Al-Sūsī ʿan Abū ʿAmr¶

Abū Shuʿayb Ṣāliḥ ibn Ziyād al-Sūsī (d. 261 AH), rāwī of أَبُو عَمْرِو بْنُ العَلَاءِ البَصْرِي (Abū ʿAmr al-Baṣrī, c. 68–154 AH / d. 770 CE), imām of recitation in Basrah, through Abū ʿAmr's student al-Yazīdī. His transmission is known above all for carrying Abū ʿAmr's idghām kabīr in full. See the imām's overview.

Uṣūl¶

Basmalah between sūrahs (البَسْمَلة بَين السُّورَتَين)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī has all three options between two sūrahs: recite the basmalah, pause silently (sakt), or connect directly (waṣl).
• Explanation: This flexibility characterises Abū ʿAmr's reading. When connecting the basmalah, it must always be joined to the beginning of the next sūrah, never left attached to the end of the previous one. No basmalah is recited before Sūrat al-Tawbah; between al-Anfāl and al-Tawbah the choices are waqf, sakt, or waṣl.
• Example: End of al-Fātiḥah → بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ → الم of al-Baqarah (basmalah option); or a brief silent break (sakt); or direct joining (waṣl).
• Matn: line 100

Madd muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel followed by a hamzah within the same word is prolonged tawassuṭ — 4 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The obligatory connected madd; Abū ʿAmr (both rāwīs) holds the muttaṣil at four.
• Example: جَاءَ, السَّمَاءِ, سُوءَ.
• Matn: line 168

Madd munfaṣil — qaṣr only (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel at the end of a word, when the next word begins with a hamzah, al-Sūsī reads with qaṣr — 2 ḥarakāt only.
• Explanation: Al-Sūsī has no tawassuṭ option in the munfaṣil — he always shortens it to two. (The 2-or-4 khulf belongs to his fellow rāwī al-Dūrī and to Qālūn — matn 169, بِخُلْفِهِمَا "the two".)
• Example: بِمَا أُنْزِلَ, فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ, قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ.
• Matn: line 169

Madd lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: When a long vowel is followed by an original sukūn or a shaddah, it is prolonged 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The necessary madd, the longest obligatory prolongation, held firmly at six counts.
• Example: الضَّالِّينَ, الْحَاقَّةُ, and the three-letter spellings of the opening letters (e.g., الم → مِيم with the middle madd letter before a sākin).
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-ʿiwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word ending in tanwīn al-fatḥ (ـً), al-Sūsī replaces the tanwīn with a long /ā/ of 2 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The compensatory madd, applied in pause only.
• Example: stopping on كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 171

Madd in the opening letters (ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt) (مَدّ الحُروف المُقَطَّعة)¶

• Rule: Three-letter spellings (مِيم، لَام، صَاد، نُون، سِين، قَاف، عَيْن، كَاف) take 6 ḥarakāt (madd lāzim); two-letter spellings (طَا، هَا، يَا، حَا، رَا) take 2 ḥarakāt (natural madd); أَلِفْ has no madd; عَيْن takes 4 or 6 ḥarakāt (6 preferred).
• Explanation: The middle letter of a three-letter spelling is a madd letter followed by a sākin, requiring lāzim; the two-letter spellings have no following sākin.
• Example: الم, حم, طه, الر, عسق.
• Matn: line 177

Taqlīl (partial imālah) (التَّقْليل)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī applies تَقْلِيل (taqlīl / bayna bayna) — a moderate inclination of the fatḥah toward kasrah and its alif toward yāʾ — on faʿlā (فَعْلَى) patterns and on the verse-ending alifs (fawāṣil) of sūrahs such as طه، النجم، الشمس، الأعلى، الليل، الضحى، اقرأ، النازعات، القيامة، المعارج. (He reads أَنَّى، يَا وَيْلَتَى، يَا حَسْرَتَى، يَا أَسَفَى with plain fatḥ — the taqlīl of those four belongs to al-Dūrī alone, matn line 317.)
• Explanation: Taqlīl is narrower in scope than Warsh's but is one of the most recognisable auditory features of the Baṣrī reading, especially at verse-endings. To test whether an alif qualifies: for nouns, form the dual (هُدًى → هُدَيَان, yāʾ-origin ✓); for verbs, conjugate to first person (هَدَى → هَدَيْتُ, yāʾ-origin ✓).
• Example: ذِكْرَى, بُشْرَى, the closing alifs of طه's verses.
• Matn: line 316

