Recordings › Dr. Shehzad Saleem | the Preservation of the Quran & the Problem of Qira'at | MindTrap with Mufti#26 · 19 Jun 2020 › Segment 22 of 25

Did the variant readings of the Quran come from missing dots and vowel marks?

muftis koran quraan al-quran ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat

Did the variant readings arise from the lack of dots and vowel marks? And a clarification: no verse of rajm in the Quran

QuestionLive chat · questioner not identifiedAnswered 19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Segment 22 of 25 in the recording2020-06-19-S22

Includes guest speechQuoted view · not his position

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This segment1:41:28 to 1:42:47 · 1 min 19 sA view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held

The answer in brief

machinesummary, machine-written

Partly: the guest says the lack of diacritics let words like ya'lamun and ta'lamun be read either way where both were ascribed to the Prophet, one of several causes he lists. Mufti Abu Layth clarifies that nobody is claiming a verse of rajm exists in the Quran.

In more detail

Asked whether the variations in the Quran are due to the early script lacking diacritical marks, the guest says this is one of several reasons he enumerates in his book: without dots a word like ya'lamun could also be read ta'lamun, since the distinguishing marks above and below were absent, and where both readings were ascribed to the Prophet the reciters applied their preferential criteria. Mufti Abu Layth then clears up a repeated question on rajm: neither he nor the guest says there is a verse of rajm in the Quran; the guest's point was that the muharaba verse could incorporate the concept of stoning, not that a verse of rajm exists.

Question as read aloud · questioner not identified
Are the variations in the Quran because the early script did not have diacritical marks?

Position stated

This segment presents a view in order to discuss or respond to it. It is recorded as quoted, never as held, and no position is attributed from it.

Kind: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held Speakers: host and guest; guest speech is labelled and excluded from positions

Transcript

machine1:41:28 to 1:42:47 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary

A guest speaks in this segment. Guest speech is labelled and is excluded from the positions layer.

This segment states a view in order to discuss it. It is recorded as a quoted view, not as a position held.

1:41:15

having diacritic marks well one of the reasons as I said that there are several reasons I have enumerated them in my book so another reason is because of the lack of diacritical marks there was some similarity in words as well sanctioned by this knowledge you see thoroughly moon and yalla moon was caused because of the fact that their diacritic was not present above and below and both had and it's not traced back to the Prophet as well so you could have read thoroughly moon and you could have already around the moon and of course in the absence of these diacritic marks and because of the fact that both readings were were

1:41:55

ascribed to the Prophet we have two hats have some other preferential criteria and that was exercised as well excellent the person are repeating though I've we've already answered the question on rajim and yes to be clear it's not there's no verse in the quran of rajim neither do you nobody would say that because it's not a first in the quran what you what you were referring to just to be clear for the person will is that the verse on muhabba and these things could incorporate the concert HM not that the verse of rajim is in that verse it's not just to be clear you know noctus I wasn't saying that the

1:42:33

actual verse of rajim is there right okay somebody's asked okay I'll take some people are saying don't ignore the Facebook questions I'm not because I've got both of them open here YouTube Facebook if the Quranic language do you believe it to be miraculous and how are there multiple versions if it is miraculous I mean do you you know people say the quran is a miracle is there a miracle and and why how so because people today are asking this question I know that could be an incredibly detailed I understand that and but I mean are they some pointers you would just put out straight away do you feel

Paragraphs overlapping 1:41:28 to 1:42:47. Full text on the recording page.

Cite this segment

Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2020-06-19-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/22/ (accessed 1 November 2026)

APA 7

Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, June 19). Did the variant readings of the Quran come from missing dots and vowel marks? [Video, segment 2020-06-19-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/22/

Chicago author-date

Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Did the variant readings of the Quran come from missing dots and vowel marks?" Video, segment 2020-06-19-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded June 19, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/22/

BibTeX

@misc{abulayth-2020-06-19-S22,
  author = {Mufti Abu Layth},
  title = {{Did the variant readings of the Quran come from missing dots and vowel marks?}},
  year = {2020},
  month = {6},
  date = {2020-06-19},
  howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/22/}},
  url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/22/},
  organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive},
  urldate = {2026-11-01},
  note = {Segment 2020-06-19-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors}
}

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