3rd STAGE OF CANONIZATION: In the 12th century al-Shatibi chose another 14 READINGS!

We've now moved to our 3rd episode with Dr Rami Halaseh where we approach the 3rd canonization of the Qur'anic text. Dr Halaseh notes that in the 11th century Al Dani, who lived in Spain and died in 1052 AD (444 AH) decided to choose 2 students (Rawis) from each of the 7 eponymous readers (Qira'ats) who had been chosen by Ibn Mujahid in the 10th century, so a total of 14 Rawis were chosen. These 14 were solidified by al-Shatibi about 100 years later before he died in 1194 AD (590 AH). So, by the 12th century we now had 21 different readings of the Qur'an chosen by 2 men commissioned by the caliphs of their time to do so for mostly political reasons. Jay and Hatun asked what the criteria was for choosing this additional 14 students from the original 7? Dr Halaseh stated that at times it had to do with political reasons, at other times it had to do with geography, and at other times it had to do with popularity; in other words, those students who had the largest number of students under them were chosen. Thus, Assim ibn Abi al-Najud from Kufa had 91 students, of which 2 were chosen (Shu'bah and Hafs), and the other 89 were discarded because they weren't popular enough. What's more, according to Dr Halaseh we have no original manuscripts for any of these Qira'ats or Riwayats to know what exactly they wrote; we only have those books which are attributed to each of them. But even more puzzling, we are told that the Hafs an-Assim text, from Kufa, which is the most popular reading today has 6,236 verses in it. But the others from other cities don't have the same number of verses. The Medinan Qur'an has 6,217 (or possibly 6,214) verses, while the Meccan has 6,210 and the Basran has 6,204, and the Qur'an from Damascus has 6,227. So, even those readings from these various cities don't agree in the number of verses they have between them! You can buy Dr Rami Halaseh's book "The Topkapi Manuscript H.S. 32" here: https://www.amazon.com/Topkap%C4%B1-Qur%CA%BE%C4%81n-Manuscript-H-S-32/dp/3111455254/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CQL8OXJXVL33&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LdGt9166h1QgbrLcdStNtDehvtvC87_qbhsuTjm8lHiwlsoVJiOIITtzhslU1SLUxWBDRlmcRaNaglR03wAe_FBYK6zPBsRPuFXT_n-9OUY.Gu-i1rI2TFNI43fAI32X1lq84jaxQ_TtPraL3CbSBz8&dib_tag=se&keywords=rami+halaseh&qid=1775612765&sprefix=Rami+Hala%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1 © Pfander Centre for Apologetics & Polemics - US, April 7, 2026 (128,900)