Page 266 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

246 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

vii. Jewish Scholars Established the Text of the OT in the
Tenth Century, Actively Destroying Earlier Manuscripts

Jewish regulations required the destruction of worn and defective
manuscripts. And when scholars had finally established the text in the
tenth century, all older manuscripts which represented earlier stages of its
development were naturally considered defectioe, and in the course of time
they disappearcd.P

The establishment of a singular text type in the 10th century coincides
with the introduction of the Masora - the system of vowel signs and accent
markings used as a check against further scribal errors. This system, along
with the destruction of 'defective' manuscripts, could more easilybe imple-
mented once the majorJewish colony in Babylonia (the Eastern schools of
Sura, Nehardea, and Purnbeditha) had lost its significance and disappeared
by the 10th and 11 th centuries.

Once again the West assumed the spiritual leadership ofJudaism, and
the H1estern Masoretes sought to eliminate all traces of textual traditions that
differed'from their own. The views of the [Western] school of Tiberias became
determinative for the future, and the Eastern tradition was forgotten
for a millennium.I"

These pivotal Hebrew manuscripts from the 10th and 11th centuries,
incorporating the Masora and finalising the text type for all future gener-
ations, are exceedingly rare; they number only thirty-one, and most are
fragmentary.87

viii. The Masora and Textual Integrity

With the appointment of one particular text type as superlative to allothers,
the textual freedom previously observed had to be replaced with stringency.
Wiirthwein comments that such was the function of the Masora, and quotes
Rabbi Akiba's statement that,

"The Masora is a (protective) fence about the Law." This was the
purpose of the scribes' meticulous work. They counted the verses, words,

85 ibid, p. 11. Italics added.
86 ibid, p. 12. Italics added.
87 See this work p. 238.