Abu 'Abdur-Rahman As-Sulami

Abu Abdur-Rahman Abdullah ibn Habib al-Sulami al-Kufi was a leading Tabi'i scholar of Kufa and one of the most authoritative figures in the early transmission of Quranic recitation. He learned the Quran directly from four of the greatest companion reciters: Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, and Zayd ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with them all. He taught Quranic recitation in Kufa for forty years throughout the caliphate of Ali and into the Umayyad period, producing generations of Quran reciters who carried his transmission throughout the Islamic world. He is a crucial link in the chains of Quranic recitation that run through the Kufan tradition. He also narrated hadiths from the companion generation, and his reports appear in the major hadith collections. He was praised by scholars of both hadith and recitation as a reliable, pious, and knowledgeable authority. His role in preserving and transmitting the Quranic recitation tradition of Kufa — which ultimately fed into several of the canonical qira'at — makes him one of the most important figures in the history of the Quran's transmission. He died around 74–75 AH.