Jamal Badawi – The Quran – Sciences 64 – Script And Recitation
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The transcript discusses the history and meaning of the Arabic language, including its rise, use of symbols, and use of letters and symbols to determine the sound of words. The writing system used during the time of the Prophet Muhammad's death is discussed, along with the use of numbers and characters to determine the sound of words and the printing of the NES and the use of the pentagram in London to indicate the beginning and end of words. The speakers also discuss the use of certain words in Arabic and their historical significance.
AI: Summary ©
AsSalamu Alaikum and welcome once again to estarland focus. Today our program is a 64th in the series
and we're starting a new topic. The topic is chronic script or Mills of recitation. I hope I pronounce it properly but in Arabic is cross
sharpening is your host and here with me is Dr. Jamal dari particulars University. So like, was it was a presentation right first of all karate. Okay, that is your mark, we just start off with a quick resume for last week's program. Okay, we'll discuss some of the basic rules of interpretation of the Quran which guard against misinterpretation. We also said that
the fact that the runes are generally accepted, it does not mean that all scholars throughout history have interpreted the Quran, or all of it. exactly identical ways. And that led us to the discussion of the so called a must come one with the shabby and we said that in one sense must come means perfect, and the whole Quran is perfect. And Muta shabby, literally Letran mean also means something consistent or like each other. And in that sense, the entire Quran is like that. You said, that there is a technical meaning of of these two terms. That is to contrast verses in the Quran, which can easily be understood has clearly only one interpretation, versus those passages, which
requires some more assertion, understanding and could be
equipped carry more than one shade of meaning, if you will. And then we'll discuss the position of scholars visa v. Those,
you know, categories of verses in the Quran, especially the ones that are not so obvious. And we said that some of them said,
held the view that one should accept them without too much dwelling on the reality of the meaning Allah said that you could try to understand but not necessarily claiming that you have the full comprehension of it. And then you can get a sense of re understanding them or interpreting them in ways that are most deficient for the mystery involved in certain aspects of the unseen. And then at the end, we just look briefly, by way of expansion of interpretation about the alphabets that appears in the beginning of some of the sutras in the Quran in 29, sort of out of the 114 and the various theories, and concluded the biggest possible explanation really, is that the Quran
challenges people to indicate it in its literary style or wisdom of its content. And the challenge has been there for 1400 years that has not been met. So in a way it says this Quran is composed of letters that you all know, like elephant lamb and medium and new in the Arabic alphabet, but you fail to imitate it, you should admit, it is of divine.
Now, another issue and a very important one of that, which relates to the authenticity of the crown is the issue of script. Now was the script in which the Quran was written, changed over time, okay? The language is the language. The Quran has always been written down in the Arabic language, I want to make that clear outset. But if you talk about the script of that language is the script changes over time, there's no problem about that. In fact, in the time of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
The writing of the Quran or the script did not contain what we find today by way of dots, vowel symbols, and other symbols relating to the proper recitation of the Quran. You have a table here that might perhaps illustrate this rather quickly.
You found for example, in the under the first category,
that there could be
different letters actually, depending on where you place the data in the first line, for example, you'll notice on the right hand, there is just this little symbol that depending on how many dots you put, and whether those dots are closed, over or under the, that symbol gives you a different method. For example, if you put one duck underneath it becomes bear. two dots on top path, three becomes two that's under becomes the one that's on top becomes noon.
The same thing applies to the other you notice,
the second symbol could mean gene car.
The same for Dell than
RA, that's in the first line, the first line soon, Sheen, and so on. In other words, the number that's the position outdoors that's gives a different letter and a different sound. And then the initial writing of the current this ducks were not there. To start with. A second category relates to the vowels. That in the Arabic language, also some vowels or symbols are used, which determine also the sound of the word.
In this language, for example, like if you have a line like this, and then you have the symbol, like this sloping, downward sloping line on top, or whether it occurs underneath, or whether it looks like this small while you know this little thing that determines again in the shower is whether it's
in the first one on the left hand, or
in the second, or the third, you see the sounds are different. In the second one also the same thing.
The first one on the left hand, or does two symbols like the two vowels sound on it if it occurs, under the letters, it sounds, even if it occurs on the top of the letter sounds, and in other words, they are valid symbols, which has something to do with the sound of the word.
In the third category, you'll notice also that there are letters that are silent letters, for example, was Santa Ebony now had the ad, there are two words. For those who know Arabic For example, one of them is silent, so it should be at the elegant. The second word, if you read it, literally read every letter, it reads a follower.
