The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 384
ease while others could not, and had to substitute "J" or some other letter for it. Now it would have greatly helped all these various tribes to recite the Quran if they were allowed the use of both these letters. This is exactly what the Holy Prophet did, because in the other case it would have been very difficult for some Arab tribes to learn the Quran. In view of differences in dialect and pronunciation, the Holy Prophet, in the beginning, allowed the use of substitute letters which enabled the various Arab tribes to read and learn the Quran with ease and in this way he succeeded in solving a difficult problem. As it was a new and uncommon experiment and adoption of such a method had not occurred to anyone before, therefore, people in the beginning found it hard to adapt themselves to it and every tribe was led to think that the Quran had been revealed in that tribe's own particular dialect. So if they found that a certain tribe pronounced some Quranic words differently or used letters not familiar to them they thought it was guilty of tampering with the text of the Quran. The Holy Prophet, therefore, had repeatedly to explain this fact in the beginning of his ministry. But when gradually Muslims came to understand the implications of this method, they realized that it was not only not a defect and did not in any way interfere with the meaning of the Quran but rather in certain cases actually enlarged and expanded it and made the reading of the Quran equally easy for every tribe. This is why the Holy Prophet in the early years of his ministry allowed Muslims to read the Quran in the manner in which they found it easy to do so. This permission shows that variation in reading was concerned with only the letters and not with the meaning or sense of the Quran. Those who assign vv. 69-71 to the Medinite period base their assumption on the fact that because these verses contain commandments forbidding murder, adultery, etc. , and because detailed ordinances of the Shari'ah were revealed only at Medina, therefore, these commandments must have been revealed at Medina. But this assumption possesses no weight or substance. In fact, commandments forbidding adultery and murder were revealed at Mecca, and the fact that Muslims had begun scrupulously to avoid these deadly sins and to lead very pure and righteous lives while at Mecca lends great weight to the view that these commandments must have been revealed there. So the assumption that because these verses forbid adultery, murder and other kindred vices, therefore, they were revealed at Medina possesses no foundation in fact. Certain western writers regard this Surah to have been revealed at Mecca very early in the Holy Prophet's ministry. They attribute this inference to the absence of any reference to persecution of Muslims on the part of the Quraish which, they say, began some years later. This assumption is also too 2298