Shuʿbah ʿan ʿĀṣim¶

Shuʿbah — Abū Bakr Shuʿbah ibn ʿAyyāsh al-Asadī al-Kūfī (95–193 AH / c. 713–809 CE) ʿan ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd al-Kūfī (d. 127 AH / 745 CE) — ʿĀṣim took his reading through Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib) and Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh (from Ibn Masʿūd); Shuʿbah, the earlier of ʿĀṣim's two rāwīs, preserves the reading ʿĀṣim transmitted from Zirr via Ibn Masʿūd.

Uṣūl¶

Istiʿādhah (الاسْتِعاذة)¶

• Rule: Recited aloud with the standard formula أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ.
• Explanation: Pronounced audibly (jiharan) before beginning recitation; mandatory at the start of a sūrah (other than al-Tawbah) and optional when starting mid-sūrah.
• Example: أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ before بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ.
• Matn: line 95

Basmalah between sūrahs (البَسْمَلة بَين السُّورَتَين)¶

• Rule: Always recites the basmalah when moving from one sūrah to the next.
• Explanation: No option for silence or waṣl between sūrahs; the basmalah is always connected to the beginning of the next sūrah, never left attached to the end of the previous one (the prohibited fourth method).
• Example: … مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ ۝ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ.
• Matn: line 100

Al-Anfāl to al-Tawbah transition (بَين الأنْفال والتَّوْبة)¶

• Rule: Three options — complete stop (waqf), brief pause without breath (sakt), or direct connection (waṣl) — with no basmalah.
• Explanation: Al-Tawbah has no basmalah at its start, so the standard inter-sūrah basmalah does not apply here.
• Example: end of … وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (al-Anfāl 8:75) → بَرَاءَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ.
• Matn: line 107

Madd muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: 4–5 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When a long vowel (alif/wāw/yāʾ) is followed by a hamzah within the same word, the madd is prolonged to four or five counts.
• Example: جَاءَ، السَّمَاءِ، سُوءَ.
• Matn: line 161

Madd munfaṣil — fixed 4 ḥarakāt (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: A fixed 4 ḥarakāt (tawassuṭ only — no ṭūl option).
• Explanation: When a word ends in a long vowel and the next begins with a hamzah, Shuʿbah prolongs for exactly four counts, giving his recitation a more compact rhythm. This fixed value is distinctive to him.
• Example: يَا أَيُّهَا، فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ، قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ.
• Matn: line 161

Madd ʿāriḍ li-l-sukūn (المَدّ العارِض للسُّكون)¶

• Rule: 2, 4, or 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When stopping on a word ending in a madd letter followed by a letter made sākin by the waqf, all three lengths are permitted.
• Example: stopping on الْعَالَمِينَ، نَسْتَعِينُ.
• Matn: line 161

Madd lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When a madd letter is followed by an original sukūn or a shaddah, the madd is held for six counts.
• Example: الضَّالِّينَ، the spelled letters مِيم / لَام / صَاد in opening verses.
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-badal (مَدّ البَدَل)¶

• Rule: 2 ḥarakāt (natural madd).
• Explanation: When a long vowel follows a hamzah within a word, it is read short, with no extension.
• Example: آمَنَ، أُوتِيَ، إِيمَانًا.
• Matn: line 171

Madd al-ʿiwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: 2 ḥarakāt when stopping on tanwīn fatḥah.
• Explanation: At waqf, the tanwīn fatḥah (ـً) is replaced by an alif sound of two counts.
• Example: stopping on كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 171

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

• Rule: 6 ḥarakāt for three-letter-spelled letters; 2 ḥarakāt for two-letter-spelled letters; no madd for alif; ʿayn has 4 or 6.
• Explanation: A letter whose spelling has a madd letter followed by a sākin (e.g. مِيم) takes madd lāzim (6); a letter with no sākin after the madd letter (e.g. طَا، هَا، يَا، حَا، رَا) takes natural madd (2); أَلِف has no madd letter; عَيْن permits 4 or 6, with 6 preferred.
• Example: الٓمٓ (6 on lām and mīm), حٰمٓ (2 on ḥā, 6 on mīm), كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ (ʿayn 4 or 6).
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-līn at waqf (مَدّ اللِّين)¶

