Jalaluddin Suyuti, in his book on the science of the Quran, narrates from Allama Zarkashi: “He said, among other things: ‘It may be assumed that it (writing the Quran in a script other than Arabic) is permissible, because a person who reads it with Arabic pronunciation can read it correctly. However, the closest thing to the truth is that it is not permissible, just as it is not permissible to read it in a language other than Arabic. This is also indicated by the narration that the pen is one of two languages.'”
Therefore, just as the Quran is not the Quran when translated into a language other than Arabic, even if it is written in a script other than Arabic, it is not considered the Quran, that is, it is not called a Mushaf.
It is known that the Holy Quran was written only in the Arabic alphabet during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), although there were Persians, Abyssinians, Romans and other non-Arabs among the Companions. None of them thought of writing it in their own script, nor did the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) recommend any other script to them in order to make it easier for themselves or their people. Rather, he said: “Recite the Quran as it was revealed.” Therefore, all the Companions wrote it according to a certain pattern and pronounced it in Arabic speech.
In order to make it easier for Muslims to recite the Quran, Allah Almighty revealed it in different readings, that is, reading styles, and He allowed each of them to recite it in whatever way was easy for him. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught them to the Companions letter by letter. Allah Almighty Himself introduced this for the ease of the Islamic Ummah and as a miracle of the Quran. However, He did not allow His Word to be read in a language other than Arabic or written in a script other than Arabic. If it were possible, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would certainly have introduced it. Because he always tried to make it easy for his followers. He also asked Allah Almighty to allow the Quran to be read in different readings.
Later, when the Quran was compiled during the reigns of Abu Bakr Siddiq and Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), the lands of Islam expanded, the number of Muslims increased dramatically, and many non-Arab peoples embraced Islam and began to study the Quran. Despite this, the Companions wrote the manuscripts only in the Arabic alphabet, and the entire Muslim community agreed on this. However, there were some among them who knew how to write in other letters, who only recognized those letters, and who needed to write the Quran in their own alphabets in order to easily master the reading of it. However, it is not narrated that any of them thought of writing it in an alphabet other than the Arabic alphabet. This is because they held fast to the method of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in preserving the Quran and knew that this was the most reliable way. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) commanded us to follow them, saying: “Hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Caliphs after me, and bite into them with your molar teeth.”
Allah Almighty revealed the Holy Quran in fluent Arabic, in a special manner and form. Several verses and hadiths indicate that it is obligatory to read the Quran exactly as it was revealed. It is not at all possible for everyone to read it in their own way. Therefore, the letter used to express it in writing must ensure its correct reading. Otherwise, both the writer and the reader will be guilty of sin. It is clear as day that it is impossible to fully and correctly express the sounds of the Quran with letters other than Arabic letters. Even if an attempt is made to do this with conventional symbols (transcription, transliteration), this can only be useful if the Arabic speech sounds, their derivation and pronunciation rules are thoroughly mastered. Otherwise, it has no meaning. In addition, it is known from experience that it confuses the reader, causes him to pronounce more in his own language, and as a result, leads to incorrect pronunciation of the words of the Holy Quran.
It should also be mentioned at the appropriate time that transcription is used only for short texts such as Arabic names, terms, and letter names. It is never used to express an entire text or book.
The alphabet in which the Quran is written must also reflect the rules of recitation and tajweed, such as mad, gunna, tafhim, and tarqiq, which are considered a condition for correct recitation. In addition, separate signs must be assigned to determine the rules of waqf and wasl, that is, the rules of stopping and joining during recitation. It is very difficult to show these in an alphabet other than the Arabic alphabet. This is especially impossible in Latin, Cyrillic, and similar alphabets, because when writing in them, a whole word has to be divided and the divided words added.
Even if it is assumed that these requirements can be met in some way, several pages should be allocated to explaining the terms to teach them. Now, if the time and effort spent on mastering those several pages were directed to learning the Arabic letters, it would be even more perfect literacy. Therefore, writing and learning the Quran only in Arabic letters is the most correct way in all respects. The Quran was revealed in Arabic.
