Abu Ruwaym Ibn ʽAbd ar-Rahman Ibn Abi Naʽim al-Laythi (Arabic: أبو رويم بن عبدالرحمن بن أبي النعيم الليثي)(70-169AH), better known as Nafiʽ al-Madani, was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical Qira'at,[1] or methods of reciting the Qur'an.[2] Outside of Egypt, his method of Qur'an recitation is the most popular in Africa in general,[3] and his chain of narration returning to the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad is well-attested.[4]
Nafiʽ was born in the year 689CE,[5] and he died in the year 785CE.[6][4] His family was from Isfahan, though he himself was born and died in Medina.[4]
His method of recitation via his two most famous students, Qalun and Warsh, is the most common Quran reading mode in North Africa, West Africa and Qatar. He had a total of four canonical transmitters of his recitation; in addition to Qalun and Warsh, he also transmitted his reading to Isma'il bin Ja'far al-Ansari and Ishaq bin Muhammad al-Musayyabi.[7] Nafi's style of reading became so popular that it eventually eclipsed that of his teachers in Medina.[4]
^Scott C. Lucas, Al-Dhahabi's Vision of Sunni Hadith Scholarship, p. 71. Taken from Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunnī Islam: The Legacy of the Generation of Ibn Saʻd, Ibn Maʻīn, and Ibn Ḥanbal. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2004. ISBN9789004133198