• Rule: 2, 4, or 6 ḥarakāt at waqf.
• Explanation: When a sākin yāʾ or wāw preceded by fatḥah falls before a letter made sākin by the waqf, it may be lengthened to two, four, or six counts.
• Example: stopping on خَوْف، الْبَيْت.
• Matn: line 180

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

• Rule: Both hamzahs pronounced fully (taḥqīq).
• Explanation: No tashīl or dropping of either hamzah when two meet in one word.
• Example: أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ — both hamzahs articulated fully.
• Matn: line 183

Hamzah replacements (ibdāl in specific words) (إبْدال الهَمْز)¶

• Rule: Shuʿbah replaces the hamzah with another letter in a fixed list of words, in both waṣl and waqf.
• Explanation: In these words the hamzah becomes a wāw or yāʾ, or is dropped/shortened, as a permanent feature of his reading (not only at waqf).
• Example: كُفُوًا → كُفْوًا، هُزُوًا → هُزْوًا، لُؤْلُؤ → لُوْلُو، مُؤْصَدَة → مُوصَدَة، جِبْرَئِيل → جِبْرِيل، مِيكَائِيل → مِيكَال، زَكَرِيَّاء → زَكَرِيَّا، تُرْجِئُ → تُرْجِي، مُرْجَئُونَ → مُرْجَوْنَ، رَؤُوف → رَؤُف.
• Matn: line 183

Istifhām (interrogative hamzah) (هَمْزة الاسْتِفْهام)¶

• Rule: Shuʿbah reads certain declarative forms as rhetorical questions by adding the interrogative hamzah.
• Explanation: A hamzat al-istifhām is prefixed, turning a statement into a question at fixed locations.
• Example: أَءَنْ كَانَ ذَا مَالٍ (Q68:14); أَئِنَّ لَنَا لَأَجْرًا (Q7:113, Q26:41); أَآمَنْتُمْ (Q7:123, Q20:71, Q26:49); أَئِنَّكُمْ (Q7:81, Q29:28, Q56:47).
• Matn: line 183

Mīm al-jamʿ (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: No ṣilah — the plural mīm is read as a closed mīm sākinah in all positions.
• Explanation: No connecting wāw is added before a following voweled letter; before a sākin the mīm keeps its ḍammah but takes no ṣilah.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ، مِنْهُمْ، بِهِمُ الْأَسْبَابُ — closed mīm throughout.
• Matn: line 111

Hāʾ al-kināyah (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: Standard ṣilah — connect the pronoun hāʾ with a short vowel (wāw if ḍammah, yāʾ if kasrah) only between two voweled letters; no ṣilah after a sākin.
• Explanation: When the hāʾ is preceded or followed by a sākin, no connecting vowel is added.
• Example: إِنَّهُ كَانَ (ṣilah → إِنَّهُو كَانَ); لَهُ مَا (ṣilah); but فِيهِ هُدًى (no ṣilah, preceded by sākin yāʾ).
• Matn: line 158

