Kıraat İlminde İhtiyâr Olgusuna Fukahâ Perspektifinden Bakmak: Dört Mezhep İmamı Özelinde Bir İnceleme

In the discipline of qirāʾāt, ikhtiyār is defined as the act whereby an imam, from among the various transmitted reading variants (wujūh) he has received, selects certain ones for specific reasons and thereby forms his own transmission path (ṭarīq). In line with its lexical meaning, the term ikhtiyār denotes the preference for what is deemed superior based on individual considerations. Although its earliest instances can be traced to the second generation of the Companions, ikhtiyār in its full sense emerged during the periods of the Tābiʿūn and the Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn, at which time its scope of permissibility was considerably broad. With the expansion of the Muslim world, the number of reciters (kurrāʾ), already substantial in the Tābiʿūn period, increased further during the Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn period in response to the growing need for Qurʾān instructors. The fact that prominent figures in qirāʾāt first established their own preferred readings and subsequently transmitted them to their students can be regarded as the primary reason for the diversification of ikhtiyār in the first three centuries. Consequently, the practice of adopting ikhtiyār became an established scholarly convention from the mid-second to the fourth century AH, and many scholars, particularly among the reciters, developed their own preferences from among the transmitted variants of the Companions and the Tābiʿūn. Studies addressing the phenomenon of ikhtiyār in the history of qirāʾāt have generally examined the subject either within the framework of early reciters, in the context of exegetes, or specifically with reference to Abū Ḥanīfa alone. A notable gap in the existing literature is the lack of analysis that considers the historical background and methodological tendencies shaping the ikhtiyār of the four legal school imams. This study examines the qirāʾāt preferences of the four imams of the madhhabs: Abū Ḥanīfa, Mālik b. Anas, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal. Its aim is to identify how the phenomenon of ikhtiyār is reflected among the early jurists and to evaluate their qirāʾāt preferences within their historical and methodological contexts. The qirāʾāt preferences of early jurists are found in scattered form within classical sources, including biographical works on reciters, tafsīr literature, and various genres such as manāqib and masāʾil. The present study utilizes these sources and analyzes the available data. Regarding Abū Ḥanīfa’s ikhtiyār, three possibilities are considered: that he adhered to the recitation of ʿĀṣim, that he possessed an independent ikhtiyār, and that the attributed compilations of his preferences consist of unsubstantiated reports. In light of the fact that adopting ikhtiyār had become a scholarly convention during his lifetime, the study relies on Abū al-Faḍl al-Khuzāʿī’s Ikhtiyārāt min Qirāʾāti Abī Ḥanīfa, Abū al-Qāsim al-Hudhalī’s al-Kāmil fī al-Qirāʾāt, Muwaffaq al-Makkī’s (d. 568/1172) Manāqib al-Imām al-Aʿẓam Abī Ḥanīfa, as well as examples cited in tafsīr works, and concludes that Abū Ḥanīfa did indeed possess his own ikhtiyār. Among the other figures known for ikhtiyār, Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal appears to be the jurist for whom the most data is available regarding such preferences. As for al-Shāfiʿī and Mālik b. Anas, it is concluded that they generally adhered to the prevailing recitation of their respective regions. In this respect, the study aims to provide a comprehensive framework by examining the qirāʾāt preferences of the four imams who lived during the period in which ikhtiyār was practiced.