Imālah kubrā — alifs before word-final rāʾ with kasrah (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: In words where an alif precedes a rāʾ carrying kasrah, al-Sūsī applies full imālah kubrā (iḍjāʿ), not merely taqlīl: الأَبْرَارِ، النَّارِ، الكُفَّارِ، الدَّارِ، أَبْصَارِهِمْ، الحِمَارِ، هَارٍ، بَدَارِ، جَبَّارِينَ، الجَارِ، القَهَّارِ، البَوَارِ.
• Explanation: This is stronger in degree than the taqlīl applied elsewhere — the fatḥah and its alif tilt fully toward kasrah/yāʾ. Incidental sukūn at waqf does not cancel it; nor does idghām kabīr prevent it (e.g., الأبرار, النار can still be tilted).
• Example: النَّارِ → an-nēr (full tilt); الأَبْرَارِ.
• Matn: line 321

Imālah kubrā — التَّوْرَاة (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī reads the alif of التَّوْرَاة with full imālah kubrā (iḍjāʿ).
• Explanation: Consistent with his treatment of the alif-rāʾ words above; the word is of non-Arabic origin, so its treatment is fixed by transmission. Recurs throughout Āl ʿImrān and elsewhere.
• Example: التَّوْرَاةَ (Q3:3).
• Matn: line 546

Imālah kubrā — rāʾ (ر) and hāʾ (هـ) at sūrah openings (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Abū ʿAmr reads the imālah-bearing disconnected opening letters — هَا، يَا، طَا، حَا، رَا (e.g. the رَا of الر، المر and the هَا of طٰه، كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ) — with taqlīl (bayna bayna), not full imālah. Al-Sūsī and al-Dūrī do not differ here — it is a qirāʾah-level reading carried by both rāwīs.
• Explanation: Full imālah kubrā on these letters belongs to Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī; Abū ʿAmr and Warsh read them with taqlīl (a degree between fatḥ and full imālah); the rest read fatḥ. al-Wāfī (imālah bāb, p.148): «حمزة والكسائي يميلانها … وأبو عمرو وورش يُقَلِّلونها بين بين».
• Example: الر (rāʾ by taqlīl); طٰه، كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ (hāʾ by taqlīl).
• Matn: the fatḥ/imālah bāb, lines 291, 313–314 (al-Wāfī p.147–148).

Imālah kubrā — alif maqṣūrah (general) (الإمالة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Any alif maqṣūrah (ـى) of yāʾ origin is tilted; this is the most productive imālah rule and applies Qurʾān-wide.
• Explanation: Internalise as an automatic default for yāʾ-origin final alifs.
• Example: الْهُدَى, اشْتَرَى, الْمَوْلَى.
• Matn: line 316

Taqlīl rules on specific words (التَّقْليل)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī applies taqlīl in several further defined contexts: the fatḥah of alif and wāw in a specific word; the dāl + alif (د + ا) in a specific word; a specific recurrent word; any alif serving as a feminine marker (morphological); and the hāʾ of certain sūrah-opening letters in certain contexts (as against the imālah of the hāʾ above).
• Explanation: These require memorisation of the specific words from verified sources. The feminine-marker (alif al-taʾnīth) rule is morphological and applies broadly.
• Example: alif al-taʾnīth in feminine nouns/adjectives ending in alif maqṣūrah.
• Matn: line 316

Taqlīl of fawāṣil at waqf (تَقْليل الفَواصِل وَقْفًا)¶

• Rule: Verse-ending alif-sounds (fawāṣil) in specific sūrahs receive taqlīl in pause only (waqf), not mid-verse.
• Explanation: Context-dependent: it gives al-Sūsī's recitation its characteristic inclined quality at verse-endings, one of the most recognisable features in tartīl.
• Example: stopping on the closing alif of a verse in al-Najm or al-Shams.
• Matn: line 316

Two hamzahs in the same word (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمة)¶

• Rule: When two hamzahs appear at the beginning of a word, al-Sūsī applies tashīl (softening) of the second hamzah.
• Explanation: The second hamzah is pronounced bayna bayna — a sound between a full hamzah and the vowel letter it resembles. Three patterns occur: fatḥ+fatḥ, fatḥ+kasr, fatḥ+ḍamm.
• Example: أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ — the second hamzah is musahhalah; أَئِنَّا; أَءُنزِلَ.
• Matn: line 184

