Evaluation of the sura of family of imran in abu Ja'far an-Nahhas' work called İ'rab al-Qur'an in terms of the science of qur'anic recitation

Having lived in the last half of the 3rd century and the early 4th century AH, Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas (270/883) was born in Egypt, raised with a great love of science, and had chances to study with the greatest scholars of the time, first, in Egypt and then in Baghdad, the city that was like a qibla of those seeking knowledge. Nahhas authored over 50 works primarily on the Qur'anic sciences and Arabic language and literature. He included in his works plenty of linguistic varieties and related a lot from his teachers of language, Arabic grammar, hadith and Islamic jurisprudence. In respect to our topic, the Qur'anic recitation, Nahhâs' most important work is I'rab al-Qur'an. The work takes up the verses in the same order as in the Qur'an, providing necessary grammatical analyses on Arabic grammar, rhetoric, and i'rab. It also includes opinions of many scholars of language and recitation coming from Basra and Kufa, providing explanations with examples of different ways of recitation. The author proves the recitational differences caused by different i'rabs sometimes with the recitations of the founders of the al-Qira'a al-Ashara or the Ten Schools of Qur'anic Recitation, which are known as the reliably common traditions of Qur'anic recitation, and at other times with opinions of other scholars. However, his evaluations are mostly influenced from the marginal scholars of recitation. While selecting from among these opinions, Nahhâs sometimes put forth his own opinions. This study is composed of an Introduction and two chapters. To form a foundation for the general structure of the study, the Introduction provides theoretical information on the history and science of Qur'anic recitation. The first chapter includes information about Abu Ja'far al-Nahhâs' life, academic personality, teachers, students, and works including I'rab al-Qur'an. The second chapter determines the recitation differences in the Sura of Family of Imran in the cited work, combining the relevant verses under the same topics and evaluating them in terms of the science of Qur'anic recitation. Beside the technique of classification, this study also uses the analytical method in order to determine the contributions of Abu Ja'far al-Nahhâs' I'rab al-Qur'an to the science of Qur'anic recitation. Nahhâs' work is significant as it contains valuable information from the early times of Arabic language and the science of Qur'anic recitation and as it serves to convey the opinions of scholars of Arabic grammar on Qur'anic recitation to the next generation.