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The Qaṣīda fī al-taǧwīd by Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḫāqān (or al-Ḫāqānī) (d. 325/937)

An Annotated Translation
Lauren E. Osborne
p. 115-125

Résumés

Ce texte est une traduction annotée de la Qaṣīda fī al-taǧwīd de Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḫāqān (m. 325/927). Écrit en vers rimés réguliers (rime en rāʾ, mètre ṭawīl), ce poème contient 51 vers et représente un exemple ancien de développement des règles du taǧwīd, c’est-à-dire des règles qui gouvernent la prononciation de la récitation du Coran.

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‫الكلمات المفتاحيّة:

قصيدة, تجويد, قرآن, تلاوة
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Texte intégral

  • 1 The translation here is based on three Arabic editions of the text, two produced by ʿAlī Ḥusayn al- (...)
  • 2 His name appears in sources as both Ibn Ḫāqān and al-Ḫāqānī. In his introduction to his edition of (...)

1The following is an annotated translation1 of the Qaṣīda fī al-taǧwīd, also referred to as his Qaṣīda Rāʾiyya (qaṣīda rhyming on the letter rāʾ) attributed to Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḫāqān (or Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ḫāqānī) (248/862‒325/937).2 Written in rhymed, metered verse (rhyme: rāʾ; meter: ṭawīl), the poem consists of 51 verses and presents an early example of the development of the rules of taǧwīd, or the rules governing the pronunciation of the recitation of the Quran. The poem is both didactic and polemical, urging the student of recitation to study well and recite correctly. An article-length study of the poem is included in the same issue of MIDÉO.

