Riwāyat Qunbul ʿan Ibn Kathīr¶

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī al-Makkī, Abū ʿUmar, known as Qunbul (195–291 AH), head of the reciters of the Ḥijāz in his era, narrating from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr al-Makkī (45–120 AH), the imām of recitation in Makkah, through Aḥmad al-Qawwās. See the imām's overview.

Uṣūl¶

Istiʿādhah and Basmalah (الاسْتِعاذة والبَسْمَلة)¶

• Rule: Qunbul uses the standard istiʿādhah أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ, and always recites the basmalah (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ) between every two sūrahs — it is obligatory for him, with no option to omit it or replace it with silence.
• Explanation: Beginning any sūrah (other than al-Tawbah) the basmalah is required; mid-sūrah it is optional. Between al-Anfāl and al-Tawbah there are three options — waqf (stop), sakt (pause), or waṣl (connect) — and no basmalah, since al-Tawbah has none. The basmalah is always joined to the start of the following sūrah, never left attached to the end of the preceding one.
• Example: At the boundary of al-Fātiḥah and al-Baqarah: …وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ — بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ — الم.
• Matn: line 100

Imālah (الإمالة)¶

• Rule: Qunbul has no imālah anywhere in the Qurʾān. Every fatḥah–alif combination is pronounced with pure fatḥ.
• Explanation: No fatḥah is tilted toward kasrah and no alif toward yāʾ in any position, including the alif of taʾnīth and yāʾ-origin alifs.
• Example: هُدًى, الْهَوَى, رَمَى — all read with full open fatḥ.
• Matn: line 294

Madd Munfaṣil (Qaṣr) (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: When a long vowel ends one word and a hamzah begins the next, Qunbul prolongs only 2 ḥarakāt (qaṣr) — the same length as the natural madd.
• Explanation: This shortening (qaṣr al-munfaṣil) is one of the most recognizable traits of Ibn Kathīr's reading and gives it a noticeably faster flow through passages with frequent hamzah.
• Example: بِمَا أُنْزِلَ — the alif of بِمَا is held only 2 ḥarakāt before the hamzah of أُنْزِلَ.
• Matn: line 161

Madd Muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: When a long vowel and a hamzah occur in the same word, Qunbul prolongs for 4 ḥarakāt (tawassuṭ) (tawassuṭ).
• Explanation: This is a medium length, shorter than the longest schools.
• Example: جَاءَ, السَّمَاءِ, سُوءَ — held 3–4 ḥarakāt.
• Matn: line 161

Madd ʿĀriḍ li-l-Sukūn (المَدّ العارِض للسُّكون)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word whose final madd letter is followed by an incidental sukūn, Qunbul may prolong 2, 4, or 6 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: Three options, chosen consistently within a passage.
• Example: Stopping on الْعَالَمِينَ → الْعَالَمِينْ (2/4/6).
• Matn: line 175

Madd Lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: Qunbul prolongs madd lāzim for 6 ḥarakāt (obligatory).
• Explanation: When a madd letter is followed by an original sukūn or a shaddah, the prolongation is the maximum.
• Example: الضَّالِّينَ, آلْآنَ; and the three-letter spelled opening letters such as الم → أَلِف لَام مِيم (the مِيم held 6).
• Matn: line 177

Madd al-Badal (مَدّ البَدَل)¶

• Rule: Where a long vowel comes after a hamzah, Qunbul reads it as the natural madd of 2 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: No extra prolongation is added on the badal.
• Example: آمَنَ, أُوتِيَ, إِيمَانًا — each held 2 ḥarakāt.
• Matn: line 171

Madd al-ʿIwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word ending in tanwīn fatḥah (ـً), Qunbul replaces the tanwīn with a 2-ḥarakāt /ā/.
• Explanation: The compensatory alif takes the natural-madd length.
• Example: Stopping on كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 175

Madd in the Opening Letters (Ḥurūf Muqaṭṭaʿāt) (مَدّ الحُروف المُقَطَّعة)¶

• Rule: Three-letter-spelled opening letters take 6 ḥarakāt; two-letter-spelled ones take 2 ḥarakāt; أَلِفْ takes no madd; عَيْن takes 4 or 6 (6 preferred).
• Explanation: A madd letter followed by a sākin gives the lāzim length; with no following sākin it is natural madd.
• Example: صَ (in صَاد) held 6; طَ / هَ / يَ / حَ / رَ held 2; the عَيْن of كهيعص / عسق held 4 or 6.
• Matn: line 177