But in fact, it should be a Salah. But this is nothing really unusual. For example, I have three illustrations in English and French. And when you say for example, psychology, you don't say psychology, the P is silent. So the fact that the P was there, alright, it is redundant, but it is known that it is
essential. So you don't say, a Paris, you say Paris. So the S is merely the ending of the word is mute, or service.
Executive
Service.
So that's nothing really that's unusual. And all of these categories the bots developed and other symbols related to the situation, were not actually contained initially in the initial writing
of the Quran. But in addition also, to the script
itself.
Just let me show you three illustrations are very, very old documents. The first one is actually a photocopy from the copy of the Quran that was made during the reign of assmang. The third case after Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him,
which in turn, as we all know, historically was copied from the original manuscripts written under the supervision of the prophet in his lifetime. And that's copied, as mentioned in a previous program is in the top cafe Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.
The second illustration is another copy of the
the must haves are the news that were written down during the reign of us man the same killer because he made several copies, as we mentioned before, and this particular one is held in a museum in Tashkent, Russia, again, it's Arabic letters and everything. And people who are familiar with that type of script can read it very easily. But again, you notice there is no dots, there's no bounce.
There is an interesting third document also,
which is said to have been the writing of the Quran by Omar, the second killer after the Prophet. And he said that he wrote that, in fact, during the lifetime of the Prophet, and when we're talking about the one in the inside box, because the illustration outside is not his handwriting, but the one just in the middle, was written actually during the lifetime of the Prophet. It is interesting, by the way to notice that if you read this, you'll find that they are identical with the copies of the Quran that we have in our hands, that is right from the belly of the prophet to the copies. At the time of us mind which were copied from the original down to what we have in our hands, they have
exactly the same, the same word spectrum a lot of
these variations that you've just shown up in the graph you've got is with use of bots or vowels or symbols.
to constitute any, any problem in the actual authenticity of the ground, or changing the meaning or something? No, actually, we can
deal with that.
In the early days of the scam, the people who received the Quran, were quite competent in the language. We mentioned before that
this was regarded as the golden age of the Arabic language in terms of documents. And they really did not need this. That's our simple statistic English, they had this talent of Arabic. And the evidence is that multitudes of Muslims continued to read from this, for example, copies made during the time of our ceman, a few years after the death of Prophet Muhammad for 40 years, as it is, without any difficulty whatsoever. That one thing which is even more important, and we mentioned this, perhaps quite early in the series, is that the Quran was not only preserved in writing, writing was one means it was even preserved equally importantly, by memorization, by masses of
people who heard the Quran directly from the mouths of the Prophet, and then it kept coming, generation after generation until today. I think I mentioned in one program that even some small children whose mother tongue is not Arabic memorize the entire for an
amazing accuracy.
On the other hand, even though like I mentioned before, the number of dots and the position of those dots may actually give different sounds are different letters. But it doesn't mean again any meaning because there are still that makes sense, if you put it for one word and those who don't. And it has to be understood also in the context of the verses in which they occurred. But in any case, as indicated before,
the preservation of the Quran was born by Oren as well as written for him. The fact that the bats are violent symbols were not there didn't pose any problem whatsoever. Actually, it was in the year 65 of hijra or migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina, during the caliphate of Abdulmalik that son began to feel that it might be a good and useful idea to put these dots in symbol so that there will be no room for misunderstanding or the future misreading of the lack of a direction. Interesting, you showed them mentioned by faith that what happened at that time, and why was there a need to bring about the thoughts and the vowels, there was nothing really dramatic,
that necessitated that particular vision.
But by the time Islam spread
quite widely, it included people who came from Arab origin, and other people who came from other linguistic groups. And even then, as you said, before, that golden age of the Arabic language was declining, it was not
in the same strength as it used to be. So some fields, that you cannot really depend totally on the innate knowledge of the readers of the Quran and their innate understanding of the Arabic language because they could be some errors
in the future, so it was more of you might say, extra precautions, you need to make sure that the Quran will be preserved correctly.
The text was never changed or tampered with the idea was simply to put the dots on balance in the way it has been, you know, communicated orally to that a person without the help of a teacher can sit down and decide the Quran correctly. can you possibly give us a brief review as to how the use of darts and vowel symbols actually developed? It is said that the first person who started or the first group of people any who worked on that particular task,
everyone swept under any who is seemed to be perhaps the first one who started that
and last year, not much unless Ignacio Alessi who was a student tell them so you might say approximately 50 years after the Prophet was the beginning of people trying to say like, why don't we you know, put this symbols to mature architecture station. And for example, and he was the one who devised the symbols that will be put on top or underneath the letters to show the vowel
the balance.
