Literacy, Oral and Linguistic Environment of the Qur’an
The history of knowledge about ancient Arabic linguistics has become an interesting and productive development in the study of Islamic origins in the last decade. Lots of inscriptions that are not clear in number are scattered in the Arabian desert. Everything that is scattered is all centuries before Christ. Apart from the old inscriptions, there are also new inscriptions and most of them are graffiti or scribbles from someone who was just passing by. Basically, this graffiti is written very badly and also makes it meaningless for historians, but it is important to know that this graffiti provides an opportunity for people who are language historians to understand the history of texts and languages in the Arabian Peninsula. Finally, this discovery was used to understand the early history of the Koran. Even though there are many people who claim the theory of the Qur’an based on this evidence, due to limited data, many of the resulting data conclusions are not as appropriate as they initially were.
This discovery also has a positive impact, namely that we can find out about the linguistic environment in which the Al-Qur’an emerged and what the status of writing and literacy was in this context. Regardless of the actual writing system, the people of Mecca and Yathrib at that time were not literate, this is based on the latest and authoritative studies on this issue. This proves that in understanding the Qur’an we can know that its status is an oral text and developed in a wider cultural context. Finally, recognition of such conditions could be a mediator in the formation and transmission of the Al-Qur’an in its early history.
- Oral and Written in the Late Ancient Hijaz Period
Islamic tradition considers that the truest and most pure form of the Qur’an is the form of the text spoken in wordsQur’anitself. According to Neuwirth, the Al-Qur’an is basically in oral form but also in pronunciation and this happened during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Through this, his opinion is very contrary to the Islamic tradition which says that the Al-Qur’an was revealed orally and uses the consensus that applies in modern circles regarding the Al-Qur’an. Neuwirth said that the Koran is a proclamation and has the problem of its unwritten form. According to him, this shows that preserving the Al-Qur’an after the death of the proclaimer (Muhammad) is a difficult task for everyone, especially during the codification process. In the period after Muhammad died, Neuwirth stated that the Al-Qur’an was indeed a written product made by friends.
In contrast to Neuwirth, Daniel Madigan said that the Koran had not yet been written down at the time of the prophet’s death. The opinion that says that the Koran was written during the time of the prophet is only John Burton’s opinion. There are also those who have a middle opinion, namely Noldeke and Schwally, who state that it is impossible if the Koran was written while Muhammad was still alive, but it is possible that Muhammad dictated what was revealed to a scribe and not just certain verses. This has been supported by evidence brought by Schwally that there are names of individuals who are alleged to be Muhammad’s scribes.
- US Oralists and Literacy In Saudi Arabia
In the sixth and seventh centuries most studies of the Qur’an ignored the issue of literacy in Arab areas. There are still many studies that do not present a direct discussion of the status and role of writing in Mecca and Medina during Muhammad’s time. It is true that research on the formation of the Al-Qur’an has been carried out in areas outside the Hijaz, but conditions in such areas are very different both from a social, cultural and economic perspective. This means we cannot draw conclusions from lands outside the Hijaz. Evidence from areas outside the Hijaz does not provide very good evidence of literacy to the extent that writing was used regularly in carrying out communicative tasks. According to Sidney, literacy was actually limited to the early days of Islam. At the beginning of the seventh century Hijri, literacy traditions were very rare, such as when wanting to understand the formation of Muhammad’s religious movement and its sacred texts in context. In fact, basically the sacred text is not literate but is oral. According to Macdonald, even in the desert, graffiti has been found, and why didn’t ancient people make good use of their less than perfect writing. He said that the Arab people already knew the writing system, but in reality the ancient Arab people still used oral traditions. In ancient times, writing systems such as graffiti were only limited to games, and had no influence whatsoever on the culture of oral communication that they used in everyday life. According to Macdonald, the reason the nomads learned writing which was actually useless was because their activity was the same as what literate people did in writing their writing briefly as a form of recreation.
