Re: Volunteers, Unicode, previous examples and things

["Mete Kural" <metek at touchtonecorp dot com>]

Salaamu Alaikum Abdalla,

This is a different topic although I can't help but comment on a few things you mention in your post.

>The Quran is  a quran (a recital)
>it is not a kutban (writal or scripture).

I don't quite understand what you mean here in trying to distinguish the Quran from being a scripture but only a recital. A scripture is recited. As you know, the second ayah of the second surah start with "dhaalika l-kitaabu laa rayba fiih" translated in many translations similar to  "This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt". Also the third ayah of the third surah mentions "nazzala `alayka l-kitaaba bi-l-haqq" translated in Pickthall as "He hath revealed unto thee the Scripture with truth". In addition, please find:

"wa lammaa jaa'ahum kitaabu `ind Allah": And when there cometh unto them a scripture from Allah (2:89)

"yaa ayyuha alladheena amanooo, aminoo bi-llahi ve rasoolihi wa-l-kitaabi alledhee nazaala `alaa rasoolihi wa-l-kitaabi alladhee anzala min qabl":  O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His messenger and the Scripture which He hath revealed unto His messenger, and the Scripture which He revealed aforetime. (4:136)

There are numerous other verses in the Qur'an where the Qur'an is referred to as "kitaab".

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

Even the most traditional accounts record that the transmission was both oral and written.

>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.

Yes the Qur'an does not depend on physical books with paper and ink since these are subject to tampering. But the tampering can be detected and corrected. That is what the Egyptian scholars were trying to do in 1924. They were removing the many alefs and some other letters that were added to manuscripts over the centuries to restore it to the original way it was written. In the 1984 Saudi edition surprisingly they made an exact copy of the base text of the 1924 Egyptian edition without making any changes (for example, removing more alefs that need to be removed). The only changes are minor changes in the tajweed marks. But there is more work to do to restore to the original form. Remember that surah 85 ayah 21-22 says:

"bal huwa qur'anu mujeed. fee lawhum mahfoodh."

Indeed, it is a glorious Quran. In a preserved master tablet.

Salaam,
Mete

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Abdalla Alothman <abdalla at pheye dot net>
Reply-To: General Arabization Discussion <general at arabeyes dot org>
Date:  Thu, 30 Jun 2005 00:20:01 +0300

>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
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Mete Kural
Touchtone Corporation
714-755-2810
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