We say: As for the six dialects in which recitation was revealed, we have no need to know them, because even if we knew them, we would not recite in them today, given the reasons we have previously mentioned. It has been said that five of them belong to the sub-tribes (ʿujur) of Hawāzin, and two of them belong to Quraysh and Khuzāʿa. All of that was narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās, but the narration from him is not from among those whose transmission may be used as proof. That is because the one who narrated from him that "five of them are from the dialect of the sub-tribes of Hawāzin" is al-Kalbī, from Abū Ṣāliḥ; and the one who narrated from him that "the other two dialects are the dialect of Quraysh and Khuzāʿa" is Qatāda, and Qatāda did not meet him nor hear from him (1).
65- Some of our companions narrated to me, he said: Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr al-Khuzāʿī narrated to us, he said: Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, from Qatāda, from Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The Qurʾān was revealed in the dialect of Quraysh and the dialect of Khuzāʿa, and that is because their abode was one.
66- And some of our companions narrated to me, he said: Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr narrated to us, he said: Shuʿba narrated to us, from Qatāda, from Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī, he said: The Qurʾān was revealed in the dialect of the two Kaʿbs: Kaʿb ibn ʿAmr and Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy. So Khālid ibn Salama said to Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm: "Are you not amazed by this blind man! He claims that the Qurʾān was revealed in the dialect of the two Kaʿbs, whereas it was only revealed in the dialect of Quraysh!" (2)
Notes
- (1) See what Ibn Ḥajar comprehensively covered in the commentary of this whole chapter in Fatḥ al-Bārī (9: 30), Ibn al-Jazarī in al-Nashr (1: 19–53), and Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān by Ibn Kathīr (54–80).
- (2) Report 66: This narration is also broken, for Qatāda was born in the year 61 AH, while Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī died in the year 69 AH.
Al-Khaṭīb narrated in Tārīkh Baghdād (5: 173–174) something similar Marfu' (attributed directly to the Prophet), with his Chain of transmission, through "Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-ʿAṭāridī: My father narrated to me from Sahl ibn Shuʿayb from Ibn Sufyān al-Aslamī, who said: The Messenger of Allah Peace and blessings of God be upon him said: 'The Qurʾān was revealed in the dialect of the two Kaʿbs: Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy, who is the ancestor of Quraysh, and Kaʿb ibn ʿAmr, who is the ancestor of Khuzāʿa.'"
And this Chain of transmission is obscure!! As for Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār: Ibn Abī Ḥātim wrote his biography in al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (1/1: 62) and said: "I wrote from him, but I refrained from narrating from him when people spoke against him." Then he narrated from his father, Abū Ḥātim, who said: "He is not strong." As for ʿAbd al-Jabbār, the father of this Aḥmad, I have found no biography for him at all. As for Sahl ibn Shuʿayb, Ibn Abī Ḥātim also wrote his biography (vol. 2/1: 199), mentioning that he narrates "from al-Shaʿbī and ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kindī", but he mentioned neither Discrediting nor Attestation for him, and I found no other biography for him. As for "Ibn Sufyān al-Aslamī", I do not know who he is, and I do not think he belongs to the generation of the Companions, since Sahl ibn Shuʿayb did not meet that era; even if he were among them, the Chain of transmission would be broken.
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