On the Origin of Qurʾanic Arabic: Mark Durie, Draft Paper (11 Nov, 2018)

Previous research into the origins of the dialect of Arabic which provided the standard for the
Qurʾānic consonantal text has thrown up two puzzles: a puzzle from above, and a puzzle from
below. The puzzle from above is that the Muslim philologists who searched earnestly for the
Qurʾānic dialect were unable to identify any of the dialects known to them as the source of
Qurʾānic Arabic. The puzzle from below is why, among the many thousands of pre-Qurʾānic
ancient Arabic inscriptions, spread over a vast region, there are so few inscriptions which could
reflect a precursor to Qurʾānic Arabic.
The solution to both puzzles, it is argued, is that Qurʾānic Arabic, as reflected in its rasm, or
consonantal skeleton, developed directly from the Arabic of the Nabataeans. The solution to the
puzzle from below is that the Nabataeans left many inscriptions, but in their preferred written
language, Aramaic, not their mother tongue Arabic. The solution to the puzzle from above is that
the Muslim philologists were looking for a Bedouin source for the Qurʾānic text, but Nabataean
Arabic’s linguistic legacy was to be found in dialects spoken by peasants in the Southern Levant.
Recent research by Al-Jallad has documented pre-conquest Southern Levantine Arabic dialects in
the Nabataean direct sphere of influence. These findings confirm the hypothesis that the
Nabataean Arabic supplied the linguistic variety of the Qur’an.

Sneaker's Corner seeks to comment on and share some of the key moments from Speaker's Corner. Another goal is to explore in a critical way the origins of Islam, and in this regard, I must credit the work of Dan Gibson, Patricia Crone, Angelika Neuwirth, Jay Smith, Hatun Tash, David Wood, Robert Spencer, Douglas Murray, and many more who from different backgrounds have been asking challenging questions and contributed to my current understanding of Islam.
Stock footage is from videvo.net.

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