Introduction to Qur'anic Script

Introduction to Qur'anic Script Syed Barakat Ahmad I� ��o�;�;n���up LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published by Curzon Press in 1985 First Published in paperback 1999 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXl4 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1985 Syed Barakat Ahmad Arabic text Calligraphed by Mohammad Wajahat Usmani Artwork by Comart, M.Jlyas and Mohammad Salim Designed by Sabiha Barakat All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 9780700710690

PREFACE [vii] INTRODUCTION [l] ENGLISH SYMBOLS FOR ARABIC VOWELS [ 4] LESSON 1 [5] Consonants.Jim, Sin, Liim and Mim.The Vowel Sign Fat/J,ah LESSON 2 [9] Bii,' Kha', �Ayn and Qiif The- Vowel Sign Kasrah LESSON 3 [l 5] lfii', and Nun.The Sukim Sign LESSON 4 [19] Tii' and Kiif The Vowel Sign J)ammah LESSON 5 [23] Fii' and Tf1ii'.Doubled Letters LESSON 6 [27] Review LESSON 7 [30] Shin, $iid and Tii' il< CONTENTS

LESSON 8 [361 Hii' and Ya'.Diphthong ay LESSON 9 [401 z,a· and Ghain LESSON 10 [421 /)ad LESSON 11 [451 Nunnation LESSON 12 [48] Non-Connectors.'A/if LESSON 13 [53[ Hamzah LESSON 14 [56) Waw LESSON 15 [60) Dal and Ra' LESSON 16 [65] Dh_a/ and Zii'.Hamzah and 'A/if (continued) LESSON 17 (70) Hii' (continued).Ta' Marbiifah LESSON 18 (73) The Signs of Vowel Length.The Pronunciation of Allah LESSON 19 [78] Hamzah (continued) LESSON 20 [80) "Sun" and "Moon" Letters LESSON 21 [86) The silent 'A/if, Waw and Ya' LESSON 22 [88) Review LESSON 23 [94] Assimilation X

LESSON 24 [96] Nasalization LESSON 25 [100] Qur'anic spellings.The Redundant stroke.The Dagger 'A/if LESSON 26 [104] Punctuation LESSON 27 [l l l] Muqaita'at or Isolated Letters, If uruf-ul-'abjad LESSON 28 [I 15] Mistakes to be Avoided LESSON 29 [119] The Development of the Naskb.LESSON 30 [135] Conclusion EXPLANATORY NOTE [154) APPENDIX [l 58] Persian and Urdu Script TRANSLITERATION OF PRACTICE TEXT [l 6 7] XI

THIS IS A PROGRAMMED BOOK IN WHICH THE QUR'ANIC SCRIPT IS INTRODUCED IN A SERIES OF STEPS.DO NOT SKIP A STEP.YOU WILL FALL.RETRACE YOUR STEPS AFTER LESSON 17 AND READ THESE LESSONS ONCE MORE BEFORE YOU BEGIN LESSON 18.

INTRODUCTION The splendour of the Qur'anic script and its graphic economy are the two remarkable features which distinguish it from any other script in the world.These very features daunt an admirer and discourage a non-Arab from learning it.An antiquated system of teaching has made the task much more formidable.The art of Qur'anic calligraphy which occupies the central place in Muslim visual culture has declined with the spread of printing and universal education.The invention of movable type effectively killed this art, and all too often the printed text of the Qur'an lacked both splendour and legibility.In recent years, however, the art of writing and printing the Qur'an has undergone a revolutionary change.The style of writing known as Nasfs!1 has been especially developed with emphasis on easy and correct reading rather than beauty.This Qur'anic Naskh is now a basi cally functional style of writing that presents a minimum of difficulty to the reader.The method of teaching the Arabic script has neither kept pace with the development of the Qur'anic Naskh, nor with progress in linguistics.A new script cannot be learnt in a vacuum; it is best studied within the framework of its language.An educated adult learner requires something more than motivation to sustain interest in the study of an exotic script.The emphasis in this book is therefore on the Qur'anic word in its original context and not on the isolated form of the letters of the alphabet.The learner is not required to master the whole alphabet and its vowel system before he proceeds to read isolated words.The first lesson in introduces only four letters of the alphabet and one vowel sign, but in doing so it also teaches four Arabic words.Since Arabic is based on a triliteral verb.the learner is also led to this central 1

