The Seven Readers

The seven readers are the readers of the Qur'an whose reports, transmitters, and readings Ibn al-Nadim traces in the Fihrist. ²

Ibn al-Nadim names: Abu Amr ibn al-Ala' of Basra; Nafi' ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Na'im of Medina; Abd Allah ibn Kathir of Mecca; Asim ibn Bahdala of Kufa; Abd Allah ibn Amir al-Yahsabi of Damascus; Hamza ibn Habib al-Zayyat of Kufa; and al-Kisa'i the grammarian, Ali ibn Hamza. ²

Al-Asma'i relates from Nafi' that his origin was from Isfahan. Ibn Kathir was a client (mawla) of Amr ibn Alqama al-Kinani, and he was called al-Darani because he was a perfume seller. He died in Mecca in 120 AH, and the leadership of the readings passed to him. ²

Asim died in 128 AH. He read under Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami and Zirr ibn Hubaysh, and Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash and Hafs ibn Sulayman transmitted from him. His reading was traced back to Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) through al-Sulami's transmission. ²

Ibn Amir took the Qur'an from Uthman ibn Affan (may God be pleased with him), and he died in 118 AH. As for Hamza, he used to bring oil from Kufa to Hulwan and carry cheese and walnuts to Kufa; he was a jurist, and he died in 156 AH. He left a book on Hamza's reading and a book on inheritance. Al-Kisa'i was originally a non-Arab from Kufa. ²