Khalaf an Hamza

Khalaf ibn Hisham transmitted the reading of Hamza al-Kufi, one of the seven canonical readers, recorded here with Kufa as its reading centre, matching Hamza's own. This entry records Khalaf's role as one of Hamza's two transmitters; classical sources identify the same Khalaf as an independent reader whose own separately transmitted variants Ibn al-Jazari later recognised as the tenth of the canonical ten, a separate reading from the one described here.

As Hamza's transmitter, Khalaf's reading joins consecutive suras without reciting the basmala between them, lightens the hamza at a pause, and applies imala extensively. It lengthens both detached and connected vowel junctures to a full six counts, the longest duration recorded among the seven readings, leaves the closing mim of plural pronouns silent, and observes a light pause specifically before a quiescent glottal stop, a narrower condition than readings that either observe no pause at all or mark several fixed points. The greater assimilation is not applied, the takbir plays no part in the reading, and verse numbering follows the Kufan count.

As one of Hamza's two transmitters, Khalaf's reading here carries the standing of the seven. Its six count vowel lengthening and its extensive imala are among the more distinctive features separating Hamza's reading as a whole from the other six among the seven.