sac@apple.com (Steve Cisler) (11/29/89)
When I was visiting libraries in Southeast Asia I spoke with some Apple Macintosh users who were working on a project to put the Quran on CD-ROM? Has anyone else heard of a similar project, irregardless of the computer platform? I would like to tell them about other efforts around the world, and report on their progress here. By the way, I met these developers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Steve Cisler Apple Library
naim@eecs.nwu.edu (Naim Abdullah) (11/29/89)
The following note appeared on the Islam mailing list last summer
when Farzin Deravi had asked about this topic:
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Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 17:21:08 EDT
From: Abdelsalam Heddaya <heddaya@BU-CS.BU.EDU>
Subject: Request for Machine readable version of the Holy Quran.
Farzin,
Salaam. Wilson Bishai, lecturer of Arabic at Harvard, has entered the
Qur'aan (with diacritics <tashkyl>) on the Apple II in the early 80's.
You might want to get in touch with him to find out if he can
distribute it. He was waiting for Al-Azhar to authenticate his copy.
His address is:
Bishai, Wilson (Feb 89): 617-495-4057. Semitic Museum, 6 Divinity
St., Cambridge, MA 02138.
Best of luck, and please keep me informed of the results of your
efforts.
--Abdelsalam Heddaya (Solom) heddaya@cs.bu.edu 617-353-8922
CS Dept., Boston Univ., 111 Cummington St., Boston, MA 02215
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If anybody else knows about any machine readable copies of the Quran,
please do post to this group.
I know that there are machine readable copies of the hadith (sayings
of the Prophet (peace be upon him)). Somebody in London had entered
the hadith into a database program on an IBM PC. I saw a demo of it: you
entered some keywords and it would retrieve all hadith on that topic.
This whole system was for sale and it was demo'ed for the late Gen. Ziaul Haq
of Pakistan. He was suitably impressed and ordered the Ministry of Religious
Affairs to buy a couple of copies.
Naimnaim@eecs.nwu.edu (Naim Abdullah) (12/03/89)
> 1) Does anyone know of a machine readable English >translation of the Qur'an? Is there an English translation widely >considered as "standard" among Muslims, analogous to the King James >Version of the Bible? There are many English translations of the Quran around. Many people cite ones by Yusuf Ali or by Marmaduke Pickthall. However, I am sorry to say that just about every English translation I have seen of the Quran appears to me to use somewhat awkward, stilted, old Shakesperean English. In my opinion the quality of the translation makes a big difference. If the translator just translates word by word without taking into account the different idioms and natural flow of the two languages, the translation loses the force of the original. When I read the urdu translation of the Quran by Maudoodi I am moved to tears, awestruck and shaken by many sections of the Quran. The archaic, stilted awkward English of many translations unfortunately does not do justice to the beauty and force of the original. It may be that I have just looked at the wrong translations. Can anybody recommend a good English translation ? >> [person selling hadith database on an IBM PC] > > 2) Do you know how to get in touch with this person? Some other people have also sent mail asking this. I saw this demo in 1987. Unfortunately, I do not know the current state of this product nor the address of this person. > 3) Can the hadith be classified into groups of varying >authenticity? Does there exist such a classification that is widely >accepted among Islamic scholars? Absolutely! I quote from "Islam", page 53, second edition, by Fazlur Rahman: Hadith (which literally means a story, a narration, a report) as we know it, being a unit of that discipline which bears the same name, is a narrative, usually very short, purporting to give information about what the Prophet said, did, or approved or disapproved or of similar information about his Companions, especially the senior Companions and more especially the first four Caliphs. Each Hadith falls into two parts, the text (matn) of the Hadith itself and the transmissional chain or isnad, giving the names of the narrators, which supports the text. Both the classical and the modern historians agree that at first Hadith existed without the supporting isnad which probably apeared at the turn of the 1st century (Islamic calendar). This is also roughly the date when the wholesale appearance of the Hadith as a formalized writing discipline begins. There is, however, strong direct and indirect evidence that before becoming a formal discipline in the 2nd century, the