We have lengthened this section because it has been reported to us that according to some persons who do not have [enough] knowledge, the authentic readings are these seven; or, that the seven l;arfs, to which the Prophet (peace be upon him and his prog‌ eny) alludes, are these seven [readings]. The majority of ignorant persons believe that the correct readings are the ones mentioned in the two booksal-Sha!ibiyya andal-Tayslr, and that it was to this that the Prophet alluded when he said: "The Quran has been revealed in seven f;arfs." Some of them go as far as to regard any reading not men‌ tioned in these two books as noncanonical. Moreover, many among these persons re‌ gard any reading derived from any other source than these seven as noncanonical, whereas it is possible that many of the readings that are not in al-Sha{ibiyya and al‌ Tayslr, or among the seven readings, are more accurate than many of those that are. Undoubtedly, what led them to this dubious opinion is that they heard the tradition which says, "The Quran was revealed in seven l;arfs," and also heard about the seven readings, and thus conjectured that these seven are the ones intended by [the traditions]. It was for this reason that many early scholars disapproved of Ibn Mujahids limiting the readers to the seven, and found fault with him in this matter. [This latter group] says, "He should have made their number less or more than seven, or, alternatively, made his intention [of choosing seven] clear in doing so, so that those who are not well informed would be spared this confusion."٢٦

Ibn al-Jazari goes on to cite the opinions of Ibn Ammar al-Mahdawi and Abu
Mul)ammad Makki, which we cited above.
Abu Shamma writes:

A group of people have conjectured that the seven readings existing at present [i.e., contemporary to Abu Shamma] are the ones intended by the tradition [about the seven l;arfs], but this contradicts the consensus of learned scholars, and is assumed only by some ignorant people."٢٧

These citations make it perfectly clear that the readings are not uninterruptedly transmitted, neither from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) nor from the readers themselves, regardless of their being seven or more. Even if we were to concede that they were transmitted from the readers without interruption, they cer‌ tainly could not be held as [having been] transmitted uninterruptedly from the Prophet himself. This is because they were either transmitted through single narrations or adopted through the personal decisions of the readers themselves. Anhis point, it is necessary to discuss two matters that arise from this conclusion.

The Authoritativeness of the Readings

A group of scholars has maintained that these readings are authoritative in the sense that it is permissible to cite them in formulating a legal judgment pertaining to the Sharia. Thus, for instance, the prohibition [of] sexual intercourse with a woman in menstruation, who has become clean but has not performed the ritual bath, was de‌ duced on the basis of chapter ٢, verse ٢٢٢, as the scholars of Kufa, with the excep‌ tion of ijaf,
selves [yaf!ahama]"-with the stressed !a-٢٨
In response, the truth of the matter is that these readings are not authoritative, and, hence, they cannot be cited in the formulation of legal decisions. What proves this is