Annotated translation

  1. I am delivering a marvelous speech, for those first in discernment,3
    not a boast, as the boast invites haughtiness.
  2. I teach recitation4 in this speech, seeking refuge
    in my Protector5 from the evil of pride and boastfulness.
  3. I ask Him to help me in what I intend,
    and that He protect me in my religion to the end of my days.
  4. And I ask that He pass over me in the future,
    for He still possesses beautiful pardon and forgiveness.
  5. Oh, reciter of the Quran, pronounce6 it well;
    God will double for you the generosity of the reward.
  6. Not everyone who recites the scripture elevates it;
    nor is everyone who teaches recitation a master thereof.
  7. For us to study7 recitation with the foremost authorities8
    possessors of the source—is [prophetic] custom.9
  8. Seven readers10 have the right over humankind
    to teach the recitation of the Quran of their Lord, the Singular:11
  9. in the aramayn, Ibn Kaṯīr12 and Nāfiʿ13,
    and in Basra, a son of al-ʿAlāʾ, Abū ʿAmr,14
  10. in Šām, ʿAbd Allāh, who is the son of ʿĀmir,15
    and ʿĀṣim the Kūfī, who is Abū Bakr,16
  11. and Ḥamza17 as well, and al-Kisāʾī18 after him,
    well-versed in the Quran, grammar, and poetry.
  12. The skillful [reciter] gives each letter its due,
    whether he recites the Quran in a measured pace19 or quickly20.
  13. If we hurry our lesson, there is a concession for us in this;
    the faithful are benefited with ease.
  14. And our slow, even-paced recitation of the Quran is preferable; for that [is the one] to which
    we were commanded through our abiding in him in thought.
  15. Indeed, memorize what I describe for you, which I have abridged
    to familiarize those who do not [yet] know it.
  16. So in a sip, if it were my science, I would give you a drink,
    and I wouldn’t have hidden that science from your view, by pushing [it] away.
  17. I have recited a poem in proper enunciation,21
    hoping for my God to ease my burden.
  18. Its verses are 51;
    you render22 one after another.
  19. By God is my success, and my reward is from Him, in
    us having established the proper declension23 of His brilliant āyāt.24
  20. And whoever performs the Quran straight as an arrow,25 let him be
    obedient to God’s command in secret and in public.
  21. So, know, my brother, that eloquence embellishes
    the recitation of the one who tirelessly devotes the lesson to ikr.26
  22. Whenever he reads next, [it] refines his tongue
    driving out chest pain through its application.
  23. First in knowledge of ikr is mastery of its memorization,
    and recognizing the lan therein when it happens.
  24. Be aware of the lan so that you can eliminate it.
    For the one who doesn’t know the lan has no excuse.
  25. And if you are to be precise in reading, take care not to
    add to it, and ask the Vanquisher for help.
  26. Adorn the letter without exceeding the limit of its form.27
    [Correctly rendering] the form of letters of ikr is better even than charity.
  27. And your judgment, in reciting with precision, if you were to enjoin [this]
    upon someone, is to not exceed ten.28
  28. Pronounce distinctly when you ought to pronounce distinctly,29
    and assimilate30 and conceal31 the letter when [pronunciation is] difficult.
  29. That which you conceal is not done by assimilation.
    There is a distinction between those two; make that explicit.
  30. And say,32 indeed, pronouncing letters without a vowel33 indicates that they are apocopate,34
    and their vocalization is for the accusative, the nominative, and the genitive.
  31. So, make vowelless, and vocalize, and sometimes cut off, sometimes connected.
    Decline,35 and distinguish between your long elongation from the short.
  32. And the elongation is only for 3 letters,
    called “the soft letters”, these having been revealed by my mentioning them.36
  33. These are the alif, whose silence37 is known,
    and wāw and ʾ, both of which are silent38—so understand.
  34. And make the mandible light, and heavy, and strong, supporting.
    Don’t neglect the fata, the amma, and the kasra.
  35. And pronounce with a glottal stop39 that which has a hamza;
    don’t pronounce a glottal stop that precedes the nabra, which would be lan.40
  36. If there is a fata before the wāw and the ʾ,
    and after them both is a hamza, say the hamza in the chest.
  37. And be light when pronouncing distinctly the ʾ and the lām, making your tongue
    sharp, so as to arrange the speech like pearls.
  38. And be gentle when pronouncing distinctly the ʿayn and the ʾ whenever
    you study. And in the lesson, be balanced in [following] the order.
  39. And pause when completing the word, as is fitting
    for our text,41 recited in land and at sea.
  40. Don’t assimilate42 the mīm if you put after it
    a letter that is equal to it, and receive the science in thanks.
  41. As to your amma before wāw, prolong it,
    just as they prolong “iyyāka naʿbudu in ikr.43
  42. And if a soft letter44 is before a [letter of] assimilation,
    as in the end of what is in al-amd45, extend46 it, following this prescription.
  43. You extend because the two letters with sukūn meet one another,
    so it becomes like a vocalization, just as the Knowledgeable47 said.
  44. And I name 6 letters to indicate that they
    are to be made apparent48 whenever they are preceded by nūn.
  45. [They are] āʾ and āʾ then ʾ and hamza,
    and ʿayn and ġayn—what I say is not in ignorance.49
  46. These are the throat letters, pronounce them clearly and distinctly.
    You must pronounce them distinctly; don’t defy my command.
  47. And don’t double the nūn that they make apparent,
    just like you said, “min ayl” in Sūrat al-ašr.50
  48. And for you to make the tanwīn apparent is by analogy to this.51
    So make [the tanwīn] analogous to [the nūn]; you win the buxom, the virgin.52
  49. And after, things remain [that are] subtle.53
    The one who wants to know will learn with patience.
  50. For Ibn ʿUbayd Allāh Mūsā is not proud of the one who
    he teaches to perform duʿāʾ54 well.
  51. Your response: our lord is in us, and our response:
    my brother, in you is forgiveness from Him, and victory.
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Bibliographie

Primary Sources

Boneschi, Paulo, “La Qaṣīda fi ’t-taǧwīd attribuée à Mūsà b. ʿUbayd Allāh b. Ḫāqān”, Rendiconti della R. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche 14, 1–2, 1938, pp. 51–92.

al-Ḫāqānī (d. 325/937), Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, “al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-tilāwa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, in Min ḏaḫāʾir al-turāṯ, ʿAlī Ḥusayn al-Bawwāb (ed.), al-Riyāḍ, Kunūz Išbīliyyā li-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzīʿ, 2007, pp. 7–31.

al-Ḫāqānī, Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, “al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-qirāʾa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ: maʿa muqtaṭafāt min šarḥ Abī ʿAmr al-Dānī li-l-qaṣīda”, ʿAlī Ḥusayn al-Bawwāb (ed.), Maǧalla turāṯiyya faṣliyya muḥkama 14, 1, 1985, pp. 115–128.

Secondary Sources

Anonymous, “Adāʾ”, in Encyclopædia of Islam. Second Edition, Bearman, P., Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, & W.P. Heinrichs (eds), Leiden, Brill Online, 2012.

