Giving a light laugh, he continued,"Zakariyya, though you've learnt and memorized many ahadith in depth with their isnâd, try to help with the initial halaqah of Qur'an alright, don't show off too much..."
At this, the boys looked at one another wryly. Who was showing off his pride of a son as of the moment?...

Arkaan looked at Hajj Ya'qûb in amazement. The man had such overwhelming patience and wisdom that could just be deduced from his calm speech. Also, he didn't mind showing his doting on his son, though it seemed to be only Zak...

"Those senile schemers of the four tribes love their warsh recitation. They don't know that, of the seven Qira'at(styles of recitation), my Zakariyya has already completed six, and is now on the seventh... though some talk of ten recognized schools of Qira'at, others mentioned seven - even still, the four tribes only prize their warsh Qira'ah." Hajj Ya'qûb thought, clearly fuming against the elders of the four native tribes.

Under normal circumstances, a person with the caliber of Hajj Ya'qûb wouldn't think and behave this way. Yet, after spending a major portion of any day with the rivalrous and conniving council elders who had a majority coming from the four tribes, it'd be hard for anyone not to change and assimilate such a mindset, even if it were only occasionally.

Hajj Ya'qûb hadn't been like this, but the shameless spirit of competition the four tribes' leaders always showed overtly had eventually worn-off on him, and rubbed off his normal taciturn demeanour.

Though, his doting on Zak was genuinely his behaviour, with or without the influence of the four tribes. He doted upon all his sons, and cherished all his daughters the same way. Yet, every child had their own strengths, and sometimes you couldn't stop your heart from loving one among many too much.

Right now, the discussion was on Zak's field, and though his other brothers understood this and reined in any feelings of envy, the natural feeling of rivalry was rising.

"So I hope you've considered learning the seven Ahrûf also, after you finish the seven Qira'at. You know the hadith, Zak - the seven styles of Qur'an recitation, different from Al Qira'at as-Saba' ," Hajj Ya'qûb asked, suddenly taking a bunch of grapes from the sufrah and eating one at a time.

At this, the boys' eyes came back to their foods, and they gulped, their throats dry at the undivided attention they gave the old man. They immediately returned to eating their sumptuous and particularly festive dinner the family had specially prepared for the return of the father of the house.

"Zak?!!!" Zak thought in his mind. His father only referred to him as that when he was intensely happy. "In shaa Allah, when I complete first the seven Qira'at. Right now, I'm almost at the late stage with my hifz on the warsh of Naafi'."

Zak knew very well about the seven Qira'at of the Qur'an, and the reciters attributed to them. There were seven styles(Ahrûf) revealed upon the prophet, alayhis-salaam.

These were different from the seven or ten recitation forms(Qira'at), depending on which of the scholars one relied upon.

In the present day, all seven to ten Qira'at fell under only one out of the seven Ahrûf. When the Third Caliph made copies of the Holy Qur'an, he did so according to one style or Harf.

One Harf, seven reciters.

Those who studied under them and transmitted the recitation were the Ashâbut-Turûq(lit. Companions of the paths).

Any who wished could study all, perhaps with the correct âdab(etiquette), they might reach another level to where they might tap into the treasures of the Qur'an...

"Even though I know you guys are busy with your various agendas, you guys ought to dedicate some of your time - like Zak, to the study of the Dîn." Hajj Ya'qûb continued, looking at his other grown sons.

"Dad, we understand", Ismail lightly laughed," Though we'd appreciate your not chiding us. About the halaqah, you can still hire a scholar to aid, and thus, lessen the burden on the two."

"Who doesn't know the wealth and affluence of Hajj Ya'qûb???" Hajj Ya'qûb's voice seemed to have climbed a higher pitch.

"But Dad..."

"No!...This is a challenge for them, and those joining." Hajj Ya'qûb replied, with a serious expression on his face. He very well knew he could easily help them in that, but..." Without challenging ourselves, facing new trials and overcoming them, how can we possibly develop ourselves. The harder the test - the better." Hajj Ya'qûb spoke wisely. He had full trust that the boys would be able to do this, and by so doing, they will mature even better, developing more skills, especially on leadership!

"Arkaan, Zakariyya... Halaqât are diverse, and there are so many things to learn and teach. Only the one who has tasted the sweetness of faith can relish in the path of seeking and acquiring knowledge, practising, and propagating it."

"The same in inverse, can be said of one who can transverse the path to knowledge, only he shall taste the sweetness and increase of faith! That's how our Dîn has been, since time immemorial..." Hajj Ya'qûb spoke in all calm and wisdom.

"Probably, Ismail, Ishâq, Musa and Harûn wouldn't be available to help you two due to their academic schedules. But you two are together... I'm sure you'll be joining the High School when it opens, right - Arkaan..." Hajj Ya'qûb spoke, looking at Arkaan with fondness.

From the way his boys had mentioned Arkaan to him, and were behaving with him, he knew Arkaan must possess certain good qualities to precipitate this; as his sons wouldn't dare to mingle with evil people.

Even his beloved daughter Maryam, had mentioned some praise in respect of him.

For Hajj Ya'qûb, since his time of meeting Arkaan till now, he had only seen pure goodness, and could tell he was not of a dubious nature. He couldn't be wrong, because he trusted in his own abilities as a judge of people's character!

Upon hearing the entire day's event concerning Arkaan and the Eastern Waterfall Halaqah, his impression of the boy had only increased...

Arkaan valued the honour of his friends, and would even defend them! So, it was with no hesitation that he offered his advice and support to the boys, and drew Arkaan close to him, like one of his own sons.

Yet, there was a sense of familiarity in those intensely green eyes...

