Al-Dūrī ʿan Abū ʿAmr¶

Abū ʿUmar Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar al-Dūrī (d. 246 AH), from al-Dūr near Baghdad, the first to systematically collect the qirāʾāt, rāwī of أَبُو عَمْرِو بْنُ العَلَاءِ البَصْرِي (Abū ʿAmr al-Baṣrī, c. 68–154 AH / d. 770 CE), imām of recitation in Basrah, through Abū ʿAmr's student al-Yazīdī. Al-Dūrī is the only narrator among the fourteen who transmits from two imāms — he is also a rāwī of al-Kisāʾī, and the two transmissions must not be confused. See the imām's overview.

Uṣūl¶

Basmalah between sūrahs (البَسْمَلة بَين السُّورَتَين)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī has all three options between two sūrahs: recite the basmalah, pause silently (sakt), or connect directly (waṣl).
• Explanation: This flexibility characterises Abū ʿAmr's reading. When connecting the basmalah, it must always be joined to the beginning of the next sūrah, never left attached to the end of the previous one. No basmalah is recited before Sūrat al-Tawbah; between al-Anfāl and al-Tawbah the choices are waqf, sakt, or waṣl.
• Example: End of al-Fātiḥah → بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ → الم of al-Baqarah (basmalah option); or a brief silent break (sakt); or direct joining (waṣl).
• Matn: line 100

Madd muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel followed by a hamzah within the same word is prolonged tawassuṭ — 4 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The obligatory connected madd; Abū ʿAmr (both rāwīs) holds the muttaṣil at four.
• Example: جَاءَ, السَّمَاءِ, سُوءَ.
• Matn: line 168

Madd munfaṣil (qaṣr or tawassuṭ) (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel at the end of a word, when the next word begins with a hamzah, al-Dūrī reads with qaṣr (2) or tawassuṭ (4) ḥarakāt — bi-khulf.
• Explanation: Unlike his fellow rāwī al-Sūsī (who reads qaṣr only), al-Dūrī has the two-way choice — matn 169 names "the two" (بِخُلْفِهِمَا = al-Dūrī + Qālūn) who may lengthen the munfaṣil to four.
• Example: بِمَا أُنْزِلَ, فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ, قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ.
• Matn: line 169

Madd lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: When a long vowel is followed by an original sukūn or a shaddah, it is prolonged 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The necessary madd, the longest obligatory prolongation, held firmly at six counts.
• Example: الضَّالِّينَ, الْحَاقَّةُ, and the three-letter spellings of the opening letters (e.g., الم → مِيم with the middle madd letter before a sākin).
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-ʿiwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word ending in tanwīn al-fatḥ (ـً), al-Dūrī replaces the tanwīn with a long /ā/ of 2 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The compensatory madd, applied in pause only.
• Example: stopping on كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 171

Madd in the opening letters (ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt) (مَدّ الحُروف المُقَطَّعة)¶

• Rule: Three-letter spellings (مِيم، لَام، صَاد، نُون، سِين، قَاف، عَيْن، كَاف) take 6 ḥarakāt (madd lāzim); two-letter spellings (طَا، هَا، يَا، حَا، رَا) take 2 ḥarakāt (natural madd); أَلِفْ has no madd; عَيْن takes 4 or 6 ḥarakāt (6 preferred).
• Explanation: The middle letter of a three-letter spelling is a madd letter followed by a sākin, requiring lāzim; the two-letter spellings have no following sākin.
• Example: الم, حم, طه, الر, عسق.
• Matn: line 177

Taqlīl (partial imālah) (التَّقْليل)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī applies تَقْلِيل (taqlīl / bayna bayna) — a moderate inclination of the fatḥah toward kasrah and its alif toward yāʾ — on faʿlā (فَعْلَى) patterns and on the verse-ending alifs (fawāṣil) of sūrahs such as طه، النجم، الشمس، الأعلى، الليل، الضحى، اقرأ، النازعات، القيامة، المعارج. (His four rāwī-exclusive taqlīl words — أَنَّى، يَا حَسْرَتَا، يَا وَيْلَتَا، يَا أَسَفَا — are covered in their own subsection below.)
• Explanation: Taqlīl is narrower in scope than Warsh's but is one of the most recognisable auditory features of the Baṣrī reading, especially at verse-endings. To test whether an alif qualifies: for nouns, form the dual (هُدًى → هُدَيَان, yāʾ-origin ✓); for verbs, conjugate to first person (هَدَى → هَدَيْتُ, yāʾ-origin ✓).
• Example: ذِكْرَى, بُشْرَى, the closing alifs of طه's verses.
• Matn: line 316

