Continuity and Change in Qurʾānic Readings: A Study of the Qurʾānic MS. Garrett 38

摘要

This article presents an analysis of a Qurʾānic manuscript in the Garrett collection of Princeton University. The unusual feature of this MS is that it has been tampered with, most likely by a later scribe, aiming to change the original ‘Qurʾānic reading’ into another by adding or taking out letters and vocalization marks. The paper describes the kind of changes MS Garrett 38 underwent and then attempts to discern the original reading of the manuscript in the light of the available sources on Qurʾānic readings (qirāʾāt) and art of recitation (tajwīd). In addition, the study of this Qurʾānic manuscript, attributed to the fourteenth century, reveals a degree of inconsistency with the theoretical works on qirāʾāt, which strictly distinguish different readings. However, analysis of Garret 38 shows that both the original and the later scribes deviated from the dictates of the theoretical description of the reading to which they intended to align the manuscript.