Question

ASALAAMO ILOKM WARUHMATULLAH,

I JUST FINISHED MEMORISING THE HOLY QURAAN. I WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE AND LEARN OTHER QIRAA BESIDES HAFS. COULD YOU HELP ME IN THIS MATTER.  JAZZA KALLAH!

 Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.

First of all we congratulate you on finishing the memorization of the Qur'an and ask Allah to purify your intentions and accept it as a deed done solely for Him.  May Allah grant you the best of rewards in this world and the Hereafter.  This is indeed a great blessing from Allah.

We urge you, and all that want to learn the qira'aat, to take the steps needed to have a strong base of knowledge and not try to jump into reading the qira'aat without having the firm base of understanding that is needed if you truly want this knowledge. We recommend, if you have not already done so, that you find a sheikh with a strong chain of transmission to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, and get an ijaazah from him in the reading of Hafs 'an 'Aasim.  This first requires firm memorization, and you should have a very strong review schedule of 3-5 ajzaa' per day, with five being the better number.  You should also memorize the Jazariyyah poem outlining the basic tajweed rules:
 
and have a firm understanding of all that is in it, again by studying at the hands of a sheikh that has mastered this. 

After this, you will have a complete and thorough understanding of the recitation of Hafs 'an 'Aasim and will be ready to study the qira'aat.  There are two ways of undertaking the study of the qira'aat, one gives more immediate satisfaction, but less understanding, the other a longer road with more work, but with a deep understanding and a reference in your head.  The first quicker way is to read to a sheikh a khatmah for each of the different qira'aat using any of the available books outlining their basic rules and the special word rules for each separate recitation.  The second more thorough way is by undertaking the study of the Shatibiyyah poem and memorize at least half of it, then started recitation of the seven qira'aat simultaneously (tareeq al-jama'), finishing the memorization of the Shatibiyyah as you go along.  The Durrah, the poem for the three qir'aat that complete the ten qir'aat can be studied and memorized in this fashion too, and the recitation for the ijazzah in the qira'aat can be all ten simultaneously.  This second way, although a struggle, gives a very complete understanding of all of the seven different qira'aat together (and ten if done with the Durrah), and provides a solid foundation of this noble knowledge. 

We know of those that have done it both ways.  Those that read each recitation by itself without undertaking the study of the Shatibiyyah have admitted that they cannot remember the rules of each reciter later the way they would like, but have a shorter time to start the recitation, and thus less likely to feel hardship.  Those that have memorized the Shatibiyyah and read the simultaneous way can lay out the rules of each qaar'i and provide evidence from the Shatibiyyah whenever needed, since by Allah's Will, they have memorized it.  They admit that this way is a struggle and have to deal with that, but in the end find it well worth the while.

We suggest strongly that you pray istikharah about which road to take in the study of the qira'aat, and that you do not rush into one step without completely and thoroughly having an understanding of the step before it.  Mastery of the knowledge is something you should aim for, and we ask Allah to make it easy for you and to make you a knowledgeable scholar of the qira'aat and the Islamic sharee'ah.