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Part 2: The True State Of The Qur'an CHAPTER XIII (Cont'd.) Back To Main Index "Again, in thousands of cases it [alif] is not written, although it is fully pronounced (for instance ought to have been written
Thus, this new sign is used to ‘mimic’ consonantal symbol alifs in order to make up for thousands of missing ones which "ought to have been written" and weren’t, as is evident in the inconsistent spelling mistakes we will note. This method does not ‘replace’ the alifs into the graphic form, but in a manner which is mistaken by some as ‘original Qur’anic Arabic’.9 The following Note IX from p. xxxi of the 1938 Hyderabad printing of M. Pickthall’s translation and an Indian-ised 1924 Royal Cairo Edition confirms this. The dagger alifs (small alifs) are marked with arrows:
Although the dagger alif is also utilised in some cases in modern Arabic it is not part of ‘original’ Qur’anic script. Islam has happily used it these so-called ‘small alifs’ to ‘correct’ various types of shortfalls in the ‘original’ - the true Qur’anic Arabic. It is important to note, then, that while Bilal Philips introduces some spelling mistakes which require this type of ‘correcting’. He also attributes them to the work of ‘Uthman’s scribes: "The Qur’an is essentially an oral revelation 10 written down according to the Arabic script known to the Prophet’s (PBUH) companions. Even the peculiarities of the scribes responsible for transcribing copies of the Qur’an made during Caliph Uthman’s reign (644-56 C.E.) have been preserved to this day since Muslim scholars down through the ages have unanimously agreed to follow the basic structure of the "Uthmanic" transcription when making new131 |
). For printing the Qur’an they have invented a new sign, a small alif, which is marked just above the letter which this alif is to follow, and the difficulty is removed." (Orthographical, p. 78; emphasis added)8
and give 
‘the same sound’ and the same meaning, the one is a corrected graphic form and the other has been ‘fixed’ with the ‘new’ invention. Something was absent from ‘the original’. The reasons for such ‘absence’, we will see, is varied. 
), Yas (
) and Waws ( 
) written but not read as well as some that are read but not written. For example, the pronounced Alif in the word "Kitaab" is sometimes written 
) and at other times not (
). Similarly, the unpronounced Alif in the phrase "Bismi" is written in some cases 
) and not in others ( 
)." (The Qur’an’s Numerical Miracle, B. Philips, ‘19’ HOAX AND HERESY, p. 10).
Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem (In the name of Allah, The Beneficient, The Merciful), there are 3 deleted Alifs, one of which is unpronounced (
) and (
), which make the total number of letters 22 and not 19." (‘19’, Bilal Philips, p. 10f)
[‘Allah’], and, in the second group, its corrected form 
[‘Allaah’]. Thus Hamidullah too admits that the word Allah is misspelled in the Qur’an. 
), others, like the Egyptians, still unsure they want to reveal this, or simply unsure how to spell what they believe is the Divine Name, use a fatha (short a) (
). Perhaps it is in hope that the number of errors won’t appear so great, or that one of them is correct!! Of course it is not desirable that there are 2,700 times12 in which the Qur’an has spelled the word ‘God’ WRONG! Lest we forget, this accounts for 2700 of the very large number of alifs missing from the ‘original’ Qur’an. 
). However, they didn’t follow this spelling in each Bismillah which introduce each Surah
is written as 
, without the Alif, in the oldest manuscripts of the Qur’an and also in Qur’ans printed in the Arab world, while the Qur’ans printed in India and Pakistan include this particular Alif based on their old manuscripts." (‘19’ , p. 22).
. 
] (This short Alif is also known as dagger Alif.) are placed on the consonant which carries fathah." (Qur’anic Arabic, Surty, p. 60; emphasis added)
." (Ulum, p. 60; emphasis added).
while in another Hafs text, namely the 1924 Egyptian, there is a graphic alif 
. Since the Medinan (Warsh) text also has dagger alif 
, we again find evidence that the Indian and Pakistani Taj (as in the Swahili) texts bear 
, "those who fight", and (2) 
, "those who are slain". The meaning of the first reading is wider, and includes that under the second. I have translated on the basis of the second reading, which is in accordance with the text of the Royal Egyptian edition." (The Holy Qur’an, King Fahd, 1410, Footnote #4824)
), that of Hafs, sticks to the text of ‘Uthman, while 
), that of Warsh, has been obtained by adding a dagger alif, and thus ‘extending’ (adding to) the text of ‘Uthman one alif. 
(they deceive) is used twice, while in the Jordan version, the word occurs as 
in the second instant. Both
which disagrees with the ‘Uthmanic graphic form, although, in the 1924 Egyptian Edition it is not obvious as it has the same configuration as a ya alif
20 - a dagger alif above the ya stem and no dots. However, only Ya’qub chose to use the content of the ‘Uthmanic text and so has a consonant y in his reading. 
).
.
) in Qur’anic script which stands for the consonant 
