A “REMARKABLE” CONCEPT: QIRAATU'N-NABI
Authors: YILMAZ Lokman 
Published: June 2022

The Qur'an is important for Muslims not only in terms of its meaning but also in terms of its wording. The first person who listened and read the Quran was Hz. Muhammad (pbuh). His reading of the Qur'an was meticulously followed by the Companions and transferred to the next generations in many details. The narrations about the Prophet's reading of the Qur'an have taken place under different headings in the sources. These narrations have been mentioned many times with the combination of "qiraatu'n-nabi".

The hadiths that talk about our Prophet's reading of the Qur'an are different from each other in terms of soundness and content. While there are those who tried to collect these narrations in separate books, there were also those who collected them under titles such as "Kitâbu'l-kırâât", "Kitâbu'l-hurûf" and "Kırââtü'n-nebî". The narrations sometimes include the Prophet's reading of the Qur'an in terms of quality, and sometimes the pronunciation differences arising from it. These narrations, which are considered as the Prophet's reading in different recitations, were recorded in the books at the time the hadiths were compiled.

In many of the hadith sources, especially the famous six hadith books (Kütüb-i Sitte) which are considered the most reliable hadith sources of the Tedwin period, there are narrations about the Prophet's reading of the Qur'an. These readings are sometimes conveyed with expressions such as “Our Prophet read/had it read like this” and sometimes with sentences such as “Kıraatü'n-nebi is like this”. The narrations in which the compound "Kıraatü'n-nabi" is used touch on different aspects of our Prophet's readings. Those who put the composition in the title are also quoting the hadiths that reach them without distinguishing the quality of reading or disagreement on it. No mention of the definition or scope of the composition of qiraatu'n-nabi was found among the sources in the Tedvin period. The narrations in hand became the source of different branches of Islamic sciences in the following periods. The Qur'anic Sciences, Qiraat, Tafsir, Commentary and Fiqh sources sometimes used the phrase "qiraatu'n-nabi" in the text and sometimes in the separate title. The use of titles such as "'İlmü kırâeti'n-nebî" in the works of Ulumu'l-Qur'an can be seen as an important stage in terms of the conceptualization process, even though the content only includes narrations. Despite this, no explanation has been made about the nature of the phrase in the mentioned genres, and no attempt has been made in terms of conceptualization.

Commentators carried the readings transmitted from the Prophet into their works. While some of them touched on some reading disputes, they was also saying the reading they dealt with was transmitted from the Prophet, so they go to the way of corroborating their own reading preferences by means of the qiraatu'n-nabi narration. Others, after stating the readings of the imams of qiraat or the generation of the Companions and Tabiun who are famous for their qira'at, said they indicate the existence of a pronounciation from the Prophet. One of the most prominent names of this style is Al-Zamakhshari. He used the expression qiraatu'n-nebi mostly when he wants to indicate the contradictory reading styles attributed to the Prophet. Even Al-Zemakhshari's readings that he attributes to the Prophet are generally the readings that were made by Othman and won the consensus of the Companions do not comply with the writing of the mushafs (resmü'l-mushaf). It is thought that this style of his has had a significant impact on the "qiraatu'n-nabi" conceptions of today's scholars. Faqihs and commentators often use the term qiraatu'n-nabi in their works, with quotations from the original sources of narration. There is no attempt to identify a frame in their works.

Although qiraatu'n-nabi has been used in different fields and contexts until the last century, there has been no investigation on what it is. The aforementioned composition has begun to enter the dictionaries of concepts in this century and evaluations have been made about its nature. In the modern period, reactive attitudes about the qiraatü'n-nabi conceptions come to the fore. Discussions are carried out over what the concept is not rather than what it is. It is said that some people misunderstand the concept, and it is emphasized that if there is a reading of the Prophet, it must be the current authentic reading. In this period, when the word qiraatu'nebi is generally used, it is understood that the reading styles that are contrary to the readings transmitted as authentic but accepted as mutawatir in hadith sources.

As a result, the qiraatu'n-nabi which has been used since the time of the Companions should be reconsidered in all its aspects and a definition of it should be made by taking into account the content of the hadiths about the Prophet's reading of the Qur'an.