ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: "Whoever recites according to one mode, let him by no means abandon it for another." (1)

So it is known that ʿAbd Allāh did not mean by this statement of his: "Whoever recites what is in the Qur'an of command and prohibition, let him not abandon it for reciting what is in it of promise and threat, and whoever recites what is in it of promise and threat, let him not abandon it for reciting what is in it of stories and parables." Rather, he—may Allah have mercy on him—meant that whoever recites according to his mode—and his mode means his recitation, and similarly the Arabs say for a man's recitation: 'so-and-so's mode (ḥarf)', and they say for a letter among the disconnected letters of the alphabet: 'a letter (ḥarf)', just as they say for an ode among a poet's odes: 'so-and-so's word'—let him not turn away from it to another out of aversion to it. And whoever recites according to the mode of Ubayy, or the mode of Zayd, or the mode of one of the Companions of the Messenger of God, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, who recited according to one of the seven modes—let him not turn away from it to another out of aversion to it, for disbelief in a part of it is disbelief in all of it, and disbelief in one mode (ḥarf) of that is disbelief in all of it; by mode (ḥarf), he meant what we described of the recitation of whoever recited according to one of the seven modes.

51- Yaḥyā ibn Dāwūd al-Wāsiṭī narrated to us, saying: Abū Usāmah narrated to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, who said: Anas recited this verse: {Indeed, the hours of the night are more effective for concurrence and more suitable for words} [Surah al-Muzzammil: 6]. Some of the people said to him: "O Abū Ḥamzah, it is only 'and more upright (wa-aqwamu)'." So he said: "Aqwamu, aṣwabu, and ahay'u are one and the same." (2)