One of the ten most important discoveries in this blog:
When producing a
muṣḥaf all features are independent of each other.
true, most
maṣāḥif written in Maġribī style have the text according to Warš,
but in Tunis e.g. there were Ḥafs copies written
in Maġribī style.
True, the first berKenar copies with 15 lines on 604 pages were in (Ottoman)
naskh,
but today there are copies with that page layout in other styles.
The
Iranian Center for Printing and Distributing the Qurʾān has deviced
a new system of voyelling without
sukūn in which vowel letters without
ḥarkāt stand for long vowels;
they are not lengthening the corresponding vowel sign (hence in that system the
consonant before a vowel letter has no vowel sign ‒ vowel signs standing only
for short vowels) ‒ and a new
rasm.
In this post I show that this "neo-Iranian" (or Ṭab-o Našr-)
rasm can occur with any writing style.
The Center has published a list of 17 words that they write as they see fit (of course respecting the
sound) not following old manuscripts or established
maṣāḥif.
While in the first two colums from the left the words are both in the new Iranian vowelling and in the new Iranian
rasm,
the third column is written in the "Lahorī" style just as the next two columns.
The last column is from the first Iranian print (type set Tehran 1827), and the one with light yellow background is Uṭmān Taha/Q52.
The other discoveries are:
there is no single standard
there is not THE
Cairo edition, but hundreds
there are Eastern vs.
Western ways of writing of long vowels, of leading alif, of pronounced
nūn sākin being among the differences
the main features of the KFE were
‒
adoption of the Moroccon rasm
‒ adoption of
many Moroccon features (like marking mute letters, noting assimilation, having three kinds of
tanwīn)
‒ droping of Eastern features (like
nun quṭnī, having three kinds of
madd sign, making for shortened vowels)
‒ easy readabiliy (clear base line,
clear right-to-left), vowel sign exactely above/below base letter
that the KFE did not FIX the text: both
within Amiriyya prints, reprints and the great child in Medina there are changes
If anything is not clear, leave a comment!
The
Centre for the Printing and Distribution of the Qur'an, which reports to the leader/
rahbar, has introduced three improvements:
First, three lowercase vowel signs at the places where there used to be red vowel signs (VS) in manuscripts: for words that begin with alif-waṣl, but before which the reader pauses, i.e. which are to be read with Hamza, the initial alif is given a small VS.
Then a completely new spelling of long vowels: While in Africa it is VS +
ḥarf al-madd (stretching letter),
according to neoIran, the vowel letter is read as such, there is no VS (because there is no /a/, /i/, /u/ to ne read, only /ā/, /ī/, /ū/.
If there is no sign and no vowel letter follows, the consonant is vowelless = there is no
sukūn sign.
Letters that are not read at all are in a different colour:
(In the centre of the excerpt: /fĭl-ardi/ with a short i the
kasra is to be read, not the
yāʾ)
This simplified vocalisation is based on the conventions of Persian writing.
Furthermore, the مكز طبع و نشر
has established a new
rasm. Ṭab-o Našr is concerned with legibility and uniformity, i.e. fewer missing, superfluous or unusual letters, fewer expressions that are sometimes written one way and sometimes another.They prefer to rely on recognised editions (including Warš and Qālūn editions) or a
rasm authority.If necessary, however, they also simplify without good support. They state that they write 17 words in 36 places ‘simply’ without a model.
The 17 words are quite different:
easier to understand (6:41,16:95)
اِنّ ما
instead of
إِنَّمَا
,
the opposite (2:240,5:58):
فيما instead of فِى مَا
– because of parallel passages;
for the same reason (30:28, 63:10):
مِمّا instead of
مِن مَّا
;
Avoiding a silent Alifs اَبناۤءُ instead of
أَبۡنَٰٓؤُا۟۟
(5:18),
اَنباۤءُ instead of
أَنۢبَٰٓؤُا۟
(26:6),
يُنَبَّاُ instead of
يُنَبَّؤُا
(75:13),
Avoiding a silent yāʾ for
/ā/ تَراني instead of
تَرَىٰنِى
(7:143),
اَرانيۤ instead of
اَرَىٰنِىۤ
(12:36),
اؚجتَباهُ instead of
ٱجۡتَبَىٰهُ
(16:121, 22:78);
statt ءَاَتَىٰنِى
(19:30) ءاتانِي
– like Solṭānī/Hirīsī, Nairizī und Arsanǧānī,
but not Faḍāʾilī;
اَرانيۤ instead of
اَرَىٰنِىۤ
(12:36);
Avoiding some "dagger alifs" خَطايٰكم instead of
خَطَٰيَٰكُمۡ
(2:58, 20:73),
لَساحِرٌ instead of
لَسَٰحِرٌ
(7:109, 26:34),
قُرءانًا instead of
قُرۡءَٰنًا
(12:2),
نادانا instead of
نَادَىٰنَا
(37:75),
اِحسانًا instead of
إِحۡسَٰنًا
(46:15),
جِمالَتٌ instead of
جِمَٰلَتٌۭ
(77:33).
كِذّابًا instead of
كِذَّٰنًۭا
(78:35).
Of the 17 words, eight follow nOsm/CT.
In a random sample of 10% of the Qur'anic text, I discovered four more plene spellings 15:22 biḫāzinīna, 40:16 bārizūna, 40:18 kāẓimīna, 40:29 ẓāhirīna, which occur in old Persian or Ottoman
maṣāhif, but not in the editions or authorities cited by the Centre (al-Ārkātī, ad-Dānī, Ibn Naǧāḥ). In other words, they write as they like it. I suspect that ‘mistakes’, archaisms in Arabic reinforce the ‘sacred character’ of the script. But since Arabic is ‘the sacred language’ for Persians anyway, they don't need the mistakes to perceive it as unprofane = out of the ordinary.
