Page 82 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

62 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

such as 'Abdullah bin Sa'ld bin al-'~, 'Ubada bin as-Samit, and
Ubayy bin Ka'b taught the essentials of reading and writing."
Ibn 'Umar once remarked, "The Prophet would recite to us, and
if he read a verse containing a sojda (.~: prostration), he would say
~ahu Akbar' [and prostrate] ."44
Numerous Companions stated that the Prophet recited such and
such suras to them personally, including renowned personalities like
Ubayy bin Ka'b, 'Abdullah bin Salam, Hisham bin Haklm, 'Umar
bin al-Khanab, and Ibn Mas'ud.v
Deputations arriving from outlying areas were given into Madinite
custody, not only for the provisions of food and lodging but also for
education. The Prophet would subsequently question them to discover
the extent of their learning.t"
Upon receivingany wally, the Prophet observed a habit of immediately
reciting the latest verses to all the men in his company, proceeding
afterwards to recite them to the women in a separate gatheringY
'Uthman bin AbI al-'A~ regularly sought to learn the Qur'an from
the Prophet, and if he could not find him, he would resort to Abu
Bakr. 48

ii. Dialects used by the Prophet for Teaching in Madinah

It is a well-established fact that the dialects of different people speaking the
same language can vary drastically from one area to the next. Two people,
both living in New York but coming from different cultural and socio-
economic backgrounds, willeach possessa distinct and recognisable accent.
The same istrue of people livingin London versus those residing in Glasgow
or Dublin. Then there are the differences between standardised American
and British spellings,and quite often (asin 'schedule') a similarity in spelling
but a difference in pronunciation.
Let us examine the situation in present-day Arab countries, using the
word qultu (..:.Jj: I said) as a test case. Egyptians will pronounce this as ult,
substituting the ufor the initial q.And a Yemeni speaker will saygultu, though
in writing the word all Arabs will spell it identically. Another example: a
man named Qiisim will, in the Persian Gulf, be called ]asim; these same
people convertj into y, so that rijiil (men) becomes raiyyiil.

43 Al-Baihaqi, Sunan, vi:125-126.
44 Muslim, $al/0, Masajid:I04.
45 See at-Tabari, at-Tafsir, 1:24; and other references besides.
46 Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, iv:206.
47 Ibn Ishaq, as-Seyar wa al-Maghdei, ed. by Zakkar, p. 147.
48 Al-Baqillani, al-Intisiir, abridged version, p. 69.