Hāʾ al-kināyah — iskān words (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: Sukūn (iskān) on the hāʾ in يُؤَدِّهْ (Q3:75), نُوَلِّهْ (Q4:115), نُصْلِهْ (Q4:115), نُؤْتِهْ (Q3:145, Q4:114), and — bi-khilāf — فَأَلْقِهْ (Q27:28) and يَتَّقِهْ (Q24:52); also لَدُنِي (Q18:76) read with takhfīf (single nūn).
• Explanation: Shuʿbah is in the sukūn group for the apocopated-verb hāʾ (with Ḥamzah and Abū ʿAmr): the hāʾ takes a plain sukūn, no ṣilah. The matn gives فَأَلْقِهْ/يَتَّقِهْ to this group and to Ḥafṣ bi-khulf.
• Example: Q3:75 يُؤَدِّهْ إِلَيْكَ — sukūn on the hāʾ; مِنْ لَدُنِي (single nūn).
• Matn: lines 160–161 «وَسَكِّنْ يُؤَدِّهْ مَعْ نُوَلِّهْ وَنُصْلِهِ»; لَدُنِي at line 846 «وَنُونَ لَدُنِّي خَفَّ صَاحِبُهُ» (ص = Shuʿbah).

Imālah (الإمالة)¶

• Rule: Imālah kubrā on a specific list — rāʾ-alif words, the verb رَأَى (when not followed by sukūn), and the fawātiḥ letters هَا، يَا، طَا، حَا، رَا in sūrah openings; also أَعْمَى / سُوًى / سُدًى at waqf.
• Explanation: The fatḥah tilts toward kasrah and the alif toward yāʾ in these categories — far more than Ḥafṣ's single word, but far less than Ḥamzah/al-Kisāʾī.
• Example: رَأَى with imālah of both letters; طٰهٰ, يٰس openings; وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا (the alif maqṣūrah categories at waqf).
• Matn: line 294

Idghām of close-articulation pairs (إدْغام المُتَقارِبَين)¶

• Rule: Idghām in exactly three locations — the nūn of يس into the following wāw, the nūn of ن into the following wāw, and the dhāl of اتَّخَذْتُمْ into the tāʾ.
• Explanation: The two opening-letter nūns are assimilated into وَ, and the dhāl assimilates into the tāʾ.
• Example: يسٓ وّٱلْقُرْءَانِ (Q36:1–2); نٓ وّٱلْقَلَمِ (Q68:1); اتَّخَذْتُمْ (dhāl merged into tāʾ).
• Matn: line 277

Idghām kabīr (الإدْغام الكَبير)¶

• Rule: None — every voweled consonant is pronounced distinctly across word boundaries.
• Explanation: Shuʿbah does not merge identical or similar voweled letters across words; each is given iẓhār.
• Example: يَعْلَمُ مَا — both mīms pronounced separately.
• Matn: line 116

Passive verbs (قِيلَ class) — pure kasr, no ishmām (قِيلَ وأخواتها)¶

• Rule: Shuʿbah reads قِيلَ, غِيضَ, جِيءَ, حِيلَ, سِيقَ with a plain kasrah — no ishmām of ḍammah.
• Explanation: The matn gives the ishmām of these passive verbs to رِجَالٌ — Hishām and al-Kisāʾī — and Shuʿbah is not among them; he reads, like Ḥafṣ, with pure kasrah.
• Example: وَقِيلَ يَا أَرْضُ — pure kasrah on the qāf.
• Matn: lines 447–448 «وَقِيلَ وَغِيضَ ثُمَّ جِيءَ يُشِمُّهَا … رِجَالٌ» — the ishmām group, which excludes Shuʿbah.

Rāʾ (أحْكام الراء)¶

• Rule: Standard tafkhīm/tarqīq rules — thick with fatḥah/ḍammah (or sākin after them), thin with kasrah (or sākin after kasrah), thick again when a sākin rāʾ after kasrah is followed by an istiʿlāʾ letter.
• Explanation: No special categories beyond the universal rāʾ rules.
• Example: رَبّ (thick), رِزْق (thin), فِرْقٍ (thick — istiʿlāʾ qāf follows).
• Matn: line 349

Lām of the divine name (لام لَفْظ الجَلالة)¶

• Rule: Tafkhīm after fatḥah or ḍammah; tarqīq after kasrah. Regular lām is always tarqīq.
• Explanation: The lām in اللَّه is thick when preceded by fatḥah/ḍammah and thin after kasrah.
• Example: قَالَ اللَّهُ (thick), بِسْمِ اللَّهِ (thin).
• Matn: line 262

