the Qur'an was taken to non-arabs, they recited in a different way and then i think it was sayyidina uthman radiyallahu ta'ala anhu who made one recitation the norm.
are you serious? is there any qiraa'at which can be considered valid if it was not recited by RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam. wa's salam.
