Page 268 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

248 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

is that pointing began afterwards, not any sort of precise duration. Indeed,
the Dictionary if the Bible suggests 500, while Neusner maintains that the final
editing of only four parts (out of six) was finished c. 700. Basing the start
of pointing on the completion of the Babylonian Talmud is therefore hope-
less. Moshe Goshen-Gottstein,

assumesa time around A.D. 700 asprobable. He believes the invention
of vowelsignsand accentswas induced by the Islamicconquestswhich
threatened to extinguish the tradition of precise liturgical recitation.?'

That vowels were invented as a reaction to the threat of Islamic invasion
seems silly; it is far more probable that they were invented based on the
Arabic vowel system, which was coming into widespread recognition at the
time due to the spread of Islam.

Eventually from the seventh century A.D. a system of vowel signs
written above and below the consonants was adopted, patternedperhaps
after Syriac usage. This system was called 'pointing,' from the Jewish
technical term"

93
I deliberated this point at length in Chapter 10. Despite an active Uni-
versity in Nisibis, along with colleges and monasteries established since 450
C.E., the Syrians failed to invent diacritical marks until 700 C.E. Moreover
Hunain b. Ishaq (194-260 A.H./810-873 C.E.), the father of Syriac grammar,
was a student of one of the pupils of the famous Arab grammarian al-
Khalil b. Ahmad al-Frahldi (l 00-1 70 A.H.1718-786 C.E.). This compelling
sequence shows pointing to be a Muslim invention which was adopted by
the Syriacs and, from them, by the Jews.

The date at which the vowelswere attached to the consonants of the
Hebrew text can be determined only within broad limits. Neither the
Talmud (c. A.D. 500) nor Jerome (A.D. 420) knows anything about the
writtenvocalization. G.D.Ginsburgsaysthat introductionof the graphic
signs took place c. A.D. 650-680 and that the work of the Massoretes
was complete about A.D. 700. 94

Though I have reservations about the accuracy of these dates, I must
note that they (as suggested) correspond perfectly with the dawn of Islam.

91 ibid, p. 21.
92 ibid, p. 22;italics added.
93 See thisworkpp. 143-5
94 Dictionary of the Bible, p. 972.