Many critics, for example Orientalist Arthur Jeffrey, say that the Qiraat are mistakes and emerge from the thoroughly dotless Uthmani mushaf . Well, for a Qiraat to be accepted, it must meet the following criteria:

Furthermore, in Zaid ibn Thabit's words, the qiraat is a Sunnah, meaning the Prophet himself recited in multiple ways and himself taught some companions different ways to recite them. Also, the Qiraat are traced all the way back to Prophet in mutawatir chains.

Even if we believe that the Qiraat( multiple ways to read Quran) are due to mistakes from throughly dotless structure, the variants from a particular skeletal word would be innumerable. For example, یس
If we remove the dots from it, and dont have any idea how to pronounce it..

The multiple words coming out be too great, for example بس، تس، ثس etc. But , we know its only یس in Sura Yaseen because of the multiple chain narrators that lead all the way back to Prophet and also, conforming to correct Arabic grammar as laid out in the conditions..

That I mentioned above in the first tweet.
Also, these variants from the Qiraat are very less. Ibn Mujahid, known for canonising the seven famous recitations or Qiraat, only found 700 words out of 77,000+ words of the Quran that can be recited in multiple ways,

Even if a particular word, like ملک in Surah Fatiha, is recited differently in a particular occasion ( like Maalik , and Malik) , it is unanimously recited in the same manner in other places. Check examples for other words as well

Hence, the Qiraat trace all the way back to Prophet SAW in multiple chains in the picture posted in the Second Tweet , a solid proof for its preservation. And the words in which they differ is very less, accounting for just 1% of the words of the Quran.

So , the words in which the Qiraat differ, do they contradict each other?
Absolutely NO.
The Qiraat further enrich and complement each other to give another dimension to meaning of that word in the Quran. They arent human errors. An unprecedented linguistic tool from the Creator

Check this video of Fadel Soliman explaining it.


Shorter 2 min version of this which directly explains the nature of Qiraat and what is their purpose

Another video by Brother Farid explaining the Qiraat and how they further enrich the meaning and complement each other. Give a multi faceted comprehension to the word and the verse in which that word is present.

I just wanted to give a brief overview of what the Qiraat are, how are they selected, transmitted and how they complement and further enrich the meaning. Qiraat add a unique dimension to the Quran, hence making it a linguistic miracle

When I got to know about the multiple Qiraat for the first time, it confused me a lot and I was taken aback. Made me doubt about the Quran. But I was just ignorant as this topic has been discussed and huge volumes have been written on it for the last 14 centuries

Its only when I read about it and understood that I realised what a beautiful thing this is. Adds beauty to the Quran. Many Muslims sadly arent acquainted with this topic and Islamophobes use the Qiraat to attack the Quran. I fell into their trap, that is why I wrote this thread

...to give you a basic idea of what the Qiraat are so that you wont fall into their trap based on lies and deceit. Just a basic understanding of such stuff is enough to make you immune from their attacks

A Highly recommended book to read and understand the Compilation and Preservation of Quran . A must read for any Muslim i'd say

A video for folks to know basic stuff about Qiraat. Highly recommended to watch it.

An excellent article from Islamic Awareness. After you have watched the videos that I have posted, read this.

https://www.islamic-awareness.org/quran/text/qiraat/hafs.html

The source from which the Zaid ibn Statement quote has been taken is Al-Itqan by as Suyuti, i:211

I hope this thread will benefit to all those who read it. If I have written anything good in it, its because of Allah SWT's will . If I have made a mistake, it is because of my faulty nature of being a human.