Abu 'Amr Uthman ibn Sa'id ibn 'Umar al-Umawi al-Dani (d.1053 AD), al-Taysir fi al-Qira'at al-Sab' ('The Facilitation of the Seven Readings'), Near East, dated 683 AH/1284-5 AD

Abu ‘Amr al-Dani was a Maliki lawyer and Qur’anic reciter from al-Andalus, born in Cordoba in 981 AD. Al-Dani was a prolific author and it is recorded that he composed over 120 texts, the majority of which deal with the topic of Qur’anic reading, a science our author was revered for (Leiden 1983, p.109).

The present work is among the most famous of his texts and was praised for its concise nature. The text is considered one of the most important and influential references in the science of Qur’anic readings, and the thirteenth century philosopher Ibn Khaldun further notes that it one of the most studied in the field (ibid., p.110). A versified version of the text was subsequently produced by al-Shatibi in the twelfth century, known as the Shatibiyyah.

This early copy of the text bears a note (see f.50a) verifying that it was reviewed following a reading of Sheikh Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Jabir ibn Muhammad al-Qaysi al-Wadi ‘Ashi, who was a tutor to Ibn Khaldun. For further recorded manuscripts of al-Taysir fi al-Qira'at al-Sab', see Brockelmann, GAL, I, p.407 and S.I, p.719).