Actually, the inscription comes from areas outside the Central Hijaz such as Yemen, Tayma and Dumah. MacDonald said that what happened in areas other than Mecca and Medina was different from what happened outside the Hijaz, he said that the culture in Mecca and Medina at that time used more oral traditions such as Tuareg culture. This is a point of statement that the absence of inscriptions in the Central Hijaz indicates that the people of Mecca and Medina at that time were not literate and their traditions were only oral traditions. If there were Meccans who wanted to be as literate as a trader then it is likely that they would not have learned Arabic, which at that time was not a language of international exchange. They probably studied Greek or Aramaic which at that time was used for international purposes such as trade. In this case, it can be concluded that if Muhammad was a trader, it would be inconceivable for him to learn Aramaic or Greek which would later also be used for the purposes of spreading religion to Judaism and Christianity. Even though this author doesn’t actually support a statement like this, this statement could also help in many ways.
- Writing the Koran in a non-literate society
The status of literacy in society in the early days of Islam, especially in the Mecca and Hijaz regions. Research highlights that literacy at that time did not correspond to the writing practices required to record the Qur’an in written form during the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The findings show that people of that time basically could not read and write, casting doubt on the possibility of scribes capable of transcribing Muhammad’s words in simple villages where formal writing did not exist.
The process of collecting and writing the Qur’an also revealed large variations between regional versions, which were ultimately overcome by ʿAbd al-Malik and al-Ḥajjāj to create the imperial standard version of the Qur’an. This process continues as conflicting traditions continue to be remembered or discovered, even after the step of starting to write them down. With the support of political forces, this standard version eventually replaced other earlier versions and became the permanently accepted text we have today.
Reports about the writing of the Qur’an during Muhammad’s lifetime in the Islamic tradition may be a projection of the circumstances of medieval Islamic intellectuals onto memories of the life of their founder. This shows the importance of understanding the historical and social context of the time to understand the composition and early transmission of the Qur’an. The process of compiling and writing the Qur’an also reminds us of the importance of eliminating old teachings and replacing them with new traditions that are often very different, as well as efforts to create unity in the sacred text.
Even if we allow for the production of ephemeral documents of a practical nature, there remains, as Robin frequently reminds us, “an absence of literary texts, chronicles, treatises, poetry, myths, or rituals.” In other words, from a cultural perspective, these societies remained completely illiterate and used mostly spoken language, a point also emphasized by Stein. Outside the oasis cities of northern and South Arabia, Stein concludes, the level of literacy that existed in the Arabian Peninsula was effectively limited to “the ability to leave behind spontaneous and ephemeral stone scribbles, which served only to pass the time and served no purpose.” communicative.” And more importantly, as Stein further observes, “There are no indicators of the existence of epic, mythological, or historical literature in pre-Islamic Arabia.
Therefore, even if we allow, as Stein suggests, the possibility of some simple, practical forms of writing, literacy and formal writing practices appear to have been very limited in Arab society at that time. This shows that the process of writing and collecting the Koran in written form during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad may not have been in line with the literacy conditions that existed at that time. Thus, understanding the historical and social context of that time is important to understand how the Qur’an was compiled and transmitted.
In this context, in-depth research on literacy and writing practices in early Islam provides valuable insights into the complexities in the process of composition and transmission of the Qur’an. These findings also highlight the importance of eliminating old teachings and replacing them with new traditions.
- Al-Qur’an and the Arab dialect is more complete
From the discussion of the Qur’an and late ancient Arabic dialects, it can be concluded that understanding the historical and social context in the early period of Islam is very important in understanding the process of composition and transmission of the Qur’an. Literacy was limited in Arab society at that time, and the Qur’an developed within the context of a broader oral culture. The process of writing and collecting the Qur’an shows complexities in regional version variations that were eventually overcome to create the imperial standard version of the Qur’an. The importance of eliminating old teachings and replacing them with new traditions in the process of compiling the Qur’an is also highlighted in this research.
