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

In this article, which is divided into Parts I and II, we consider 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 consists of a survey of previous literature on this subject, from both European and Arabic sources. This is followed by a detailed examination of the types of variant revealed by fourteen out of twenty-one ‘Kufic’ manuscript fragments in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The remaining seven fragments are examined in Part II, which also includes an overall analysis of the different types of variant and a general appreciation of their broader significance.