Insight about the Readers of the QuranSYNOPSIS The biographies of the Seven Readers: AbdAllah b. Amir al-Dimishqi; Ibn Kathir al-Makk:I; A im
Nafi al-Madani; al-KisaI al-Kufi. And the three other readers: Khalaf b. Hisham al‌ Bazzar; Yaqub b. Isl:taq; Yazid b. al-Qaqa.

Opinions have varied about the seven famous readings of the Quran that are most commonly known among people. A number of Sunni scholars have maintained that all of them have been reported through uninterrupted transmission (tawatur) ١ from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny). This is sometimes assumed to be the most common view among them. It has been maintained, on the authority of al‌ Subki, that the readings reported by uninterrupted transmission are ten in number.٢
Some of them have gone so far as to assert that whoever maintains that the seven
readings of the Quran need not be reported by uninterrupted transmission has com‌ mitted an act of disbelief. This radical opinion has been attributed to the Mufti of Andalusia, Abu SaId Faraj b. Lubb.٣
Among Shiites, it is commonly known that these readings have not been reported by uninterrupted transmission; rather, some of them are based on the personal rea‌ soning (ijtihad) of the reader; and others, on single narrations (khabar al--wahid).٤
This opinion has been adopted by a group of Sunni scholars and is most likely to be the prevalent one among them, as we shall note. It is certainly the correct view. In order to verify this conclusion, it is necessary to mention two points:
First, Muslims of all sects and schools of thought are in agreement that the immuta‌ bility of the Quran is established only on [its] uninterrupted transmission. A number of Sunni and Shiite scholars have deduced this from the fact that there are suffici.ent reasons to ensure the uninterrupted transmission of the Quran. It is, after all, the foun‌ dation of the Islamic faith and the divine miracle for the mission of the Prophet of all Muslims, and anything with sufficient reasons for being transmitted is bound to be trans‌ mitted uninterruptedly and reliably [from the source]. For this reason, whatever has been transmitted through a single narration is definitely not from the Quran.