Hishām ʿan Ibn ʿĀmir¶

Hishām ibn ʿAmmār al-Sulamī al-Dimashqī (153–245 AH / 770–859 CE), khaṭīb of the Umayyad Mosque and a ḥadīth transmitter cited in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, rāwī of the imām ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿĀmir al-Shāmī al-Yaḥṣubī (8–118 AH / 629–736 CE), the imām of recitation in Damascus, who took his reading from Abū al-Dardāʾ and al-Mughīrah ibn Abī Shihāb, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. See the imām's overview.

Uṣūl¶

Basmalah Between Sūrahs (البَسْمَلة بَين السُّورَتَين)¶

• Rule: Between two sūrahs Hishām has the three permitted ways: (1) basmalah, (2) sakt (a brief breathless pause, no basmalah), or (3) waṣl (joining directly). He is in the choice-group with Warsh and Abū ʿAmr — not one of the always-basmalah readers.
• Explanation: When the basmalah is used it attaches to the start of the following sūrah, never to the end of the previous one. At the start of any sūrah other than al-Tawbah the basmalah is required; before al-Tawbah there is none, and the al-Anfāl→al-Tawbah junction takes the usual waqf/sakt/waṣl.
• Example: end of al-Fātiḥah → (1) … الرَّحِيمِ ۝ الٓمٓ with basmalah, or (2) a silent pause, or (3) joined directly.
• Matn: lines 100–101 (al-Wāfī p.46–47: Ibn ʿĀmir + Warsh + Abū ʿAmr)

Madd Muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: 4–5 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When a long vowel (alif, wāw, or yāʾ) is followed by a hamzah within the same word, Hishām prolongs it in the moderate range — neither the qaṣr of Ibn Kathīr nor the ṭūl of Ḥamzah/Warsh.
• Example: جَآءَ, السَّمَآءِ, سُوٓءِ.
• Matn: line 161

Madd Munfaṣil (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: 4–5 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When a long vowel ends one word and the next word begins with a hamzah, Hishām prolongs it 4–5 ḥarakāt, matching his muttaṣil length.
• Example: بِمَآ أُنزِلَ, قُوٓا أَنفُسَكُمْ, يَٰٓأَيُّهَا.
• Matn: line 161

Madd ʿĀriḍ lil-Sukūn (المَدّ العارِض للسُّكون)¶

• Rule: 2, 4, or 6 ḥarakāt (all three permitted).
• Explanation: When stopping on a word whose final letter becomes sākin at waqf and a madd letter precedes it, the madd may be shortened, medium, or full.
• Example: Stopping on الْعَٰلَمِينَ, نَسْتَعِينُ.
• Matn: line 174

Madd Lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When a madd letter is followed by an original (permanent) sukūn or a shaddah, the prolongation is the full six ḥarakāt.
• Example: الضَّآلِّينَ, الٓمٓ (the مِيم spelled مِيمٓ).
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-Badal (مَدّ البَدَل)¶

• Rule: Natural madd — 2 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: When a long vowel comes after a hamzah, Hishām reads it as the ordinary natural madd of two counts.
• Example: ءَامَنَ, أُوتِيَ, إِيمَٰنًا.
• Matn: line 171

Madd al-ʿIwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: 2 ḥarakāt at waqf on tanwīn fatḥah.
• Explanation: When stopping on a word ending in tanwīn fatḥah, the tanwīn becomes a sustained /aa/ of two counts.
• Example: Stopping on كِتَٰبًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 174

Madd in the Disconnected Letters (مَدّ الحُروف المُقَطَّعة)¶

• Rule: 6 ḥarakāt for the three-letter-spelled openers; 2 ḥarakāt for the two-letter-spelled openers; عٓ given 4 or 6 (6 preferred).
• Explanation: Letters whose spelling places a madd letter before a sākin (نٓ، مٓ، صٓ، لٓ، كٓ، سٓ، قٓ) take madd lāzim of six; those whose spelling is two letters (طَا، هَا، يَا، حَا، رَا) take the natural two; أَلِف has no madd letter.
• Example: الٓمٓ — the لَام and مِيم at six counts; طٰهٰ at two counts.
• Matn: line 177

Imālah — Limited (الإمالة)¶

• Rule: Hishām's imālah (kubrā) is restricted to a defined set of words: آتِيكَ (al-Naml 27:39, 40 — bi-khulf), مَشَارِب (Yāsīn 36:73), آنِيَة (al-Ghāshiyah 88:5 only — not the آنِيَة of al-Insān 76:15, which no reader inclines), عَابِدُونَ / عَابِدٌ (the three in al-Kāfirūn 109:3–5), and النَّاس (bi-khulf, in the genitive only).
• Explanation: Imālah is the tilting of a fatḥah toward kasrah and its alif toward yāʾ. Hishām's imālah is far narrower than the extensive kubrā of Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī — it is this small, fixed list, not a general pattern.
• Example: آنِيَةٍ (al-Ghāshiyah 88:5) with the alif inclined toward yāʾ; أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ (al-Naml).
• Matn: lines 329–331 (al-Wāfī p.154).

