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This manuscript is Or. 251 held in the Leiden University Library. It is a typical Maghrebi Quran manuscript. Besides its distinctive style it also has a typically Maghrebi manner of vocalising.
Interestingly, Maghrebi print qurans today continue many of these practices. Thread>
Interestingly, Maghrebi print qurans today continue many of these practices. Thread>
The reading of this manuscript is that of Warš ʿan Nāfiʿ. This reading is dominant in Maghrebi Qurans, and it is indeed still the dominant reading of the Quran in North-Africa. The other canonical transmitter of Nāfiʿ, Qālūn is popular in Libya.
One thing that instantly strikes the reader as remarkable is the treatment of the lām-ʾalif: Maghrebi Qurans consider the left leg the lām and the right the ʾalif and vocalize as such. This is the original treatment:
e.g. ʾillā, hāʾulāʾi
e.g. ʾillā, hāʾulāʾi
Another cute thing it does is when the ʾalif is spelled with a dagger ʾalif rather than in the rasm, this ʾalif actually cross the lām to make a virtual lām-ʾalif (proving again the right bar is the ʾalif), e.g. ʾulāʾika, salāmun
The ʾalif al-waṣl in the standard Ḥafṣ text is ambiguous: it only marks that a vowel is elided, but it can be difficult to recover which vowel to read if you have just paused and restart. Maghrebi Qurans however mark this information!
A horizontal line crossing the ʾalif marks the vowel in context (line at the top is fatḥah; in the middle is ḍammah; at the bottom is kasrah).
Green dot is vowel after pause, again position determines the vowel, e.g. ʾinna-h ul-ḥaqqu/al-ḥaqqu; wa-qīl adʿū/udʿū
Green dot is vowel after pause, again position determines the vowel, e.g. ʾinna-h ul-ḥaqqu/al-ḥaqqu; wa-qīl adʿū/udʿū
When the ʾalif is the carrier of the hamzah, in modern Arabic orthography both hamzah followed fatḥah and ḍammah are at the top, for kasrah it is at the bottom. But Maghrebi Qurans (using a yellow dot in manuscripts) are just in the middle of the ʾalif, e.g. ʾummatin
Many of these practices are already anticipated in vocalised Kufic Qurans; the Maghrebi Qurans find an original negotiation between modern and ancient vocalisation practices. Modern Maghrebi print Qurans find black-and-white solutions but stick close to the practice.
