Description
First: His name, lineage, and nickname:
Zaban bin Al-Ala bin Ammar bin Al-Arian Al-Tamimi, then Al-Mazini, his nickname is Abu Amr Al-Basri. His mother is from (the tribe of) Bani Hanifa, and he was born in 68 AH in Mecca and he grew up in Basra and died in Kufa during the days of Caliph Al-Mansur.
Second: His characteristics:
He was famous for his eloquence, honesty, trust, knowledge, asceticism, and worship. He was one of the noblest of Arabs and he was praised by Al-Farazdaq and others. It was reported that he would complete a full recitation of the Quran every three days.
Third: His status and knowledge:
He was one of the seven reciters, and the sheikh (master) of recitation and the Arabic language. He excelled in grammar and he was one of the most knowledgeable people in recitations, Arabic, poetry and the days (history) of the Arabs, and his books filled a house to the ceiling. He then felt ashamed of this and burned them (the books), and the succession of becoming imam of recitation in Basra then fell to him, and then he dedicated himself to recitation in the days of Hassan Al-Basri, and he is one of the followers (followers of Sahabas).
Al-Akhfash said: “Al-Hasan Al-Basri passed by Abi Amro bin Al-Ala and his reciting sessions were in progress, and people were gathered, so he said: “Who is this?” They said: “Abu Amr”, so he said: “There is no god except Allah, the scholars have almost become lords (gods)”.
And Al-Asma’i said: “I heard Aba Amro say: “I have not seen anyone before me more knowledgeable than me”, and Al-Asma’i further said: “I have not yet seen Abi Amro more knowledgeable than him”.
Yahya al-Yazidi also said: “Abu Amro had known the recitations, so he recited from each recitation the best of them and according to what Arabs had chosen, and also with what had been conveyed of the language of the Prophet (pbuh). His confirmation came by way of the Book of God the Almighty (by a Qur’anic verse).
His choice in his recitings was to ease and assist whenever possible, and people related well to his reciting and they likened it to the reciting of Ibn Masoud and some of them recommended others to recite it.
Fourth: His teachers in reciting:
Abu Amro bin Al-Ala took the reciting from the people of Hijaz, the people of Basra, and the people of Kufa, and he was the only one among the seven reciters of the Holy Quran who has more sheikhs (teachers).
So he recited the Qur’an in Mecca before: Sa’eed bin Jubayr and Mujahid bin Jabr and Ikrimah bin Khalid, the mawla (servant) of Ibn Abbas and Ata bin Abi Rabah and Abdullah bin Kathir.
And he recited in Madinah before: Abi Jaafar Yazid bin Al-Qa’qa’ and Yazid bin Roman.
And he recited in Basra before : Nasr bin Asim, and Al-Hassan Al-Basri, and others.
And he recited in Kufa before: Asim bin Abi Al-Nujud.
Fifth: Narrators of his recitations:
Many people recited before him, including: Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak, Abdul-Malik bin Qareeb Al-Asma’i, and Yahya bin Al-Mubarak Al-Yazidi, and Al-Abbas bin Al-Fadl, and Shuja’ Al-Balkhi, and Hussein Al-Ja’fi, and Mu’adh bin Mu’adh, and Sahel bin Yusuf, and Abu Zaid Al-Ansari Saeed bin Aws, and Sibawayh, and others.
The most famous of those who narrated his reciting are: Abu Omar Hafs Al-Douri and Abu Shuaib Saleh Al-Susi.
Sixth: Transformation of spreading and extinction:
The current map of the spread of recitings in the Islamic world has undergone major transformations since the crystallisation of this science in the second and third centuries AH. Before Imam Ahmed bin Mujahid, who wrote his famous book “The Seven” in the year 300 AH, the people of Basra had adopted the recitings of Abi Amro al-Basri and Yaqoob al-Hadrami.
With the beginning of the fifth century AH, the reciting of Yaqoob al-Hadrami became dominant in Basra, and the narration of al-Duri, on the authority of Abu Amr al-Basri, spread in the Levant (now Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan).
After the fifth century AH, Al-Douri’s narration, on the authority of Abu Amr Al-Basri, prevailed over the people of Iraq, the Hijaz, the Yemen, Levant, Egypt, Sudan and East Africa until the tenth century AH.
The places the recitation is widespread today:
Al-Douri’s narration on the authority of Abi Amro is the narration that is widespread today in Somalia, Sudan, and Hadhramaut in Yemen
Seventh: Some of his deeds and sayings:
“Be wary of the generous person if you insult him, of the mean person if you honour him, of the wise if you embarrass him, of the fool if you joke with him, and of the immoral if you accompany him”.
“It is not polite to answer someone who does not ask you, or to ask someone who does not answer you, or to speak to someone who does not listen to you”.
Eighth: His death:
Imam Abu Amr al-Basri lived for about 85 years and he died in Mecca in the year 154 AH / 771 AD, may God have mercy on him and make his abode in His paradise.
