Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (10/171)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

A sizable company of leading authorities also transmitted his mode of recitation, and nothing comparable was ever recorded for al-Ḥaḍramī. Only when a later generation arose—people unfamiliar with it and wholly ignorant of it—did they repudiate it, for whoever is ignorant of a thing is apt to oppose it. They declared, “It has not reached us through tawātur (mass transmission).”

We reply: it has in fact reached a great many people through tawātur, and tawātur does not require that something reach every last member of the Muslim community. Among the professional reciters there are mutawātir readings unknown to others; among the jurists there are mutawātir issues transmitted from their imams that the reciters do not know; among the hadith specialists there are mutawātir reports the jurists may never have heard, or that yield them only conjecture; and among the grammarians—and likewise the linguists—there are matters that are decisively established. The ignorance of the uninformed is no proof against those who possess knowledge. What should be said to the ignorant is: “Learn, and ask the people of knowledge if you do not know,” not: “O scholar, abandon what you know.” May Allah grant us and you fairness.

Many of the readings you claim to be mutawātir can, at most, be supported by solitary chains. Yet we still recite them, even if they are known only from a single transmitter, because they have been universally accepted and therefore convey certainty. This is the case with many individual words and numerous readings, and whoever insists that they are all mutawātir is simply defying plain sense (1).

As for the Majestic Qur’an—its surahs and its verses—it is, praise be to Allah, mutawātir and preserved by Allah, Most High. No one can alter it, add a verse to it, or insert an independent sentence; anyone who would deliberately do so would thereby abandon the faith.

Allah, exalted is He, says: “Indeed, it is We who have sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We…"

(1) In al-Madkhal, p. 196, by Abd al-Qadir Badran, edited by Dr. Abd Allah b. Turki, we read: “The seven canonical readings are mutawatir (mass-transmitted); this is the prevailing view. Ibn al-Hajib, however, holds that they are mutawatir only in aspects that do not concern the lengthening of vowels, imala, easing the hamza, and similar phonetic features—an opinion that diverges from the well-known position. Al-Tufi maintained that the readings are mutawatir from the seven imams, but that their mutawatir transmission from the Prophet ﷺ to those imams is debatable. The chains of the seven imams for these readings, recorded in the qiraat manuals, consist of single transmitters tracing back to single transmitters; they do not meet the conditions of tawatur. He adds that, even more strikingly, these readings were not mutawatir among the Companions. Al-Tufi further remarks: ‘Be aware that some people who lack thorough investigation recoil at denying the tawatur of the readings, thinking this necessarily implies denying the tawatur of the Quran itself. The inference is unfounded, for there is a difference between the essence of the Quran and its variant readings; there is unanimous agreement on the Quran’s tawatur.’

