The history of reciting the Quran has been rarely studied. This volume comprises most of the papers presented at the Third IDEO Conference held in Cairo in October 2020 on reciting in the early Islamic empire. It offers a space for reflecting on the different types of reciting in the Middle East from the late sixth to the ninth century C.E., including ‘Islamic religious’ contexts (Quran, Hadith), ‘non-Islamic religious’ contexts (Zoroastrianism, Syriac Christianity), and ‘secular’ contexts (graffiti). These types of recitation serve as a starting point for a reflection on the literary genres of the texts recited, on the recitation techniques, as well as on the agents of recitation and the socio-political contexts linked to the act of reciting.