Imālah kubrā — alifs before word-final rāʾ with kasrah (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: In words where an alif precedes a rāʾ carrying kasrah, al-Dūrī applies full imālah kubrā (iḍjāʿ), not merely taqlīl: الأَبْرَارِ، النَّارِ، الكُفَّارِ، الدَّارِ، أَبْصَارِهِمْ، الحِمَارِ، هَارٍ، بَدَارِ، جَبَّارِينَ، الجَارِ، القَهَّارِ، البَوَارِ.
• Explanation: This is stronger in degree than the taqlīl applied elsewhere — the fatḥah and its alif tilt fully toward kasrah/yāʾ. Incidental sukūn at waqf does not cancel it.
• Example: النَّارِ → an-nēr (full tilt); الأَبْرَارِ.
• Matn: line 321

Imālah kubrā — التَّوْرَاة (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī reads the alif of التَّوْرَاة with full imālah kubrā (iḍjāʿ).
• Explanation: Consistent with his treatment of the alif-rāʾ words above; the word is of non-Arabic origin, so its treatment is fixed by transmission. Recurs throughout Āl ʿImrān and elsewhere.
• Example: التَّوْرَاةَ (Q3:3).
• Matn: line 546

Imālah kubrā — rāʾ (ر) and hāʾ (هـ) at sūrah openings (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Abū ʿAmr reads the imālah-bearing disconnected opening letters — هَا، يَا، طَا، حَا، رَا (e.g. the رَا of الر، المر and the هَا of طٰه، كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ) — with taqlīl (bayna bayna), not full imālah. Al-Dūrī and al-Sūsī do not differ here — it is a qirāʾah-level reading carried by both rāwīs.
• Explanation: Full imālah kubrā on these letters belongs to Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī; Abū ʿAmr and Warsh read them with taqlīl (a degree between fatḥ and full imālah); the rest read fatḥ. al-Wāfī (imālah bāb, p.148): «حمزة والكسائي يميلانها … وأبو عمرو وورش يُقَلِّلونها بين بين».
• Example: الر (rāʾ by taqlīl); طٰه، كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ (hāʾ by taqlīl).
• Matn: the fatḥ/imālah bāb, lines 291, 313–314 (al-Wāfī p.147–148).

Imālah kubrā — alif maqṣūrah (general) (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Any alif maqṣūrah (ـى) of yāʾ origin is tilted; this is the most productive imālah rule and applies Qurʾān-wide.
• Explanation: Internalise as an automatic default for yāʾ-origin final alifs.
• Example: الْهُدَى, اشْتَرَى, الْمَوْلَى.
• Matn: line 316

Al-Dūrī's exclusive taqlīl (أَنَّى, يَا حَسْرَتَا, يَا وَيْلَتَا, يَا أَسَفَا) (تَقْليل الدُّوري)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī (not al-Sūsī) reads four words with taqlīl, where al-Sūsī reads them with plain fatḥ: the interrogative أَنَّى (e.g. أَنَّى لَكِ هَٰذَا, Āl ʿImrān 37), and the vocative words يَا حَسْرَتَا ("alas"), يَا وَيْلَتَا ("woe to me"), and يَا أَسَفَا ("O my grief").
• Explanation: The matn names al-Dūrī by his rumūz — طَوَوْا (ط = al-Dūrī) — for these words; "وَعَنْ غَيْرِهِ قِسْهَا" tells us everyone else (including al-Sūsī) reads them with fatḥ. أَنَّى takes the taqlīl in its interrogative sense. This is the single clearest Dūrī-vs-Sūsī divergence in Abū ʿAmr.
• Example: أَنَّى لَكِ هَٰذَا (taqlīl for al-Dūrī, fatḥ for al-Sūsī); يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَىٰ مَا فَرَّطْتُ.
• Matn: line 317

