2019/06/01 by Marijn van Putten · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Historical and Linguistic Studies #Islamic Studies and History #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Archetype #Phrase #Spell #Philosophy #Meaning (existential) #Literature #Consistency (knowledge bases) #Linguistics #History #Theology #Art #Computer science #Artificial intelligence #Epistemology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0041977x19000338
openalex publication_date 2019/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
Abstract This paper takes a novel approach to the question of when and how the text of the Quran was codified into its present form, usually referred to as the Uthmanic text type. In the Quran the phrase niʿmat allāh/rabbi-ka “the grace of god/your lord” can spell niʿmat “grace” either with tāʾ or tāʾ marbūṭah . By examining 14 early Quranic manuscripts, it is shown that this phrase is consistently spelled using only one of the two spellings in the same position in all of these different manuscripts. It is argued that such consistency can only be explained by assuming that all these manuscripts come from a single written archetype, meaning there must have been a codification project sometime in the first century. The results also imply that these manuscripts, and by extension, Quran manuscripts in general, were copied from written exemplars since the earliest days.