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Politics : Islam, The Message -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ajs who wrote (237)	11/18/2001 10:25:51 AM
From: Zeev Hed	Respond to of 758

I don't have a source (the analysis was provided by a third party), but that was the case with Arabic's sister languages like Hebrew and later Arameic. In any event, I went to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Macropedia, to research this subject. I found that for the first 20 years after Muhamed's death, the Quran was an oral tradition (his entourage learned by heart the sura's). The caliph Uthman commissioned Zayid Ibn Thabit to write it down (probably comparing texts from various memories and various section that where written down by different people). That created the Uthmanic recension and the first "Authoritative" version of the Quran. Uthman acted fast, to avoid the problems the two other monotheistic religions had with their holy scriptures, having a plurality of versions (and as a result a plurality of sects as well, thus splitting those religions into many sub sects). Uthman must have understood that a single holy scripture would prevent such sects formation to a large degree. According the EB, the Arabic of the Quran was gradually improved and finally (no date) diacritical notation added, and in the ninth century, the vowels mark were added to the text (in a different color, to indicate that they are not an integral part of the Quran itself.) Like much of the other holy scriptures, a literature of interpretations of the Quran grew in later years, the "Golden Age" of Islam. Zeev

To: ajs who wrote (237)	11/18/2001 2:27:21 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Respond to of 758

ajs, here from the same source are some very compelling references: Zeev, Hope this helps with references: From The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia (in Washington): Article named "THE QUR'AN IN OUR HANDS TODAY" During the early years of Islam, which was mostly confined to Arabia, the use of diacritic or the vowels was not required because Arabs knew their language very well. However, as Islam spread to other parts of the world, the use of diacritical points as well as the vowels were necessary for the proper pronunciation. For example the letter that sounds like Ba, Ta, Tha, Nun and Ya all looked alike. To the Arab reader there was no confusion, but to non-Arabs it was difficult, hence the use of dots and vowels were introduced by an eminent linguist, Abu-Asswad-ed-Doaly to convey the right sound. ---------------- Islamic source on the Qur'ânic Orthography: The Written Representation Of The Recited Text Of The Qur'ân islamic-awareness.org ---------------- History of the Arabic language: humanities.byu.edu ---------------- From another Muslim scholar.... (c)ertain variant readings existed and, indeed, persisted and increased as the Companions who had memorised the text died, and because the inchoate (basic) Arabic script, lacking vowel signs and even necessary diacriticals to distinguish between certain consonants, was inadequate. ... In the 4th Islamic century, it was decided to have recourse (to return) to "readings" (qira'at) handed down from seven authoritative "readers" (qurra'); in order, moreover, to ensure accuracy of transmission, two "transmitters" (rawi, pl. ruwah) were accorded to each. There resulted from this seven basic texts (al-qira'at as-sab', "the seven readings"), each having two transmitted versions (riwayatan) with only minor variations in phrasing, but all containing meticulous vowel-points and other necessary diacritical marks. ... The authoritative "readers" are: Nafi (from Medina; d.169/785) Ibn Kathir (from Mecca; d.119/737) Abu `Amr al-'Ala' (from Damascus; d.53/770) Ibn `Amir (from Basra; d.118/736) Hamzah (from Kufah; d.156/772) al-Qisa'i (from Kufah; d.189/804) Abu Bakr `Asim (from Kufah; d.158/778) The predominant reading today, spread by Egyptian Koran readers, is that of `Asim in the transmission (riwayah) of Hafs (d. 190/805). In Morocco, however, the reading is that of Nafi` in the riwayah of Warsh (d. 197/812) and Maghrebin Korans are written accordingly. (Cyril Glassé, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989, p. 324, bold added) ... the Reading of Abu `Amr in the version of al-Duri ... prevails in the Sudan, Nigeria, and Central Africa. (Labib as-Said, The Recited Koran: A History of the First Recorded Version, tr. B. Weis, et al, Princeton, New Jersey: The Darwin Press, 1975, p. 84)