[I] THE LATE DIACRITICAL VARIANTS
(THE 31 DIFFERENT ARABIC QUR’ANS)
Found and purchased in Middle Eastern Arab market places in the last 4 years
RASM DEFINED
Definition: The Arabic skeletal script
- These are the letters without the diacritical marks (dots above and below the letters)
- These are the letters without any vowelization
l Fathah = ah
l Dhammah = oo
l Kasrah = ii
Samarkand Manuscript
An example of early RASM
Sana’a Manuscript
Notice: There are no diacritical marks, and no vowelization
(Early 8th century)
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF EARLY RASM
Note: In this text (The Topkap? Manuscript – 749 AD) you can see the beginnings of diacritical marks
‧ They have been pencilled in red
‧ Thus, they could have been added at a later date
AN EARLY SHI’ITE RASM
Notice: Ali’s Qur’an (according to Tradition)
‧ Still with no diacritical marks
So, why were diacritical marks and vowels needed? Let us see…
28 Arabic letters without dots in the 7th century
The 6 Unique Arabic letters
‧ Of the 28 consonantal letters, 6 are unique letters
‧ The other 22 need dots to distinguish them
Take for example a smiley face:
‧ Add a dot above, and it becomes a ‘nuun’
‧ Add two dots above, and it becomes a ‘taa’
‧ Add three dots above, and it becomes a ‘thaa’
Now take that same smiley face:
‧ Add a dot below, and it becomes a ‘baa’
‧ Add two dots below, and it becomes a ‘yaa’
Now when we put them all together…
‧ ‘nuun’
‧ ‘taa’
‧ ‘thaa’
‧ ‘baa’
‧ ‘yaa’
You can get five different letters with the same smiley face, depending on how many of the five dots you use (and where)!
What about in a simple word?
‧ If we use the same 3 smiley faces, connected together: (???)
‧ When we add dots and vowels above and below the line, we can produce 19 different words!
Note: 19 different words!
بيت |
House |
يبثُّ |
He spreads/ he broadcast |
نَبَتَ |
It sprouted |
تبثُّ |
She spreads/broadcasts |
بيَّت |
Stayed over |
نبثُّ |
We spread/broadcast |
بِنت |
A girl / daughter |
ثبَّت |
He Fixed / made firm |
بَنَت |
She built |
تَبَّتْ |
She destroyed |
ثَبَتَ |
Stood firm |
نتبّ |
We destroy |
نَبَتَ |
Grew |
تتبّ |
You destroy |
نَتُب |
We repent |
تبّت |
It was destroyed |
يتُب |
He repents |
تُبتُ |
I repented |
تتُب |
She repents |
‧ So, if these dots change the meanings of the words, then they also change the meanings of the sentences
‧ which can affect the subsequent theology as well…
‧ Thus, the diacritical marks and vowels are absolutely IMPORTANT!
THE VARIANT QUR’ANS
Taken from Hatun’s 31 Qur’ans
Hatun’s graph
Counted variants of just 23 Qur’ans
Note the authors, the dates, & the variant numbers
‧ Each of the authors wrote their Qur’ans in the 8th and the 9th centuries
‧ ’Hafs’ was created in the 9th century
‧ The others had thousands of variants, from that of ‘Hafs’
‧ So, why was ‘Hafs’ chosen over the other 30 – 36?
Readers & Transmitters vs HAFS
THE VARIANT VERSES
59,766 taken from Hatun’s 31 Qur’ans
Sura1:4*
Sura 2:10*
Significance: Are they doomed because they lie, or because they accuse others of lying?
Sura 2:58
Significance: Who forgives sin? Is it ‘we’ [god?], or are they arbitrarily forgiven?
Sura 2:140
Significance: Who knows better than Allah, you or the others?
*Hafs: ‘you’ is plural
Sura 2:219
Significance: So, is drinking wine and gambling a great sin, or plenty of sin?
* Is it something which is big, or something which is much?
Sura 2:271*
Significance: Does Allah remove our misdeeds, or do we remove our misdeeds?
* Can we (either this is Allah plural, or humans) do what is reserved for Allah alone?
Sura 3:37
Significance: Did Allah put Zachariya in charge of Mary, or did Zachariya take charge himself? * Is the action here done by Allah, or by Zachariya?
Sura 3:79
Significance: Do believers TEACH THE BOOK, or do they simply KNOW THE BOOK?
* Many people can KNOW a book, but are not capable of TEACHING it.
Sura 3:83
Significance: Up to now the verses are all using THEY, but Warsh changes it to YOU?
* Is this a PLURAL form or a 2nd MASCULINE SINGULAR form – who seeks & returns?
Sura 3:146*
Significance: Did the Prophets simply FIGHT, or were they KILLED?
* If I were a prophet, I would rather FIGHT, than be KILLED, as the former survives.
Sura 6:115*
Significance: Is the WORD of God fulfilled, or the WORDS of God fulfilled?
*The singular Hafs WORD doesn’t agree with the plural form in the 2nd sentence!
Sura 7:57*
Significance: Does the wind BEAR GOOD NEWS, or does it SCATTER rain clouds?
* It seems the wind has two completely different functions here?
Sura 7:144
Significance: Does Moses have MANY MESSAGES from Allah, or just ONE MESSAGE?
* Problem of confusing the plural and singular tenses.
Sura 7:161
Significance: Does Allah FORGIVE OUR SINS, or ARE THEY AUTOMATICALLY FORGIVEN?
* Who forgives sins, Allah or another source?
Sura 9:66*
Significance: Will the hypocrites be forgiven & punished or were they forgiven?
*It looks like a student completely changed the tense later on, suggesting later tampering.
Sura 10:2*
Significance: Is revelation to a man the work of a magician, or a work of magic?
*There’s a confusion concerning whether it is a man or an action happening here.
Sura 18:36*
Problem: Will the companion find a better place or a place better than two others?
* Who are the two others (in Warsh) of whom he will be better?
Sura 37:130
Significance: Does only Elias or his whole family get blessed?
*I am sure his family would like to know, would not you?
Sura 38:45*
Problem: Are there 3 listed slaves of Allah, or just one?
* I am afraid Al Bazzi does not know how to count.
Sura 43:19*
Problem-1: Are the angels slaves of Allah, or simply in the presence of Allah?
Problem-2: Is it the slaves, or those in Allah’s presence, who will be made females?
*If I were an angel, I would prefer being in God’s presence, than his slave.
*If I were an angel, I would prefer if only the slaves were made females thank-you.
Sura 46:15*
Problem: Are men supposed to do good or be beautiful to their parents?
*As a parent, I would prefer my son to be good, rather than be good looking.
Sura 47:4
Significance: Are we rewarded for being killed, or simply fighting?
*Given the choice I would prefer simply fighting to being killed!
Sura 49:6*
Problem: Do we verify a bad person’s news, or stand firm?
*Verifying news is more practical than just standing still and doing nothing.
Sura 98:6*
Problem: Are we Christians the worst creatures, or are we innocent?
*What are innocent Christians, Jews, and polytheists doing in hell?
Conclusions:
Hatun has found 31 out of 37 possible Qira’at collections
‧ She has located 59,766 differences between just 23 of these collections
‧ Many of these differences not only change the text, but in some cases even change the theology, so they are not trivial, as Muslims like to contend
‧ The one finally chosen in 1924 (the Hafs) was created 144 years after Uthman
‧ Do not these roughly 60,000 differences suggest massive human interventions?
‧ Yet, these are not the only variants…there are even more damaging Consonantal variants, which we will now look at
بيت