Taqlīl of fawāṣil at waqf (تَقْليل الفَواصِل وَقْفًا)¶

• Rule: Verse-ending alif-sounds (fawāṣil) in specific sūrahs receive taqlīl in pause only (waqf), not mid-verse.
• Explanation: Context-dependent: it gives al-Dūrī's recitation its characteristic inclined quality at verse-endings, one of the most recognisable features in tartīl.
• Example: stopping on the closing alif of a verse in al-Najm or al-Shams.
• Matn: line 316

Two hamzahs in the same word (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمة)¶

• Rule: When two hamzahs appear at the beginning of a word, al-Dūrī applies tashīl (softening) of the second hamzah.
• Explanation: The second hamzah is pronounced bayna bayna — a sound between a full hamzah and the vowel letter it resembles. Three patterns occur: fatḥ+fatḥ, fatḥ+kasr, fatḥ+ḍamm.
• Example: أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ — the second hamzah is musahhalah; أَئِنَّا; أَءُنزِلَ.
• Matn: line 184

Two hamzahs from different words — agreeing vowels (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When a word ending in hamzah meets a word beginning with hamzah and both carry the same vowel, al-Dūrī drops the first hamzah (isqāṭ); the second is pronounced fully.
• Explanation: Applies to all three agreement types (fatḥ+fatḥ, kasr+kasr, ḍamm+ḍamm). This pure dropping is the simplest method.
• Example: جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا → جَاءَمْرُنَا (first hamzah drops); مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِنَّ (first drops); أَوْلِيَاءُ أُولَئِكَ (first drops).
• Matn: line 202

Two hamzahs from different words — disagreeing vowels (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When the two hamzahs carry different vowels, al-Dūrī facilitates the second hamzah (tashīl), pronouncing it between its hamzah sound and the vowel letter it resembles.
• Explanation: Grouped with Nāfiʿ and Ibn Kathīr (سما) for this rule.
• Example: تَفِيءَ إِلَى (fatḥ+kasr, 2nd facilitated); جَاءَ أُمَّةً (fatḥ+ḍamm); نَشَاءُ أَصَبْنَا (ḍamm+fatḥ, like wāw); السَّمَاءِ أَوْ (kasr+fatḥ, like yāʾ).
• Matn: line 209
• Meta-rule: when a madd letter precedes a hamzah that has been softened or dropped, the madd may be shortened, but maintaining it is the more balanced (aʿdal) and preferred option. line 208
• Rāwī note: two-hamzah handling is a qirāʾah-level ruling — al-Dūrī and al-Sūsī do not differ on it. For two hamzahs in one word both read tashīl of the second + idkhāl alif al-faṣl; two words, same vowel → drop the first (line 202); two words, different vowels → soften the second (above). Their sole divergence in this neighbourhood is the single sākin hamzah (al-Sūsī ibdāl vs al-Dūrī taḥqīq).

Idghām — no idghām kabīr (only the shared idghām ṣaghīr) (الإدْغام)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī does not apply idghām kabīr (merging two voweled letters across a word boundary). In the Shāṭibī ṭarīq that feature belongs to al-Sūsī alone — al-Dūrī reads those meetings with iẓhār, like Ḥafṣ. He shares only Abū ʿAmr's idghām ṣaghīr: the sākin bāʾ of jazm into a following fāʾ or mīm — يَعْذِب فَّمَن، اركب مَّعَنَا، إِن يَتُب، نَخْسِف بِهِم — and يَلْهَث ذَّٰلِكَ.
• Explanation: Although the matn names Abū ʿAmr as the "pillar" of idghām kabīr (line 116), the sharḥ states plainly that it is read "only… from the narration of Sūsī" — not the Dūrī of the Shāṭibiyyah. So al-Dūrī keeps the voweled letters clear; only the apocopated bāʾ (and the universal cases like اتَّخَذْتُمْ) assimilate.
• Example: الرَّحِيمِ مَالِكِ → read clear by al-Dūrī (al-Sūsī merges it to الرَّحِيمَّالِكِ); but اركب مَّعَنَا (bāʾ → mīm) is idghām for both.
• Matn: lines 277–280 — the bāʾ al-jazm; idghām kabīr (line 116) is al-Sūsī's.

