The Qur'an in its historical context (pdf - Islam and Christian-Muslim ...

THE LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND TO THE QUR’AN
script as the source of the Arabic script rather than the Nabataean, namely that the
latter is suspended from an upper line rather than resting, as with Arabic, on a lower
line, 40 for these transitional texts often manifest a clear horizontal lower line upon
which the letters rest and by which they are connected (see Figures 8 and 9). 41
This change in alignment, that is, the maintaining of a horizontal lower line, is
responsible for some features of the Arabic script. For example, the classical
Nabataean s/sh, an upright stroke with two crossbars (numerous times on
figures 1–3; e.g. end of the second word on l.1 of Figure 1), gives, when aligned
horizontally, the classical Arabic s/sh (see Figure 8, final word of l.1 and of l.2:
the names Sa‘dw and Is). The classical Nabataean ‘ayn, a stroke at 45 degrees to
the vertical with a crossbar or hook at right angles to it (cf. sixth and eighth words
of l.1 of Figure 1), becomes lowered almost to the horizontal making it pretty
much a standard classical Arabic ‘ayn (cf. second word of l.1 of Figure 8 and first
word of l.2 of Figure 9: the names Sa‘dw and ‘Ubaydw). And the classical
Nabataean final ya, which is quite upright (cf. first word of l.1 of Figure 1: ty),
becomes lowered so that its tail starts to curve under the horizontal line of the
letters (cf. first word of Figure 9, bly, and note its similarity to the third word of
the early Islamic Arabic inscription shown in Figure 10, mwly 42 ). Finally, medial
het, which had been slightly erratic in form, begins to become aligned in the centre
Figure 8 Graffiti, Umm Judhayidh (NW Arabia), ca. fourth to fifth century CE.
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