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Orthodox Caliphs in the light of new inscriptions discovered in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
Author(s): Al Ibrhm Al-Ghabbn
Source: Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 40, Supplement: The
Development of Arabic as a Written Language. Papers from the Special Session of the
Seminar for Arabian Studies held on 24 July, 2009 (2010), pp. 89-101
Published by: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41224044
Accessed: 28-11-2016 17:03 UTC
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Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
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M.C.A. Macdonald (ed.), The development of Arabic as a written language. (Supplement to the Proceedings of the
Seminar for Arabian Studies 40). Oxford: Archaeopress, 2010, pp. 89-102.
Summary
The letter forms of the Arabic script were already fully formed by the early sixth century AD, and it is reported in the Hadith and
other early Islamic sources that writing was greatly encouraged by the Prophet (pbuh) and the Orthodox Caliphs. The calligraphic
developments in the script and the improvements, such as the dotting of letters, which we read about in these sources are matched by
what we find in the earliest extant Arabic inscriptions, papyri, and manuscripts of the Islamic period. This paper describes the ways
in which the use of writing was encouraged from the earliest years of Islam with the consequent development of different forms of
the script, and illustrates these from previously published and newly discovered material.
Keywords: Arabic script, writing, inscriptions, Prophet Muhammad, early Islam
Peninsula.
Usays (AD 528, Fig. 2) and Harrn (AD 568, Fig. 3) (alcentury, show that the Arabic script used in the north-west
Munajjid 1972: 38).3
of the Arabian Peninsula, developed from the Nabataean
Aramaic script (al-Jabbun 1977: 51-70). This is now It should be noted that some letters completed their
confirmed by the texts presented in the above-mentioned
development from their Nabataean to their Arabic form at
paper by Lala Nehme, which were discovered recently
a relatively early stage. These arey, h, initial and medial
1 The author and the editor are most grateful to Robert Hoyland for his
3 On all these inscriptions see Robin 2006, and Hoyland, this volume.
considerable help in the preparation of the translation of this paper.
On the Jabal Usays graffito and the Hamm inscription see Larcher, this
volume, and on the former also Macdonald 2009 and pp. 141-142 here.
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90
cAl
Ibrahim
Al-Ghabbn
Figure
Figure
2.
Figure
1.
The
The
3.
The
Zebed
graffito
Harrn
inscription
ofJabal
Usays
inscription
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(AD
(AD
51
(AD
568)
The evolution of the Arabic script in the period of the Prophet Muhammad and the Orthodox Caliphs 9 1
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92
AIT
Ibrahim
Al-Ghabbn
(mudawwar)
called
8,9).
Makk
or
Madam
HijzJ
(Ibn
writing or
to ten boys
of Medina (Ibn Sacd
1987, ii: 22).al-Nadm
ibn Kacb, Zayd ibn Thbit, and others were away. The
Prophet (pbuh) dictated religious and general matters to
others, such as Khlid ibn Sacd ibn al-cs and Mucawiyah
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The evolution of the Arabic script in the period of the Prophet Muhammad and the Orthodox Caliphs 93
the Prophet (pbuh) and would have been the one used
to without dots under the caliph cUthmn ibn cAffan
down
write down the QurDn as well as official correspondence
will be explained below.
and the transactions of daily life in the lifetime of the
It should be noted, however, that no surviving written
I looked to Zayd ibn Thbit and he put dots on the The Prophet (pbuh) considered the dissemination
of writing among Muslims as a divine command and
shin and the zy, four in all [making the word read
nunshizuha], and he added a hD [on the endpart
of] of his mission. He exerted his maximum efforts to
yatasanna (al-FarrD 1955, i: 172).7
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94
It
AIT
is
Ibrahim
He
apostle
Who
from
Al-Ghabbn
has
sent
amongst
apostates,
with the result thatthe
many of unlettere
the Companions
amongst
themselves,
were
martyred, among themto
aboutrehearse
fifty persons whoto
The
the Prophet
Muhammad
the first time,
but rather was a recopying of (pbuh)
the Quranic text, wi
of thewhich
rules
be
had beenfor
written distinguishing
down originally in the presence
letters with identicalof shapes
by
the
use
dots
the Prophet (pbuh).
