When did the consonantal skeleton of the Quran reach closure? Part II

Journal article

The Islamic tradition credits the promulgation of a uniform consonantal skeleton (rasm) of the Quran to the third caliph Uthmān (r. 644-656). However, in recent years various scholars have espoused a conjectural dating of the Quran's codification to the time of Abd al-Malik, or have at least taken the view that the Islamic scripture was open to significant revision up until c. 700 ce. The second instalment of this two-part article surveys arguments against this hypothesis. It concludes that as long as no Quranic passages with a distinct stylistic and terminological profile have been compellingly placed in a late seventh-century context, the traditional dating of the standard rasm (excepting certain orthographical features) to 650 or earlier ought to be our default view.

Authors: Sinai, N

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Volume: 77
• Issue: 03
• Pages: 509-521
• Publication date: 2014-01-01
• DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X14000111
• EISSN: 1474-0699
• ISSN: 0041-977X
• Language: English
• Keywords: Rasm; Quran; Codification; 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan; Transmission; Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf