Finding Dūrī: Communal Transmission of Abū ʿAmr among the People of ʿIrāq
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2025.887Keywords:
Quranic reading traditions, ʾAbū ʿAmr, al-Dūrī, ʾAhl al-ʿIrāq, transmission, riwāyah, tilāwahAbstract
This paper challenges the conventional understanding of the transmission of Abū ʿAmr’s reading tradition. It argues that the now dominant two-rāwī system, which designates al-Dūrī and al-Sūsī as the sole transmitters of Abū ʿAmr, is a later simplification of an earlier communal transmission in early qirāʾāt works. By examining these works, it is shown that al-Dūrī was initially understood as representing a group of Iraqi transmitters (Ahl al-ʿIrāq) who were all considered equally authoritative sources of al-Yazīdī’s transmission from Abū ʿAmr. This concept of Ahl al-ʿIrāq can be traced back to Ibn Ġalbūn the father (d. 389/999). Furthermore, the paper shows how over time the canon came to focus on al-Dūrī alone and how readings of other members of Ahl al-ʿIrāq, like Ibn al-Yazīdī, were eventually incorporated into the canonical transmission of al-Dūrī, even if they were not originally transmitted through him.
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