Hāʾ al-Kināyah — General Rule (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: Ṣilah (connecting the pronoun hāʾ هُ/هِ with a small wāw or yāʾ) only when the hāʾ falls between two voweled letters; no ṣilah before a sākin.
• Explanation: This is the standard treatment. The hāʾ is connected (e.g. with a short يـ or وـ sound) when both the letter before it and the letter after it are voweled; when a sākin follows, the hāʾ stands plain.
• Example: إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ (ṣilah present); لَهُ مَا (ṣilah present); but بِهِ ٱلْـ... — no ṣilah before the sākin lām.
• Matn: line 158

Hāʾ al-kināyah — يُؤَدِّهِ class (هاء الكِناية — يُؤَدِّهِ)¶

• Rule: In يُؤَدِّهِ، نُؤْتِهِ، نُوَلِّهِ، نُصْلِهِ, Hishām reads the hāʾ with qaṣr (short kasrah, no ṣilah) bi-khulf — his second wajh is ishbāʿ (full ṣilah). He does not read these with sukūn.
• Explanation: al-Wāfī decodes the matn-160 sukūn group as Ḥamzah, Shuʿbah, and Abū ʿAmr — not Ibn ʿĀmir. Hishām has qaṣr/ishbāʿ (khulf); his fellow rāwī Ibn Dhakwān reads ishbāʿ (ṣilah) outright. (Corrects the earlier "sukūn" reading.)
• Example: يُؤَدِّهِۦٓ إِلَيْكَ (Q3:75) — short kasrah, or with the connecting yāʾ.
• Matn: lines 160–161 (resolved via al-Wāfī, hāʾ-kināyah bāb)

أَرْجِئْهُ (hamz + ḍamm hāʾ)¶

• Rule: With the نَفَر group (Ibn Kathīr + Abū ʿAmr + Ibn ʿĀmir), Hishām reads أَرْجِئْهُ (al-Aʿrāf 111; al-Shuʿarāʾ 36) with a sākin hamzah and ḍammah on the hāʾ — أَرْجِئْهُ (no kasrah, no ṣilah).
• Explanation: The hamzah is kept sākin and the pronoun hāʾ takes a bare ḍammah; the readers outside نَفَر read it with kasrah and ṣilah.
• Example: قَالُوا أَرْجِئْهُ وَأَخَاهُ.
• Matn: lines 166–167

Mīm al-Jamʿ (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: No ṣilah — the plural mīm (هُمْ، كُمْ، تُمْ) stays sākin.
• Explanation: Hishām does not add a connecting wāw after the plural mīm before a voweled letter; the mīm is pronounced with a plain sukūn.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ, أَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ — mīm sākin, no connecting vowel.
• Matn: line 108

Two Hamzahs from Different Words — Taḥqīq (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين — التَّحْقيق)¶

• Rule: Taḥqīq — both hamzahs across a word boundary are pronounced fully and distinctly.
• Explanation: When a word ending in hamzah meets a word beginning with hamzah, Hishām articulates each hamzah completely, without dropping, facilitating, or substituting either one.
• Example: جَآءَ أَمْرُنَا, مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ إِن, أَوْلِيَآءُ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ — each pair of hamzahs sounded in full.
• Matn: line 202

Two Hamzahs in One Word — Madd al-Faṣl (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمة — مَدّ الفَصْل)¶

• Rule: Hishām inserts an alif of separation (مَدُّ الْفَصْل, madd al-faṣl) between the two hamzahs of a same-word double-hamzah. In Āl ʿImrān specifically he instead reads like Ḥafṣ — full taḥqīq with no inserted alif.
• Explanation: Where most reciters either pronounce both hamzahs fully or facilitate the second, Hishām lengthens an audible alif between them. The three double-hamzah patterns are fatḥ+fatḥ (أَءَنذَرْتَهُمْ), fatḥ+kasr (أَئِنَّا), and fatḥ+ḍamm (أَءُنزِلَ). The insertion before the fatḥ and kasr types is an established practice (with خِلَاف reported before the kasr type), and the ḍamm type is read with خِلَاف. In every sūrah except Āl ʿImrān he otherwise reads like Qālūn (tashīl of the second hamzah). In seven specific occurrences — distributed across Maryam, two places in al-Aʿrāf, and al-Shuʿarāʾ — his madd insertion has no خِلَاف. For the word أَئِمَّةً (Q9:12, 21:73, 28:5, 32:24) Hishām alone inserts the madd, with خِلَاف.
• Example: أَءَنذَرْتَهُمْ → an alif lengthened between the two hamzahs; أَئِنَّا → likewise; in Āl ʿImrān 3:6 ءَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ-type words read with plain taḥqīq.
• Matn: line 196

