Approaches of Imāmī Shī'ite to Qirā'ahs: The Case of Tūsī-Tabarsī

Abstract

This article is an attempt to examine the approaches of the Imāmi Shi'ite towards qirā'a (recitation) in general and Tūsi and Tabarsī in particular, by largely drawing from two important mufassīr of the classical period of the Imāmī Shī'ite and their works. These works include 'At-Tibyān fītafsīr al-Qur'ān' of Abū Ja'far aţ-Ţūsī (d. 460/1067) and 'Majma'ul bayān fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān' of Abū Hasan at-Tabarsī (d. 548/1153). In this context, the main scope of this article aims to cover the opinions of the abovementioned scholars regarding al-ahruf es-sab'a (seven letters), the origins of the qirā'ahs, their views on the problem of tawātur (authentically wide-spread), conditions of accepting, scrutinizing of the qirā'ahs and, finally, the favoured qirā'ahs which they employed. Throughout the study, at-Tibyān of Tūsi and Majma'ul bayān of Tabarsī were scanned in their entirety in order to properly deal with the problems and questions mentioned above. In addition to this, the ideas of scholars who are placed at the early and late periods of the imāmi Shī'ite have been included in order to see and determine whether they had any common opinions in their approaches to qirā'a or not. The classical Sunni (Orthodoxy) literature is also examined comparatively because both Imāmi Shī'ite in general and Tūsī and Tabarsī in particular seem to give reference to Sunni sources on many occasions.