bad name ...
because many of its letters are not consonants.
Aḥmad al-Jallad was kind enough to inform me that
these letters ARE consonants USED as something else:
consonants "repurposed", consonants functioning as vowels.
In my philosophy (and that of Wittgenstein II) this makes no sense:
words ARE what they are USED for = they have no essence apart from the way we use them.
But this is not very important.
Important is whether the text
we are dealing with
is purely consonantal.
And unlike all Safaitic, Hismaic, and Thamudic texts
the Early Quranic Text is clearly not purely consonantal.
van Putten's term QCT for the Common Early QT is wrong
because many of its letters stand for long vowels,
because many of its letters stand for diphtongs,
because one letter stand for end of word (alif after waw),
because many of its letters stand for short vowels,
‒ not only those that are marked in Giza24 by a circle (in IndoPak with no sign),
but those seen now as seat/carrier of hamza.
bad concept
Marijn van Putten:
The QCT is defined as the text reflected in the consonantal skeleton of the Quran, the form in which it was first written down, without the countless … vocalisation marks.
The … QCT is roughly equivalent to … the rasm, the … undotted consonantal skeleton of the Quranic text,
but there is an important distinction. The concept of QCT ultimately assumes that not only the letter shapes, but also the consonantal values are identical to the Quranic text as we find it today.
As such, when ambiguities arise, for example in medial ـثـ ،ـتـ ،ـبـ ،ـنـ ،ـيـ , the original value is taken to be identical to the form as it is found in the Quranic reading traditions today.
When I look at van Putten's slide, I get what he means by "the Quranic text as we find it today":
Ḥafṣ without the "countless" marks.
The QCT can not be "identical ... to the reading traditions" ‒ because ‒ as I have shown before ‒ many skeletal words do have different dots;
skeletal words stand for different words ‒ they are identical to themselves, NOT to their brothers in another reading.
Here just some words from the first suras differently dotted for Ḥafṣ and Warš:
ءَاتَيۡتُكُم ءَاتَيۡتنَٰكُم (3:81) تَعۡمَلُونَ يَعۡمَلُونَ (2:85) تَعۡمَلُونَ يَعۡمَلُونَ (2:140) (3:188) تَحۡسَبَنَّ تَحۡسِبَنَّ (4:73) تَكُن يَكُن (2:259) نُنشِزُهَا نُنشِرُهَا (2:58) يُغۡفَرۡ نَّغۡفِرۡ (2:165) يَرَى تَرَى ترونهم يرونهم (3:13) (3:83) يَبۡغُونَ تَبۡغُونَ يُرۡجَعُونَ تُرۡجَعُونَ(3:83) (3:115)يَفۡعَلُوا تَفۡعَلُوا يُكۡفَرُوهُ تُكۡفَرُوهُ (3:115) يَجۡمَعُونَ تَجۡمَعُونَ (3:157) (2:271) يُكَفِّرُ نُكَفِّر (3:57) فَنُوَفِّيهمُ فَنُوَفِّيهمُۥۤ (4:13) يُدۡخِلۡهُ نُدۡخِلۡهُ (4:152) يُؤۡتِيهِمۡ نُوتِيهِمُۥٓ
Some other examples:
4:94
fa-tabayyanū
fa-taṯabbatū
2:74, 85, 144
yaʾmalūn
taʾmalūn
2:219
kabīr
kaṯīr
2:259
nanšuruhā
nunšizuhā
3:48 wa-nuʿallimuhu
wa-yuʿallimuhu
Yes, the rasm was not meant to be a naked drawing,
people did read it.
But to assume they read Ḥafṣ is just stupid.
Better a naked skeleton than a text fleshed out in ONE way.
It would be nice to have a COMMON Skeletal Text with all the dots,
on which ALL canonical readers agree
‒ which requires ihmal signs for rāʾ, dāl, ḫāʾ, final he, ṭāʾ, ṣād and sīn.
Just for those not familiar with ihmal signs:
for all letters V = two bird wings = لا can be used
for ḫāʾ, final he, ṭāʾ, ṣād and sīn a small letter (not unlike the little kāf in end kāf),
and for rāʾ and dāl a dot below tell us: not ǧīm, not ḫāʾ, not ẓāʾ, nod ḍād, not šīn, not zāʾ, not ḏāʾ!
