tribes to have a Quran in their own dialect; for Abdul Haqq[1] says, "The Qurán was first revealed in the dialect of the Quraish, which was the Prophet's native tongue; but when the Prophet saw that the people of other tribes recited it with difficulty then he obtained permission from God to extend its currency by allowing it to be recited in all the chief dialects of Arabia, which were seven:—Quraish, Taí, Hawázin, Ahl-i-Yaman, Saqíf, Huzail, and Baní-Tamín. Every one of these tribes accordingly read the Qurán in its own dialect, till the time of Osmán, when these differences of reading were prohibited."
These seven dialects are called Sabaʾta-Ahrúf, and the science of reading the Qurán in the correct dialect is called ʾIlm-i-Tajwíd.
The chronological arrangement of the chapters of the Qurán is most important. In the present Urdú edition, as well as in all Arabic editions, the Súrás are placed as they must have been arranged by Zaid-ibn-i-Sábit, who put them together regardless of all chro-
- ↑ Abdul Haqq, the Persian Commentator of the Mishkát.
