سورۃ الفاتحہ میں اختلاف قراءات اور آرتھر جیفری کے افکار کا تنقیدی مطالعہ

Difference of Readings in Sūrat al-Fātiḥah: A Critical Study of Arthur Jeffery’s Views

Abstract

The orientalists aim to prove that human-made changes occurred in the Qur’ān. To achieve this purpose, a group of orientalists made efforts to prove this claim relying on different shādhdh readings of the Qur’ān. Arthur Jeffery, an American orientalist, played a pivotal role in raising doubts about the text of the Qur’ān. He identified differences in readings of the Qur’ān with the help of Islamic books related to the subject. He explored collectively different readings of the Qur’ān in his book Materials for the History of the Text of the Qur’ān, in which he argued that during the era of the Companions, many Companions possessed their codecs with different readings and words. Furthermore, he complied Muqaddimah fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān based on the following two old manuscripts: Muqaddimat Kitāb al-Mabānī and Muqaddimat Ibn ‘Aṭṭiyyah. He opines that differences in the Qur’ānic readings are not correct and that getting to the original text is not only difficult but also impossible. He made Sūrat al-Fātiḥah a point of departure for his research because this sūrah is the preface of the Qur’ān and is shorter in terms of words. Arthur Jeffery raised doubts and suspicion about the differences in the readings of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. This article studies the views of Arthur Jeffery about the differences in the readings of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah.