Riwāyat al-Bazzī ʿan Ibn Kathīr¶

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdillāh al-Bazzī, Abū al-Ḥasan (170–250 AH), muʾadhdhin of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah for some forty years, narrating from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr al-Makkī (45–120 AH), the imām of recitation in Makkah, through ʿIkrimah ibn Sulaymān. His transmission is distinguished by the takbīr at the ends of the closing sūrahs — see the imām's overview.

Uṣūl¶

Istiʿādhah and Basmalah (الاسْتِعاذة والبَسْمَلة)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī uses the standard istiʿādhah أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ, and always recites the basmalah (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ) between every two sūrahs — it is obligatory for him, with no option to omit it or replace it with silence.
• Explanation: Beginning any sūrah (other than al-Tawbah) the basmalah is required; mid-sūrah it is optional. Between al-Anfāl and al-Tawbah there are three options — waqf (stop), sakt (pause), or waṣl (connect) — and no basmalah, since al-Tawbah has none. The basmalah is always joined to the start of the following sūrah, never left attached to the end of the preceding one.
• Example: At the boundary of al-Fātiḥah and al-Baqarah: …وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ — بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ — الم.
• Matn: line 100

Imālah (الإمالة)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī has no imālah anywhere in the Qurʾān. Every fatḥah–alif combination is pronounced with pure fatḥ.
• Explanation: No fatḥah is tilted toward kasrah and no alif toward yāʾ in any position, including the alif of taʾnīth and yāʾ-origin alifs.
• Example: هُدًى, الْهَوَى, رَمَى — all read with full open fatḥ.
• Matn: line 294

Madd Munfaṣil (Qaṣr) (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: When a long vowel ends one word and a hamzah begins the next, al-Bazzī prolongs only 2 ḥarakāt (qaṣr) — the same length as the natural madd.
• Explanation: This shortening (qaṣr al-munfaṣil) is one of the most recognizable traits of Ibn Kathīr's reading and gives it a noticeably faster flow through passages with frequent hamzah.
• Example: بِمَا أُنْزِلَ — the alif of بِمَا is held only 2 ḥarakāt before the hamzah of أُنْزِلَ.
• Matn: line 161

Madd Muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: When a long vowel and a hamzah occur in the same word, al-Bazzī prolongs for 4 ḥarakāt (tawassuṭ) (tawassuṭ).
• Explanation: This is a medium length, shorter than the longest schools.
• Example: جَاءَ, السَّمَاءِ, سُوءَ — held 3–4 ḥarakāt.
• Matn: line 161

Madd ʿĀriḍ li-l-Sukūn (المَدّ العارِض للسُّكون)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word whose final madd letter is followed by an incidental sukūn, al-Bazzī may prolong 2, 4, or 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: Three options, chosen consistently within a passage.
• Example: Stopping on الْعَالَمِينَ → الْعَالَمِينْ (2/4/6).
• Matn: line 175

Madd Lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī prolongs madd lāzim for 6 ḥarakāt (obligatory).
• Explanation: When a madd letter is followed by an original sukūn or a shaddah, the prolongation is the maximum.
• Example: الضَّالِّينَ, آلْآنَ; and the three-letter spelled opening letters such as الم → أَلِف لَام مِيم (the مِيم held 6).
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-Badal (مَدّ البَدَل)¶

• Rule: Where a long vowel comes after a hamzah, al-Bazzī reads it as the natural madd of 2 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: No extra prolongation is added on the badal.
• Example: آمَنَ, أُوتِيَ, إِيمَانًا — each held 2 ḥarakāt.
• Matn: line 171

Madd al-ʿIwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word ending in tanwīn fatḥah (ـً), al-Bazzī replaces the tanwīn with a 2-ḥarakāt /ā/.
• Explanation: The compensatory alif takes the natural-madd length.
• Example: Stopping on كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 175

Madd in the Opening Letters (Ḥurūf Muqaṭṭaʿāt) (مَدّ الحُروف المُقَطَّعة)¶

• Rule: Three-letter-spelled opening letters take 6 ḥarakāt; two-letter-spelled ones take 2 ḥarakāt; أَلِفْ takes no madd; عَيْن takes 4 or 6 (6 preferred).
• Explanation: A madd letter followed by a sākin gives the lāzim length; with no following sākin it is natural madd.
• Example: صَ (in صَاد) held 6; طَ / هَ / يَ / حَ / رَ held 2; the عَيْن of كهيعص / عسق held 4 or 6.
• Matn: line 177

