Translation · EN
AI translationhe had unified them upon. And he resolved upon everyone who possessed a codex conflicting with the codex upon which he had unified them, that he tear it up (1). So the nation united behind him in that with obedience (2), and saw that in what he did of that lay righteousness and guidance, so it abandoned reading in the six other modes which its just Imam resolved upon leaving, out of obedience to him, and out of consideration for itself and for those after it among the rest of the people of its religion, until knowledge of them faded from the nation and their traces were erased. Thus, no one today has any way to recite in them, due to their obsolescence and the effacement of their traces, and the succession of Muslims in relinquishing recitation in them—not out of denial of their authenticity or the authenticity of any of them (3), but out of consideration for themselves and for the rest of the people of their religion. Therefore, there is no recitation for Muslims today except in the single mode that their compassionate and sincere Imam chose for them, to the exclusion of all the other six remaining modes.
If someone of weak knowledge should say: "How was it permissible for them to abandon a recitation that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of God be upon him, taught them to recite, and commanded them to recite?"
It is said: Indeed, his command to them regarding that was not a command of obligation and duty, but rather a command of permission and dispensation. For if reciting in them had been an obligation upon them, it would have been mandatory that knowledge of every mode among those seven modes be present among those whose transmission establishes proof, whose report eliminates excuse, and removes doubt from the reciters of the nation (4). And in their abandoning the transmission of that in such a manner lies the clearest evidence that they were given a choice regarding reading in them, provided that among the transmitters of the Qurʾān in the nation there remain those whose transmission establishes proof for some of those seven modes.
Notes
- (1) In both places in the printed edition, it is "and burned" (ḥarraqa) with an unpointed ḥāʾ and "burns it" (yuḥriquhu). Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Fatḥ (9: 18) in the commentary on the hadith of al-Bukhārī: "In the narration of most, it is 'that it be torn' (yukhraqa) with a pointed khāʾ, and for al-Marwazī with an unpointed ḥāʾ, and al-Aṣīlī narrated it both ways, but the pointed khāʾ is more established." Tearing (kharaqa) a book or a garment means splitting it and ripping it apart.
- (2) In both the printed edition and the manuscript, it is "fastawthaqat". Ibn Kathīr quoted it in al-Faḍāʾil (p. 70) as "fastawsaqat", which is correct. The people istawsaqa: they gathered and joined together. In the hadith of al-Najāshī: "The matter of Abyssinia istawsaqa for him," meaning they gathered in obedience to him. And the matter istawsaqa for so-and-so means: when it became achievable for him and came together for him.
- (3) His statement, "without any rejection from it", meaning from the Ummah (community), and likewise the pronouns after it.
- (4) In the printed edition: "from the reading of the Ummah", but al-quraʾa is the plural of qāriʾ (reciter). See what preceded (51, in the commentary) and what comes next (109, commentary 1).
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