Waqf on Hamzah — Final Hamzah Only (الوَقْف على الهَمْز)¶

• Rule: At waqf, Hishām facilitates the hamzah, but only when it is final (mutaṭarrif) at the end of the word — never a medial hamzah.
• Explanation: When stopping on a word ending in hamzah, Hishām may apply ibdāl (replacing the hamzah with a madd letter matching the preceding vowel and making it sākin), naql (transferring the hamzah's vowel to a preceding sākin and dropping the hamzah), or tashīl bayna bayna (a sound between the hamzah and its vowel). Unlike Ḥamzah, who applies these to medial hamzah as well, Hishām restricts the practice to the word-final hamzah.
• Example: Stopping on يَشَآءُ → may be read يَشَا; stopping on مِن سَبَإٍ → facilitated; but a medial hamzah such as in يَسْـَٔلُونَ is left as full taḥqīq.
• Matn: line 242

Yāʾ al-iḍāfah (ياء الإضافة)¶

• Rule: Where the readers differ on the first-person yāʾ ("my"), Hishām opens (fatḥ) several words that Ḥafṣ reads with sukūn, and closes (iskān) several that Ḥafṣ opens.
• Fatḥ where Ḥafṣ has sukūn:
  • لَعَلِّيَ in its six places (Q12:46, 20:10, 23:100, 28:29, 28:38, 40:36) — line 398.
  • مَا لِيَ (Q40:41) — with the سَمَا group; Ibn Dhakwān keeps sukūn here — line 398.
  • رُسُلِيَ (Q58:21) — line 402.
  • دُعَائِيَ (Q71:6) and آبَائِيَ (Q12:38) — the Kūfans, including Ḥafṣ, read sukūn — line 403.
  • حُزْنِيَ (Q12:86) and تَوْفِيقِيَ (Q11:88) — line 404.
  • أَرْضِيَ (Q29:56) and صِرَاطِيَ (Q6:153) — Ibn ʿĀmir alone among the seven — line 416.
• Iskān where Ḥafṣ has fatḥ:
  • مَعِيَ → مَعِيْ in nine places (Q7:105; Q9:83 مَعِيَ عَدُوًّا; Q18:67, 72, 75; Q21:24; Q26:62; Q26:118; Q28:34). In Q9:83 مَعِيَ أَبَدًا and Q67:28 he opens the yāʾ like Ḥafṣ — lines 398, 417.
  • لِيَ → لِيْ in Q38:23, Q14:22, Q38:69, and وَلِيَ فِيهَا (Q20:18) — lines 417, 419.
  • يَدِيَ (Q5:28) — line 402.
  • لِعِبَادِيَ (Q14:31) and آيَاتِيَ (Q7:146) — line 408.
  • عِبَادِي (Q43:68) — read with a sākin yāʾ in both waṣl and waqf, where Ḥafṣ has no yāʾ at all — line 418.
• Same as Ḥafṣ: بَيْتِي, وَلِيَ دِينِ, and مَا لِيَ (Q27:20) — the iskān in those belongs to Ibn Dhakwān, not Hishām. In أَرَهْطِيَ (Q11:92) the Shāṭibiyyah gives Hishām sukūn (the fatḥ there is Ibn Dhakwān's); Ibn al-Jazarī also transmits fatḥ for Hishām — line 398.
• Matn: lines 388–419

Yāʾāt al-zawāʾid (ياءات الزَّوائِد)¶

• Rule: Hishām affirms the yāʾ of كِيدُونِ → كِيدُونِي (Q7:195), where Ḥafṣ drops it. The ẓāhir of the Shāṭibiyyah gives him khulf; the settled taḥrīr (al-Nashr) is ithbāt in both waṣl and waqf.
• Also: in فَمَا آتَانِ (Q27:36) Ibn ʿĀmir has no yāʾ in either state, while Ḥafṣ reads آتَانِيَ in waṣl and stops with two wajhs.
• Matn: lines 421, 429, 431–432

Farsh¶

Hishām's distinctive farsh — every place where his reading (as a rāwī of Ibn ʿĀmir) departs from Ḥafṣ — in matn (muṣḥaf) order. Each row gives the verse, Ḥafṣ's reading for contrast, Hishām's actual reading, a Qurʾānic example, and the al-Shāṭibiyyah matn line. Rows marked (awaiting confirmation) are decoded from the matn but not yet cross-checked against a printed sharḥ.