In the first twenty verses of al-Baqara they write against Q24 al-kitābu (2: 2), razaqnāhum (3), tujādiʿūn (9), aḍ-ḍalālaha (16), ẓulumātin (17), ẓulumātun, ʾaṣābiʿahum (19) and bil-kāfirīna (20) like Q52, ʾabṣārihim, ġišāwatub (7), ṭuġyānihim (15), tiǧāratuhum (16), aṣ-ṣwāʿiqi (19), ʾabṣārahum and wa-abṣārihim (20) such as iPak and Lib in Solṭānī and Osm also šayāṭīnihim (2:14) with alif.
Secondly, they usually omit everything that is omitted when writing Persian, i.e. hamza signs on or under the initial alif
(fatḥa, ḍamma, kasra include
hamza), - but when writing /ʾā/, nIran Q24 follows: isolated hamza+alif not alif+long
-fatḥa - fatḥa before
alif, kasra before
yāʾ, ḍamma before wau (long vowel letters do not denote the elongation of the vowel as in Arabic, but the long vowel itself); however, if a short vowel sign precedes the vowel letter, this applies: the vowel letter is silent; furthermore, sukūn signs are missing (if there is no vowel sign, the consonant is vowelless), as well as indications of assimilation that go beyond that in Standard Arabic.
Turks and Persians are the only ones who do not note assimilation – in the word and across word boundaries. (for example, from vowelless nūn to rāʾ: mir rabbihi in 2:5 On the other hand, in 75:27 there is the non-assimilation sign:
مَنۜ
راقٍ).
or in the word 77:20 /naḫluqkum/ instead of /naḫlukkum/), also the different tanwīn forms - nIran follows Solṭānī and Osm against IPak, Mag and Q24.
A small-nūn + kasra is placed when the nūn of the preceding tanwīn is read with i (e.g. 23:38). In these editions, the once red vowel signs on alif waṣl, which is to be spoken after an obligatory pause with hamza and initial sound, become small-fatḥa (e.g. 2:15), small-ḍamma (38:42) or small-kasra (58:16,19). As in the Indonesian adaptations of UT1, in the modern Iranian editions - both those in the style of ʿUṯmān Ṭāhā and those in the style of Naizīrī - the Fatḥas are straight across allāh. In addition, there are countless editions of ʿUṯmān Taha reworked to different degrees according to Soltani or nIran. If you count the spellings on TV, smartphones and the web (e.g. makarem.ir/quran), you end up with over a hundred different orthographies.
Es wird ein kleines-
nūn + kasra gesetzt, wenn das
nūn des vorausgehenden
tanwīn mit i gelesen wird (z.B. 23:38). Aus den einst roten Vokalzeichen auf
alif waṣl, das nach obligater Pause mit Hamza und Anlaut zu sprechen ist, wird in diesen Ausgaben Klein
-fatḥa (z.B. 2:15), Klein
-ḍamma (38:42) oder Klein
-kasra (58:16,19). Wie auch in den indonesischen Adaptationen von UT1 sind in den modernen iranischen Ausgaben – sowohl jene im Duktus ʿUṯmān Ṭāhās wie die im Stile Naizīrīs – die Fatḥas über allāh gerade. Daneben findet man zig Ausgaben von ʿUṯmān Taha zu unterschiedlichen Graden nach Soltani oder nach nIran umgearbeitet. Zählt man die Schreibungen im Fernsehn, auf dem Smartphone und dem Web (etwa makarem.ir/quran) mit, kommt man auf über hundert verschiedene Orthographien.
Turks, Arabs and Indians have fixed standards; Indians have had them for two hundred years, Arabs since around 1980, Turks since 1950 - or a little later.
Indonesians, Persians and Tunisians are looking for improvements. Tunisia is part of the Maghreb, and most of what is written here follows Qālūn ʿan Nāfiʿ. However, from the end of the 16th century until the end of the 19th century, the Ottomans maintained a garrison in Tunis.
Türken, Araber und Inder haben feste Standards;
die Inder schon zweihundert Jahre, die Araber seit etwa 1980, die Türken seit 1950 – oder etwas später.
Qurans were written on site for their officers. At least two of them are facsimiles: one on sixty pages - Qurʾān Karīm, scribe: Zubair ibn ʿAbdallah al-Ḥanafī. Tunis: ad-Dār at-Tūnisīya lin-Našr n.d. - and one in which opposite pages repeatedly show the same words. Muṣḥaf Šarīf written by Zuhair Bāš Mamlūk 1305/1885, Tunis: ʿAbd al-Karīm Bin ʿAbdallah 1403/1983 (printed in Verona). Both record the reading Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim in Maghrebi scribal conventions.
Two words from 2:8 according to five different standards, all Ḥafṣ. The top (Q52) and bottom (nIran) look similar but are fundamentally different, the bottom two (nOsm and nIran) are the same although they look different. Both are due to the fact that nIran completely dispenses with sukūn characters: the nūn in the bottom one is therefore with sukūn and the qāf with ū (both as in nOsm directly above). In the uppermost, the nūn has kéin sukūn and according to the rules of Q24 this means: not to speak as nūn; the word sounds: ‘mai’. The same situation (incomplete assimilation) is expressed by IPak (third from bottom) and Standar Indonesia (2nd-4th line) with sukūn above the nūn (i.e.: not mute) and šadda above the yāʾ (i.e.: doubling mai yaqūl). nOsm and nIran never note (half and full) assimilation.
‒
