'iLM-I-TAJWID. 



173 



it occurs ; the ^ (9) in the centre gives the number of verses in 

 this ruku y ; the A (8) at the bottom shows that this is the eighth 

 ruku' in the juz. It is thus comparatively easy to verify a 

 quotation if the juz and ruku' are named, but very few Muslim 

 writers give such information. A verse or a few detached 

 words are quoted, and it becomes an exceedingly difficult task 

 to verify them. Every theologian is supposed to know the 

 whole Quran by heart, and so it is considered quite super- 

 fluous to give " chapter and verse," or rather juz and ruku\ 



As it would be quite impossible to read the Quran correctly 

 unless it were written with the strictest attention to the 

 ancient copies, this act of copying it, with the rules thereof, 

 is known as Easm-ul-khat (ULtt^j ). The copyist should 

 follow the recension made in the time of the Khallf Osman. 

 This rule is based on the Ijma' (unanimous consent) of the 

 Companions. It is believed that the whole book was brought 

 by Gabriel from the copy on the " Preserved Tablet " (M*^ )j 

 and that he who alters a pause, or a letter, or who, without in 

 the least altering the sense, adds or takes away even a letter, 

 is guilty of a very grave offence. The consequence of this 

 is that the spelling of many words in the Quran follow special 

 and peculiar rules, to which rules again there are many 

 exceptions. The following are some of the rules of the 

 Rasm-ul-khat. 



1. The \ of masculine plurals ending in @j and & is 

 written above 2 the word if it occurs more than twice in 

 the Quran, if the \ is not followed by or ; e.g., 



2 Although I speak of the \ as written above, yet it must be remembered 

 that it is only placed there for convenience and in order that the readers may 

 remember it. It is called <_Ji^ ^Jy^^- (Khanjari Alif). Before the invention 

 of the short vowels, &c. ( S-»\^ ) it would not have been written at all, and 

 if a Quran were now to be written without Sp*V^ ( a thing never done) this 

 would not appear. 