مُجْرَاهَا (Hūd 11:41) — ḍamm the mīm, no imālah¶

• Rule: Shuʿbah reads بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مُجْرَاهَا with ḍamm on the mīm and a plain open alif (no imālah).
• Explanation: This is the sharp contrast with Ḥafṣ, whose only imālah is precisely مَجْرَاهَا (fatḥ-mīm, alif inclined). The matn assigns the ḍamm to سِوَاهُمْ — everyone other than the Ḥafṣ-reading just named — so Shuʿbah is included.
• Example: بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مُجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا — ḍamm mīm, no tilt.
• Matn: line 757

Yāʾ al-iḍāfah (ياء الإضافة)¶

• Rule: Mixed — differs from Ḥafṣ at numerous documented locations on whether the possessive yāʾ carries fatḥah or sukūn.
• Explanation: The first-person possessive yāʾ (ي = "my") is read with fatḥah in some places and sukūn in others; when Shuʿbah opens it with fatḥah before a hamzah, a madd munfaṣil of 4 ḥarakāt results.
• Example: Q2:125, Q22:26, Q71:28, Q3:20, Q6:79 (sukūn); Q5:28 (sukūn, triggering madd munfaṣil).
• Matn: line 387 onward (the bāb names Shuʿbah's positions; the per-verse roster is summarised here, not fully enumerated).

Yāʾāt al-zawāʾid (ياءات الزَّوائِد)¶

• Rule: Specific documented cases where Shuʿbah pronounces an extra (unwritten) yāʾ.
• Explanation: In a defined set of words Shuʿbah reads a yāʾ not written in the muṣḥaf, in waṣl and/or waqf per the word.
• Example: documented per-word in the matn's yāʾāt al-zawāʾid section.
• Matn: line 420 onward (the yāʾāt al-zawāʾid bāb; the per-word roster is summarised here, not fully enumerated).

Waqf — rawm and ishmām (الوَقْف بالرَّوْم والإشْمام)¶

• Rule: As one of the Kūfans, Shuʿbah may use rawm (barely audible vowel) on ḍammah/kasrah and ishmām (silent lip-rounding) on ḍammah at waqf.
• Explanation: These never apply to fatḥah, nor to hāʾ al-taʾnīth or mīm al-jamʿ; they apply only to permanent vowels.
• Example: stopping on نَسْتَعِينُ with ishmām, or on الرَّحِيمِ with rawm.
• Matn: line 266

Farsh¶

The distinctive farsh of Shuʿbah — every ruling in the binned source where his reading via ʿĀṣim genuinely differs from Ḥafṣ — sorted by matn line. The Shuʿbah column gives his reading, not merely the binned "variant": where a ruling named ʿĀṣim, "the Kūfīs," or al-bāqūn (so both rāwīs of ʿĀṣim agree), Shuʿbah matches Ḥafṣ and the row is omitted; the distinctive rows are the ones where Shuʿbah falls in صُحْبَة / ص / a Shuʿbah-only clause while Ḥafṣ sits with صِحَاب or the opposite camp. Rows marked (awaiting confirmation) rest on a medium/low-confidence decode or a contested rumūz reading.

