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ORTHOGRAPHICAL PECULIARITIES
IN THE TEXT OF THE QUR'AN

A GUIDE ON HOW TO READ IT CORRECTLY

Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah

     It is not peculiar to Arabic that there is a marked difference between  pronouncing phrasein ordinary conversation

and doing the same thing while reciting a written text. Even in recitation, a lay text is not the same thing as a sacred text,

recited solely for purposes of spiritual satisfaction. This is an art, a branch of music in its wider sense.

     All this is more marked in Arabic; and the Muslims have developed the art into a veritable science, while applying it

to the recitation of the Qur'an, their holy book. The reasons are various. These were perhaps inherent in the very nature

of the Arabic  language. To mention one, I may recall, for a near analogy, the French language, where final consonants

are mute, and practically never pronounced; the city of Paris is pronounced "pari" without the final s. Almost all Arabic

words end in what one may call vowels (a, i, u, an, in, un), and in general they are never pronounced although in a

solemn recital they are not neglected. Even here there are exceptions. for instance, the ending word of a sentence. I

have reason to believe that this was in use in Arabia before Islam, and that the Prophet has himself enjoined it upon his

disciples, not that it should have been invented in later times. Occasions of solemn recital of prose pieces were not

wanting in pre-lslamic days, such as awards of arbitration and the like, couched in rhymed phrases, etc.

     To master this art of recital requires study and exercise. I am, however, not particularly concerned with it here now,

although it is fitting to remark that the beauty of the recital of the Qur'an, the very words of which bring one to ecstasy,

depends in a large measure upon the knowledge, not only of the correct pronunciation of each letter of the alphabet, but

also of its differing phonetic values according to various combinations. To give one sole example the word "Allah" is

pronounced in two diffe[erent ways]

 
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HAMIDULLAH ARTICLE (CONT'D)

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