Mīm al-Jamʿ with Ṣilah (صِلة مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: When the plural pronoun mīm (هُمْ, كُمْ, تُمْ) is followed by a voweled letter, al-Bazzī adds a connecting long vowel: a wāw after ḍammah (هُمُو) and a yāʾ after kasrah (هِمِي). Before a sākin letter there is no ṣilah.
• Explanation: This connecting vowel is one of the most immediately audible markers of the reading.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمُو وَلَا (Q1:7); أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُو اللَّهُ (Q2:210).
• Matn: line 108

Hāʾ al-Kināyah with Extended Ṣilah (صِلة هاء الكِناية الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī adds the connecting vowel to the third-person pronoun هُ/هِ both between two voweled letters (like all reciters) and after a sukūn when followed by a voweled letter — a broader scope than other reciters.
• Explanation: The hāʾ takes a connecting wāw (after ḍammah) or yāʾ (after kasrah) in more positions than the standard rule allows.
• Example: مِنْهُو شَيْئًا — connecting wāw added after the hāʾ even though it follows a sākin (نْ).
• Matn: line 108

Ṣilah Kubrā (الصِّلة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: When the hāʾ al-kināyah with ṣilah is followed by a hamzah, the connecting vowel + hamzah form a madd munfaṣil, which al-Bazzī holds at 2 ḥarakāt (following his qaṣr of the munfaṣil).
• Explanation: Because al-Bazzī shortens the munfaṣil, his ṣilah kubrā is also short. (The ṣilah-before-a-hamzah is itself a munfaṣil; since Ibn Kathīr reads the munfaṣil with qaṣr, his ṣilah kubrā is 2.)
• Example: بِهِ أَحَدًا → بِهِي أَحَدًا (the connecting yāʾ + hamzah held 2 ḥarakāt).
• Matn: line 108

Two Hamzahs in the Same Word (Tashīl) (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمة — التَّسْهيل)¶

• Rule: When two hamzahs meet at the start of a word, al-Bazzī softens (tashīl) the second hamzah — pronouncing it as a sound between a full hamzah and the corresponding vowel.
• Explanation: The first hamzah is full; the second is begun but released before full glottal closure.
• Example: أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ (Q2:6), أَأَنْتُمْ, أَأُلِدُ (Q11:72) — first hamzah full, second musahhalah.
• Matn: line 183

Naql in القُرْآن (النَّقْل)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī reads القُرْآن / قُرْآن with naql: the fatḥah of the hamzah is transferred onto the preceding sākin rāʾ and the hamzah is dropped, giving القُرَان / قُرَان — wherever the word occurs.
• Explanation: The sākin rāʾ takes the moved fatḥah, so no hamzah is pronounced.
• Example: الْقُرْآن → الْقُرَان. (Matn cipher دَوَاؤُنَا = د = Ibn Kathīr.)
• Matn: line 502

أَرْجِئْهُ (hamz + ḍamm hāʾ)¶

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

Waqf ʿalā marsūm al-khaṭṭ (stopping on the written form) (الوَقْف على مَرْسوم الخَطّ)¶

• Rule: Like all reciters Ibn Kathīr stops according to the rasm; but with the ḥaqq group (Ibn Kathīr + Abū ʿAmr) he stops the feminine hāʾ that is written with an open tāʾ (رَحْمَت, نِعْمَت, اِمْرَأَت) with hāʾ — رَحْمَه — where Nāfiʿ and Ḥafṣ keep the tāʾ.
• Explanation: This is the recognised ḥaqq-group difference at waqf on the tāʾ-written feminine words.
• Example: stopping on رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ → رَحْمَهْ (with hāʾ).
• Al-Bazzī specifically: on the interrogative «مَا» compounds مَهْ، مِمَّهْ، عَمَّهْ، لِمَهْ، بِمَهْ, al-Bazzī (bi-khulf) stops with an added hāʾ al-sakt on the fatḥah — (matn line 386, البزّي named).
• Matn: lines 377–378, 386

Two Hamzahs from Different Words (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When one word ends with a hamzah and the next begins with a hamzah, al-Bazzī treats them as follows: if both carry fatḥah, he deletes the first hamzah; if both carry ḍammah or both kasrah, he makes the first hamzah musahhalah (softened). When the two hamzahs carry different ḥarakāt, he softens or converts one according to the specific combination.
• Explanation: One of the two hamzahs is always facilitated; both are never pronounced fully.
• Example: جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ (both fatḥah) → first hamzah deleted; أَوْلِيَاءُ أُولَئِكَ (both ḍammah) → first hamzah softened.
• Matn: line 202