In order for a person who intends to recite the Quran to be considered a Quran and to gain reward from it, he should recite it in the manner in which Allah revealed it, as much as possible, and in Arabic pronunciation. However, whoever distorts its Tajweed and recites it with the sounds of his own language, what he recites will not be a Quran. Therefore, writing the Quran in another alphabet and distributing it among people as the Quran is nothing more than causing trouble for people. Because the person who recites it is not considered to have recited the Quran. Therefore, using another alphabet may only be suitable for learning Arabic letters in the first stage.
The evidence in this sense could be continued for several more pages. But these evidences alone are probably enough for a person with faith and honesty. At the same time, if we look at reality, we will witness that the ruling of our religion on this matter is also absolutely true and wise.
As I picked up the book that inspired me to write this article and leafed through it, I was surprised that its “content did not match its name.” In it, the author briefly touched on the history of the Holy Quran before delving into the “Transformation of the Quran.” Unfortunately, along with providing a lot of good information, he also made a number of mistakes and confusions.
After that, he introduced the terminology of the new “Quranic writing.” First of all, the names of the letters were given incorrectly. Moreover, only some speech sounds were mentioned, and most speech sounds were not mentioned at all. Moreover, the fragmentary information provided about speech sounds is also full of errors. In some, there are even completely opposite definitions. In general, it is clear that the terms are very few and inadequate.
Whether the author noticed the level of the work or wanted to avoid responsibility, he recommended to readers Tajweed books written for those who know Arabic spelling. After all, what is the point of writing the Quran in Cyrillic for someone who can read them? For someone who reads the Quran in Cyrillic, those books are of no use at all.
Putting all this aside, I moved on to the main goal. The first thing that caught my eye was Surahs Al-Fatiha and Al-Baqarah. When I looked, the names of the surahs were written incorrectly. I said, okay, because the names of the surahs are not considered part of the Quran. Then I read the Basmala. Was it all one word or several words, which letter belonged to which word, and if I wanted to stop, where to stop – there was absolutely no way to know any of this. I couldn’t find the opportunity to do so, so I started reading. I saw that there were three mistakes in this one short sentence. When I say mistakes, don’t take it as a general mistake, I mean the mistakes that the author made in relation to the terms he himself adopted. Then I looked down and read. The number of mistakes was as follows: three in the second verse, two in the third and fourth, one in the fifth, five in the sixth, and finally four in the last verse of the surah. Now, if there are 20 mistakes in this short surah of seven verses, which is recited in every prayer and which many people know, what can happen in other large surahs of 50, 100, 200 verses?
Let’s take a look at other surahs so that our talk is not dry. As is known, some surahs begin with certain letters that are recited in a special way. For example, Surah Al-Baqarah. Its first verse consists of the letters “alif”, “lam” and “mim”. How to read them is usually learned from a teacher and the rules can be found in Tajweed books. In any case, since writing is an expression of speech, the word must be expressed correctly, at least based on accepted terminology. In the book, all three letters in this first verse of the sura are written incorrectly. I thought that in addition to Al-Baqarah, five other surahs begin with these letters, so I immediately opened them and looked. Do you believe it or not, these three letters are expressed in three different ways in six surahs, but in none of them is a single letter expressed correctly. However, all of them are read the same. After the first, shortest and simplest verse of the sura is written in this way, what can happen in other long, complex verses? These are, as mentioned above, just errors in the application of accepted terminology.
In addition, there are also very gross errors, such as the replacement, omission or addition of letters, the expression of one rule in one place and another in another, and expressions that require the violation of the rules that are necessary for the correct recitation. They are also innumerable. Even as a result of the incorrect pressing of a computer key instead of some words, various Latin letters have been written.
In conclusion, the names of most of the surahs in the book are given incorrectly. However, this is not possible in transcription. It is difficult to count the number of replacement, omission or addition of letters and incorrect expressions. It is much more difficult to find a verse free from errors in relation to the accepted terminology.
Hasankhon Yahya Abdumajid,
“Sheikh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf”
deputy imam of the mosque
