Qālūn ʿan Nāfiʿ¶

ʿĪsā ibn Mīnā al-Madanī, Abū Mūsā, known as Qālūn (120–220 AH), client of the Banū Zuhrah, foremost rāwī of Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Madanī (70–169 AH), imām of recitation in Madinah. Nāfiʿ nicknamed him "Qālūn" — "good/excellent" in the Roman tongue — for the quality of his recitation. His reading is widely followed in parts of North Africa and the Middle East (notably Libya and Tunisia). See the imām's overview.

Uṣūl¶

Istiʿādhah (الاسْتِعاذة)¶

• Rule: Qālūn recites the standard istiʿādhah أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ aloud before beginning recitation (as Ḥafṣ).
• Explanation: Said openly at the start of recitation; the wording follows what is transmitted, without addition.
• Example: أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ before al-Fātiḥah.
• Matn: line 95

Basmalah between sūrahs (البَسْمَلة بَين السُّورَتَين)¶

• Rule: Qālūn recites the basmalah between every two sūrahs (as Ḥafṣ).
• Explanation: He is in the group that always basmalates between sūrahs (with Ibn Kathīr, ʿĀṣim, al-Kisāʾī) — so here he matches the reading you already know from Ḥafṣ. The basmalah attaches to the start of the following sūrah; before al-Tawbah there is none, and the al-Anfāl→al-Tawbah junction takes the usual waqf/sakt/waṣl.
• Example: … الرَّحِيمِ ۝ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ.
• Matn: line 100

Madd muttaṣil (المَدّ المُتَّصِل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel followed by a hamzah within the same word is prolonged to tawassuṭ — 4 ḥarakāt (same length as Ḥafṣ).
• Explanation: There is no qaṣr option in the muttaṣil; Qālūn lengthens it to four counts.
• Example: جَاءَ, السَّمَاءِ, سُوءَ.
• Matn: line 168

Madd munfaṣil (qaṣr or tawassuṭ) (المَدّ المُنفَصِل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel at the end of a word when the next word begins with hamzah is read with two modes (khulf): qaṣr (2) or tawassuṭ (4) ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: This is Qālūn's distinctive madd. Ḥafṣ fixes the munfaṣil at 4; Qālūn additionally allows the qaṣr (2), an option he shares — at the short end — with Ibn Kathīr.
• Example: بِمَا أُنزِلَ, قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ, يَا أَيُّهَا.
• Matn: line 169

Madd lāzim (المَدّ اللازِم)¶

• Rule: A long vowel before an original sukūn or a shaddah is prolonged 6 ḥarakāt (as all reciters).
• Explanation: The obligatory madd, fixed at six counts.
• Example: الضَّالِّينَ, الْحَاقَّةُ, the لَام/مِيم of الم.
• Matn: line 176

Madd al-badal (مَدّ البَدَل)¶

• Rule: A long vowel after a hamzah is read as the natural madd, 2 ḥarakāt (as Ḥafṣ).
• Explanation: Qālūn does not share Warsh's lengthening of the badal; he keeps it at the ordinary two counts.
• Example: آمَنَ, أُوتِيَ, إِيمَانًا.
• Matn: line 171

Madd al-ʿiwaḍ (مَدّ العِوَض)¶

• Rule: When stopping on a word ending in tanwīn fatḥah (ـً), the tanwīn becomes a long /aa/ of 2 ḥarakāt.
• Explanation: The compensatory madd that replaces the dropped tanwīn at waqf — universal.
• Example: stopping on كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا.
• Matn: line 176