He also was the one who started to use these dots to make sure that the proper pronunciation of the letters or words would be safeguarded.
That for that to find that there have been lots of competition to beautify and improve on those symbols.
Until, as scholars say, It reached the top
Really our improvement in the third, or towards the end of the third century of hatred or migration, that would be equivalent roughly to the beginning of the 10th century, have become an era. It should be added also that some
Muslim jurists,
even until the end of the third century, did not look very favorably
towards this edition of dots and violence,
not because there was anything wrong with it, but they because they were so careful to make sure that the text of the Quran will mean exactly as it was dictated by the prophet, even the same script in which it was written. But gradually, they became to realize, they came to realize that there is no tampering at all with the Quran, when you put the symbol to make sure that it's pronounced correctly, since the origin is the same, so they accepted it, and even ultimately found it a better idea, even the were quite happy with it.
But after even the acceptance of these dots, imbalance, for valid symbols,
some even said there is nothing wrong also of adding the title of each surah or chapter in the Quran in the text of the Quran itself. Or to put some signs to indicate that this is the end of one verse and the beginning of a second verse, for example,
to put some signs on the margin,
that shows how far you have read, for example, in terms of the subdivision of the Quran, to 30 parts, or 60 parts or whatever.
I might add also that in terms of the scripts,
many people hear about the qussuk writing, which was he was down to the end of the first century of migration. And then after that, it was replaced with a slightly different type of script known as unmask, which is the one who was until this time. But in any case, this whole notion of a script or valid symbols or dots has nothing to do with the authenticity of the text, you talk about exactly the same text. It's a source of guidance and aid to the leaders to recited exactly the same way as the Prophet, his companions and those who learn from them reciting the Quran. That's pretty good that clarifies that point. Now, how about the
national printing of the
NES?
According to Dr. Sophia sada,
the pentagram appeared for the first time in Venice, Italy, in 1630, of the Common Era. So that's talking about the first half of the 16th century. But historians say that the church authorities actually ordered its destruction as soon as it appeared, for whatever reasons.
Maybe at that time, there was this hot problem, you know, between Protestant and Catholic and so on, and the church might have felt that, you know, the Quran should be kept away from, from believers.
It took 164 years before it was printed again, in Europe, in Hamburg, Germany, in 1694. However, the first printing of the Quran that was done by Muslims, was done in Petersburg, in St. Petersburg, in Russia. As you know, Russia before the Russian occupation, we used to be many Islamic Republic's
in this area, and that was done in 1787. Later on, we find many other prints appeared,
one of which that was received very enthusiastically was the printing in Leipzig.
A major Cornerstone took place in 1923, when a very beautiful print of printing of the Quran was made in Egypt,
under the supervision of a committee from the famous scanning University, and Azhar University, of which millions upon millions of evolution has been printed, and perhaps is one of the most popular
copies in terms of the beauty of the descript. There were others printing in other countries also. But
it's become very common now. 10s of billions, perhaps of commercial
before completing this part of the series, maybe I'll touch upon another issue. And that being the one of the seven recitations of the crowd, for our viewers, maybe you'd like to
tell exactly what the seven recitation is referred to.
Okay, first of all, I'd like to make a distinction and make a cross reference, in fact, to a topic that was discussed earlier, that we should look at distinction
The Beginning from the so called seven modes of recitation of the Quran, and seven modes of expression
or of an Arabic. The seven modes of expression or Ashraf was discussed earlier, I think it was 36 or 36 and 37 program in the series.
But unfortunately, they seem to have been some mix up because of the similarity of the number seven.
The modes of expression that we discussed before is quite different from the moods of recitation. modes of recitation, in fact, the first to the way
different ways of enunciating the same word. Like for example, about profit use as name or Moses.
It could be a moose, or musei has been illustrated in a previous occasion. The letters are the same, there is no question the vowels are the same. But it just the question of the way it is enunciated or the accent, you might not hear the accent,
the way we're performance early or reciting the word in the Quran. According to Dr. Salah. The reason for this mix up is that one scholar by the name of Edna Mujahid who died in 324, of the migration of the prophet in Baghdad, which is now in Iraq
combined, are gathered seven modes of recitation that seven people who are very famous and very excellent elicitation. And he collected their modes of recitation.
