Red Dots, Green Dots, Yellow Dots and Blue: Some Reflections on the Vocalisation of Early Qur'anic Manuscripts (Part II)

This article, divided into Parts I and II, considers the use of coloured dots – primarily red, green, yellow and blue – to indicate vocalisation in early Qur'anic manuscripts. Hitherto, Western scholars have been confused as to the purpose of these dots: from our researches it is clear that red dots indicate the main reading while dots of other colours illustrate various types of variant, including those which are shādhdh (‘irregular’). In this article we explore the types of variant indicated and their significance for an understanding of the history of the Qur'anic text. Part I (JQS 1:1, 1999) consisted of a survey of previous literature on this subject, from both European and Arabic sources, followed by a detailed examination of the types of variant illustrated by fourteen out of twenty-one ‘Kufic’ manuscript fragments in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The other seven fragments are examined in this issue, together with an extensive analysis of the different types of variant and a general appreciation of their broader significance.