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  • Variations In Spellings Of Quranic Terms

    Posted by Hatim Khan on March 18, 2023 at 4:10 am

    192,193,194 سورة ٱلشعراء -26 || آيات

    وَإِنَّهُۥ لَتَنزِيلُ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ(192) نَزَلَ بِهِ ٱلرُّوحُ ٱلْأَمِينُ(193)عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ لِتَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُنذِرِينَ(194)

    And indeed, it (the Qūr’ān) is the revelation of Rabb-il-‘Ālam’ēēn (192) Rūhul Amēēn brought it down (193) Upon your Qalb (O Mūham’mad ), so that you be from among the warners (194)

    We understand that the Qūr’ān was revealed upon the Qalb of Prophet Mūham’mad not only in the Audio Form (Recitation Recordings) but also in the Visual Form (Written Text) and also with its explanation (in Audio Visual Script). That is why, we see some Qūr’ānic terms though have the same pronunciation yet are written with different spellings (the spellings must have been informed by the Prophet himself from the information available within his Qalb). Here is one such example.

    In the Mūs’haf, we see that the term Salāt has appeared in two variations of spellings:

    As (صلوٰۃ); with a Wao (و) and Alif Khenjar’iyah (ألف خنجرية) over it (وٰ).

    As (صلاة) ; with Lām Alif (لا).

    We further observe that whenever it appeared as a Proper Noun (المَعْرِفَةُ), with Al (ال) as a prefix then the spellings are (الصلوٰۃ). Whereas, when it appeared with Possessive Pronouns (اَلضَّمَائِر الْمُتَّصِلَة) then it is written as (صلاة). For example (صَلَاتِي), (صَلَاتَهُ), (صَلَاتِهِمْ), etc. But there is one discrepancy in this observation. This discrepancy is in (سورۃ ھود آية 87), which reads as (قَالُوْا يٰشُعَيْبُ أَصَلٰوتُكَ تَاْمُرُكَ اَنْ نَّتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ اٰبَاۗؤُنَآ). Here we see that although a Possessive Pronoun (ضمير مُتَّصِلَة) is used (أَصَلٰوتُكَ) but still it is written with Wao and Alif Khenjar’iyah (وٰ). Apart from this Āyah, in all other instances we see the spellings (صلاة) with Possessive Pronouns.

    قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

    وَمَا كَانَ صَلَاتُهُمْ عِنْدَ الْبَيْتِ إِلَّا مُكَاءً وَتَصْدِيَةً

    كُلٌّ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُ وَتَسْبِيحَهُ

    الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ دَائِمُونَ

    وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ

    I am not sure if this discrepancy is due to some grammatical rule or there might be a difference in the meanings of these terms.

    One observation in the case that the discrepancy might have some grammatical reasoning is :

    In (سورۃ ھود آية 87), there is an Interrogative Hamza Alif (همزة الف للاستفهام) i.e., (أَ) which makes the pronunciation of the term (أَصَلٰوتُكَ) sound like (الصَلٰوتُكَ). Both resemble in the way these terms are uttered. So, based on their sounds i.e., the way these are uttered, the spellings are adapted accordingly. This reasoning is my assumption, and it could be wrong.

    I therefore need your help to make me understand this discrepancy.

    Dr. Irfan Shahzad replied 1 year ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
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