A note on the narration of Qalun on the authority of Nafi’:
Imam Qaloun 120: 220 AH/738: 835 AD
The Imam, the Hujja, the one of great dignity, the teacher and glorifier of the Qur’an, the proven and trustworthy one.
He is Issa bin Mina bin Wardan, the client of Banu Zahra, nicknamed Qalun, and Qalun in the Roman language is good. Qalun was the stepson of Imam Nafi’, the reciter of Medina, and the first imam in relation to reciters. Nafi’ paid great attention to Qalun, and he named him Qalun for the quality of his reading.
Qaloun received the reading from his sheikh Nafi’.
Ibn al-Jazari says: I read to Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Shirazi on the authority of Ali ibn Ahmad, that Qalun said: If Nafi` used to recite to him, he would give me thirty verses - that is, he would make me recite thirty verses a day, and then he would say to me, Qalun, which means good, good in Romanian.
Abdullah bin Ali said: He was only speaking to him about that because Qalun was originally from the Romans. His grandfather, Abdullah, was a captive of the Romans during the days of Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him. Someone who captured him brought him and sold him, and some of the Ansar bought him. He was the client of Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Fayrouz
Al-Dhahabi mentioned him, d. 748 AH, among the scholars of the fifth class of memorizers of the Qur’an.
As mentioned by Ibn al-Jazari, d. 833 AH, among the scholars of readings.
Qalun was born in the year one hundred and twenty AH. He read it to Nafi’ in the year fifty.
Qaloun says: I read it to Nafi’ more than once, and wrote it in my book
Al-Naqqash said: It was said to Qalun: How many times have I read about Nafi’? He said that I cannot count the number except that I sat with him after completing twenty years.
Ibn al-Jazari says: Qalun took the recitation from Nafi’ and also presented it to Issa bin Wardan.
It is worth noting that Qalun’s recitation became famous in the regions, and Muslims still receive it with satisfaction and acceptance until now
Due to the popularity of Qalun’s reading among Muslims, the Qur’an was printed with his narration to facilitate the readers. The Qur’an printed with Qalun’s narration is still distributed to Muslim children, especially in Libya, to this day.
Among the principles of reciting Qalun is that it is recited with the plural meem salaat if it falls before a vowel, just as the two hamzas of a word are recited like the Almighty’s saying: (It is equal to them have You warned them) by facilitating the second hamza between it and its movement with the introduction of an alif between the two hamzas. The principles of reciting Qalun are recorded in the works concerned with that. Indeed, there are works specific to Qalun’s narration.
Qaloun was a teacher alone in teaching the Holy Qur’an. Many of them studied under him: his two sons: Ibrahim and Ahmed, Ibrahim bin Al-Hussein Al-Kisa’i, Ibrahim bin Muhammad Al-Madani, Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Masry, Ahmed bin Yazid Al-Halwani, Ismail bin Ishaq Al-Qadi, Al-Hassan bin Ali Al-Shaham, Al-Hussein bin Abdullah Al-Muallem, and others.
It is strange that it is said that Qalun was so deaf that he could not hear anything at all from the general hadith, but despite that, if he listened to the reciter of the Qur’an, by the grace of God Almighty, he would realize the mistake that the reciter was making, and he would rush to correct the error for him. The evidence for that is the following news: Ibn al-Jazari says: I read to Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Al-Hussein, on the authority of Ali bin Ahmed bin Abdul-Wahid, on the authority of Abu Al-Yaman, he said: Abu Muhammad Al-Baghdadi told me, he said: Qalun was deaf and could not hear the trumpet, and when a reader read to him, he would read to him. He hears it
Ibn Abi Hatim said: Qalun was a deaf person who would recite the Qur’an and understand their mistakes and melody by the lip.
Ali bin Al-Hassan says: Qaloun was very deaf, so if you raised your voice not enough, he would not be heard. He would look at the reciter’s lips and respond to him with a melody and a mistake. There is no doubt that the blessings of God upon His faithful servants, especially those busy with teaching the Qur’an, are innumerable.