Two hamzahs from different words — agreeing vowels (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When a word ending in hamzah meets a word beginning with hamzah and both carry the same vowel, al-Sūsī drops the first hamzah (isqāṭ); the second is pronounced fully.
• Explanation: Applies to all three agreement types (fatḥ+fatḥ, kasr+kasr, ḍamm+ḍamm). This pure dropping is the simplest method.
• Example: جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا → جَاءَمْرُنَا (first hamzah drops); مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِنَّ (first drops); أَوْلِيَاءُ أُولَئِكَ (first drops).
• Matn: line 202

Two hamzahs from different words — disagreeing vowels (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When the two hamzahs carry different vowels, al-Sūsī facilitates the second hamzah (tashīl), pronouncing it between its hamzah sound and the vowel letter it resembles.
• Explanation: Grouped with Nāfiʿ and Ibn Kathīr (سما) for this rule.
• Example: تَفِيءَ إِلَى (fatḥ+kasr, 2nd facilitated); جَاءَ أُمَّةً (fatḥ+ḍamm); نَشَاءُ أَصَبْنَا (ḍamm+fatḥ, like wāw); السَّمَاءِ أَوْ (kasr+fatḥ, like yāʾ).
• Matn: line 209
• Meta-rule: when a madd letter precedes a hamzah that has been softened or dropped, the madd may be shortened, but maintaining it is the more balanced (aʿdal) and preferred option. line 208
• Rāwī note: two-hamzah handling is a qirāʾah-level ruling — al-Sūsī and al-Dūrī do not differ on it. For two hamzahs in one word both read tashīl of the second + idkhāl alif al-faṣl; two words, same vowel → drop the first (line 202); two words, different vowels → soften the second (above). Their sole divergence in this neighbourhood is the single sākin hamzah (al-Sūsī ibdāl vs al-Dūrī taḥqīq).

Idghām kabīr — the most extensive among all the ten readings’ transmitters (الإدْغام الكَبير)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī applies al-idghām al-kabīr (merging two voweled letters across a word boundary) more widely than any other rāwī: the first letter, with its vowel, assimilates into the second to form a single mushaddad letter. Many positions carry two wajh (iẓhār or idghām), and the jazm / tanwīn-deleted cases (يَبْتَغِ) explicitly allow both — it is conditional and optional, not blanket (matn 146, وَفي أَحْرُفٍ وَجْهَانِ).
• Identical letters (mutamāthil): across two words — يَعْلَمُ مَا → يَعْلَمَّا; الرَّحِيمِ مَالِكِ → الرَّحِيمَّالِكِ; فِيهِ هُدًى → فِيهِّدًى. Within one word only two cases — مَنَاسِكَكُمْ → مَنَاسِكُّمْ and مَا سَلَكَكُمْ → مَا سَلَكُّمْ.

Close-articulation (mutaqārib) letters. Read the table as "this letter, when followed by one of these letters, merges into it."

The dāl and tāʾ are the most active (ten target letters each); the sibilant/dental merges are the per-word cases catalogued in matn lines 135–157.

• Conditions & exceptions: the first letter must not be (a) a tāʾ of address (أَنْتَ تُكْرِهُ) or of a first-person verb (كُنْتُ تُرَابًا), (b) carrying tanwīn (وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ), or (c) already mushaddad. قَاف→كَاف additionally needs a voweled letter before the qāf and a mīm al-jamʿ after the kāf — so يَرْزُقُكُمْ merges but مِيثَاقَكُمْ (sākin alif before qāf) and نَرْزُقُكَ (no mīm al-jamʿ) do not. Where a sound sākin precedes the merging letter, ikhfāʾ is used instead (خُذِ الْعَفْوَ، مِنْ بَعْدِ ظُلْمِهِ).
• Vowel signalling & madd: during the merge, ishmām/rawm mark the dropped vowel (ishmām or rawm if marfūʿ, rawm only if majrūr, neither if manṣūb) — except before bāʾ and mīm, where the idghām is complete. A madd letter before the merge may be held 2, 4, or 6 ḥarakāt; idghām does not block imālah.
• Matn: line 116. The full per-word catalogue (lines 135–157) is summarised here — see a dedicated idghām-kabīr reference for every occurrence.

