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Do you know that each page from a Mushaf (written copy of the Quran) has four elements or layers of information?
But before we learn about those four elements of Quranic text, let’s learn a new term: Orthography.
Orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including rules of spelling, word breaks, and more.
Fun Fact: Do you know that Quran has its own orthography which is different from modern Arabic orthography?
Here is the first ayaah of Surah al-Fatihah
ٱلحَمدُ لِلَّّهِ رَبِّ العٰلَمينَ
Let’s separate the layers and go over them one by one.
1. The Uthmanic Codex (الرَّسْمُ العُثْمَانِي)
The first element is the consonantal text, standardized and written by the committee of sahabah who wrote the mushaf (written copy of the Quran) under the direction of Uthman (RA) during his time.
Look at the first ayaah of Surah al-Fatihah above again. This is the Uthmanic Codex.
Notice there are no dots or vowel signs. These signs were not used at the time of the Prophet (SAW). These signs are not found in the mushaf prepared by Uthman (RA).
The addition of dots and short vowel marks like fathah, dhammah, kasrah, etc. took place later on. Hence these dots and vowel marks ARE NOT A PART OF THE UTHMANIC CODEX ( الرَّسْمُ العُثْمَانِي )
Here are some manuscripts from the early days of Islam.
Notice the absence of dots and vowel marks.
Also note that the Uthmanic codex (الرَّسْمُ العُثْماني ) is the name of the spelling system and not the styling of the letters.
(Those are called fonts)
The above picture is showing beginning ayaat of Surah al-An’aam. Both portions may look different, but both conform to the Uthmanic codex.
And these are the same ayaat from Surah al-Baqarah, both written according to the Uthmanic codex.
There are many points in which the Uthmanic orthography differs from modern Arabic orthography.
For example the Uthmanic text omits weak letters in some words like العلمين (for العالمين ) which a man knowing the language can easily recognize.
(There were many reasons behind this kind of omissions but that is a story for another time!)
Important to remember: In terms of orthography (spelling rules) it is most important to conform to the Uthmanic codex.
According to majority of the scholars it is not permissible to write complete Quran or surahs in a different spelling than the Uthmanic codex. Although it is permissible to write in a different spelling system if only a few ayaat are being written.
2. The Dots ( الإعْجَامُ )
The second element is the dots.
Dots were added later to make it easy for the non-Arabs to differentiate between the letters.
For example, ن and ت look identical in the word كُنْتُم below without the dots.
Hence it would be impossible for non-Arabs (and most of the Arabs of modern time) to tell them apart.
But apart from a few exceptions, the ijaam system is pretty much the same throughout the world.
Since the dots are not part of the Uthmanic Orthography it is permissible to have different systems.
3. The Vowel Marks ( الضَّبْطُ )
The third element is the vowel marks or diacritical signs added to the text (like fathah, kasrah, dhammah, shaddah).
When non-Arabs entered the fold of Islam and made mistakes in reading the text, it was decided to add these diacritical signs to help them read the Quran correctly.
A few important signs were added in the beginning. Later a detailed system was evolved. But there is more than one system.
One system is used in Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Iraq etc. There is another system in Arab countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, etc. A third system is used in the Indian sub-continent.
Since the vowel marks are not part of the Uthmanic Orthography it is permissible to have different systems.
Fun Fact:
In the beginning vowel marks were also dots (in a different colored ink) later they were changed to slanted dashes to avoid confusion. See the image below for example
Hence the Urdu names for these vowel marks:
Fatha = zabar = above (a dot above the letter)
Kasrah = zeir = under (a dot under the letter)
Dhammah = peish = in front of (a dot in front of the letter)
Remember how hamza was first written as an alif? The masahif from Indian subcontinent still write hamza as an alif. Like ا
4. Punctuation Marks (عَلَامَاتُ الوَقْفِ)
أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
The fourth element is the punctuation marks or signs for stopping. For example, the following sign in the above ayaah.
And the small م and ج signs for stopping.
In the masahif from Indian subcontinent you will find many more signs compared to those published in the Arab countries, for example a small ط , ز and more.
Since the punctuation marks are not part of the Uthmanic Orthography it is permissible to have different systems.
Fonts
There is another element, fonts, or styling of the letter. Fonts are not a part of the Quranic orthography. We can use different fonts to write Quranic text.
People often confuse fonts with the codex and call a certain style of fonts (usually in the Masahif printed in the King Fahad Quran Complex in Saudi Arabia) as the Uthmanic script.
There is no such thing as the Uthmanic Script. And the styling of the letters has nothing to do with the Uthmanic Codex.
Fun Fact:
Zaid bin Thabit (RA) was the chief scribe in the committee of sahabah who wrote the mushaf (written copy of the Quran) under the direction of Uthman (RA).
Being a son of Madinah, he wrote the Quran in the Madni script which is a subset of Hijazi script.
Later other scripts or styles became popular.
So let’s end this lesson with a quiz. Which of the following two pages is written according to rasm al-Uthmani?
If you replied both, then congratulations! You have learnt the basics of Quranic orthography. Alhamdulillah!
To learn more see the below websites:
- Dr Abdur Raheem’s lecture on Quranic Orthography (Recommended)
- The Quranic Manuscripts
- Qur’ānic Orthography: The Written Representation Of The Recited Text Of The Qur’ān (Recommended)
- The History of the Quranic Texts (Recommended)
- Old Quranic Manuscripts collection on Google Arts and Culture
- ‘Oldest’ Koran fragments found in Birmingham University
- British Library
- Met Museum
Image sources: