In part of his discussion on the history of the Qiraa’aat (recitations of the Qur’an) in his famous manual of the Qur’anic sciences, Sheikh Badr al-Deen Muhammad al-Zarkashi mentioned the following:
قال مكي : والسبب في اشتهار هؤلاء السبعة دون غيرهم أن عثمان – رضي الله عنه – لما كتب المصاحف ، ووجهها إلى الأمصار ، وكان القراء في العصر الثاني والثالث كثيري العدد ، فأراد الناس أن يقتصروا في العصر الرابع على ما وافق المصحف ، فنظروا إلى إمام مشهور بالفقه ، والأمانة في النقل ، وحسن الدين ، وكمال العلم ، قد طال عمره ، واشتهر أمره ، وأجمع أهل مصر على عدالته ، فأفردوا من كل مصر وجه إليه عثمان مصحفا إماما هذه صفة قراءته على مصحف ذلك المصر ، فكان أبو عمرو من أهل البصرة ، وحمزة وعاصم من أهل الكوفة وسوادها ، والكسائي من العراق ، وابن كثير من أهل مكة ، وابن عامر من أهل الشام ، ونافع من أهل المدينة ، كلهم ممن اشتهرت إمامتهم ، وطال عمرهم في الإقراء ، وارتحل الناس إليهم من البلدان . ـ
Makki [ibn Abi Taalib] said:
The reason that these particular seven recitations became so well-known rather than others is that ‘Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) had the official copies of the Qur’an written and sent to the various cities, and there were many reciters during the second and third centuries, so then in the fourth century the people wanted to restrict the recitation only to what corresponded to the official ‘Uthmani mushaf. So, they looked for leading reciters who were known for their understanding of the religion, their trustworthiness in transmission, having sound religion, well-rounded knowledge, who had reached old age and had been well-known during their lifetimes, and who were held to be upright by all of the people of their respective locations. So, for each city to which ‘Uthman had sent a mushaf they selected one person matching this description whose recitation aligned with the mushaf of that city to serve as an exemplar:
There was
- Abu ‘Amr from the people of al-Basra
- Hamza and ‘Aasim from the people of al-Kufah and its surroundings
- al-Kisaa’i from ‘Iraq
- ibn Kathir from the people of Mecca
- ibn ‘Aamir from the people of greater Syria
- Naafi’ from the people of al-Madinah
All of them were figures whose role as a leader in the field of recitation was well-known, who had spent a lifetime teaching recitation to others, and a teacher to whom people would travel from their own lands to study under.