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

• Rule: Three-letter-spelled openers (نُون، مِيم، صَاد، لَام، كَاف، سِين، قَاف) take 6 ḥarakāt; two-letter-spelled ones (طَا، هَا، يَا، حَا، رَا) take 2; أَلِفْ has no madd; عَيْن is 4 or 6 (6 preferred). Qālūn reads all of these as Ḥafṣ — with pure fatḥ (no taqlīl).
• Explanation: Where the spelled letter holds a madd letter before a sukūn it lengthens to six; otherwise it stays short. Unlike Warsh, Qālūn applies no inclination to the alif-bearing openers.
• Example: الم (لَام، مِيم at 6), طٰه (طَا، هَا at 2, open), كهيعص (عَيْن at 4 or 6).
• Matn: lines 177–178

Madd al-ṣilah (hāʾ al-kināyah) (مَدّ الصِّلة)¶

• Rule: Qālūn connects the third-person pronoun هـ with a madd (ṣilah) when it falls between two voweled letters: long /uu/ after ḍammah, long /ee/ after kasrah. Before a hamzat qaṭʿ the ṣilah follows his munfaṣil — qaṣr (2) or tawassuṭ (4).
• Explanation: No ṣilah is made before a sākin. The general ṣilah is shared with Ḥafṣ; the only difference is that Qālūn's ṣilah-before-hamzah carries his two-way munfaṣil length.
• Example: إِنَّهُ كَانَ (إِنَّهُو), بِهِ ۦ; before a hamzah مَالَهُ ۥ أَخْلَدَهُ (2 or 4).
• Matn: line 158

Hāʾ al-kināyah — the special "shortened-hāʾ" words (هاء الكِناية)¶

• Rule: In the fixed set of apocopated-verb words يُؤَدِّهِ, نُؤْتِهِ, نُوَلِّهِ, نُصْلِهِ, فَأَلْقِهِ, يَتَّقِهِ (and يَأْتِهِ in Ṭāhā), Qālūn reads the hāʾ with khulf — qaṣr or ṣilah. يَرْضَهُ and يَرَهُ are read with the short hāʾ.
• Explanation: The matn gives Qālūn qaṣr "bi-khulf" in these words, i.e. either the short hāʾ or the connected one. فِيهِ مُهَانًا (al-Furqān 69) he reads with qaṣr (the ṣilah there is for Ibn Kathīr and Ḥafṣ).
• Example: نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا — read short, or with the connecting /ee/.
• Matn: lines 160–163

Mīm al-jamʿ (ṣilah bi-takhyīr) (مِيم الجَمْع)¶

• Rule: Qālūn may connect the plural mīm (هُمْ / كُمْ) with a wāw-madd (ṣilah) when it is followed by a voweled letter — a free choice (takhyīr: ṣilah or sukūn).
• Explanation: This optional ṣilah distinguishes him from Ḥafṣ (who keeps the mīm short). Ibn Kathīr connects it always; Qālūn has the two-way choice; before a sākin the mīm simply keeps its short ḍammah.
• Example: عَلَيْهِمُ ۥ القِتَالُ (ṣilah: عَلَيْهِمُو) — or with sukūn عَلَيْهِمْ.
• Matn: lines 111–112

Imālah / taqlīl (الإمالة والتَّقْليل)¶

• Rule: Qālūn reads with pure fatḥ almost everywhere — no general imālah or taqlīl — with one exception: he gives imālah kubrā to the alif of هَارٍ (al-Tawbah 9:109, جُرُفٍ هَارٍ). This is his only full imālah in the whole Qurʾān (the parallel to Warsh's single kubrā on the هَا of طٰه).
• Explanation: Apart from هَارٍ he matches Ḥafṣ — the fatḥah and its alif stay fully open. (The wide inclination of dhawāt al-yāʾ and verse-ends belongs to Warsh, Ḥamzah, and al-Kisāʾī, not Qālūn.)
• Example: هَارٍ (imālah kubrā); but هُدًى, الْهَوَى, ذِكْرَى all open.
• Matn: line 323 (هَارٍ); al-Wāfī confirms it as Qālūn's sole kubrā.

