Reading List for Advanced Students of Tajwid, Qira’ah, and Qur’anic Studies (English)

The following reading list compiles works relevant to Tajwīd, Qirā’ah, and Qur’anic studies, encompassing various branches within these fields. This list was curated over the course of my studies during the past few years, and then condensed for the purpose of this article. Emphasising works directly linked to these sciences, the list excludes exegesis (Tafsīr) works and primarily features books in English that would be useful to a student of the Qur’an in the Western hemisphere. Research papers are included selectively, focusing on those offering unique insights. To aid navigation, I have categorised the list into sections corresponding to specific topics.

Please also note that the inclusion of a work on this list is not an endorsement of the entire contents. Some of the works would need to be read critically, and preferably with the opportunity to discuss any contentious issues with an expert scholar of the Qur’an.

I pray that Allah makes this list beneficial for all the seekers of knowledge. Please do feel free to suggest further works that I may have missed in the comments.

General Tajwid

1. Taysir al-Tajwid li al-Qur’an al-Majid by Ustadhah Anisa Najam
2. Illustrated Tajweed by Shaykh Ayman Rushdi Suwayd
3. Aysar al-Aqwāl Sharḥ Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl by Qari Saleem Gaibie
4. The Jazariyyah Simplified: A commentary on the poem al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah of al-Imam Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Jazari by Mufti Mohamed Umer Ismail
5. Al-La’āli al-Naqiyyah Sharḥ al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah by Qari Saleem Gaibie
6. Beyond Recitation: Tajwid and Spirituality: A Commentary on the Khaqaniyyah of Abu Muzahim Al-Khaqani by Ustadhah Saima Yacoob
7. Tajwid Thoughts by Ustadhah Saima Yacoob

Rasm (Orthography)

1. A Reader on the Diacritics Found in the Copies of the Qur’an by Mufti Mohamed Umer Ismail
2. Tashil al-Rusum: The Writing of the Qur’an Simplified: A Reader on the Collection and Orthography of the Qur’an by Mufti Mohamed Umer Ismail
3. Sacred Spellings: An English translation and commentary on Aqilah Atrab al-Qasa’id fi Asna al-Maqasid of Imam al-Shatibi by Ustadhah Saima Yacoob

ʿAdd al-Fawāṣil (Verse Enumeration)

1. Quranic Verse Enumeration – A Simplified Study of Nathimat al-Zuhr by Qari Muhammad Riyaadh Obaray
2. Quranic Verse Enumeration – A Commentary on al-Tas-hil by Ihab Fikri by Qari Muhammad Riyaadh Obaray
3. Quranic Verse Enumeration – A Commentary on al-Kamil by Mahmud al-Sharqawi by Qari Muhammad Riyaadh Obaray

Al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidā’ (Pausing and Continuing)

1. Maintaining the Meaning: An Introduction to Waqf and Ibtida by Ustadhah Saima Yacoob
2. Considering the Meaning: Stopping on Kallā, Balā, and Naʿam by Ustadhah Saima Yacoob
3. Within Its Depths: How the Canonical Recitations Affect the Meaning of the Qurʾān by Qari Basil Farooq
4. Before You Pause: How the Canonical Recitations of the Qurʾān Affect Where Waqf is Made by Ustadhah Saima Yacoob

Asānid (Transmission Chains/Biographies)

1. Ajmal al-Akhbār fī Qurrā’ al-Sabʿah al-Kibār by Qari Saleem Gaibie
2. The Three Qurra and Their Ruwat by Ustadhah Saba Shaikh
3. Asanid 101 by Qari Saleem Gaibie

About the Variant Readings and Recitation of the Qur’an

1. The Origins of the Variant Readings of the Qur’an by Dr Ammar Khatib and Dr Nazir Khan (Yaqeen Institute Research Paper)
2. The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur’ān: The Problem of Tawātur and the Emergence of Shawādhdh by Shady Hekmat Nasser
3. Variant Readings of the Qur’an: A Critical Study of their Historical and Linguistic Origins by Ahmad Ali al-Imam
4. Orality, Literacy and the Seven Aḥruf Hadith by Yasin Dutton (Journal of Islamic Studies 23)
5. Can the Qur’an be Recited in Different Ways?  By Shaykh Yousef Wahb (Yaqeen Institute Research Paper)
6. Various Books/Translations/Commentaries in the Field of Tajwīd and Qirā’āt published by Tanzil Institute, Zein Hud Publications, Recite With Love
7. The Recited Koran: A History of the First Recorded Version by Labib al-Said
8. The Art of Reciting the Qur’an by Kristina Nelson

Qirā’āt Principles (Variant Readings)