To ensure
accuracy,
Zayd of
also used
remarkable expansion
inofthe
teaching
of though
writi
portions
the Qmn
which had been memorized,
its use in the religious,
and
daily
life
he wouldofficial,
only accept these if they
were confirmed
by two
Muslim community. It
was
followed
the
era
o
other
memorizers
(al-Suyt 1976, i:by
66). Those
assigned
to
Orthodox Caliphs (11-40/633-661)
focus
the compiling of the Qiun under when
the direct supervision
of
to improving calligraphy
and
developing
the
styl
Zayd ibn Thbit
were
divided into two teams: one
dictating
shapes of the letters. The
and the other
improvement
writing. cUmar ibn al-Khattbof
was a member
calligr
began with the introduction
of
"alif
of
prolon
of the latter team
andthe
was quoted
as saying
"Dictation
of
(-alif al-madd, representing
the Quin (mashij)
[a:]),
should only
as
be undertaken
well as
by boys
intro
the
time
of
completion
Almighty bless Abu Bakr, for he was the first to collect the
leaf stalks (Ibn Hajar 1960, ix: 12). During his caliphate
who
had already been available since the time of the Prophet (pbuh).
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The evolution of the Arabic script in the period of the Prophet Muhammad and the Orthodox Caliphs 95
HijzT script, which was also used in the lifetime of the
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and it is possible that dots
may have been employed.
areas to teach people the Quin in the form in which theyInitially, the caliph cUthmn ibn cAffan entrusted Zayd
had learnt it. These differences led to many variations ibn
in Thbit, cAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Sa^d ibn al-cs,
and cAbd al-Rahmn ibn al-Hrith ibn Hishm with this
the text between one place and another, since there was
no unified mushaf When the caliph cUthman learnt of
task and when they needed others to help them, the caliph
the differences in reciting the Qmn, he consulted the
added eight more people from the Quraysh and from the
The script used to write the mushaf must have been the
In order to accommodate all possible readings
Hijaz, which developed in a remarkable way during the
of some words it was decided to remove all dots.
caliphate of cUthmn, particularly after the introduction
This contributed to the solution of the core problem
of the mashq, i.e. the elongation of letters.
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96
cAl
Ibrahim
Al-Ghabbn
1940:
9)
and
Ahns papyrus
(PERF 558) of 22/643 (Fig.
i.e. in the
were
distributed
to6), Mecca,
reign
of
the
second
caliph,
cUmar
ibn
al-Khattb.9
There,
Basra, and Kufa. Whichever
rep
six
Yemen, Bahrain,
correct, this version
same
order
and
alif representing
medial [a:]
is foundtranscribed
on two occasions,
of
the text
was
in the
word shh (lines 4over
and 5). Chronologically,
style,both
by
Muslims
a wide ar
Hamad2003:66).
The
insertion
B), which
is bymedial
a certain cAbd al-Rahmn
ibn of
Khlid ibn
of
the
alif
prolongation
and other words
al-csproper
dated 40/660-661 (Fig.
7), thus coinciding with
in
nouns
the end of the period of the Orthodox Caliphs. Here, the
Arabic calligraphy
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The evolution of the Arabic script in the period of the Prophet Muhammad and the Orthodox Caliphs 97
certain. The dots are rounded and are consistent in style
and usage with those in the papyri and inscriptions of the
cAffan.
reading is:
ams wa-asbaha
m yakrahu
the /, and one dot beneath the b. It also seems likely that
the Zuhayr inscriptions, see Ghabban 2008.
the b of as baha had a dot beneath it, although this 10
is On
less
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98
cAl
Ibrahim
Figure
10.
Al-Ghabbn
The
Figure
12.
(From
tombstone
El-Hawary
193
14. An
inscr
Arabic Figure
inscription
in Arabic
Mecca dated
(From Rshid
1995: 160,
first century
AH. (From
Appendix no. 1).
Appendix no. 2).
Figure
13.
An
80/699-700.
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The evolution of the Arabic script in the period of the Prophet Muhammad and the Orthodox Caliphs 99
example is in line 3 of the Ahns papyrus (22/645) in theduring the first half. Thus, all the examples of alifand lm
name tadhraq (Fig. 6), but it is also found in the final yrin the Ahns papyrus show this characteristic (Fig. 6), as
of an inscription discovered recently on the Syrian Hajjdo all examples of Allah in the first Zuhayr inscription
route, which can be dated to the second half of the first(Fig. 10). Similarly in the Aswan tombstone (Fig. 12),
despite the rather crude quality of the script, the tip of the
century AH (al-Kilb 2009: 139); and in the final qf and
nun in the cUthmn ibn Wahrn inscription from Mecca kfis level with the tips of the two examples of alif in its
of 80/699-700 (Fig. 13 and cf. Fig. 14) (al-Hrith 2009: vicinity in the sentence wa-adkhalahu rahmah minka
489).
oftheQuin.
Sigla
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