RT Article
T1 The Phonetics and Phonology of Single-Letter Prefixed Chapters in the Holy Quran: a Case Study of Chapters Saad, Qaaf, and Nun
JF Al-Bayān
VO 23
IS 3
SP 547
OP 577
A1 Mohammed Nour Abu-Guba
A1 Sumaya Daoud
A1 Abdallah Abu Qub’a
A2 Sumaya Daoud
A2 Abdallah Abu Qub’a
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1960901621
AB The Holy Quran contains 29 chapters (Suras) that start with disjointed letters, a phenomenon that has long been a matter of debate in Quranic exegesis. To contribute to understanding the mysterious nature of these letters, this paper examines them from a phonological and phonetic perspective. Specifically, the study compares three chapters that start with a single disjointed letter in the Holy Quran. The three chapters were analyzed at the phonemic, syllabic, and prosodic word levels. Results show that these three chapters share many features, which align with the fact that they begin with a single disjointed letter. Moreover, the two chapters that start with similar consonants, namely Sad and Qaaf, which start with an obstruent, are more similar to each other than to Chapter Nun, which begins with the sonorant /n/. These results reveal that the three letters could not have been chosen arbitrarily. This constitutes a strong case against many revisionist theories. Future research should extend the analysis to other Quranic chapters, both with and without disjointed letters, to corroborate the findings of this study.
K1 Iʾjaz
K1 disjointed letters
K1 Phonetics
K1 Phonology
K1 Revisionism
K1 The Quran
DO 10.1163/22321969-12342308