Warsh

Abu Sa'id Uthman Ibn Sa‘id al-Qebṭi, better known as Warsh, was a significant figure in the history of Quranic recitation, the canonical methods of reciting the Qur'an. Alongside Qalun, he was one of the two primary transmitters of the canonical reading method of Nafi‘ al-Madani. Together, their style is the most common form of Qur'anic recitation in the generality of African mosques outside of Egypt, and is also popular in Yemen and Darfur despite the rest of Sudan following the method of Hafs. The method of Warsh and his counterpart Qalun was also the most popular method of recitation in Al-Andalus. The majority of printed Mushafs today in North Africa and West Africa follow the reading of Warsh.

Warsh recitation

Warsh 'an Naafi' is one of the main canonical methods of reciting the Qur'an. The recitations of the Quran, known in Arabic as Qira'at, are conducted under the rules of the Tajwid Science. It is attributed to Imam Warsh who in turn got it from his teacher Nafi‘ al-Madani who was one of the transmitters of the seven recitations. The recitation of Warsh 'an Naafi' is one of two major recitation traditions. The second is Hafs 'an 'Asim.

Biography

Imam Warsh was born Uthman Ibn Sa‘id al-Qibṭi in Egypt. He was called Warsh, a substance of milk, by his teacher Naafi' because he was light skinned. He learned his recitation from Naafi' at Medina. After finishing his education, he returned to Egypt where he became the senior reciter of the Quran. He died in 812CE.

History

The recitation of Nāfiʿ was preferred by Mālik ibn Anas and his student ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb, and it remained the standard recitation of Medina for an extended period. However, according to Ibn al-Jazarī, in the 8th century it was still practiced by only a "select few" in Africa.
The transmission of the Warsh recitation to the western Islamic lands is associated with Ghāzī ibn Qays al-Andalusī, who traveled from Córdoba to Medina and studied directly with Warsh. He is reported to have carefully reviewed and corrected his muṣḥaf, comparing it thirteen times with the original copy of Imām Nāfiʿ. Because Al-Andalus was a major center of learning, its scholarly authority influenced the Maghreb; when Andalusian scholars adopted the Warsh recitation, it subsequently spread throughout North and West Africa.
According to Dr. ʿAbd al-Hādī, in 234 AH when Imam Saḥnūn ibn Saʿīd was appointed as Qadi in Qayrawan, he used his official power to favor the recitation of Nāfiʿ. Since the Mālikī school is based on the "Practice of the People of Medina," Saḥnūn believed that the Qurʾānic recitation used in the courts and mosques should also be the "Recitation of the People of Medina".
Because fiqh and qirāʾāt were traditionally taught together, the rise of the Mālikī school as the dominant legal authority in the Maghreb had direct consequences for recitational practice. Once Mālikī fiqh became the law of the courts and the state, the recitation of Nāfiʿ naturally came to be treated as the "official" mode of Qurʾānic recitation in mosques and educational institutions.
Historically, the Warsh qirāʾah was also prevalent in Egypt until the Ottoman period in the sixteenth century, after which the recitation of Ḥafṣ gradually became the dominant and officially adopted reading.
The qirāʾah of Warsh is widely recited in North and West Africa. It is the dominant recitation in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and much of West Africa, including Senegal, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, among others. It is also used in some regions of Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Chad, Tunisia.
Muṣḥafs according to the Warsh recitation are printed in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, and Qatar. According to Maḥmūd Khalīl al-Ḥuṣarī, he was the first qāriʾ to produce a complete audio recording of the Qurʾān according to the Warsh qirāʾah. Warsh's recitation was also the qira'ah taught in Maḥaẓra Educational system.
Among the most popular tafsīr works written in Warsh ʿan Nāfiʿ qirāʾah are by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Thaʿālibī, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bādīs, and Abū Bakr al-Jazāʾirī.

Influence

In the modern period, the Kingdom of Morocco has officially recognized the riwāyah of Warsh as part of the country’s religious and cultural heritage. It has also influenced phonological structure of some words in Algerian Arabic.
Warsh recitation also played a formative role in shaping how many African languages were written in Arabic script. Because Warsh was the standard taught in local Qurʾānic schools, its orthographic conventions, including unique characters and diacritic, became a ready “pool of forms” for scholars when adapting Arabic script to represent sounds not found in Classical Arabic.
In Hausa, Fulfulde, and Tuareg ʿAjami systems, features such as the Warsh dot for and other graphical variants were adopted to encode vowel and consonant distinctions absent in the Arabic linguistic system.
Sufi orders such as the Tijānīyya and Qādiriyya also transmitted ʿAjami texts in Warsh-derived orthography, and this influence persists in modern publications, such as the Fulfulde Bible, which retains elements of the Maghribī-style scripts associated with the Warsh tradition.

Comparison of Warsh and Hafs recitation

The Warsh 'an Naafi' recitation of the Quran differs from Hafs 'an Asim in some orthography. The majority of differences do not affect the meaning. Yet in some cases the differences change the implications of the verse. In verse 2:184 Hafs recites the verse to be "... a ransom of feeding a poor person...". On the other hand, Warsh reads it "... a ransom of feeding poor people..." Other variants that go beyond orthography include :

رواية ورش عن نافع	رواية حفص عن عاصم	Ḥafs	Warsh	Chapter and Verse
يَعْمَلُونَ	تَعْمَلُونَ	you do	they do	Al-Baqara 2:85
وًأَوْصّى	وَوَصَّى	enjoined	instructed	Al-Baqara 2:132
سَارِعُوا	وَسَارِعُوا	And hasten to	Hasten to	Al 'imran 3:133
مَا تَنَزَّلُ	مَا نُنَزِّلُ	we do not send down...	they do not come down...	Al-Ḥijr 15:8
قُل	قَالَ	he said	say!	Al-Anbiyā' 21:4
كَثِيرًا	كَبِيرًا	mighty	multitudinous	Al-Aḥzāb 33:68
بِمَا	فَبِمَا	then it is what	it is what	Al-Shura 42:30
نُدْخِلْهُ	يُدْخِلْهُ	he makes him enter	we make him enter	Al-Fatḥ 48:17

رواية ورش عن نافع	رواية حفص عن عاصم	Ḥafs	Warsh	Chapter and Verse
مَلِكِ	مَالِكِ	Owner	King	Al-Fatihah Q1:4
يٌكَذّبُونَ	يَكْذِبُونَ	they lie	they were lied to they deny	Al-Baqara Q2:10
قُتِلَ	قَاتَلَ	And many a prophet fought	And many a prophet was killed	Al 'imran Q3:146
سَاحِرَانِ	سِحْرَانِ	two works of magic	two magicians	Al-Qasas Q28:48