Hamzah: two hamzahs in one word (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمة)¶

• Rule: When two hamzahs open one word, Qālūn softens the second hamzah (tashīl — a sound between hamzah and its vowel) and inserts an alif between the two.
• Explanation: Tashīl releases the glottal closure before it completes. There is a list of words where he does not insert the alif, and one word with two wajhs (tashīl or alif).
• Example: أَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ → second hamzah softened, alif inserted; أَئِنَّكُمْ, أَؤُنزِلَ.
• Matn: line 183

Hamzah: two hamzahs from two words — same vowel (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When a word ends in hamzah and the next begins with a hamzah of the same vowel: fatḥ+fatḥ → Qālūn drops the first; kasr+kasr → first like yāʾ (imperfect hamzah); ḍamm+ḍamm → first like wāw.
• Explanation: Facilitating one of two adjacent hamzahs avoids two glottal stops. Special case بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا (Yūsuf 53): the first hamzah is changed and merged (idghām), with khilāf.
• Example: جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا (drops first), مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِنَّ (first like yāʾ), أَوْلِيَاءُ أُولَئِكَ (first like wāw).
• Matn: lines 202–204

Hamzah: two hamzahs from two words — different vowels (الهَمْزَتان في كَلِمَتَين)¶

• Rule: When the two hamzahs carry different vowels, Qālūn facilitates the second: fatḥ+ḍamm and fatḥ+kasr → tashīl; ḍamm+fatḥ → ibdāl to wāw; kasr+fatḥ → ibdāl to yāʾ; ḍamm+kasr → two wajhs.
• Explanation: The second hamzah is softened or substituted by the neighbouring vowels. When a madd letter precedes a changed hamzah, qaṣr of that madd is permissible though keeping the madd is preferred (أَعْدَل).
• Example: جَاءَ أُمَّةً (fatḥ+ḍamm), تَفِيءَ إِلَى (fatḥ+kasr), نَشَاءُ أَصَبْنَا (→ wāw), السَّمَاءِ أَوِ (→ yāʾ).
• Matn: lines 209–211

Idghām ṣaghīr and close-makhraj letters (الإدْغام الصَّغير)¶

• Rule: In the idghām of إذ، قد، and the feminine tāʾ, Qālūn reads iẓhār (clear) in all the disputed letters — as Ḥafṣ. With the Ḥaramiyy group (Nāfiʿ + Ibn Kathīr) he assimilates the ṣād of Maryam's opening (كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ ۝ ذِكْرُ) into the following ذ. His one further point is khulf (idghām or iẓhār) in يُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ (al-Baqarah 284).
• Explanation: Where Warsh assimilates the tāʾ/قد into the close-makhraj letters, Qālūn keeps them clear — except the Ḥaramiyy صٓ idghām and the يُعَذِّبْ khulf (the bāʾ assimilated into the following mīm, or clear).
• Example: كٓهٰيٰعٓصٓ ۝ ذِكْرُ (ṣād → ذ); قَد ظَلَمُوا kept clear; يُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشَاءُ — idghām of the bāʾ or clear.
• Matn: lines 282–285

Naql (آلْآنَ, رِدْءًا) (النَّقْل)¶

• Rule: Qālūn applies naql (transferring the hamzah's vowel onto a preceding sākin and dropping the hamzah) in آلْآنَ (Yūnus 51, 91) and رِدْءًا (al-Qaṣaṣ 34) — the two places named for Nāfiʿ — not as a general rule (that is Warsh's).
• Explanation: In آلْآنَ the vowel moves onto the lām; Qālūn (with Abū ʿAmr) also gives the wāw of آلْآنَ a hamzah in his naql at the start and in joining.
• Example: آلْآنَ وَقَدْ → the hamzah's fatḥah carried onto the lām; رِدْءًا → رِدَا.
• Matn: lines 229–234