Idghām of close-makhraj letters (يٰسٓ, نٓ, صٓ of Maryam) (إدْغام المُتَقارِبَين)¶

• Rule: Ibn Kathīr's distinctive point here is that with the Ḥaramiyy group (Nāfiʿ + Ibn Kathīr) he assimilates the ṣād of Maryam's opening (كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ ۝ ذِكْرُ) into the following ذ. He reads the nūn of يٰسٓ ۚ وَالْقُرْآنِ and نٓ ۚ وَالْقَلَمِ with iẓhār — but this is the baseline (as Ḥafṣ); only صُحْبَة (Shuʿbah + Ḥamzah + al-Kisāʾī) assimilate them.
• Explanation: The Ḥaramiyy صٓ idghām is shared with Nāfiʿ and is what sets Ibn Kathīr apart from the Ḥafṣ baseline. (Note: idghām kabīr — assimilating two voweled letters — is Abū ʿAmr's feature, not Ibn Kathīr's.)
• Example: يٰسٓ ۚ وَالْقُرْآنِ (nūn clear); كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ ۝ ذِكْرُ (ṣād → ذ).
• Matn: lines 281–282

Tashdīd of the Tāʾ-Prefix Verbs (تَشْديد تاء المُضارَعة)¶

• Rule: In waṣl (connected recitation), al-Bazzī reads roughly 34 form-V (تَفَعَّلَ) and form-VI (تَفَاعَلَ) verbs with tashdīd (doubling) on the initial tāʾ. At the start of recitation or after a pause, the tāʾ is read normally (single).
• Explanation: These verbs originally had two tāʾs (تَتَفَعَّلُ); one was assimilated into the other, producing the shaddah. Two of the verbs — Q3:143 تَمَنَّوْنَ and Q56:65 تَفَكَّهُونَ — have two narrated options (wajhān) from al-Bazzī, with or without the tashdīd. When the verb follows a word ending in sukūn, the resulting meeting of two sākins is resolved naturally in recitation.
• Example: تَيَمَّمُوا → تَّيَمَّمُوا (Q2:267); وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا → وَلَا تَّفَرَّقُوا (Q3:103); هَلْ تَّرَبَّصُونَ (Q9:52); لِتَعَارَفُوا → لِتَّعَارَفُوا (Q49:13); نَارًا تَّلَظَّى (Q92:14). Further verbs include تَنَزَّلُ (4×), تَنَاصَرُونَ, تَخَيَّرُونَ.
• Matn: line 526

Takbīr at Sūrah Endings (التَّكْبير)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī says اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ at the end of each sūrah from the end of al-Ḍuḥā (Q93) through the end of al-Nās (Q114). A secondary narration starts it from the end of al-Layl (Q92).
• Explanation: This Makkan practice is narrated with a connected chain (musalsalan). After al-Nās the reciters follow with al-Fātiḥah and continue to Q23:1 (الْمُفْلِحُونَ). An extended formula via Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥubāb adds a tahlīl: لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. Three connection modes are permitted: qaṭʿ before the takbīr, qaṭʿ after it (before the basmalah), or full connection of āyah → takbīr → basmalah → next sūrah. At waṣl, if the preceding word ends in sukūn or tanwīn the iltiqāʾ al-sākinayn is resolved with kasrah.
• Example: …وَالضُّحَى… (end of sūrah) → اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ → بِسْمِ اللَّهِ… (next sūrah).
• Matn: line 1121

Yāʾ al-Iḍāfah (ياء الإضافة)¶

• Rule: Al-Bazzī is part of the سَمَا group, which applies fatḥ extensively to the first-person possessive yāʾ (ي = "my"), especially before a hamzah carrying fatḥah or ḍammah.
• Explanation: Where reciters differ on whether this attached yāʾ takes fatḥ or sukūn, al-Bazzī generally opens it. [The complete per-word chart awaits confirmation.]
• Example: إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ → إِنِّيَ أَعْلَمُ (yāʾ opened with fatḥah).
• Matn: line 390 (awaiting confirmation)

Farsh¶

Al-Bazzī's distinctive farsh readings — every place where his recitation (via Ibn Kathīr al-Makkī, except where a within-imām split assigns him otherwise) diverges from Ḥafṣ — sorted by matn line. Rows tagged (awaiting confirmation) are decoded from low-confidence matn ciphers and not yet cross-checked against a printed sharḥ.