And that number happens to be coincidentally the same number as the seven
out of seven modes of expression that is gospel of some people. Next, for the day refers to the same thing.
In fact that I'm not on the seven, as many scholars of the Quran indicates, there will not been seven but that's called Happy to collect the seven.
That's why we find many of the scholars who specialized in the modes of recitation,
like fslm, an upper body and a standard, for example, did not use the number seven. Some refers to the 10 recitations are 10. More diversification, some refers to the 14
modes of recitation.
What is the basis of these recitations? And how how do we glorify what many scholars have become very strict than that, and they say that we cannot accept a mode of recitation even unless there is an authentic report
that is traced to a companion, a contemporary of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him,
who has heard the prophets reciting it in that mode of recitation, otherwise, you have to trace it all the way to the prophet or else you know, you cannot really accept it as a justifiable or permissible mode of recitation.
That means that there are many there are many reports, which are known as shadow or peculiar reports that does not or do not meet this very strict standard of script, you will find some tools and standard history to some of those shed or peculiar modes of recitation, which might be of some help, in fact, for jurists to study certain implication from the legal standpoint, that this cannot be regarded as Koran, nor can be
recited in the regular prayers. So the basis actually goes to the Prophet. And there are additionally also some strict conditions before any mode of recitation can be accepted, for example, that it should be consistent with the automatic type of scripts that you described before. It should not be contrary to the rules of the Arabic language should be consistent with it. And again, the most impressive condition which should have been really clearly authentic, trustworthy reports before they are accepted.
Another issue that comes up sometimes is that the crown uses words from other languages, while claiming that it can be crowned. Now, how would you comment on that? It's a good question. And the common one that has been used also by some oriental is that how come the Quran says for an Arabic, Arabic Quran? Why and they said, you can really point out to various words that come from other languages, no other than Arabic. But I think what is forgotten here is a very simple thing that applies to all languages.
many languages really adopt from other languages.
For example, in English, how many times every day the term algebra is used. It comes actually from Arabic, but it became already an English word has been used for hundreds of years.
We can practice the usage of the English. And the same thing for Aleksey, which has Arabic origin, alchemy and so on. You have numerous we've discussed some of these under production and productivity and the economic system of a stone. By the same token, yes, the there have been some words in Arabic that has been adopted, even before the revelation of the Quran from other languages, it became so common in us that it was regarded really as Arabic gems, no longer just a foreign term, an Arabic term. And when the Quran uses those terms, it is simply because this reflect the proper meaning. There's no other word that we can give quite clearly, but it's part and parcel of the language.
So straightforward explanation to that. Now, we only have a few minutes left, and maybe I'd like to use these few minutes for you to please comment, or at least give us a conclusion of this part of the series that is on all sources that are set. Okay, the
the approach here is known as sources of Islam,
perhaps can be divided basically into three sub areas. The first area dealt with the authority of the Quran. And this word program is one through 62.
Exclusively devoted to questions such as how do we know that the Quran is the word of Allah, that it's not just a shift claim? How do we know that it was not just invite Prophet Mohammed, or adopted from previous scriptures or other human sources.
The second part which we just finished, deals, or dealt exclusively with another issue relating to the Quran, the primary source of Islam, and that is not the authority but the authenticity of the Quran. That is, suppose even, we have enough reason to believe that the Quran is divine in origin, how do we know that it was not changed and it has been preserved in exactly the same way it was given or delivered to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him 1400 years ago, and we've gone into great details in that. In addition to this, we went into supplementary questions known as the herbal Quran, or sciences of the Quran, in terms of the reasons for divination, the distinction between
Nick and Damien, Revelation and so on.
The third part that we hope to be moving to,
or the third part, essentially, with the second most important source of Islam, or knowledge about Islam, beyond the Quran, which is literally the Word of God, and that is given as hobbies, that is the same explanations practice an example of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. But if there's anything really, that I may use to conclude this segment, on the authenticity of the Quran, is to simply quote one verse in the Quran about its own preservation and management resentment because we're in Allahu Allah half the room, the chapter 15 verse nine, indeed we that is Allah or God revealed or symptom and this reminder is the Quran and we are taking care of preserving evidence
to show that a beautiful way to conclude a beautiful series, we thought that is you know, that are very much for as many hours of hard work into putting this as an important topic into perspective. And we thank all of you for joining us in our in our series. We urge and we would very much like to hear from all of you any comments and questions on anything, any show, any program that you put on, please write or phone, your product, address and the phone number on the screen if
you understand and focus.
See you again next week.