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Notes

1 The translation here is based on three Arabic editions of the text, two produced by ʿAlī Ḥusayn al-Bawwāb and one by Paulo Boneschi: al-Ḫāqānī,“al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-tilāwa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, ed. al-Bawwāb (an annotated Arabic edition); al-Ḫāqānī, “al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-qirāʾa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, ed. al-Bawwāb (the same annotated Arabic edition with a commentary by Abī ʿAmr al-Dānī); and Boneschi, “La Qaṣīda fi ’t-taǧwīd” (an Arabic edition with an accompanying French translation and article).
Al-Bawwāb’s Arabic edition is based on two manuscripts (al-Ḫāqānī,“al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-tilāwa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, ed. al-Bawwāb, p. 14), namely al-Riyāḍ, Maktabat Ǧāmiʿat al-Imām Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd al-Islāmiyya, MS 2462, dated to 717/1317‒1318, which includes al-Dānī’s commentary, and Tūnis, Dār al-Kutub al-Waṭaniyya al-Tūnisiyya, MS 2403, dated to 1130/1717‒1718 (of which photographs are available in al-Riyāḍ, Maktabat Ǧāmiʿat al-Malik Saʿūd, 10/819), as well as a modern printing of the qaṣīda in Mağallat al-Mawrid al-ʿIrāqiyya from 1975 (al-Ḫāqānī, “al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-tilāwa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, ed. al-Bawwāb, p. 9, n. 1).
Boneschi’s edition is based on three other manuscripts of the qaṣīda (Boneschi, “La Qaṣīda fi ’t-taǧwīd”, pp. 54–55). When there are inconsistencies between the manuscripts, he indicates these conflicts in footnotes throughout his edition. The manuscript that serves as the primary basis for his edition is held at al-Ǧazāʾir, Bibliothèque publique d’Alger, MS 561 (Boneschi does not indicate whether the copy is dated or undated). The other two manuscripts are preserved in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MSS 485, undated, and 486, dated to 586/1190. In my own translation, when I have made a choice based in any differences between the editions of Boneschi vs al-Bawwāb, I have indicated as much in a note.

2 His name appears in sources as both Ibn Ḫāqān and al-Ḫāqānī. In his introduction to his edition of the qaṣīda, ʿAlī Ḥusayn al-Bawwāb includes both forms of his name, Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ḫāqānī and al-Imām Abū Muzāḥim al-Ḫāqānī al-Baġdādī. See al-Ḫāqānī, “al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-tilāwa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, p. 10.

3 Al-Ḥiǧr. In his commentary on the poem, al-Dānī (d. 444/1053) indicates that this usage is synonymous with al-ʿaql. Al-Ḥiǧr appears in this sense in Q. al-Faǧr 89:5. This sura opens with a series of oaths on features of the natural order of the cosmos. 89:5 then asks rhetorically, “Hal fī ḏālika qasamun li-ḏī ḥijr”, “Is that not a sign for one who has ḥijr?” Other places where ḥiǧr appears in the Quran it refers to things that are forbidden or marked off (e.g., Q. al-Anʿām 6:138, Q. al-Furqān 25:22 and 53), lending the sense to its usage here as a faculty of discernment having to do with marking boundaries and distinctions. See al-Ḫāqānī, “al-Qaṣīda al-ḫāqāniyya fī al-qirāʾa wa-ḥusn al-adāʾ”, p. 118.

4 Tilāwa.

5 I.e., God; these verses are a supplication prayer asking for forgiveness and divine protection before delivering a message.

6 Boneschi indicates that adāʾ is a technical term in fiqh meaning execution or accomplishment—performance, rendering, realization—he says when referring in a technical sense to Quran recitation, it means “traditional pronunciation of the letters”. Boneschi, “La Qaṣīda fi ’t-taǧwīd”, p. 65, n. 5; anonymous, “Adāʾ”.

7 Aḫḏ, in the sense of taking up or pursuing an activity or a skill, such as in the expression aḫḏ X ʿan Y, meaning to study under someone.

8 Muqriʾ more strictly refers to a master reciter. The larger point here is about studying with people with appropriate and chief authority.

9 The term here is sunna, which can be used to indicate custom or habit in a general sense, but when used in the common expression al-sunna al-nabawiyya, refers to prophetic custom more specifically. Given that the verses here are making a point about proper grounding of knowledge and authority in the tradition, custom in the prophetic religious sense is likely the meaning here.

10 Qurrāʾ, the reciters for whom the 7 variant readings are named, named in verses 9‒11, worded in such a way as to maintain the meter and rhyme structure of the poem.