"In shaa Allah, that's part of my plans in the long run, though I wasn't settled on which of the Isle's three High schools..." Arkaan said with a little uncertainty.
As to the funds for the school, he had his ways, and wouldn't depend on Al Maghribi; he had already made his mind up on that. Yet, he still had to choose which school...

"Iqra Complex!" Hajj Ya'qûb said, almost a bit too loudly, a tender fatherly look to his glistening eyes.

"Then it's settled!" Arkaan concluded in an equally excited fashion, laughter in his eyes. He was already beginning to like this man very much.

The reaction of the Al Maghribi brothers was diverse, and complex. Generally, they were momentarily stunned in trying to understand what was going on, with pupils dilated in unforseen shock.
Musa almost had swallowed a bone. Abdullah had already broken out in pleasant laughter. Zak was only smiling. The behaviour of Arkaan and his father made one think they were very close relatives.

Yet, they didn't know their father's real intent for Arkaan entering Iqra Complex, whether it was to facilitate all the plans he laid out for them, or something else...

Hajj Ya'qûb had deducted from Arkaan's nature that he wasn't going to accept an offer to sponsor his education from anyone, though he didn't know how he'd make it, there was some assuring feeling from him.

So he refrained from making the offer, and yet, he had made up his mind; in case Arkaan faced any problem in settling that, he'd help him even if he did it covertly.

He had already heard from Zakariyya about Ukashah's preparations for Arkaan's accommodation. He was sure Lady Frieda would accept to help.

"Abdullah!" Hajj Ya'qûb called, holding a morsel of meat to his mouth. He was looking with playful seriousness at his naughty son whom he knew all too well.

"They'd need your help in establishing the halaqah, so you know what to do..." He winked at him.

"Don't worry about that, Abii. Even if you didn't ask earlier, I had already made up my mind to help!" Abdullah said, in his childish voice. And as if proud of Zak and Arkaan, Abdullah sighed visibly, with a doting expression in his eyes.

Zak and Arkaan looked at each other with wary smiles, their eyes communicated the feeling of being set up.

At this, Hajj Ya'qûb and everyone else burst into a laughter that was part sympathizing and part satisfying.

Arkaan laughed along.

In his mind, he reviewed everything Hajj Ya'qûb had said since the beginning.

It was going to be a long journey, perhaps in three steps - before school, during school, and events preceding the Grand Qur'an Ramadan Competition.

And yet still, if they couldn't revive Inâbah, and beat Eastern Waterfall in this Qur'an competition, then everything would just be one big joke!

Arkaan sighed within, his heart beating from nervous anticipation...

___________________________________

Important Info

The seven readers or reciters were: Naafi' al-Madani, Ibn Katheer al-Makki, 'Aasim al-Kufi, Hamzah al-Zayaat al-Kufi, Al-Kisaa'i al-Kufi, Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala' al-Basri, and 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Aamir al-Shaami. The ones who had the strongest isnaad in recitation are Naafi' and 'Aasim.

The most eloquent are Abu 'Amr and al-Kisaa'i. Warsh and Qaaloon narrated from Naafi'. Hafs and Shu'bah narrated from 'Aasim.

Each reciter had students who narrate from him, and every such student had their own students who narrated from them; this continued in a continuous chain of transmission upto the present day, with the students of transmission being referred to as 'Ashâbut-Turûq'(lit. Companions of the paths). Example was the reciter 'Aasim who had two well-known narrators; Hafs and Shu'bah. Hafs had students who had students and it went on like that...

As for the al-ahruf al-saba' (the seven styles), the evidence for that was based on the hadeeth of Ibn 'Abbaas who narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Jibreel taught me one style and I reviewed it until he taught me more, and I kept asking him for more and he gave me more until finally there were seven styles." This was narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3047; and Muslim, 819 in the Sāhīhayn.

The seven recitations were not based on Qur'an and Hadith, rather they were based on the ijtihaad of Ibn Mujaahid (may Allaah have mercy on him). Whilst some people confused al-ahruf al-saba' (the seven styles) with al-qira'at al-saba' (the seven recitations) since they happened to be the same number, it was said that this number may have come about coincidentally, or it may have been done deliberately by Ibn Mujaahid to match what was narrated about the number of styles (ahruf) being seven.

Some people thought that the styles (ahruf) were the recitations(Qira'at), but this was something strange to the scholars. The seven recitations fell under one of the seven styles, and this was the style that the Third Righteous Caliph 'Uthmaan chose for all the Muslims.

The best of the scholarly opinions on all this was that, there were seven ways of reciting the Qur'aan, where the wording may differ but the meaning is the same; when the Third Caliph made copies of the Holy Qur'an, he did so according to one style or Harf.

He left out the dots and vowel points so that some other styles could also be accommodated. So the Mus-haf(Qur'an Script) that was copied in his time could be read according to other styles, and whatever styles were accommodated by the Mus-haf of 'Uthmaan remained in use, and the styles that could not be accommodated fell into disuse. The people had started to criticize one another for reciting differently, so 'Uthmaan united them by giving them one style of the Qur'an.

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I believe we're all anticipating how Arkaan is going to pull this all off. The journey there is the most exciting part, not even the destination, which will, no doubt be fulfilling, In shaa Allah.

In the next part of Halaqât are diverse, the ladies of Al Maghribi family would make their appearance; among them, is the perspicacious Fatima Az-Zahra. But the most anticipated people who will make an appearance I believe, for you and I in the next chapter, even if it's just a flashback would be - THE FIVE QURAA!

How are Halaqât formed?

Leave your comments and votes, all these are forms of motivation for me, and others who might chance upon this story, deciding whether it's worth it to read...

The Country Of Sulaymân
Ukashah;
"There are many types of Circles in this World..."