An Examination of the Readings

SYNOPSIS The uninterrupted transmission of the Quran is one of the necessities; the readings of the Quran are not transmitted uninterruptedly; statements by experts that the readings were not uninterruptedly transmitted; the seven f:zarfs are not the seven readings of the Quran; the authoritativeness of the readings; the lawfulness of their recitation for daily worship.

At the beginning of chapter ٤, we cited some opinions on whether or not the read‌ ings of the Quran have been transmitted by uninterrupted transmission (tawatur). We pointed out that those who investigated this matter have denied that the readings have been handed down by uninterrupted transmission, while, by contrast, Muslims are in agreement about the uninterrupted transmission of the Quran itself. We shall now proceed to discuss the rudiments that support the view we have adopted regard‌ ing the readings of the Quran-namely, that these readings have not been transmitted without interruption in every generation of their chains of transmission.
First, careful consideration of the transmitters themselves reveals with certainty
that the readings have reached us through single narrations (akhbar al-af:zad), the transmitters of which do not reach anywhere near the number that is required for the readings to be regarded as uninterrupted transmissions. Indeed, this is evident from what we included in the transmitters biographies. How, then, could it be valid to claim conclusively that these readings have reached us through uninterrupted trans‌ mission? This is not to mention that some of these transmitters have neither been acknowledged nor confirmed as trustworthy.
Second, careful reflection on the ways in which the readers received their read‌ ings would lead us to conclude with certainty that these readings were undoubtedly transmitted to them through single narrations.
Third, the fact that the chains of transmission go back to the readers only, [not to the Prophet], disrupts the continuity of transmission even if the transmitters in each generation are beyond suspicion of connivance in a falsehood. The reason is that each