Hafs [1] (706–796 AD; 90–180 Anno Hegirae),[2][3] according to Islamic tradition, was one of the primary transmitters of one of the seven canonical methods of Qur'an recitation (qira'at). His method via his teacher Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud has become the most popular method across the majority of the Muslim world.[4]
Abu ‘Amr Ḥafṣ ibn Sulayman al-Asadi al-Kufi | |
|---|---|
حفص بن سليمان | |
| Personal | |
| Born | AD 706 |
| Died | AD 796 (aged 89–90) |
| Religion | Islam |
| Home town | Makkah |
| Parent |
|
| Known for | Qiraat (Quran Recitation) |
| Muslim leader | |
| Teacher | Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud |
Students | |
In addition to being the student of Aasim, Hafs was also his son-in-law.[5] Having been born in Baghdad, Hafs eventually moved to Mecca where he popularized his father-in-law's recitation method.[5]
Eventually, Hafs' recitation of Aasim's method was made the official method of Egypt,[6] having been formally adopted as the standard Egyptian printing of the Qur'an under the auspices of Fuad I of Egypt in 1923.[5] The majority of copies of the Quran today follow the reading of Hafs. In North and West Africa there is a bigger tendency to follow the reading of Warsh.[7]
Hafs recitation
Of all the canonical recitation traditions, only the Kufan tradition of Hafs included the bismillah as a separate verse in Chapter (surah) 1.[8]
In the 10thC, in his Kitāb al-sabʿa fī l-qirāʾāt, Ibn Mujahid mentioned the seven readings of the Quran which originally were all recited by the Prophet of Islam to his followers.[9] Three of their readers hailed from Kufa, a centre of early Islamic learning.[10] The three Kufan readers were Al-Kisa'i, the Kufan; Hamzah az-Zaiyyat; and Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud.
It is, alongside the Hafs 'an 'Asim tradition which represents the recitational tradition of Kufa, one of the two major oral transmission of the Quran in the Muslim World.[11] The influential standard Quran of Cairo that was published in 1924 is based on Hafs 'an ʻAsim's recitation.
Chain of Transmission
Imam Hafs ibn Suleiman ibn al-Mughirah al-Asadi al-Kufi learned from Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud al-Kufi al-Tabi'i from Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami from Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abu Talib, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Zaid ibn Thabit from Muhammad.
| Level | Reciter |
|---|---|
| 1 | Muhammad |
| 2 | Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abu Talib, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Abdullah ibn Masud, and Zaid ibn Thabit |
| 3 | Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami |
| 4 | Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud |
| 5 | Imam Hafs |