are the differences in the modes of the words of this revelation, whether shortened or doubled and so on. The seven readings are regarded by the majority as uninter‌ ruptedly transmitted, but some maintain that they [the seven] are only the most acceptable." Al-Zarkashi also says:

Investigation establishes that these readings are uninterruptedly transmitted from the seven authoritative readers. However, as for their being uninterruptedly transmitted from the Prophet, there is reason for doubt in this. The chains of transmission of these seven readings are recorded in the books of readings; they are chains of single authori‌ ties reporting successively from one another.١٩

The Readings and the Seven barfs

It may be imagined that the seven f:zarfs in which the Quran was revealed are the seven readings, and this, in turn, may be used to prove that the seven readings are part of the Quran. It is therefore necessary to point out the fallacy of such an infer‌ ence, and that it is something that has not occurred to any of the investigating scholars. In that, we shall concede [here] the authenticity of these traditions, without contest‌ ing them in any measure, small or great. We shall discuss them [later] from the point of view of their authenticity.
First, we shall quote al-Jazairis statement on this subject:

The seven readings were not held in greater esteem than any other reading until the time when the Imam Aba Bakr Al)mad b. Masa b. al-Abbas b. Mujahid, in the year
٣٠٠ A.H. (٩١٢ c.E.), under,took the task of gathering them in Baghdad. Thus he col‌ lected the seven readings of the best-known authorities of Mekka and Medina, Iraq and Persia, and Syria. These were: Nafi, AbdAllah b. Kath!r, Aba Amr b. al-Ala,
Abd Allah b. Amir, A im,
delusion that the seven readings are the seven l:tarfs, but that is not the case.... A number of scholars have blamed Ibn Mujahid for his choice of the number seven, for the con‌
fusion that it could cause.... Al)mad b. Ammar al-Mahdawi says: "By making them seven in number, he (Ibn Mujahid) did something which he should not have done. He obsbured the matter for the commonality by suggesting to those with little insight that
these seven readings are the seven /:tarfs related in the tradition. If only he had made
the number less or more than seven, he would have removed this obscurity.٢٠

Al-Ustadh IsmaIl b. Ibrahim b. Mul:tarnmad al-Qurab writes in his book al-Shafi:

Adherence to the seven readings of the [well-known] readers at the exclusion of others is without precedent or support in the prophetic tradition (sunna). The seven readings were brought together by a later reader of the Quran who had not learned more than the seven readings. He compiled a book and named it The Book of the Seven [Read‌ ings]. This, subsequently, spread among the commonality.٢١

The Imam AbU Mul:tammad Makki writes:

Some scholars have mentioned more than seventy leading [readers of the Quran] who were held in higher esteem and prominence than those seven.... Consequently, how can it be permissible to assume about those late seven scholars that each of their read‌ ings represents each of the seven /:tarfs that [is] mentioned in the traditions? Indeed,