The Early Arabic Grammarians' Contributions to the Collection and Authentication of Qur'anic Readings: The Prelude to Ibn Mujāhid's Kitāb al-Sabca

Abstract

The ninth and tenth centuries of the classical Islamic tradition are often viewed as periods in which distinctive shifts towards the consolidation, standardisation and homogeneity of Islamic thought and concepts are discernible. Accordingly, Ibn Mujāhid's authorship of his renowned Kitāb al-Sab c a and his efforts to accentuate a set of seven Qur'anic readings are invariably contextualised within the accommodating confines of these perceived shifts across the gamut of the classical Islamic sciences. Yet the trajectory followed by Ibn Mujāhid's text owes its dynamics to an entirely different set of factors. This article proposes that the methodical efforts of Ibn Mujāhid were an extension of the attempts by Qur'anic readers to reinvigorate the traditional conventions of adhering to defined precedents in the authentication of the readings of scripture. Notwithstanding the fact that the nature of variances among Qur'anic readings was infinitesimal, endeavours in this area are governed by the liturgical value of lectiones. In order to gauge the broad significance of the Kitāb al-Sab c a, the text has to be placed in the well-defined context of the genesis and development of Arabic linguistic thought.