feature of the language in the first lesson.This lesson is short and simple, yet comprehensive.While it teaches the script, and establishes the relationship between a consonant and its vowel in contact, it also gives some idea of the phonology and morphology of the language in non-technical terms.The second lesson introduces four more letters and a second vowel, but the learner's vocabulary of Qur'anic words is extended from four to twenty-three.This repertory of Qur'anic words is built up gradually so that by the end of Lesson 17 when the learner has completed his study of the alphabet he has learnt more than 500 words in their Qur'anic context.Within the space of these seventeen lessons the student is fami liarized with the basic structure of the verb, the definite article, prepositions, particles, nominative and objective cases and some other simple but essential markers.Though the lessons in this book do not require any supplementary material, the learner is strongly advised to obtain a copy of the Qur'an at an early stage.Any Qur'an which has been printed or copied in a well-spaced Naskh style similar to the one used in this book will be a great help.This book is not a course in the art of writing Arabic.Firstly, ability to write Arabic is not essential for reading the Qur'an.Secondly, the Naskh style in which the Qur'an is reproduced is not the style for everyday writing.Throughout the Arab world the cursive Ruq'ah style is used for ordinary writing.But a few notes on the writing of Arabic have been given to assist the beginner in understanding and appreciating the character of the script.For some students these notes may be enough to produce an acceptable handwriting though for some they may not be adequate.Similarly, is not a book on Arabic pronun ciation, though every effort has been made to explain Arabic sounds, both in technical and non-technical language.This information should be sufficient for recognition of letters and silent reading of the Qur'an and other vocalized texts.Lesson 30 deals with the subject of correct Qur'anic pronunciation, but it is worth repeating that the learner should regularly listen to the Qur'an on tapes or records and try to get the help of a qari (a trained reciter of the Qur'an) to provide him with at least some initial training in Qur'anic pronunciation.NON-MUSLIM STUDENTS Most of the manuals teaching Arabic deal perfunctorily with the script, and the one or two books which are exclusively devoted to the script lay greater emphasis on the art of writing than on reading.Thus a non-Muslim student will 2

INTRODUCTION find this book not only refreshingly different from such conventional books but also, because of its use of material from the Qur'an, can learn something more than any one book on script can teach.This book will add a new dimension to the study of classical or modern Arabic.PERSIAN AND URDU SCRIPT The Qur'anic art of calligraphy, as we have already noted, occupies the central place in Muslim visual culture.Its script unites believers all over the world, and the designs and decorative motifs based on the Arabic alphabet have permeated every level of Muslim society.Today in spite of the recession of the Arabic language to the borders of Arab states, as opposed to its medieval role as a lingua franca, the Arabic script still expresses two great Indo-Aryan cultures, the cultures of Urdu and Persian-speaking peoples.In fact, the largest number of Arabic scribes in the world are today trained in the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent.The new generation of Indo-Pakistani Muslim immigrants in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe still understands Urdu, though some of the young boys and girls may not be able to speak it.The Urdu and Persian adaptations of the Arabic script are explained in the Appendix.This explanation is primarily meant for those lndo-Pakistani and Iranian immigrants who still retain some know ledge of their native languages.It is hoped that the presentation of these two scripts will help to restore the broken links with their cultural heritage.Even those readers who have no knowledge of Urdu or Persian should find this material useful as an introduction to these two forms of the Arabic script.One of the most wasteful things in the world today, H.G.Wells once observed, is the school textbook.is neither a text book nor a teach-yourself sort of manual.It is a programmed book in which the Arabic script is presented in a series of steps.A teacher is not needed to take you step by step, but there are no short-cuts.If the approach is to be successful, every step must be thoroughly mastered before proceeding to the next.A foreign language, especially when a sacred text is involved, however, does require some initial help by a native speaker-in this case by a trained qiiri.As a qiiri need not be a trained teacher of Arabic an explanatory note is given for his benefit at the end of the book.But students who are interested need not deprive themselves of the note.It would, however, be better if they read it after the first reading of the book.Learning to read is the easiest skill in acquiring a foreign language.It is possible to proceed at one's own pace.One can always go back to read what one has not understood or forgotten.But it is not possible to learn without effort.It requires practice, and the more the student puts into it the more he will get out of it.3

Symbol a as in a as in as in as in u as in n as in ENGLISH SYMBOLS FOR ARABIC VOWELS English Keyword hut father, wall or acid, depending on the nature of the accompanying conso- nants (see Lesson 18 for details).sit seat put pool The above chart gives the learner only approximate relations between the Arabic vowels and English vowels already known to him and provides the contrast between short and long vowels which is very important in Arabic.Please note that long vowels must be very long.THE GLOTTAL STOP The symbol ' (explained in lesson 13) represents a glottal stop, similar to the sound frequently made in English at the beginning of a word with an initial vowel, e.g., "absolutely", "essential", etc.At the end of symbol a, thus a·, it indicates a short but complete pause, e.g., 'Jnshii'a//iih.THE SPELLING OF THE WORD •QUR.AN" According to the rules of transliteration, the correct spelling is 'Qur'an·, but standard books not using diacritical marks have adopted 'Qur'an·, without the macron on a, so the generally-used 'Qur'an·, has heen adopted in this book for the sake of consistency.4