History of Harakat in the Mushaf of the Qur’an
Part 1
Muslimcreed – The history of the emergence of harakat in the Koran is very interesting to see. How did the incident occur?let’s listen…
Language became one of the cultural elements most affected by the expansion carried out by the Islamic government at that time. Its interaction with various foreign languages has more or less influenced the formation of new models of language. This phenomenon which in the next phase gave rise to the language of fusha and ‘ammah (Al-Farmawy, 2004: 287).
As an administrator as well as a former katib Ibn ‘Abbas, this matter caught the attention of Ziyad bin Abi Sufyan. He is worried that this language will have a negative impact on the Qur’an. If not now, maybe later after the death of a friend or senior tabi’in. Soon he met Abu al-Aswad al-Dualy, a linguist who is also known as the father of Nahwu. Ziyad hopes that Abu al-Aswad is willing to provide an answer as well as a solution to problems that might become complicated (Al-Qathan, 2000: 143).
Abu al-Aswad was not a person who lacked material things. His expertise is unquestionable, until he has earned the title of father of Nahwu science. This actually increases his alertness and caution towards something that has never been done before. Therefore, Ziyad’s ‘proposal’ was not immediately accepted. However, as with the previous process of codification (collection) of the Qur’an, the negotiations between the two were tough.
Reas allso : The History of Giving Dots and Harakat on the Letters of the Qur’an
Feeling deadlocked, Ziyad made an engineering mistake in reading the Qur’an. He sent someone to deliberately make a mistake in reciting the Qur’an in front of Abu al-Aswad. Long story short, the engineering was done. Abu al-Aswad, with his language sensitivity, immediately confirmed the reading which was none other than part of the letter At-Taubah verse 3. The word Rasuluhu which should be read rafa’ or dlammah is read with khafdl or kasrah (Al-Sholih, 1977: 92). ).
This incident at the same time moved Abu al-Aswad’s heart and reminded him of Ziyad’s request the other day. Accompanied by a young man from the Basrah tribe, he agreed and immediately started.
The first thing Abu al-Aswad did was put a reading mark, or what we now know as harakat. This step is nothing but departing from the mistakes he encountered in the field. Previously, he had conducted research and found that the possibility of readings that occur in the Qur’an only revolved around 3 (three) kinds of readings, wide opening of the mouth or infitah, slightly opening or roughness of the lips, and the gathering of two lips known as dlamm (Al-Farmawy, 2004: 291).
This fact determines the steps to be taken. In the part of the infitah which tends to move upwards, a period is designated to be affixed at the top of the letter with a color different from the color of the lettering. This sign is known as fathah. For kasr, as it moves downwards, it is fixed with a dot at the bottom of the letter and is known as kasrah. Meanwhile, he puts it in the middle of the letter, either in front of or behind the letter. And this sign is called dlammah (Al-Suyuthi: 4/162).
The signs that are affixed are not as complex as we know them today. The existing dot marks are considered simpler and easier to apply to manuscripts by only distinguishing the color from the existing writing color. The application is only at the end of each word, not all. Of course, this is accompanied by the philosophical meaning behind the determination of each punctuation mark. This, like most other discoveries, was simple at the time of its emergence and underwent an evolutionary improvement in the next phase of development.
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Readers can see an example of applying the period to the topkapi ancient manuscript above. Harakat signs are written in a different red color from the writing color. Fathah and kasrah can be seen in the writing of the word bismi and lafadz al-jalalah. Meanwhile, fathah and dlammah are found in the words ahasiba and al-naasu, respectively, at the top and middle of each word. So how can society develop and transform into the form we know today? Insyaallah will be explained in the next part.
Wallahua’lam bi al-Shawab.