1. Ghunyah at-Ṭalabah fī Taysīr al-Sabʿah by Qari Saleem Gaibie
2. Tashil al-Durrah: A commentary on the usool of al-Durrah al-Mudi’ah by Mufti Mohamed Umer Ismail
3. Summarizing al-Durrah: The principles of the narrations of Imams Abū Jaʿfar, Yaʿqūb, and Khalaf, Translated by Ustadhah Sabah Shaikh
4. Anis al Ashr Sharh Tayyibat al-Nashr by Qari Saleem Gaibie
5. Al-Mujtaba and Al-Muntaqa: Rules pertaining to Qira’at-e-Sab’ah and Qira’at-e-Thalaathah: Rules Pertaining to the Seven and Three Qur’aanic (Ten/’Asharah Sughraa) Readings (Ar-Rawdhah) by Qari Muajul Islam Chowdhury and Qari Ismail Essack
6. Ar-Rawdhah fi al-Qira’at al-’Ashr by Qari Muajul Islam Chowdhury
7. An Explanation of the Ṭuruq of Imam Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān by Qari Munowar Harneker

General Qur’anic Sciences (ʿUlūm al-Qur’an)

1. Approaching the Quranic Sciences by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (New 2024 edition by Turath Publishing, with updated footnotes and annotations by various scholars)
2. An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an: Volume 1 by Shaykh Furhan Zubairi
3. An Introduction to ʿUlūm al-Qur’an: The Field of Qur’anic Studies by Shaykh Yousef Wahb (Yaqeen Institute Research Paper)
4. Ulum al-Qurān: An Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran by Ahmad Von Denffer
5. Gateway to the Qur’anic Sciences (based on al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qur’an) of Imam Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, translated by Omar Husain

Miscellaneous: Topics Related to The Qur’an and its Study

1. The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments by Dr Mohammad Mustafa al-Azami
2. Al-Fawz al-Kabīr fī Uṣūl al-Tafsīr: The Great Victory by Shāh Waliyyullāh al-Dihlawī (An English edition has previously been published by Ta-Ha Publishers. Turath Publishing are currently in the process of producing another edition)
3. The Qur’an and the Latest Orientalist Assumptions by Muhammad Mohar Ali
4. The Qur’an: An Eternal Challenge – Al Naba’ Al ʿAẓīm by Muhammad ʿAbdullah Drāz, translated and edited by Adil Salahi
5. The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam by Shabbir Akhtar
6. The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society by Dr Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman
7. Intraquranic Hermeneutics: Theories and Methods in Tafsīr of the Qur’an through the Qur’an by Dr Sohaib Saeed (PhD thesis – SOAS University of London)
8. Secrets Within the Order of the Qur’an by Imam Jalāl al-Dīn as-Suyūṭī
9. Coherence in the Qur’an: A Study of Iṣlāḥī’s Concept of Naẓm in Tadabbur-i Qur’an by Mustansir Mir
10. Structure and Qur’anic Interpretation: A Study of Symmetry and Coherence in Islam’s Holy Text by Raymond Farrin
11. Hunting for the Word of God by Sami al-Ameri
12. The Jewels of the Qur’an: Al-Ghazali’s Theory: A translation, with an introduction and annotation of al-Ghazali’s Kitab Jawahir al-Qur’an by Muhammad Abul Quasem
13. Introduction to Iʿjāz al-Qur’an: The Miraculous Nature of the Qur’an by Shaykh Suleiman Hani (Yaqeen Institute Research Paper Series)
14. The Uthmanic Codex: Understanding how the Qur’an was Preserved by Ammar Khatib and Dr. Nazir Khan (Yaqeen Institute Research Paper)
15. The Qur’an: a Biography by Lawrence Bruce
16. The Qur’an and Its Study by Adnan Zarzour, translated and edited by Adil Salahi.
17. Approaches to the History of Interpretation of the Qur’an, edited by Andrew Rippin
18. How the Qur’an was Preserved During the Prophet’s Time: Mechanisms of Oral and Written Transmission by Shaykh Yousef Wahb (Yaqeen Institute Research Paper)
19. The Miracle of the Qur’an: A Classical Treatise Explaining the Literary Miracle of Allah’s Book by Abū Sulaymān Ḥamd ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khaṭṭābī (Sapience Institute e-book)
20. The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies edited by Mustafa Shah and M. A. S. Abdel Haleem
21. The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’an edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe
22. Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe
23. Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage edited by Elsaid M. Badawi and M. A. S. Abdel Haleem
24. Journal of Qur’anic Studies (All Editions) by SOAS/Edinburgh University Press
25. Select Chapters of Itqan on the Language of the Qur’an, Imam Suyuti translated by Dr Sohaib Saeed