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Huruf Muqatta'at (Disjointed Letters in the Qur'an): Difference between revisions
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Huruf Muqatta'at (Disjointed Letters in the Qur'an) (view source)
Revision as of 08:44, 3 August 2024
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Daniel Beck observes that academic scholars commonly at first suppose that the letters conveyed textual information regarding the scribes or manuscripts used during the inital compilation process of the Quranic materials. Indeed, it is tempting to imagine the letters were the initals of scribes or an alphabetic index of small collections of surahs. Generally (like Noldeke), they abandon such a view when exposed to other considerations.<ref name="Beck2020" /> The main motivation for preferring to view them instead as features of the original recitation is the one mentioned above - the observation that the letters almost always immediately precede mention of the Quran or revelation itself. Other reasons include the observation that the letter combinations tend to rhyme (or near-rhyme) with the rhyming schema of the verses which follow them.<ref>Devin Stewart, "Notes on Medieval and Modern Emendations of the Qur'an." Pp. 225-48 in The Qur'an in Its Historical Context. Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds. London: Routledge, 2008. See p. 234.</ref> | Daniel Beck observes that academic scholars commonly at first suppose that the letters conveyed textual information regarding the scribes or manuscripts used during the inital compilation process of the Quranic materials. Indeed, it is tempting to imagine the letters were the initals of scribes or an alphabetic index of small collections of surahs. Generally (like Noldeke), they abandon such a view when exposed to other considerations.<ref name="Beck2020" /> The main motivation for preferring to view them instead as features of the original recitation is the one mentioned above - the observation that the letters almost always immediately precede mention of the Quran or revelation itself. Other reasons include the observation that the letter combinations tend to rhyme (or near-rhyme) with the rhyming schema of the verses which follow them.<ref>Devin Stewart, "Notes on Medieval and Modern Emendations of the Qur'an." Pp. 225-48 in The Qur'an in Its Historical Context. Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds. London: Routledge, 2008. See p. 234.</ref> | ||
Within this perspective, Beck explains that both early modern academic as well as Islamic scholars supposed that the letters were abbreviations for Arabic words whose referents were forgotten after Muhammad's death. The dominant view today among academic scholars is instead that the letters are not abbreviations for words (the "no referents" view), but rather convey the idea of Arabic letters or its alphabet in some mystical sense, a kind of mantic performance, akin to chanting "abracadabra" or ABC 123 in English. Beck challenges this view due to the lack of late antique precedent and the pattern noted above wherein there is a lack of diversity of combinations in the third Meccan period as well as other observations such as the strong concentration of occurances in that period and an almost complete cessation thereafter. Beck's own proposal is a referents theory associated with the needs of a certain period leading up to Muhammad's political ascendancy. | Within this perspective, Beck explains that both early modern academic as well as Islamic scholars supposed that the letters were abbreviations for Arabic words whose referents were forgotten after Muhammad's death. The dominant view today among academic scholars is instead that the letters are not abbreviations for words (the "no referents" view), but rather convey the idea of Arabic letters or its alphabet in some mystical sense, a kind of mantic performance, akin to chanting "abracadabra" or ABC 123 in English. Beck challenges this view due to the lack of late antique precedent and the pattern noted above wherein there is a lack of diversity of combinations in the third Meccan period as well as other observations such as the strong concentration of occurances in that period and an almost complete cessation thereafter. Beck's own proposal is a referents theory associated with the needs of a certain period leading up to Muhammad's political ascendancy. Angelia Neuwirth believes these letters represent the smallest elements of the acoustic performance of the word of God.<ref>Neuwirth, Angelika. ''The Qur'an and Late Antiquity: A Shared Heritage'' ''(Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity)'' (pp. 81- 82). 2019. Oxford University Press.</ref> | ||
Other observations by historical-critical academic scholars include: | Other observations by historical-critical academic scholars include: | ||
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These other points on their own would seem to be supportive of theories linking the letters to the initial compilation of the scripture; perhaps the initials of the scribes who worked to make the original copy of the complete Quran (a theory slightly complicated by the presence of two sets of muqatta`āt in Surah 42), or some kind of filing system for the source parchments, although it is to be noted that when the Quran was compiled into a single book a general sequence of longest to shortest surahs was used (a method employed also in other late antique literary compilations). The source materials for the muqatta'at surahs would not likely each have contained only surahs of similar size such that their sequences would be largely maintained in the compiled Quran. It has at the same time, however, been noted that the consecutive sequence of Ḥā' Mīm surahs (which are even consecutive in the reported non-standard surah sequences of early Companion codices) form a clear literally unit with similar themes. | These other points on their own would seem to be supportive of theories linking the letters to the initial compilation of the scripture; perhaps the initials of the scribes who worked to make the original copy of the complete Quran (a theory slightly complicated by the presence of two sets of muqatta`āt in Surah 42), or some kind of filing system for the source parchments, although it is to be noted that when the Quran was compiled into a single book a general sequence of longest to shortest surahs was used (a method employed also in other late antique literary compilations). The source materials for the muqatta'at surahs would not likely each have contained only surahs of similar size such that their sequences would be largely maintained in the compiled Quran. It has at the same time, however, been noted that the consecutive sequence of Ḥā' Mīm surahs (which are even consecutive in the reported non-standard surah sequences of early Companion codices) form a clear literally unit with similar themes. | ||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||