Ibdāl of the sākin hamzah (إبْدال الهَمْز الساكِن)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī substitutes every sākin hamzah with the madd letter matching the preceding vowel: after a fatḥah → alif (يَأْمُرُ → يَامُرُ); after a ḍammah → wāw (يُؤْمِنُ → يُومِنُ); after a kasrah → yāʾ (بِئْرٍ → بِيرٍ).
• Explanation: This is one of al-Sūsī's most distinctive features and applies broadly across the Qurʾān (broader than Warsh, who substitutes only the fāʾ of the verb). It generates farsh-level differences automatically wherever a sākin hamzah appears.
  • Exception — majzūm hamzahs: when the sukūn is imposed by jazm (an external jāzim), al-Sūsī keeps the full hamzah. Enumerated cases: تَسُؤْ (6×), يَشَأْ (10×), يُهَيِّئْ, نَنسَأْهَا, يُنَبَّأْ, هَيِّئْ, أَنبِئْهُمْ, نَبِّئْ (4 places), أَرْجِئْ (2 places), اقْرَأْ (3 places).
  • Special cases (exact forms): تُؤْوِي / تُؤْوِيهِ keeps the hamzah — this is the exception (ibdāl would cluster awkwardly with the following wāw, so the hamzah is retained, akhaff); رِئْيًا (Q19:74) → رِيًّا (hamzah → yāʾ, then idghām into the following yāʾ — hence the shaddah); مُؤْصَدَةٌ (Q90:20; Q104:8) → مُوصَدَةٌ (hamzah → wāw); الذِّئْب → الذِّيب (hamzah → yāʾ, all three occurrences; shared with al-Kisāʾī).
• Example: يُؤْمِنُ → يُومِنُ; بِئْرٍ → بِيرٍ.
• Matn: line 216; the exact forms confirmed against al-Wāfī (hamz-mufrad bāb, p.100–102).

Full iskān in verb clusters (الإسْكان)¶

• Rule: In heavy verb forms that Abū ʿAmr lightens, al-Sūsī applies full iskān — complete removal of the vowel: بَارِئْكُمْ (full sukūn on the hamzah), يَأْمُرْكُمْ (full sukūn on the rāʾ).
• Explanation: The result is a noticeably lighter pronunciation of these consonant clusters — a complete sukūn rather than a snatched trace.
• Example: يَأْمُرُكُمْ → يَأْمُرْكُمْ.
• Matn: line 454

Hāʾ al-kināyah (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī gives the third-person pronoun hāʾ (هُ / هِ) ṣilah (a connecting long vowel) only when it stands between two voweled letters — the standard rule.
• Explanation: No ṣilah after a sākin. Several word-specific sub-rules modify this (below).
• Example: بِهِ ـِي (ṣilah); but مِنْهُ (no ṣilah, preceded by sākin).
• Matn: line 108

Hāʾ al-kināyah — word-specific sukūn and shortening (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: In a defined set of words al-Sūsī reads the هـ with sukūn; in a further set with kasrah but no prolongation; and in one case with an added hamzah sākinah followed by a hāʾ maḍmūmah. Specifically: يُؤَدِّهْ (Q3:75), نُوَلِّهْ (Q4:115), نُصْلِهْ (Q4:115), and نُؤْتِهْ (Q3:145, Q42:20) all with sukūn (the matn pairs the four under one sukūn-command, line 160); فَأَلْقِهْ (Q27:28) and يَتَّقِهْ (Q24:52) sukūn with khulf; يَرْضَهْ sukūn (without khulf for al-Sūsī); أَرْجِئْهُ (Q7:111; Q26:36) read with an added sākin hamzah and hāʾ maḍmūmah.
• Explanation: These are transmitted exceptions to the standard ṣilah rule and must be memorised individually. يَرْضَهْ is read with sukūn by al-Sūsī without disagreement. أَرْجِئْهُ with the sākin hamzah is shared with Ibn Kathīr and Ibn ʿĀmir (نَفَر).
• Example: نُؤْتِهْ — sukūn on the hāʾ; يَرْضَهْ — sukūn.
• Matn: lines 160–161 «وَسَكِّنْ يُؤَدِّهْ مَعْ نُوَلِّهْ وَنُصْلِهِ وَنُؤْتِهِ» — al-Sūsī (with Abū ʿAmr) is in the sukūn group; resolved via al-Wāfī p.70.

