Diacritics in Quran and its Authenticity.

Preservation of Quran from Usmanic Era till the modern times

Allah SWT sent many prophets with His divine guidance and miracles in keeping with their situations. So that they may bring people back to Truth and to the Oneness of Allah. All the miracles of the prophets were visible and their guidance was specific to particular nations for a given time. However Prophet Muhammad SAW is the last prophet of Allah so Allah SWT sent him SAW with timeless guidance and along with other miracles prophet SAW was blessed with Quran, Unchanging Guidance for all mankind. The process of compilation of the Revelation to its current form has seen the utmost honesty, Ijtihad enriched with fear of Allah by the companions and the latter generation of scholars. One of major reason why Quran is timeless guidance for humanity is that it is unchangeable and has proven its authenticity throughout history.        

Evolution of the Quranic text:

Quranic text style has evolved quite a lot from its original form. Due to lack of paper, at the time of revelation Quran was being written on parchments, piece of wood, animal hides etc. It was only after the passing of Prophet SAW, Abu Bakar Siddique R.A asked Zayed Ibn Thabbit R.A to compile the Quran in the form of one book. During the time of third Caliph Usman Ibn Affan the quranic text didn’t had diacritics and were written without numbers and punctuations signs to illustrates the pauses in the verses. There was no need for the diacritics in the early period of Islam as almost all the reciters of Quran were native Arab and were fluent in Arabic language. They could understand and recite the Quran written in simple form. During the era of second and third Caliph Umar Ibn Khattab and Usman Ibn Affan, Islamic State spread from Arabian Peninsula to Persia, parts of India and China, and to North Africa. As many non-Arabs accepted Islam errors in recitation of Quran begin to appear. They lack the natural grasp of Arabic language like that of native Arabs due to this they face big problems in correct recitation of Quran. For example in Quran Chapter: 9 verse: 3

“Annal-laaha baree-um minal-mushrikeenawa rasooluh”

“Verily, Allah and His Messenger are free from (any obligation) to the idolaters.”

This minute change in recitation of kasrah instead of dammah in word rasooluh, which could not be distinguished in the written text could cause the verse to mean “Verily Allah is free from (any obligation) to the idolaters and His Messenger.” (Philips, 1997)

This change the meaning of the verse completely a native Arabic speaker would understand it but to a non-Arab it would be very difficult. It was due to this reason diacritic, vowel and punctuations were added to the Quran so that the non-Arabs could recite the text correctly and can improve their understanding. Hence we saw an evolution in the old Quranic Arabic text style.        

Addition of dots diacritics and decorations in the Quran:

When the scholars realize the dangers of the wrong recitations of non-Arabs they were concerned about the preservation of Quran but they also don’t want to be a part of an innovation and they were hesitant. But realizing the seriousness and consequences of this Governor of Basrah, Ziyaad ibn Abi Sufyan asked Abu-Aswad as-Du’alee to develop some signs by which people could recite Quran more easily and correctly without changing the actual meanings. He developed the first signs to represent the vowels of the Arabic text. (Zarqani, 1995) Such as Fat-hah which was represented by a dot on top of the letter. Kasrah was represented by a dot under the start of the letter and Dammah was illustrated by placing the dot at the end of the letter. To show the end of a syllable with a consonant (Sukoon), it was represented by two dots. (al-Qattan, 1981)

After some time dots were also added to identify between similar looking alphabets. Like baa, taa and thaa would look the same without the dot and same was the case for Jeem Haa and Khaa etc. Fat-hah took the shape of a dash on top of the letter, Kasrah a dash below the letter and Dammah a small waaw at the top of the letter. It was during the ninths century AD when many calligraphers for the purposes of beautifying and adorning the quranic text started competing with each other and that resulted in development of double consonant i.e. Shad-dah.              

As a result of this system the recitation and pronunciation of one dialect of Quran is similar throughout the whole of Muslim world and these diacritics has been added in a way that it doesn’t alter of effect the original wording of the text. 

Effects of dots, diacritics and decorations on the authenticity of Quran:

The authenticity and protection of Quran is a promise of Allah SWT till the end of time he says in Quran Chapter: 15 Verse: 9

“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”

So Allah SWT has taken upon Himself to guard the Quran from any type of alteration and that is the core reason Quran is unchanged and free from alterations. Secondly the addition of diacritics and punctuations are only meant for the proper pronunciation and recitation of Quran. It has nothing to do with the change in meaning or its authenticity. Lastly one of the main reasons why its authenticity, is unquestionable is because since the advent of revelation to this day the primary source of preservation of Quran is by memorization. This method is so powerful that Kenneth Cragg said “The fact of hifz (Quranic Memorization) has made the Qur’an a present possession through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it a human currency in every generation never allowing its relegation to a bare authority for reference alone." (Cragg, 1973)  During the time when diacritics and harakats etc were being added there were a large number Sahabah and students of Sahabah who had already memorized the Quran and it would have been impossible to manipulate or add something which could affect the authenticity of Quran. Even today there are millions of Muslims alive who have memorized this book from cover to cover and because of that it is not possible for one to alter the original wordings of Quran in any way. 

Conclusions:

Quran is a blessing and favor from Allah and it is timeless guidance for whole of mankind. Quran in the period of Third Caliph Usman ibn Affan was without harakat/diacritics which was easy for Arab speakers to recite but In order for non-Arabs to recite and understand Quran correctly without error, the scholars have used diacritics (Such as Fat-hah, Dammah, Kasrah, Maddah, Sukun, Tanween, Shad-dah) which helps in proper recitation of Quran. This doesn’t affect the authenticity of Quran as Allah promised its protection and its authenticity is also preserved by tawwatur and memorization.          

 

 Bibliography

al-Qattan, M. (1981). Mabahith fi Ulum al-Qur'an. Beirut: Mu'assat al-Risalah.

Cragg, K. (1973). Mind of the Koran. London: George Allen & Unwin.

Philips, A. A. (1997). Usool At-Tafseer. Sharjah: Dar Al Fatah.

Zarqani, S. A. (1995). Manahil al-Irfan fi Uloom al-Qur'an Volume 1. Beirut: Darul Kutubul Ilmiyyah, Beirut.