phenomenon had existed at least since about 60-80. On page 63, he mentions about how by the middle of the 3rd century the Hadith been almost completely developed. Continuing the quote: In order to collect, sift and systematize this massive and amazing product, a number of eminent scholars began to travel throughout the length and breadth of the then Muslim world. This powerful movement is known as the "Seeking of the Hadith". Eager seekers went from place to place learning from man to man. By the end of the 3rd cenury several collections had been produced... Foremost among these is the Sahih (the 'Genuine') of Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari.. The Sahih of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj comes next close to that of al-Bukhari. By this time also the criticism of the Hadith, such as Muslims have known it, was perfect into the 'Science of the Hadith'. This criticism is exclusively directed towards the isnad or the transmissional chain of the Hadith. A systematic and complex inquiry was undertaken into the biographies of the transmitters of the tradition and their bona fides and this is known as 'the Science of Justification and Impugnment'. An attempt was made to assess the good character and the reliability of the memory of the transmitters. The transmitters were thus divided into different categories such as 'completely trustworthy', 'truthful', 'weak', 'mendacious' and 'unknown', etc. although there remained differences of opinion among scholars about several transmitters. Another classification was adopted concerning the continuity or otherwise of a chain of transmission and as to the stage of transmission at which the link is 'broken'. The third line concerned the number of simultaneous transmitters at each stage. On the basis of these investigations, the Hadith were classified into various categories such as 'genuine', 'good', 'weak', 'not well known', 'continuous', 'discontinuous', 'discontinuous at the source' (marfu, i.e. where the connection with the Prophet is indirect), etc. The lins of criticism intersect: e.g. a Hadith may be regarded as 'genuine' even though a link is missing. A Hadith which at every stage of transmission has found numerous narrators is called mutawatir or inductively so certain that doubt is almost logically excluded. A very large portion of the Hadith was judged to be spurious and forged by the classical muslim scholars themselves and was excluded from the six canonical collections, and al-Bukhari and Muslim included in their works only those Hadith which they judged to be 'genuine'. These men sifted out only a few thousand from hundreds of thousands of current Hadith and some self confessed forgers are reported to have been executed. Al-Bukhari especially, the ablest and most acute of Hadith critics, showed extraordinary scrupulousness in judging traditions. End of quote. The Islam mailing list has been having a vigorous debate on the topic of Hadith recently. If people wish it, I can post two or three issues here. > 4) Is there basic agreement on what constitutes the hadith >(i.e. are the hadith a closed body of literature?) Generally, muslims believe the compilations by Bukhari and Muslim to be authentic. So they are a closed body of literature. >Can a complete >set of the hadith be found in any book? (I have only seen selections >published before.) Is the above computer copy "complete"? I do not know the answer to either of these questions. > 5) Specifically, I've been looking for a particular hadith >for some time. The Prophet (may peace be upon Him) is reported to >have given the number of Prophets of the past as either 124,000 or >144,000. Some hadith give the first figure, some the second. >Momen's book on Shi'ih Islam gives these figures on p.177 but does >not cite a reference. Does anyone know where I can find these >sayings? I know the hadith that you mean. This Hadith is not in Bukhari or Muslim and is considered to have weak isnad (transmissional chains). Some commentators say that the number of isnad removes the weakness of this hadith. It is interesting that this Hadith tells us that there is some difference between a "rasool" and a "nabi". The Quran uses these two arabic words for Prophets. Apparently every "rasool" is a "nabi" but not every "nabi" is a "rasool". In the Hadith that you mention, the Prophet was asked the number of "nabi" and he said 124,000. He was asked the number of "rasool" and he said 313 or 315. The Quran is silent on the number of Prophets and about the distinction between a "rasool" and a "nabi" so we will not have a definitive answer to either of these questions in this life. All we can do is speculate. I hope my reply was not too long. regards, Naim