Re: Volunteers, Unicode, previous examples and things

[Abdalla Alothman <abdalla at pheye dot net>]

Asalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah (peace)

On Monday 27 June 2005 17:13, Julie Devall wrote:
 
> I think that it has been a big problem, but I'm too young to know the 
> history of the thing.  I think that it is very similar to Arabic, in that 
> vowels are underneath the characters, pausal forms, and sukoon - sheva to 
> encode.  There are also markers that occur with the vowels to denote length 
> (if you should require specifics, I will wholeheartedly defer to Mr. Milo).

Yes, the  Hebrew language is  very similar to Arabic.  The similarity,
however, diverges  between the divine  sources. The Hebrew  holy texts
are scriptures,  the Quran  is not a  scripture (although  some people
mistakenly call it  a "scripture").  The Quran is  a quran (a recital)
it is not a kutban (writal or scripture).

This is evident from the very  first aya (verse) revealed in the Quran
which is: "Read!" It was  revealed to the Messenger Muhammad (peace be
upon  him) who  did not  know how  to interpret  written  word symbols
(letters)  into something understandable.   Moreover, the  location of
the revelation  of this aaya  was in a  cave. In addition to  the cave
being dark, the time was at night.

The effect  of the  above has highly  effected the Arabic  language in
general. The  modern systemization of  the Arabic language  is totally
different what  used to  be the  case say in  the 1600s.  The language
gives its users numerous flexibility  that need to be respected. As we
can  see even  in the  Quran, some  words are  written  with different
spellings.  The  idea is  to  offload  any  clarifications that  might
confuse  the non-Arab  (who  knows the  language  or parts  of it)  to
another  system.  As a  result, when  the new  flocks of  Muslims from
Persia were  introduced to  the Quran, those  marks we see  today were
made for them in order to read properly.

The way  the Quran was written  by the SaHaaba (the  companions of the
Prophet) is certainly unreadable to  the non-Arab (An Arab in Islam is
not someone  who belongs to certain  lineage or lived for  a couple of
time with the Arabs in their lands, but it is anyone who can speak the
tongue of  the Quran  and is able  to teach  it -- as  Shaikh Muhammad
Al-Ghazali of Alzhar (That's not Abu Hamid Alghazali) explained in his
book Dhalaal min al-gharb)

Another form if the flexibility in the Arabic language is the enormous
derivatives that can be formed from a 2-3 letter root.

The way some people tend to symbolize the Quran is, in humble opinion,
highly misleading. A visual representation  of the Quran does not have
to match the  'Uthmani drawings of the MaSaHif, unless  the case is to
produce  a  'soft'  MuS-Haf.   An  example of  that  is  the  numerous
calligraphic art  work done by Muslim.  Nobody can argue  that what is
made is a Quran. It is not a MuS-Haf, though. A transliteration of the
Quran is a  quran that doesn't look like a MuS-Haf.  The Quran CDs and
audio files  we download are also  a Quran. Any medium  that helps the
subject  reproduce  the  exact  words  revealed  by  Allah  should  be
considered a  Quran. The way  how the word  is written is a  matter of
semantics that is left to how  Muslims are capable to making the Quran
easy for the reader:

[Quran 54:17]  And We have indeed  made the Qur'ân  easy to understand
and  remember,  then is  there  any  that  will remember  (or  receive
admonition)?

Moreover,  the original  transmission  mediums of  the  Quran are  the
believers' hearts and the tongues (oral transmission).

[Quran 44:192-195] And  truly, this (the Qur'ân) is  a revelation from
the Lord  of the 'Alamîn (mankind,  jinns and all  that exists), Which
the trustworthy  Rûh [Jibrael (Gabriel)]  has brought down;  Upon your
heart (O  Muhammad SAW) that you may  be (one) of the  warners, In the
plain Arabic language (tongue).

[Quran  19:97] So  We have  made this  (the Qur'ân)  easy in  your own
tongue (O  Muhammad SAW), only that  you may give glad  tidings to the
Muttaqûn (pious  and righteous  persons), and warn  with it  the Ludda
(most quarrelsome) people.

In fact, one of  the miraculous traits of the Quran is  that it is not
limited to a  physical format. One of the results  of this trait makes
the  Quran  absolutely unperishable  because  it  does  not depend  on
manuscripts and written sources. People need to remember the words, not
the words and how they are pronounced properly, not the diacritical marks
and the locations of the tajweed marks (although this is indeed helpful
and required for additional clarity.)

Wishing you and your family peace and good health.

Salam,
Abdalla Alothman