Mīm al-jamʿ (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī gives the plural pronoun mīm (هُمْ، كُمْ، تُمْ) no ṣilah — it stays sākin (or carries its ḍammah before a sākin) and is never connected to the following letter with a wāw.
• Explanation: Follows the majority; the mīm is not extended.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا (no ṣilah on the mīm).
• Matn: line 108

Mīm al-jamʿ after hāʾ in a kasrah environment (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: When a plural mīm follows the possessive hāʾ, and that hāʾ is itself preceded by a kasrah or a yāʾ sākinah, al-Sūsī assigns a kasrah to the mīm instead of the standard ḍammah.
• Explanation: Vowel harmony — the kasrah environment "pulls" the mīm's vowel downward.
• Example: standard مِنْ عَهْدِهِمُ → al-Sūsī مِنْ عَهْدِهِمِ (kasrah on mīm).
• Matn: line 108

Iskān of هُوَ / هِيَ after connective particles (إسْكان هاء (هُوَ وهِيَ))¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī reads هُوَ and هِيَ with a sākin hāʾ when they follow the connective particles وَ، فَ، لَ (and ثُمَّ): وَهْوَ، فَهْوَ، لَهْوَ، وَهْيَ، فَهْيَ.
• Explanation: The full vowel of the hāʾ is dropped after these particles. Shared in the Shāṭibiyyah by Qālūn, Abū ʿAmr (both rāwīs), and Abū al-Ḥārith.
• Example: وَهُوَ → وَهْوَ; فَهِيَ → فَهْيَ.
• Matn: line 449

Tāʾ marbūṭah in pause (الوَقْف على التاء المَرْبوطة)¶

• Rule: A tāʾ marbūṭah (ة) is pronounced as hāʾ (هـ) in pause; al-Sūsī has a specific set of exceptional words on which he instead pauses with tāʾ.
• Explanation: The general rule (ة → ه at waqf) is near-universal; the exceptions are transmitted word-by-word and cannot be derived phonologically — best grouped by sūrah for memorisation.
• Example: رَحْمَةٌ → raḥmah (general); the exceptional words are pronounced …t at waqf.
• Matn: line 365

Yāʾ al-iḍāfah in waṣl (ياء الإضافة)¶

• Rule: Al-Sūsī adds a fatḥah to the genitive yāʾ (يَاء الإِضَافَة) when the next word begins with a hamzah qaṭʿ, and likewise when it begins with a hamzat waṣl; in a defined set of exception words he instead gives the yāʾ sukūn.
• Explanation: Opening the yāʾ enables smooth connection; he is part of the سَمَا group (Nāfiʿ, Ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAmr) doing fatḥ for the large hamzah-adjacent category. The sukūn exceptions depart from the general rule and are memorised from the manuals.
• Example: إِنِّي أَخَافُ (fatḥ on yāʾ before hamzah qaṭʿ); عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ (fatḥ before hamzat waṣl).
• Matn: line 387

Waqf with rawm and ishmām (الوَقْف بالرَّوْم والإشْمام)¶

• Rule: At waqf al-Sūsī may use rawm (making a ḍammah or kasrah barely audible) and ishmām (rounding the lips after sukūn to signal a ḍammah).
• Explanation: Abū ʿAmr is among the reciters explicitly associated with rawm. Neither applies to fatḥah, nor to hāʾ al-taʾnīth or mīm al-jamʿ; they apply only to permanent vowels.
• Example: stopping on نَسْتَعِينُ with rawm of the ḍammah; on the ḍammah of a noun with ishmām.
• Matn: line 365

Farsh¶

The complete farsh of al-Sūsī, in muṣḥaf/matn order: each row gives the verse, Ḥafṣ's reading (for contrast), al-Sūsī's actual reading, a Qurʾānic example, and the matn line. Because al-Sūsī is a rāwī of Abū ʿAmr al-Baṣrī, every place where Abū ʿAmr — or a group containing him (samā, ḥaqq, nafar, ṣiḥāb, etc.) — departs from Ḥafṣ is reflected here; places where Abū ʿAmr reads with al-bāqūn (i.e. like Ḥafṣ) are omitted. Where the transmission splits al-Dūrī from al-Sūsī (e.g. ikhtilās for al-Dūrī but full iskān/sukūn for al-Sūsī), the al-Sūsī column gives his own reading. Rows marked (awaiting confirmation) are decoded from the matn but not yet cross-checked against a printed sharḥ.