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

• Rule: Qālūn (with Nāfiʿ) stops according to the rasm — the ʿUthmānī spelling. Where a feminine tāʾ is written open (رَحْمَت, نِعْمَت, اِمْرَأَت, شَجَرَت), he stops on it with tāʾ (as Ḥafṣ).
• Explanation: Nāfiʿ is named among those who follow the written form at waqf (with the Kūfīs and Abū ʿAmr); words written with tāʾ are stopped with tāʾ, those with hāʾ with hāʾ.
• Example: stopping on رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ → رَحْمَت (with tāʾ).
• Matn: lines 376–378

هُوَ / هِيَ after a connective particle (sukūn)¶

• Rule: After the particles وَ, فَ, لَ, Qālūn reads هُوَ and هِيَ with sukūn on the hāʾ: وَهْوَ, فَهْوَ, لَهْوَ, وَهْيَ, فَهْيَ, لَهْيَ — wherever they occur.
• Explanation: The hāʾ loses its vowel after the particle (Ḥafṣ keeps it voweled: وَهُوَ). Only three readers do this — Qālūn, Abū ʿAmr, and al-Kisāʾī (matn rumūz بَارِداً / حَلَا / رَاضِياً); Warsh and the rest keep the full هُوَ.
• Example: وَهْوَ الْعَزِيزُ, فَهْيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ.
• Matn: line 449

Consistent changes — added hamzah and passive ishmām (تَغْييرات مُطَّرِدة)¶

• The النَّبِيء family — read with a hamzah: Qālūn (with all of Nāfiʿ) reads the النَّبِيّ family with a hamzah wherever it occurs — النَّبِيء, الأَنْبِئَاء, النَّبِيئِينَ/النَّبِيئُونَ, النُّبُوءة — and likewise reads البَرِيّة (al-Bayyinah 98:6, 7) as البَرِيئَة. This "adding of the hamzah" is one of Nāfiʿ's most identifiable signatures (other readers use a yāʾ/shaddah).
• Ishmām of the passive سِيءَ / سِيئَتْ: Qālūn gives the سِ of سِيءَ (Hūd 77; al-ʿAnkabūt 33) and سِيئَتْ (al-Mulk 67:27) ishmām — a hint of ḍammah blended into the kasrah, echoing the original سُوءَ — where Ḥafṣ reads a pure kasrah (shared with Ibn ʿĀmir, Shuʿbah, al-Kisāʾī).
• Matn: the النَّبِيء/البَرِيئَة hamz is in the farsh; passive ishmām at line 448.

Yāʾ al-iḍāfah and yāʾāt al-zawāʾid (ياء الإضافة وياءات الزَّوائِد)¶

• Rule: Nāfiʿ opens (fatḥ) a large set of the yāʾāt al-iḍāfah (مَعِيَ, بَيْتِيَ, إِنِّيَ, لِيَ) where the Ḥafṣ baseline reads them sākin, and affirms (ithbāt) a set of the yāʾāt al-zawāʾid. Qālūn-specific points: he reads مَحْيَايَ with khulf (fatḥ/iskān); among the zawāʾid Qālūn does not affirm دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ / دَعَانِ (al-Baqarah 186), and (unlike Warsh) does not have نَذِيرِي.
• Explanation: Nāfiʿ is known for his wide fatḥ of the iḍāfah-yāʾ. The bāb is an extensive word-by-word list (poem 387–441); Qālūn and Warsh agree on the bulk and split on the handful named above and on Warsh's page. (The named items are decoded from the matn; the complete per-word roster is in the matn appendix.)
• Example: إِنِّيَ أَعْلَمُ (yāʾ opened); مَحْيَايَ (khulf); دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ — yāʾ not affirmed.
• Matn: lines 387–441

Farsh¶

Qālūn's distinctive farsh readings, in muṣḥaf order (sorted by matn line). Each row gives the verse, Ḥafṣ's reading for contrast, Qālūn's own reading, a Qurʾānic example, and the matn line. Rulings where Qālūn reads the same form as Ḥafṣ (the base/majority) are omitted; rows marked (awaiting confirmation) are decoded from the matn but not yet cross-checked against a printed sharḥ.