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The Arabic Quran's Dilemma
Dear Friends,
May you allow me to share with you this short study on the grammatical
problems in the Arabic text of the Quran. The English reader may not fully
recognize the importance of diacritical points in the Arabic language.
We will cover this in our study. To begin, it must be emphasized (as has
been done) that the Quran was originally written in the Arabic language
WITHOUT DIACRITICAL POINTS, as this was the nature of Arabic writings at
the inception of Islam. The diacritical points were added to the text of
the Quran many years after what is called the "Divine Inspiration"
of the Quran. So, many years passed seeing a Quran without diacritical
points. The importance of this fact will be adequately recognized as we
study the relationship of the diacritical points to the Arabic language.
In the many examples that follow, you will see that the addition or
subtraction of diacritical points RADICALLY ALTERS the meaning of the entire
text. Therefore, those men who added the diacritical points to the Quran
long after it was first written assumed the responsibility of interpreting
the entire book, and were in the position to change and rewrite anything
that they did not agree with. This occurrence is unique to Islam and its
holy book. The Bible is widely available in its original texts, both Hebrew,
Aramaic and Greek, for any and all who want to research it. To read the
Quran as it was originally written would leave the reader to interpret
and choose for themselves from the thousands of possible meanings available
in the Arabic when it is without diacritical points. We begin by looking closely at the nature of several Arabic words and
how the diacritical points change their meanings. The English word "girl"
in Arabic is "bent". The Arabic word "bent" is composed
of three letters which are "Ba", "non", and "Ta".
When these three letters are written connected to each other without the
diacritical points they will appear quite identical. They will look like
three adjacent crescents facing upwards. The difference between them is
nothing. Only the diacritical points can differentiate between them. Here
is how it works: Therefore one can imagine the multitude of possible alternatives that
could arise from the varying arrangements of diacritical points on each
of the three letters. Many of these alternatives are meaningful. For example:
1. If you put one point below the first, one above the second, two above
the third, it's "bent" which translates as "girl" in
English. The list could go on. The number of Arabic letters that need diacritical
points are 22 out of a total 28 Arabic letters. They are "Ba, ta,
Tha, Geem, Ha, Kha, Dal, Zal, Ra, Zeen, Seen, Sheen, Sad, dzad, Ta, dza,
'ein, ghein, Fa, Gaf, non, and ya when it is the first or middle letter
in a word". 22 letters out of 28 have no possible sound without diacritical
points!! Remember, the Quran was first written without any diacritical
points on these 22 letters!! The second important point is: In addition to the diacritical points,
there are other forms of vocalization marks that change the pronunciation
and the meaning of the given word. These marks are Damma, Fathha, kassra,
shadda, scoon, madda, and other less important marks. They are put
above or below the letter to affect its pronunciation. Please realize that
the same word will vary in its pronunciation and meaning according to the
positioning of these marks. For example: 1. The same form of the word "bent" (A girl in English) will
become "banat" by putting "Fathha" on the second letter,
which means "she built" in English. Therefore even after adding diacritical points above and below the Arabic
letters, the meaning of the word will not be explicit with certainty except
after adding the vocalization marks. Both the diacritical points and the
vocalization marks were not used in the ancient Arabic writings of the
pre-, post-, and Quranic period. For a matter of simplification to the
English reader, you may ponder the difference between (to & too) (too
& two) (girls & girl's) (its & it's), although in Arabic things
are even more complicated. After this hurried analysis of the formulation of Arabic words, it may
become clear to the reader to what extent the words will be meaningless
without these points and marks. And that any attempt to add these diacritical
points and vocalization marks to non-punctuated text of the Quran may result
in countless numbers of readings. This is the language in which the Quran was first written and we can
imagine the enormity and scope of the problems that faced the later Muslims,
many years after the early beginning of Islam, when they started putting
diacritical points and vocalization marks on every letter in the Quran.
They may have been experts in the Arabic language, experts in Arabic grammar,
but they definitely did not receive Divine Inspiration to guard them against
making mistakes, or to ensure that the original wordings and meanings of
the Quran were unchanged. These ideas that have drawn my attention are not merely an offensive
attitude against the Quran. No. There is a very explicit example that manifests
the dangers of the issue under discussion. There is a Quranic verse that
states: "ALM Sabbeh Raboka Al Azzaam", which translates as: "ALM
praise your glorified God". We ask the question what is ALM? Nobody
answers. The scholars say it's just a divine symbol that has no definite
meaning and it should be accepted as such. In an attempt to explain it
some claim that it may be a part of the succeeding word "Sabbeh"
which translates as "praise", but then the formulation of the
sentence will not be grammatically correct. If we remembered the previous
facts about the diacritical points and apply them to this verse we shall
find that the letter "Ba" in the word "ALM saBBeh"
was originally not punctuated. So, it may be "Ba" if one point
is put below it, or it may be "ya" if you add a second point
below it. This second point below the letter "Ba" would only
slightly change the form of the sentence but it would radically change
the meaning 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Changing this one letter
would turn the whole story, history, and faith of Islam upside down! Do
you know why? Let's read the sentence after adding just one point below
the letter "Ba", changing it into "ya". The sentence
will be, "ALMsyyh Raboka Al 'Azzaam." Just this one diacritical
point will turn over the entire Islamic religion because the sentence now
means: THE CHRIST IS YOUR GLORIFIED GOD!!! Remember, the original Quranic language was not punctuated. Punctuation
was added later by non-divinely inspired laymen who were fluent in the
Arabic language and nothing more. This confession is very logic for us,
the Christians. But if this was the confession of Muhammad and his Quran,
what would then be the outcome? Ponder, think, then decide. It is fascinating
to consider that the story of the Quran can be given a completely different
direction and the history and religion of Islam can be turned over by just
one diacritical point. Only one point can turn the entire Islamic world
upside down. Not one Muslim scholar, teacher or Mullah in the entire world
can attest to the presence or absence of this little point in the original
text of the Quran before Muslims started to punctuate it. Oh God, just
one diacritical point can vanquish an entire religion with its holy book
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