It was narrated from Ubayy bin Ka'b that:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was by a pond belonging to Banu Ghifar when Jibril, peace be upon him, came to him and said: Allah commands you to teach your Ummah the Quran with one way of recitation. He said: I ask my Lord for protection and forgiveness, my Ummah cannot bear that. Then he came to him a second time and said: Allah commands you to teach your Ummah the Quran with two ways of recitation. He said: I ask my Lord for protection and forgiveness, my Ummah cannot bear that. Then he came to him a third time and said: Allah commands you to teach your Ummah the Quran with three ways of recitation. He said: I ask my Lord for protection and forgiveness, my Ummah cannot bear that. Then he came to him a fourth time and said: Allah commands you to teach your Ummah the Quran with seven ways of recitation, and whichever the way they recite it will be correct.