In addition, the identification of an “Old Hijazi” dialect of early Arabic, characterized primarily by the use of relative pronoun forms, provides new insights into discovering the historical context of the Qur’an. Although there are still limitations in the available evidence, this dialect is believed to be represented primarily in the text of the Qur’an. Thus, an understanding of literacy and writing practices in early Islam provides a clearer picture of how the Qur’an was composed and transmitted.
Research on the Qur’an and ancient Arabic dialects provides a deep understanding of the complexities in the process of composition, transmission, and standardization of the Qur’an. Factors such as limited literacy, regional dialect variations, and political influences played an important role in the formation of these sacred texts. Thus, understanding the historical and social context of that time is the key to digging deeper into the origins and development of the Qur’an.
- Dial the Qur’an and ask us the Qur’an
Al-Qur’an dialects and the origins of the Al-Qur’an, it can be concluded that there is complexity in identifying the origins of the Al-Qur’an and the influence of dialects in this sacred text. The hypothesis about the writing of the Qur’an in an Arabic dialect unique to the Umayyad Levant suggests that the Qur’an may have been written in a prestigious dialect spoken in the region, but there is still uncertainty regarding the actual location where the Qur’an was composed. Despite efforts to identify the linguistic dialects used in the Qur’an, the available evidence is still insufficient to determine with certainty the location of the Qur’an’s production in time and space. Thus, understanding the origins of the Qur’an and the influence of dialects in the sacred text remains a complex debate and requires more evidence and research to clarify it.
Moreover, surviving witnesses of the Qur’anic dialect, such as Greco-Arabic Psalter fragments and early Islamic papyri, show more substantial evidence of direct correspondence with the Qur’anic language. However, the origins of the Qur’an remain a complex question, with the location of its production in time and space being variables that still need to be resolved. Although there are doubts and uncertainties in identifying the dialect and location of the origin of the Qur’an, further research and deeper analysis of historical and linguistic evidence is needed to provide a clearer understanding of the process of writing and transmission of the Qur’an in early period of Islam
- The knot
Based on the explanation above, we can draw a common thread to conclude that there was a complex debate regarding the origins of the Al-Qur’an and the process of its writing in the early days of Islam. Some scholars suggest that the Qur’an may have been written in part during the life of the Prophet Muhammad, but convincing evidence to support this claim is still lacking. The low literacy conditions in Mecca and the Hijaz at that time raised doubts about the possibility of the Qur’an being written before the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Neuwirth’s hypothesis about the Qur’an’s full commitment to writing before his death is considered unlikely based on the finding that society at that time was basically illiterate. Apart from that, the strong oral tradition in ancient Arab society was also an important factor in the process of transmitting and forming the Qur’an.
Apart from that, the discussion of Al-Qur’an dialects also shows the complexity in identifying the origins and influence of dialects in this sacred text. Although it is hypothesized that the Qur’an may have been written in the dialect spoken in Syro-Palestine and Egypt during the Umayyad period, historical evidence suggests a direct connection to the Arabic dialect spoken in the areas occupied by the Umayyads. Fragments of the Damascus Greco-Arabic Psalms also provide insight into phonological differences with typical Levantine Arabic dialects. However, more evidence is needed to identify the use of Qur’anic dialects in the Hejaz, and the northern Hijaz region may be more suitable as a location for the origins of the Qur’an than Mecca and Medina.
Several factors that cause complexity in understanding the origins of the Al-Qur’an and the process of writing it in the early days of Islam include the low literacy conditions in Mecca and Hijaz at that time, which raises doubts about the possibility of writing the Al-Qur’an before his death. Prophet Muhammad. Apart from that, the strong oral tradition in ancient Arab society was also an important factor in the process of transmitting and forming the Qur’an. Complexity also arises from the debate regarding the influence of dialects in the text of the Qur’an, where the identification of dialects used in the Qur’an still requires more evidence to identify the use of Qur’anic dialects in the Hijaz. All of these factors together create challenges in fully understanding the origins of the Qur’an and the process of its writing in the early days of Islam.
