With Love to Muhammad (sa) - The Khatam-un-Nabiyyin — Page 28
28 With Love to Muhammad sa the Kh ā tam-un-Nabiyy ī n and nations mixed with the Arabs, and there was no more a need for the different dialects and recitation styles ( qir ā ’ ā t ) of the Qur’ ā n. Hence, Hazrat ‘Uthm ā n ra ordered that only the Quraish ī dialect (or the Hij ā z ī dialect) should be preserved and Farhan Khan agrees to this when he writes, “The Qur’ ā n was originally compiled in a single copy for mass distribution by Zayd bin Th ā bit ra under the direction of [Hazrat] ‘Uthm ā n bin ‘Aff ā n ra in the year 24 A. H. All of the other alternat[ive] dialects were disregarded. The only dialect that [Hazrat] ‘Uthm ā n ordered to be preserved was the dialect spoken by the Quraysh ī Arabs” 12. This is true and a reason for this which Farhan Khan does not apparently understand is that the people had started understanding the Hij ā z ī dialect. The need for them to use the other dialects was now non-existent. The differences in the qir ā ’ ā t existed due to a temporary need and when the times changed, Hazrat ‘Uthm ā n ra abrogated the permission to use the different qir ā ’ ā t and established only one qir ā ’ah , that is, the qir ā ’ah of the Quraish ī dialect. Second, it must be noted that the qir ā ’ ā t other than the Hij ā z ī qir ā ’ah do not come directly from the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa. While the chain of narrators of the different qir ā ’ ā t do reach the companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa , there is no evidence of any of the qir ā ’ ā t , other than the Hij ā z ī qir ā ’ah , to have been narrated directly from the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa. Third, whether the word is kh ā tim or kh ā tam , it does not affect the Ahmadiyya Muslim understanding. The construction of the word kh ā tam is called Ism Ā lah in Arabic grammar and the construction of the word kh ā tim is called Ism F ā ’il. As a result, while kh ā tam means seal , kh ā tim means the one who seals. Both of 12 Ibid.