Rulings checked but not distinctive (Shuʿbah reads as Ḥafṣ)¶

Wherever the source assigned the variant to ʿĀṣim as a whole, to "the Kūfīs," to صِحَاب-with-Ḥafṣ, or to al-bāqūn including Shuʿbah, the two rāwīs of ʿĀṣim agree and the place is not listed above. Notable skips: 40:29 مَالِي, 71:6 دُعَائِي / 12:38 آبَائِي, 12:84 حُزْنِي / 11:88 تَوْفِيقِي, 2:9 يُخَادِعُونَ, 2:10 يَكْذِبُونَ, 2:58 نَغْفِرْ, 2:85 (تَظَاهَرُونَ، تُفَادُوهُمْ), 2:102 الشَّيَاطِينُ, 2:106 نُنْسِهَا, 2:184 فِدْيَةٌ طَعَامُ, 2:210 تُرْجَعُ, 2:245/57:11 يُضَاعِفَهُ, 3:79 تُعَلِّمُونَ, 3:125 مُسَوِّمِينَ, 3:146 قَاتَلَ, 3:157 مُتُّمْ, 3:161 يَغُلَّ, 3:188 يَحْسَبَنَّ, 4:1 تَسَاءَلُونَ, 4:33 عَقَدَتْ, 4:95 غَيْرُ أُولِي, 4:136 نَزَّلَ, 4:145 الدَّرْكِ, 5:42 السُّحْت, 5:95 (جَزَاء، كَفَّارَة), 6:23 أَنَّهُ, 7:38 أَنْ لَعْنَةُ, 7:57 بُشْرًا, 7:143 دَكًّا, 7:144 رِسَالَاتِي, 9:30 (عُزَيْر، يُضَاهِئُونَ), 9:66 نُعَذِّبْ, 11:42 يَا بُنَيَّ, 11:46 تَسْأَلْنِ, 11:111/36:32 لَمَّا, 12:12 (نَرْتَعْ، يَرْتَعِ), 12:19 يَا بُشْرَايَ, 12:110 (نُجِّيَ، كُذِبُوا), 13:4 يُسْقَى, 13:33 صُدُّوا, 13:39 يُثْبِتُ, 13:42 الْكُفَّار, 15:2 رُبَمَا, 16:20 يَدْعُونَ, 16:37 يَهْدِي, 16:80 ظَعْنِكُمْ, 16:96 وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّ, 17:38 سَيِّئُه, 17:90 تَفْجُرَ, 18:17 تَزَاوَر, 18:34 ثَمَر, 18:44 عُقْبًا, 18:81 يُبْدِلَ, 18:85 فَأَتْبَعَ, 18:94 يَأْجُوج, 19:34 قَوْلَ, 19:36 وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ, 20:12/79:16 طُوًى, 20:58 سُوًى, 22:23/35:33 لُؤْلُؤًا, 22:39 أُذِنَ, 23:20 سَيْنَاء, 25:67 يَقْتُرُوا, 26:56 حَاذِرُونَ, 26:137 خُلُق, 27:7 شِهَابٍ, 27:52 أَنَّ, 28:29 جَذْوَةٍ, 28:34 يُصَدِّقُنِي, 28:48 سِحْرَانِ, 29:42 يَدْعُونَ, 33:4 اللَّائِي, 33:21 أُسْوَة, 33:33 وَقَرْنَ, 33:68 الْعَذَاب, 34:23 صَدَّقَ, 36:55 شُغُل, 36:62 جِبِلًّا, 36:68 نُنَكِّسْهُ, 36:70 لِيُنْذِرَ, 37:6 (تنوين بِزِينَةٍ), 38:84 فَالْحَقُّ, 39:71 فُتِّحَتْ, 40:58 يَتَذَكَّرُونَ, 41:16 نَحِسَات, 43:19 عِبَادُ, 43:33 سُقُفًا, 43:57 يَصِدُّونَ, 43:58 آلِهَتُنَا, 43:82 رَبِّ السَّمَاوَاتِ (44:7), 43:88 قِيلِهِ, 44:47 فَاعْتِلُوهُ, 45:14 لِيَجْزِيَ, 46:15 إِحْسَانًا, 46:19 لِيُوَفِّيَهُمْ, 52:45 يُصْعَقُونَ, 56:19 يُنْزِفُونَ, 56:55 شُرْب, 58:11 الْمَجَالِس, 89:18 تَحَاضُّونَ, 111:4 حَمَّالَةَ; plus the multaqā-al-sākinayn uṣūl rule (kasr) and the imālah of the fawātiḥ.