Mīm al-Jamʿ with Ṣilah (صِلة مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: When the plural pronoun mīm (هُمْ, كُمْ, تُمْ) is followed by a voweled letter, Qunbul adds a connecting long vowel: a wāw after ḍammah (هُمُو) and a yāʾ after kasrah (هِمِي). Before a sākin letter there is no ṣilah.
• Explanation: This connecting vowel is one of the most immediately audible markers of the reading.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمُو وَلَا (Q1:7); أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُو اللَّهُ (Q2:210).
• Matn: line 108

Hāʾ al-Kināyah with Extended Ṣilah (صِلة هاء الكِناية الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: Qunbul adds the connecting vowel to the third-person pronoun هُ/هِ both between two voweled letters (like all reciters) and after a sukūn when followed by a voweled letter — a broader scope than other reciters.
• Explanation: The hāʾ takes a connecting wāw (after ḍammah) or yāʾ (after kasrah) in more positions than the standard rule allows.
• Example: مِنْهُو شَيْئًا — connecting wāw added after the hāʾ even though it follows a sākin (نْ).
• Matn: line 108

Ṣilah Kubrā (الصِّلة الكُبْرى)¶

• Rule: When the hāʾ al-kināyah with ṣilah is followed by a hamzah, the connecting vowel + hamzah form a madd munfaṣil, which Qunbul holds at 2 ḥarakāt (following his qaṣr of the munfaṣil).
• Explanation: Because Qunbul shortens the munfaṣil, his ṣilah kubrā is also short. (The ṣilah-before-a-hamzah is itself a munfaṣil; since Ibn Kathīr reads the munfaṣil with qaṣr, his ṣilah kubrā is 2.)
• Example: بِهِ أَحَدًا → بِهِي أَحَدًا (the connecting yāʾ + hamzah held 2 ḥarakāt).
• Matn: line 108

Two Hamzahs in the Same Word (Tashīl) (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمة — التَّسْهيل)¶

• Rule: When two hamzahs meet at the start of a word, Qunbul softens (tashīl) the second hamzah — pronouncing it as a sound between a full hamzah and the corresponding vowel.
• Explanation: The first hamzah is full; the second is begun but released before full glottal closure.
• Example: أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ (Q2:6), أَأَنْتُمْ, أَأُلِدُ (Q11:72) — first hamzah full, second musahhalah.
• Matn: line 183

Naql in القُرْآن (النَّقْل)¶

• Rule: Qunbul reads القُرْآن / قُرْآن with naql: the fatḥah of the hamzah is transferred onto the preceding sākin rāʾ and the hamzah is dropped, giving القُرَان / قُرَان — wherever the word occurs.
• Explanation: The sākin rāʾ takes the moved fatḥah, so no hamzah is pronounced.
• Example: الْقُرْآن → الْقُرَان. (Matn cipher دَوَاؤُنَا = د = Ibn Kathīr.)
• Matn: line 502

Idghām of close-makhraj letters (يٰسٓ, نٓ, صٓ of Maryam) (إدْغام المُتَقارِبَين)¶

• Rule: Ibn Kathīr's distinctive point is that with the Ḥaramiyy group (Nāfiʿ + Ibn Kathīr) he assimilates the ṣād of Maryam's opening (كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ ۝ ذِكْرُ) into the following ذ. He reads the nūn of يٰسٓ ۚ وَالْقُرْآنِ and نٓ ۚ وَالْقَلَمِ with iẓhār — but that is the baseline (as Ḥafṣ); only صُحْبَة (Shuʿbah + Ḥamzah + al-Kisāʾī) assimilate them.
• Explanation: The Ḥaramiyy صٓ idghām (shared with Nāfiʿ) is what sets Ibn Kathīr apart from the Ḥafṣ baseline here.
• Example: يٰسٓ ۚ وَالْقُرْآنِ (nūn clear); كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ ۝ ذِكْرُ (ṣād → ذ).
• Matn: lines 281–282

أَرْجِئْهُ (hamz + ḍamm hāʾ)¶

• Rule: With the نَفَر group (Ibn Kathīr + Abū ʿAmr + Ibn ʿĀmir), Qunbul reads أَرْجِئْهُ (al-Aʿrāf 111; al-Shuʿarāʾ 36) with a sākin hamzah and ḍammah on the hāʾ — أَرْجِئْهُ.
• Explanation: The hamzah is kept (sākin) and the pronoun hāʾ takes ḍammah.
• Example: قَالُوا أَرْجِئْهُ وَأَخَاهُ.
• Matn: line 166

