As for the exegesis of al-Suddi, he said: Abu al-Qasim al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan related to us; Abu al-Tayyib Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Mubarak al-Sha‘iri informed us; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Labbad related to us; and ‘Amr ibn Talhah al-Qannad related to us, from Asbat, from Isma‘il al-Suddi.
As for what I have transmitted from the Book of Beginnings by Wahb ibn Munabbih and from the Book of Campaigns by Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi conveyed it to me. He said: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Tha‘labi informed us. He said: Abu Nu‘aym ‘Abd al-Malik ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn al-Azhari informed me; Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Bara’ al-‘Abdi informed us. He said: I read to Abu ‘Abd Allah ‘Abd al-Mun‘im ibn Idris, from his father, from Wahb ibn Munabbih.
Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us; Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Hafiz informed us; Abu al-‘Abbas Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub ibn Yusuf al-Ma‘qili related to us; Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-‘Utaridi informed us; Yunus ibn Bukayr informed us, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Madani.
Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us; Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Aqil al-Ansari informed us; Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn al-Fadl al-Khuza‘i informed us; Abu Shu‘ayb ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn al-Harrani informed us; al-Nufayli informed us; and Muhammad ibn Salamah informed us, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq.
These are the chains of transmission for most of what I have transmitted from these imams. They have also been received through other routes, which I have omitted for fear of undue length. At times, I have related from them, or from other Companions or Successors, a statement that I heard through chains other than these; rather, I shall mention the chains for some of them in their respective places in this book, Allah Most High willing.
Moreover, just as people are bound, as an act of worship, to follow the rulings of the Quran and observe its limits, they are likewise bound to recite it and preserve its letters in accordance with the orthography of the master codex upon which the Companions agreed. In readings that conform to its written text, they must not go beyond what has been recited by the well-known reciters who succeeded the Companions and the Successors, and whose selection was agreed upon by the imams.
In this book, I have mentioned the Quranic readings of those among them who became renowned for recitation, and their selected readings, according to what I recited to the imam Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Marwazi—may Allah have mercy on him—both by direct recitation and by transmission. He said: I recited to Abu al-Qasim Tahir ibn ‘Ali al-Sayrafi. He said: I recited to Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Mihran, through the chain of transmission mentioned in his well-known work, the Book of the Goal (1). They are: Abu Ja‘far Yazid ibn al-Qa‘qa‘; Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman Nafi‘ ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, both Medinans; Abu Ma‘bad ‘Abd Allah ibn Kathir al-Dari, the Meccan; Abu ‘Imran ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amir al-Shami; Abu ‘Amr Zabban ibn al-‘Ala’ al-Mazini; Abu Muhammad Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq al-Hadrami, both Basrans; Abu Bakr ‘Asim ibn Abi al-Najud al-Asadi; Abu ‘Umarah Hamzah ibn Habib al-Zayyat; and Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Hamzah al-Kisa’i, all Kufans.
As for Abu Ja‘far, he acquired the Quranic reading from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas, Abu Hurayrah, and others, who recited to Ubayy ibn Ka‘b. As for Nafi‘, he recited to Abu Ja‘far the Reciter, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz al-A‘raj, Shaybah ibn Nissah, and other Successors who recited