Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

One of the subjects of interest for the Orientalists is the field of ‘ilm alqiraah.
They have interested more in the shaz qiraats and zaif naqls than the sahih
ones in this field. However, the Orientalists have been selective in their studies in
that they tend to have chosen the naqls that seem to support their arguments
without further investigating the answers given to these particular subjects from the
sound sources.
The Orientalists have attributed the causes of differences in qiraah (recitation)
to “the written style of the mushafs,” “the use of the synonymous terms,”
“mistakes of the Mustensikhs,” and so on. The most important point that the Orientalists
have, willingly or unwillingly, failed to see is the fact that the Qur’an have
been transmitted not only as a written material but also as an oral tradition from
generation to generation without any interruption in the chain of transmitters.
Therefore, the differences in qiraah have been an essential part of this tradition
from the very beginning.
This article is a critical analysis of the views of the Orientalists as well as the
views of some of the Muslim scholars influenced by the Orientalists regarding the
issue of the differences in qiraah.