The Rumūz of al-Durrah (رُمُوزُ الدُّرَّةِ)¶
Al-Durrah al-Muḍiyyah encodes the three readers who complete the ten — Abū Jaʿfar, Yaʿqūb, and Khalaf al-ʿĀshir — with its own cipher system, declared in its muqaddimah (Durrah lines 5–9) and explained in al-Īḍāḥ (al-Qāḍī).
Do not mix the two keys
Ibn al-Jazarī deliberately reused the Shāṭibiyyah letters of each reference reader for the new reader built on him. The same letter therefore means a different person depending on which poem you are reading. A ح in the Shāṭibiyyah is Abū ʿAmr; a ح in the Durrah is Yaʿqūb.
The Key¶
| Letter | In al-Durrah | In al-Shāṭibiyyah (for contrast) |
|---|---|---|
| أ | Abū Jaʿfar | Nāfiʿ |
| ب | Ibn Wardān | Qālūn |
| ج | Ibn Jammāz | Warsh |
| ح | Yaʿqūb | Abū ʿAmr |
| ط | Ruways | al-Dūrī (from Abū ʿAmr) |
| ي | Rawḥ | al-Sūsī |
| ف | Khalaf al-ʿĀshir | Ḥamzah |
| ض | Isḥāq al-Warrāq | Khalaf (the rāwī of Ḥamzah) |
| ق | Idrīs al-Ḥaddād | Khallād |
Memory words (from the Īḍāḥ's table): أَبَجْ = Abū Jaʿfar's trio, حُطَيْ = Yaʿqūb's trio, فَضَقْ = Khalaf's trio.
As in the Shāṭibiyyah, a ramz is the first letter of a word in the verse (حُزْ = Yaʿqūb, طِبْ = Ruways, جُدْ = Ibn Jammāz, أُدْ = Abū Jaʿfar, فُزْ = Khalaf…), and the wāw between rumūz is a separator. The Durrah has no group codes (nothing like the Shāṭibiyyah's سَمَا or صُحْبَة); where several readers share a rule, their letters are strung together or they are named outright (يَعْقُوب، رُوَيْس، رَوْح…).
The Silence Rule — the heart of the Durrah¶
The Durrah does not restate everything; it teaches by exception (line 8: فَإِنْ خَالَفُوا أَذْكُرْ وَإِلَّا فَأُهْمِلَا):
| Reader | When the Durrah says nothing, he reads like… |
|---|---|
| Abū Jaʿfar (Ibn Wardān & Ibn Jammāz) | Nāfiʿ — as decoded from the Shāṭibiyyah |
| Yaʿqūb (Ruways & Rawḥ) | Abū ʿAmr — as decoded from the Shāṭibiyyah |
| Khalaf al-ʿĀshir (Isḥāq & Idrīs) | his own riwāyah from Ḥamzah — i.e. Khalaf ʿan Ḥamzah, not Ḥamzah generically, and independently of Khallād |
A divergence can be flagged at three levels (Īḍāḥ, muqaddimah commentary): the new imām against both riwāyahs of his reference reader; against only one of them (e.g. Yaʿqūb siding with al-Sūsī against al-Dūrī); or one rāwī alone diverging (e.g. Ruways's تُرَهِّبُون). So "reads like Abū ʿAmr" must always be resolved per rāwī of the reference reader.
And when a cited word is left unrestricted, its scope follows what is well known among the reciters (line 9 — الشُّهْرَة): sometimes every occurrence, sometimes one specific verse. The reader chapters (8–10) state the verified scope for every rule.
The Reference-Reader Logic in Practice¶
Example — Durrah line 10: وَمَالِكِ حُزْ فُزْ — "مَالِكِ: ḥuz, fuz" = Yaʿqūb (ح) and Khalaf (ف) read مَالِكِ with the alif (like Ḥafṣ). Why are they mentioned? Because each diverges from his reference reader (Abū ʿAmr and Ḥamzah both read مَلِكِ). And why is Abū Jaʿfar unmentioned? Because he agrees with Nāfiʿ (مَلِكِ) — silence = agreement.
See Appendix H for the full matn with translation, and the Shāṭibiyyah's own system in The Rumūz System.