Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 Excerpt: ...of the high and the common people, and which would be a source of meditation to men of understanding and thought. I entitled it: 'Proof of Islam,' in the transcription of a text corresponding to that of the Imam.1 "... It occurs in the Hadith that Gabriel--peace be with him--said: 'Recite the Kuran in seven letters, each one being sufficient and efficient'. Ibn Mas'ud said that this Kuran came down in seven letters, each one having an apparent sense and one requiring development (Dhahrun wa Batnun). If you say: 'What does he mean by seven letters?' I shall answer that many opinions have been expressed about that.... And Abu 'Ubaidah said: 'The seven letters mean the seven dialects of the language of the Arabs'. It does not imply that there are seven ways in which a letter may be found; this has not been heard of at all, but it does mean that these seven dialects are disseminated here and there in the Kuran. Some of them are in the dialect of Kuraish, some of them in the dialect of Hawazen, some of them in the dialect of Hudhail, some of them in the dialect of Yaman, some of them in the dialect of Dus, and some of them in the dialect of Tamim. Some say that these seven letters are the seven readings that the seven Imams have adopted; one of these is 'Asim b. Abin-Nujud, and the name of his mother is Bahdalat, and he is called 'Asim son of Bahdalat; the second is Hamzah, son of Habib az-Zayyat; the third is 'Ali b. Hamzah al Kisa'i; all these three were from Kiifah. The fourth is 'Abdallah b. Kathir, the 1 The Imam is the Caliph 'Othman under whose authority the Kuran was finally compiled. imam of Maccah; the fifth is Nafi' b. 'Abdur-Rahman b. Mas'ud, the imam of Madinah; the sixth is 'Amr. b. al-'Ala', the imam of Basrah, and his nickname is al-'Arian (...