11 Al-witr, referring to an odd number, or something single or separate. This word is not typically considered as one of the divine names, but is being used like one, presumably in order to match the rhyme and rhythm at the end of the verse. It means one or single, an odd number, in the sense of a thing that is distinct.

12 ʿAbdallāh ibn Kaṯīr (d. 120/738) from Mecca.

13 Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 169/785) from Medina.

14 Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ (d. 154/770), his name is presented in this order in the verse in accordance with the meter.

15 ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿĀmir (d. 118/736) from Damascus.

16 Abū Bakr ʿĀsim ibn Abī al-Naǧūd al-Asadī (d. 127/745).

17 Ḥamza ibn Ḥabīb al-Zayyāt (d. 156/773).

18 ʿAlī ibn Ḥamza al-Kisāʾī (d. 189/804).

19 Rattala, this verb most commonly being understood as describing slower, evenly paced recitation with particular emphasis on the clarity of the text.

20 Ḥadr, this verb meaning quickly, and also referring to a specific style of Quran recitation that is quick-paced, aiming to recite as much as is possible in a shorter time frame, with the emphasis on quantity of text recited.

21 See n. 6 about adāʾ.

22 Naẓẓama, meaning to put in order or regularize.

23 Iʿrāb

24 Āyā (sing.), as opposed to bayt, which was used earlier for verses of poetry, indicating this verse is clearly referring to verses of the Quran rather than discussing the poem.

25 The wording here is metaphorical and features a non-standard usage of the verb aqāma, which maintains consistency with the meter of the poem: “Wa-man yuqim al-Qurʾān ka-l-qidḥ.” Translated literally, the wording might be rendered “Straighten the Quran like the arrow”.

26 The usage of ḏikr here is in keeping with the rhyme and rhythm pattern at the ends of all verses in the poem. In its meaning here it is ambiguous, encompassing prayer, as well as oral practice of worship, chanting as “mentioning” or “remembering” God. Here it also could be referencing recitation of the Quran, especially since it is a word choice reflecting oral practice that is in keeping with the rhythmic-rhyme at ends of verses here, given the subject of the poem overall as recitation and the fact that recitation was mentioned earlier in the hemistich. Ḏikr is then used again in verses 23 and 26 in a way that is more clearly figurative for Quran recitation.

27 Wazn, a term normally applied to words, in referring to their form, in the sense of their pattern of inflection upon a root. The term also refers to poetic meter, and in a broader more figurative sense, can refer to weight and rhythm. The point here is that no letter should be given more weight or emphasis than is appropriate to it.

28 Boneschi indicates that the “ten” refers to a section of the Quran of 10 verses. Boneschi, “La Qaṣīda fi ’t-taǧwīd”, p. 71, n. 8.

29 Pronouncing distinctly is indicated with bayyin.

30 Adġim, of the root of what comes to be the taǧwīd rule, idġām. Assimilation means that when one of the 6 letters yāʾ, rāʾ, mīm, lām, waw, and nūn appear after a nūn sākina, the nūn sākina is assimilated into the letter of idġām, resulting in the nūn ‘disappearing’ and the letter following it is pronounced as doubled. For example, the phrase ‘man yaqūl’ would be pronounced in taǧwīd as ‘may-yaqūl’”.

31 Aḫfi, of the root of what comes to be the taǧwīd rule, iḫfāʾ. Concealment—iḫfāʾ—refers to when any of the 15 letters tāʾ, ṯāʾ, ǧīm, dāl, ḏāl, sīn, šīn, ṣād, ḍād, ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ, fāʾ, qāf, and kāf follows a nūn sākina—either a nūn with sukūn or tanwīn. In this case, the nūn (be it a letter nūn or tanwīn) is pronounced with ġunna, or nasalization. The letter of iḫfāʾ (the 15 letters listed here) is then pronounced halfway between a clear pronunciation (as one would normally pronounce it) and the idġām—which would assimilate it into the following letter.

32 The use of the command qul, “say”, could be understood as indicating a turn to a more explicitly didactic section of the poem, as from here on the text largely serves as reminders and cautions about potential mistakes in recitation. The poem then concludes in verse 51 with directions for response.

33 Taskīn, meaning ending a word with a sukūn.

34 Ǧazm, i.e., maǧzūm, meaning apocope, which in phonology, refers to losing the final vowel of a word, or the final sound.

35 “Decline” in the sense of changing the form of a word in accordance with its grammatical role—declension. The verb used here, makkin, in a more general sense means to strengthen something.

36 “The soft letters”, “ḥurūf al-līn”, listed in the following verse.

