Author(s): Servet KILIÃ*
The question of seven letters and the hadiths that came in this context are among the most intricate subjects of the science of
qira'at (or the readings, or methods of recitation of the Holy Qur'an). The exact meaning of the seven letters is not fully understood.
Again, in this context, what kind of readings the phenomenon of seven letters corresponds to, which of them are based on revelation,
and which ones lack this basis are important matters in terms of understanding the issue. The most famous one among the Seven
Letters hadiths, what is the nature of the conflict of reading between Hazrat Umar and Hisham during prayer, has also been discussed
within the tradition, but most of the evaluations made on the subject remained far from explaining the truth of the matter. In general,
many scholars of the qira'at (or the readings, or methods of recitation of the Holy Qur'an) preferred to explain the conflict of reading
mentioned in the hadith with the principle of convenience in reading the Qur’an, which is shown as the reason for the giving of seven
letters. However, the disagreement between these two Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (A.S.), who are both members of the
Quraysh tribe, regarding the recitation of the Holy Qur’an, shows that the seven letters cannot be explained solely with the principle of
convenience. The principle of convenience is based on the principle of allowing newly converted Muslims from different tribes to read
the words that exist in their dialects instead of the words they have difficulty in pronunciation while reading the Quran. However, to
argue that the conflict of reading of Holy Qur’an between the said two Companions, whose tribes, whose dialects are the same, and
who live in the same environment, are based on dialect, does not correspond to the reality. In this study, first of all we clarified and
revealed which genres the reading area, mentioned in the seven letter category, corresponds to. Later, we tried to examine and
determine the nature of the conflict of reading the Holy Qur'an, through the types of reading, which are also in the context of seven
letters, mentioned in the hadith in question.
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