Recitation variants

The Quran has been preserved through several transmitted ways of reciting it, known as the qirāʾāt, each passed down through an unbroken chain of teachers. A riwāyah is one such transmission — for example Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim (the most widespread today) or Warsh ʿan Nāfiʿ. Listen lets you browse recitations by riwāyah, so you can hear the Quran exactly in the transmission you follow or want to study.

Browsing the variants

Open the variants directory at /riwayah. Each riwāyah in the catalog is shown as a card with its name and how many reciters recite it. Tap one to see those reciters.

Reciters in a riwāyah

Opening a riwāyah lists every reciter who has recorded the Quran in that transmission, with how many of the 114 surahs each one offers. Tap a reciter to open their page and play any surah, exactly as in the main reciters directory.

A single surah across reciters

You can also focus on one surah within a riwāyah — for example to compare how different reciters render it. These pages list every reciter who offers that surah in the chosen transmission; tap any one to play it straight away. The trail at the top of the page (Listen → Qirāʾāt → riwāyah → surah) lets you step back out to the broader lists.

If a riwāyah or a surah-and-riwāyah combination has no recordings in the catalog yet, the page says so and suggests trying another.

Switching riwāyah while listening

You do not have to start from the variants directory. While a recitation is playing, the player’s Recitation picker lets you change the riwāyah (and reciter, and surah) on the spot — see The player.