Waqf ʿalā marsūm al-khaṭṭ (stopping on the written form) (الوَقْف على مَرْسوم الخَطّ)¶

• Rule: With the ḥaqq group (Ibn Kathīr + Abū ʿAmr), Qunbul stops the feminine hāʾ written with an open tāʾ (رَحْمَت, نِعْمَت, اِمْرَأَت) with hāʾ — رَحْمَه — where Nāfiʿ and Ḥafṣ keep the tāʾ.
• Explanation: The recognised ḥaqq-group difference at waqf on the tāʾ-written feminine words.
• Example: stopping on رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ → رَحْمَهْ (with hāʾ).
• Matn: lines 377–378

Sīn instead of Ṣād (السِّرَاط and يَبْسُط) (السِّين بَدَل الصاد)¶

• Rule: Qunbul reads the word الصِّرَاط with sīn (السِّرَاط) wherever it occurs, and likewise reads يَبْصُط with sīn (يَبْسُط).
• Explanation: The ṣād is pronounced as a plain sīn in these words — a reading distinctive to Qunbul among Ibn Kathīr's two rāwīs.
• Example: اهْدِنَا السِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ (Q1:6); وَاللَّهُ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ (cf. Q2:245).
• Matn: line 108

Two Hamzahs from Different Words (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When one word ends with a hamzah and the next begins with a hamzah, Qunbul has three options for the second hamzah: (1) tashīl — soften it; (2) ibdāl — replace it with the matching long vowel (alif, wāw, or yāʾ according to the ḥarakah); or (3) ḥadhf — delete one of the two hamzahs.
• Explanation: This gives Qunbul more flexibility than the more fixed approaches of other rāwīs in these positions.
• Example: جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ (both fatḥah) → second hamzah softened, or replaced with an alif, or one hamzah dropped.
• Matn: line 202

Ibdāl of Hamzah in أَأَمِنْتُمْ (waṣl) (إبْدال الهَمْز)¶

• Rule: In Q67:28 (أَأَمِنْتُمْ) Qunbul performs ibdāl of the hamzah to a wāw in waṣl.
• Explanation: The second hamzah is converted to a wāw when the word is connected to what precedes.
• Example: أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ → with the hamzah read as wāw in waṣl.
• Matn: line 1076 (awaiting confirmation)

Takbīr at Sūrah Endings (التَّكْبير)¶

• Rule: The takbīr (اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ) from the end of al-Ḍuḥā (Q93) through al-Nās is primarily al-Bazzī's; for Qunbul it is a minority (baʿḍ) transmission — al-Shāṭibī permits it (وَعَنْ قُنْبُلٍ بَعْضٌ بِتَكْبِيرِهِ) but it is not his principal way.
• Explanation: The al-Ḍuḥā-vs-al-Layl starting-point khilāf belongs to al-Bazzī, not Qunbul. This Makkan practice is narrated with a connected chain (musalsalan); after al-Nās the reciter follows with al-Fātiḥah and continues to Q23:1 (الْمُفْلِحُونَ).
• Example: …وَالضُّحَى… (end of sūrah) → اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ → بِسْمِ اللَّهِ… (next sūrah).
• Matn: line 1121

Yāʾ al-Iḍāfah (ياء الإضافة)¶

• Rule: Qunbul is part of the سَمَا group, which applies fatḥ extensively to the first-person possessive yāʾ (ي = "my"), especially before a hamzah carrying fatḥah or ḍammah.
• Explanation: Where reciters differ on whether this attached yāʾ takes fatḥ or sukūn, Qunbul generally opens it. [The complete per-word chart awaits confirmation.]
• Example: إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ → إِنِّيَ أَعْلَمُ (yāʾ opened with fatḥah).
• Matn: line 390 (awaiting confirmation)

Farsh¶

The distinctive farsh of Qunbul ʿan Ibn Kathīr, in muṣḥaf order: each row gives the verse, Ḥafṣ's reading (for contrast), Qunbul's own reading, a Qurʾānic example, and the matn line. Only rulings where Qunbul actually departs from Ḥafṣ are listed; rulings where Qunbul reads the majority/base form (or simply agrees with Ḥafṣ) are omitted. Rows marked (awaiting confirmation) are decoded from the matn but not yet cross-checked against a printed sharḥ.