Description

First: His name, Lineage and Nickname:

He is Abu Bakr Asim bin Bahdala Abi Al-Nujud Al-Kufi, the Sheikh of recitation in Kufa and one of the Seven Reciters, He was born in the emirate of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, may God be pleased with him, However, none of those who narrated the history of Imam Asim Al-Kufi mentioned the year of his birth, but it is clear that Imam Asim was born, raised and died in Kufa.

Second: His characteristics:

Aasim was eloquent and had a good voice. In fact, he had one of the best voices in the Qur’an, In addition to having manners and asceticism, So when he prayed, he would stand upright as if he were a stick, On Fridays he would stay in the mosque until asr, He was a very good worshiper who prayed a lot. 

Third: His position and knowledge:

One of the seven reciters, a great imam of the recitations and grammar, he stopped being an imam at reciting in Kufa after Abu Abd al-Rahman Abdullah bin Habib al-Salami, So he sat in his place, and people went to him to read, and he combined eloquence, mastery, editing and intonation(tajweed).

Abu Bakr bin Ayyash said: I heard Abu Ishaq Al-Subai’i say: “I have not seen anyone recite the Qur’an better than Asim bin Abi Al-Nujud.”

Abu Bakr bin Ayyash said: “Asim was a grammaticalist, eloquent if he spoke, well-known for his speech,” He also said: “Asim was one of the most eloquent people, ahead of his time, famous for his eloquence, well-known for perfection.”

Ibn Ayyash said: Asim said to me: “I was sick for two years, and when I read the Qur’an, I did not mistake a single letter.”

Fourth: His teachers of recitation :

Aasim met some of the sahaba of the prophet saws and learned from them, He is one of the youngest Tabi’een, Like Al-Harith bin Hassan Al-Bakri Al-Dhahili, may God be pleased with him, and Rifa’a bin Yathribi Al-Tamimi, may God be pleased with him, He recited to Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Salami, Zir bin Hubaish al-Asadi, and Saad bin Iyas al-Shaibani, And these three recited to Abdullah bin Masoud, may God be pleased with him, Al-Sulami and Zir also recited to Othman bin Affan and Ali bin Abi Talib, may God be pleased with them, Al-Sulami also recited to Ubayy bin Kaab and Zaid bin Thabit, may God be pleased with them.

Fifth: Narrators about his recitations :

Asim bin Abdul Rahman stopped being an imam in reciting in Kufa after his sheikh Abi Abdul Rahman Al-Salami, So many people recited to him,

Among the most famous students of Imam Asim al-Kufi:

1 – Abu Bakr bin Ayyash (Shu’bah), who was born in the year 95 H., He was an imam of great knowledge, a scholar, one of the leading imams of the Sunnah.

2 – The second narrator of Aasim is Hafs. He was born in the year 90 H., He was the most knowledgeable and familiar to his recitations of Aasim’s companions, and he was Asim’s stepson (wife’s son).

Imam al-Shatibi referred to them by saying:

وَذَاكَ ابْنُ عَيَّاشٍ أَبُو بَكْرٍ الرِّضَا             وَحَفْصٌ وَبِاْلإتْقَانِ كانَ مُفضَّلاَ

And that was Ibn Ayyash Abu Bakr al-Rida and Hafs was the most preferred with perfection .

Hafs said: Asim said to me: “The recitation that I recited to you is the recitation that I recited to Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami of Ali , And the recitation I recited to Abu Bakr bin Ayyash , it was the recitation that I was presenting to Zirr Ibn Hobeish of Ibn Masoud… ”

Sixth: Transformation of spreading and extinction:

The current map of the spread of recitations in the Islamic world has undergone major transformations since the crystallization of this science in the second and third centuries H., Before Imam Ahmed bin Mujahid, who wrote his famous book “The Seven” in the year 300 H., the people of Kufa were on the recitation of Hamza bin Habib Al-Zayat and Asim bin Abi Al-Nujud.

With the beginning of the tenth century H., and the Ottoman Caliphate extending its authority over the Islamic world, the narration of Hafs from Asim began to spread in Turkey and the Levant, In the middle of the twelfth century, it spread throughout the Levant, Arabia and Egypt.

The places the recitation is spread today:

Hafs of Asim is one of the recitations that are recited today in all parts of the East, including Iraq, the Levant, Egypt , India, Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Seventh: His death:

Ibn Ayyash said: I entered upon Asim, who was dying, and he kept repeating this verse to verify it, even as if he was in prayer: Then they returned to God, their Master of Truth.

Imam Aasim died in the year 129 H. , may Allah have mercy on him, and may Allah grant him paradise.