Qira'at

In Islam, qirāʼa (pl. qirāʼāt; Arabic: قراءات, 'recitations' / 'readings') refers to the ways or fashions that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, is recited. More technically, the term designates the different linguistic, lexical, phonetic, morphological and syntactical forms permitted with reciting the Quran. Differences between qiraʼat include varying rules regarding the prolongation, intonation, and pronunciation of words, but also differences in stops, vowels, consonants (leading to different pronouns and verb forms), entire words and even different meanings. However, the variations do not change the overall message or doctrinal meanings of the Quran, as the differences are often subtle and contextually equivalent. Qiraʼat also refers to the branch of Islamic studies that deals with these modes of recitation. Qiraʼat should not be confused with tajwid—the rules of pronunciation, intonation, and caesuras of the Quran. Each qira'a has its own tajwid. Qiraʼat are called readings or recitations because the Quran was originally spread and passed down orally, and though there was a written text, it did not include most vowels or distinguish between many consonants, allowing for much variation. (Qiraʼat now each have their own text in modern Arabic script.) Qira'at are also sometimes confused with ahruf—both being readings of the Quran with "unbroken chain(s) of transmission going back to the Prophet". There are multiple views on the nature of the ahruf and how they relate to the qira'at, the general view being that caliph Uthman eliminated all of the ahruf except one during the 7th century CE. The ten qira'at were canonized by Islamic scholars in early centuries of Islam. Even after centuries of Islamic scholarship, the variants of the qira'at have been said to continue "to astound and puzzle" researchers into Islam (by Ammar Khatib and Nazir Khan), and along with ahruf make up "the most difficult topics"...