فِي قِرَاءتِهِ مِنْ جَمَاعَةٍ مِنَ الكِبَارِ، وَلَمْ يَجْرِ مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ لِلْحَضْرَمِيِّ أَبَداً، حَتَّى نَشَأَ طَائِفَةٌ مُتَأَخِّرُوْنَ لَمْ يَأْلَفُوهَا، وَلاَ عَرَفُوهَا، فَأَنْكَرُوهَا - وَمَنْ جَهِلَ شَيْئاً، عَادَاهُ - قَالُوا: لَمْ تَتَّصِلْ بِنَا مُتَوَاتِرَةً. قُلْنَا: اتَّصَلَتْ بِخَلْقٍ كَثِيْرٍ مُتَوَاتِرَةً، وَلَيْسَ مِنْ شَرْطِ التَّوَاتُرِ أَنْ يَصِلَ إِلَى الأُمَّةِ، فَعِنْدَ القُرَّاءِ أَشْيَاءُ مُتَوَاتِرَةٌ دُوْنَ غَيْرِهِم، وَعِنْدَ الفُقَهَاءِ مَسَائِلُ مُتَوَاتِرَةٌ عَنْ أَئِمَّتِهِمْ لاَ يَدْرِيْهَا القُرَّاءُ، وَعِنْدَ المُحَدِّثِيْنَ أَحَادِيْثُ مُتَوَاتِرَةٌ قَدْ لاَ يَكُوْنُ سَمِعَهَا الفُقَهَاءُ، أَوْ أَفَادَتْهُم ظَنّاً فَقَطْ، وَعِنْدَ النُّحَاةِ مَسَائِلُ قَطْعِيَّةٌ، وَكَذَلِكَ اللُّغَوِيُّونَ، وَلَيْسَ مَنْ جَهِلَ عِلْماً حُجَّةً عَلَى مَنْ عَلِمَهُ، وَإِنَّمَا يُقَالُ لِلْجَاهِلِ: تَعَلَّمْ، وَسَلْ أَهْلَ العِلْمِ إِنْ كُنْتَ لاَ تَعْلَمُ، لاَ يُقَالُ لِلْعَالِمِ: اجْهَلْ مَا تَعْلَمُ، رَزَقَنَا اللهُ وَإِيَّاكُم الإِنْصَافَ، فَكَثِيْرٌ مِنَ القِرَاءَاتِ تَدَّعُوْنَ تَوَاتُرَهَا، وَبِالجَهْدِ أَنْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَى غَيْرِ الآحَادِ فِيْهَا، وَنَحْنُ نَقُوْلُ: نَتْلُو بِهَا، وَإِنْ كَانَتْ لاَ تُعْرَفُ إِلاَّ عَنْ وَاحِدٍ؛ لِكَوْنِهَا تُلُقِّيَتْ بِالقَبُولِ، فَأَفَادَتِ العِلْمَ، وَهَذَا وَاقِعٌ فِي حُرُوْفٍ كَثِيْرَةٍ، وَقِرَاءَاتٍ عَدِيْدَةٍ، وَمَنِ ادَّعَى تَوَاتُرَهَا، فَقَدْ كَابَرَ الحِسَّ (١) ، أَمَّا القُرْآنُ العَظِيْمُ - سُوَرُهُ وَآيَاتُهُ - فَمُتَوَاتِرٌ - وَللهِ الحَمْدُ - مَحْفُوْظٌ مِنَ الله -تَعَالَى- لاَ يَسْتَطِيعُ أَحَدٌ أَنْ يُبَدِّلَهُ، وَلاَ يَزِيْدَ فِيْهِ آيَةً، وَلاَ جُمْلَةً مُسْتَقِلَّةً، وَلَوْ فَعَلَ ذَلِكَ أَحَدٌ عَمْداً، لاَنْسَلَخَ مِنَ الدِّيْنِ. قَالَ اللهُ -تَعَالَى-: ﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ، وَإِنَّا لَهُ

(١) جاء في كتاب " المدخل " ص ١٩٦ لعبد القادر بدران بتحقيق الدكتور عبد الله بن التركي ما نصه: القراءات السبع متواترة وهو المشهور، وقال ابن الحاجب: هي متواترة فيما ليس من قبيل المد والامالة وتخفيف الهمزة ونحوها، وهذا خلاف المشهور. وذهب الطوفي إلى أن القراءات متواترة عن الأئمة السبعة، أما تواترها عن النبي ﷺ إلى الأئمة السبعة فهو محل نظر، فإن أسانيد الأئمة السبعة بهده القراءات السبعة إلى النبي ﷺ موجودة في كتب القراءات، وهي نقل الواحد عن الواحد، لم تستكمل شروط التواتر، قال: وأبلغ من هذا أنها لم تتواتر بين الصحابة. قال: واعلم أن بعض من لا تحقيق عنده ينفر من القول بعدم تواتر القراءات ظنا منه أن ذلك يستلزم عدم تواتر القرآن، وليس ذلك بلازم، لأنه فرق بين ماهية القرآن والقراءات، والإجماع على تواتر القرآن.