Hamz — taḥqīq, not al-Sūsī's ibdāl (تَحْقيق الهَمْز)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī reads the sākin hamzah with its full taḥqīq (like Ḥafṣ) — he does not apply al-Sūsī's general ibdāl of the sākin hamzah into a madd letter.
• Explanation: This is the defining contrast between the two rāwīs of Abū ʿAmr: al-Sūsī softens the quiescent hamzah into a madd matching the preceding vowel, while al-Dūrī keeps it as a full hamzah.
• Example: يُؤْمِنُونَ — al-Dūrī keeps the hamzah (يُؤْمِنُونَ); al-Sūsī reads يُومِنُونَ. بِئْر — al-Dūrī بِئْر, al-Sūsī بِير.
• Matn: the hamz-mufrad bāb, lines 238–241 (al-Sūsī's ibdāl; al-Dūrī keeps taḥqīq).

Ikhtilās in verb clusters (الاخْتِلاس)¶

• Rule: In heavy verb forms that Abū ʿAmr lightens (بَارِئْكُمْ, يَأْمُرْكُمْ, يَأْمُرْهُمْ, تَأْمُرْهُمْ, يَنْصُرْكُمْ, يُشْعِرْكُمْ), al-Dūrī applies ikhtilās — a quick "snatching" of the vowel that leaves a faint trace, rather than complete removal.
• Explanation: The vowel is not fully dropped; the pronunciation is rapid so the vowel is barely perceptible. This is one of the most delicate distinctions in the qirāʾāt.
• Example: يَأْمُرُكُمْ → يَأْمُرُ̆كُمْ (quick trace of the ḍammah on the rāʾ).
• Matn: line 455

Hāʾ al-kināyah (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī gives the third-person pronoun hāʾ (هُ / هِ) ṣilah (a connecting long vowel) only when it stands between two voweled letters — the standard rule.
• Explanation: No ṣilah after a sākin. Several word-specific sub-rules modify this (below).
• Example: بِهِ ـِي (ṣilah); but مِنْهُ (no ṣilah, preceded by sākin).
• Matn: line 108

Hāʾ al-kināyah — word-specific sukūn and shortening (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: In a defined set of words al-Dūrī reads the هـ with sukūn; and in one case an added hamzah sākinah followed by a hāʾ maḍmūmah. Specifically: يُؤَدِّهْ (Q3:75), نُوَلِّهْ (Q4:115), نُصْلِهْ (Q4:115), and نُؤْتِهْ (Q3:145, Q42:20) all with sukūn (the matn pairs the four under one sukūn-command, line 160); فَأَلْقِهْ (Q27:28) and يَتَّقِهْ (Q24:52) sukūn with khulf; يَرْضَهْ sukūn with khulf; أَرْجِئْهُ (Q7:111; Q26:36) read with an added sākin hamzah and hāʾ maḍmūmah.
• Explanation: These are transmitted exceptions to the standard ṣilah rule and must be memorised individually. أَرْجِئْهُ with the sākin hamzah is shared with Ibn Kathīr and Ibn ʿĀmir (نَفَر).
• Example: نُؤْتِهْ — sukūn on the hāʾ; يَرْضَهْ — sukūn (bi-khulf).
• Matn: lines 160–161 «وَسَكِّنْ يُؤَدِّهْ مَعْ نُوَلِّهْ وَنُصْلِهِ وَنُؤْتِهِ» — al-Dūrī (with Abū ʿAmr) is in the sukūn group; resolved via al-Wāfī p.70.

