Who Chose the Seven Readings? Ibn Mujahid, a Baghdad Court, and the Number That Confused Everyone
In 4th-century AH Baghdad, Ibn Mujahid fixed the Quran readings at exactly seven — a number later scholars said confused the masses. A year before his death, a famous reciter was flogged for reading otherwise. Who chose the seven? The sources, as they are.
By John Shaqi · July 21, 2026 · 15 min read
A Reciter Is Flogged in Baghdad
Baghdad, 323 AH (935 CE). In the court of the vizier Ibn Muqla, a tribunal is in session. The accused is not a thief or a rebel. He is Ibn Shanabudh, an elderly and famous reciter of the Quran. The charge: he recited in public prayer wordings traced to the codices of the Companions Ibn Mas'ud and Ubayy ibn Ka'b — wordings that differ from the official codex of Uthman.
Judges, jurists and reciters are assembled. Among them, per the accounts, sits Ibn Mujahid, the most powerful Quran scholar in Baghdad. Ibn Shanabudh defends himself sharply — and is flogged, until he agrees to a written retraction. Ibn al-Jazari, the great historian of the readings, preserves the text of that retraction.
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