37 Literally sukūnuhā, the alif having a sukūn.

38 They are given sukūn, yuskanān in al-Bawwāb, but tuskanahān in Boneschi.

39 There are several forms of the root H-M-Z across this verse inflecting on the meaning of there being a hamza and the reciter pronouncing the glottal stop.

40 The difficulty of interpreting this dense verse is compounded by the fact that the editions from Boneschi and al-Bawwāb differ as to the final word. Boneschi employs nabr, which I follow here. Al-Bawwāb uses al-naṯr. Nabra generally refers to an accent or stress, so here in general terms the laḥn would mean that this would be a form of mispronunciation wherein the cadence of the recitation would be incorrect. Nabra can also refer to pronouncing something with a hamza or glottal stop. Most specifically, as Boneschi explains in note 5 on page 73, nabra refers to the final hamza on a word, citing al-Ḫwarizmī’s encyclopedic work, Kitāb mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm.

41 Muṣḥaf.

42 Idġām. See n. 30.

43 Here ḏikr is used again in the sense of prayer or recitation, potentially in the context of prayer, in that the quotation referenced here is the first words of the fifth verse of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa, “Iyyāka naʿbudu wa-iyyāka nastaʿīn”—wherein the ḍamma on the end of naʿbudu is followed by the wāw beginning the word wa.

44 Ḥurūf al-līn. See n. 36.

45 Al-ḥamd is used here as shorthand for continued discussion of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa.

46 Madd.

47 Ḏū al-ḫubr, this could either be a reference to “One who knows” in the sense of expertise, or could be a reference to the idea of God as Knower, in the sense of the divine name al-Ḫabīr.

48 Iẓhār; these are the letters that are pronounced as normal when preceded by a nūn. This means that when one of the letters listed here—ḥāʾ, ḫāʾ, hāʾ, hamza, ʿayn, or ġayn, all of which are pronounced with the throat—follows a nūn sākina, the letter is pronounced as normal. It is “made apparent” in the sense that its sound is made to appear, rather than being concealed or assimilated.

49 The final phrase is “laysa qawlī bi-l-nukr”, with nukr meaning a denial or disavowal, or a disguise or concealment, something that is to be disapproved of. His point here is that the point is clear and indisputable.

50 The example here indicates the rule of iẓhār as was just described. Since the nūn sākina ending “min” is followed by a ḫāʾ, that ḫāʾ is pronounced clearly and as one normally would pronounce that letter. The quranic verse referenced where this wording appears is Q. al-Ḥašr 59:6, although there are many such examples in the Quran. Here, al-Ḥašr is in keeping with the consistent end-rhyme and rhythm maintained throughout the poem.

51 The point here is that tanwīn is treated in the same way as a nūn sākina, in that in pronunciation both end with the “n” sound.

52 Bi-l-kāʿibi al-bikr. In his French translation, Boneschi skirts the potentially uncomfortable translation of these final words by rendering them in Latin: “rotundum plenumque virgineum uberem”, p. 77. Here, the suggested reward of a buxom virgin indicates an audience of male recitation students who would find such a promised reward enticing. The term kāʿib does appear in the Quran in relation to the promised rewards of the afterlife in Q. al-Nabaʾ 78:33, so its usage here does have some resonance with references to the afterlife: “Kawāʿiba atrāban”, buxom companions, well-matched. And although the two terms used here in the poem do not appear together in the Quran, bikr is also used in relation to companions promised in the afterlife. For example, verse Q. al-Wāqiʿa 56:36, in a series of verses describing other rewards of the gardens of paradise such as flowing water and fruits, there are also companions, which are described in Q. al-Wāqiʿa 56:34 as “jaʿalnāhunna abkār”, meaning “we made them (female) young or virginal”.

53 This is presumably a reference to the fact that ethics of recitation and the rules of taǧwīd presented in this poem are not complete, but rather many finer points remain.

54 Recite; duʿāʾ is in keeping with the meter.

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Lauren E. Osborne, «  The Qaṣīda fī al-taǧwīd by Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḫāqān (or al-Ḫāqānī) (d. 325/937) »MIDÉO, 37 | 2022, 115-125.

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Lauren E. Osborne, «  The Qaṣīda fī al-taǧwīd by Mūsā ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḫāqān (or al-Ḫāqānī) (d. 325/937) »MIDÉO [En ligne], 37 | 2022, mis en ligne le 13 novembre 2022, consulté le 06 novembre 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/mideo/8048

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Lauren E. Osborne

Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wa

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