Mīm al-jamʿ (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī gives the plural pronoun mīm (هُمْ، كُمْ، تُمْ) no ṣilah — it stays sākin (or carries its ḍammah before a sākin) and is never connected to the following letter with a wāw.
• Explanation: Follows the majority; the mīm is not extended.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا (no ṣilah on the mīm).
• Matn: line 108

Mīm al-jamʿ after hāʾ in a kasrah environment (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: When a plural mīm follows the possessive hāʾ, and that hāʾ is itself preceded by a kasrah or a yāʾ sākinah, al-Dūrī assigns a kasrah to the mīm instead of the standard ḍammah.
• Explanation: Vowel harmony — the kasrah environment "pulls" the mīm's vowel downward.
• Example: standard مِنْ عَهْدِهِمُ → al-Dūrī مِنْ عَهْدِهِمِ (kasrah on mīm).
• Matn: line 108

Iskān of هُوَ / هِيَ after connective particles (إسْكان هاء (هُوَ وهِيَ))¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī reads هُوَ and هِيَ with a sākin hāʾ when they follow the connective particles وَ، فَ، لَ (and ثُمَّ): وَهْوَ، فَهْوَ، لَهْوَ، وَهْيَ، فَهْيَ.
• Explanation: The full vowel of the hāʾ is dropped after these particles. Shared in the Shāṭibiyyah by Qālūn, Abū ʿAmr (both rāwīs), and Abū al-Ḥārith.
• Example: وَهُوَ → وَهْوَ; فَهِيَ → فَهْيَ.
• Matn: line 449

Tāʾ marbūṭah in pause (الوَقْف على التاء المَرْبوطة)¶

• Rule: A tāʾ marbūṭah (ة) is pronounced as hāʾ (هـ) in pause; al-Dūrī has a specific set of exceptional words on which he instead pauses with tāʾ.
• Explanation: The general rule (ة → ه at waqf) is near-universal; the exceptions are transmitted word-by-word and cannot be derived phonologically — best grouped by sūrah for memorisation.
• Example: رَحْمَةٌ → raḥmah (general); the exceptional words are pronounced …t at waqf.
• Matn: line 365

Yāʾ al-iḍāfah in waṣl (ياء الإضافة)¶

• Rule: Al-Dūrī adds a fatḥah to the genitive yāʾ (يَاء الإِضَافَة) when the next word begins with a hamzah qaṭʿ, and likewise when it begins with a hamzat waṣl; in a defined set of exception words he instead gives the yāʾ sukūn.
• Explanation: Opening the yāʾ enables smooth connection; he is part of the سَمَا group (Nāfiʿ, Ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAmr) doing fatḥ for the large hamzah-adjacent category. The sukūn exceptions depart from the general rule and are memorised from the manuals.
• Example: إِنِّي أَخَافُ (fatḥ on yāʾ before hamzah qaṭʿ); عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ (fatḥ before hamzat waṣl).
• Matn: line 387

Waqf with rawm and ishmām (الوَقْف بالرَّوْم والإشْمام)¶

• Rule: At waqf al-Dūrī may use rawm (making a ḍammah or kasrah barely audible) and ishmām (rounding the lips after sukūn to signal a ḍammah).
• Explanation: Abū ʿAmr is among the reciters explicitly associated with rawm. Neither applies to fatḥah, nor to hāʾ al-taʾnīth or mīm al-jamʿ; they apply only to permanent vowels.
• Example: stopping on نَسْتَعِينُ with rawm of the ḍammah; on the ḍammah of a noun with ishmām.
• Matn: line 365

Farsh¶

The complete distinctive farsh of al-Dūrī (ʿan Abū ʿAmr), sorted by matn line (muṣḥaf order): each row gives the verse, Ḥafṣ's reading (for contrast), al-Dūrī (ʿan Abū ʿAmr)'s actual reading, a Qurʾānic example, and the matn line. al-Dūrī follows his imām Abū ʿAmr al-Baṣrī throughout except where a rāwī-internal split (al-Dūrī vs al-Sūsī) is explicitly noted. Rulings where Abū ʿAmr reads the base/majority form (i.e. agrees with Ḥafṣ or sits in al-bāqūn matching Ḥafṣ) are not distinctive and are omitted. Rows marked (awaiting confirmation) carry a low/medium confidence in the decode and are not yet cross-checked against a printed sharḥ.