Feasibility of Utilizing al-‘Ayāshī’s Tafsir from Book al-Qirā'āt by al-Sayyārī

The book  al-Qirā'āt by al-Sayyārī  and al-‘Ayāshī’s Tafsir are among the early Shiite Hadith sources that contain numerous narrations regarding the differences in Quranic readings and the topic of the “alteration” (tahreef) of the Quran. In this context, al-‘Ayāshī’s Tafsir has been subject to some loss of chain of transmission (isnad) over time, which has led to various speculations about reconstructing and recovering the sources. In the last century, the narrations found in  al-Qirā'āt  and al-‘Ayāshī’s Tafsir have been critiqued by scholars, including Allama Asgari, particularly regarding textual and isnadic issues. One major criticism is that many of al-‘Ayashi’s narrations related to Quranic readings and “alteration” have been derived from  al-Qirā'āt al-Sayyārī , and the loss of isnad in al-‘Ayāshī’s work obscured this connection, thereby leading to weaknesses in the isnad of his narrations. Investigating this matter could lead to a deeper understanding of the roots of a significant portion of al-‘Ayāshī’s narrations and exegesis. However, due to certain isnadic differences, additional textual variations in al-‘Ayāshī’s narrations, and the absence of any references to  al-Qirā'āt al-Sayyārī  in the rest of al-‘Ayāshī’s corpus, the hypothesis that al-‘Ayāshī was influenced by  al-Qirā'āt al-Sayyārī  seems unlikely.