Arabic Textual Criticism

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Bishoy Habib

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Sep 11, 2025, 10:26:00 AMSep 11
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Dear all, 

I am wondering if there are any textual criticism studies of medieval Arabic manuscripts, or the assumption is that what has been done on Greek and/or Hebrew applies to Arabic? 

Any insights would be appreciated. Thank you, 

Bishoy Habib 

Jean Valentin

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Sep 11, 2025, 1:27:28 PMSep 11
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Dear Bishoy,
What is exactly the subject you ask about? Biblical textual criticism, or something more general?
Sincerely yours,
Jean

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Bishoy Habib

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Sep 11, 2025, 2:21:00 PMSep 11
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Dear Jean, 

Thank you for the clarifying question. I am working with a Bible commentary from the 11 century and I am interested in guiding principles to use when I have divergent readings. 

Peace,
Bishoy

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Slavomír Čéplö

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Sep 11, 2025, 2:43:55 PMSep 11
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Dear Bishoy,

there are some specific papers I can think of that would apply to your
situation, e.g.
https://jarts.journals.ekb.eg/article_201822.html?lang=en.
But in general, the same principles apply as with Classical etc.
textual criticism. Here are some references I find useful:

Andrist, Patrick. “Toward a Definition of Paratexts and
Paratextuality: The Case of Ancient Greek Manuscripts.” In Bible as
Notepad, edited by Liv Ingeborg Lied and Marilena Maniaci. De Gruyter,
2018. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110603477-010.
Cerquiglini, Bernard. In Praise of the Variant: A Critical History of
Philology. Parallax. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. In Praise
of the Variant_ A Critical History of Philology -- Bernard
Cerquiglini, Betsy Wing (trans_) -- Parallax_ Re-visions of Culture
and Society, -- 9780801861260 -- 84bca5f354d07ae4a3cbf809ba705d84 --
Anna’s Archive.pdf.
Clark, Elizabeth Ann. History, Theory, Text: Historians and the
Linguistic Turn. Harvard university press, 2004. History, Theory, Text
_ Historians and the Linguistic Turn -- Elizabeth A_ Clark -- Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2004 -- Harvard -- 9780674015166 --
a1c9eb251219b5a51eebccb2468a57b1 -- Anna’s Archive.pdf.
Holmes, Michael W. “Reasoned Eclecticism in New Testament Textual
Criticism.” In The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research,
edited by Bart D. Ehrmann and Michael W. Holmes. Brill, 2013.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004236554_028.
Maas, Paul. Textkritik. 3rd ed. Teubner, 1957. maas_p_textkritik.pdf.
Tarrant, Richard. Texts, Editors, and Readers: Methods and Problems in
Latin Textual Criticism. Illustrated edition. Cambridge University
Press, 2016.
West, Martin L. Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique: Applicable
to Greek Und Latin Texts. Teubner Studienbücher Philologie. Teubner,
1973.
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TODA Satoshi

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Sep 11, 2025, 3:13:52 PMSep 11
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Dear Dr. Slavomír Čéplö,

Thanks for your instruction, but please allow me to make just a remark. I would be
greatly interested if there is any text-critical study specializing specifically
in texts of Arabic manuscripts, since, as you know, texts of Arabic manuscripts
have, for instance, problems of dots above/below the line etc., which are not
relevant in e.g. Greek manuscripts.


Sincerely,
TODA Satoshi
Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan)

Martino Diez

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Sep 11, 2025, 3:22:36 PMSep 11
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Dear Bishoy and Toda,

There is an interesting book on textual Arabic criticism edited by Manfred Kropp and Judith Pfeiffer. In particular, the contribution by Wadad al-Qadi is exactly meant to answer your question.
Good news, the book is entirely open access: https://opendata.uni-halle.de//handle/1981185920/114303

I found it very helpful. In sum, the method is the same as Classical philology (and as an Italian I would immediately direct you to Giorgio Pasquali and Sebastiano Timpanaro), but there are some particularities that must be taken into account and that are related to the nature of the Arabic script, the writing supports, and the ways of transmission that were devised in Islamic culture.

All my best,
Martino

Slavomír Čéplö

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Sep 11, 2025, 3:28:10 PMSep 11
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Dear Dr. Toda,

in addition to the book Martino mentioned, there are multiple recent
ones that deal with these issues, mostly with regard to Qur'ān, such
as Textual Criticism and Qurʼān Manuscripts by Keith E. Small and
especially recent works by Marijn van Putten, e.g. "Textual Criticism
of the Quran" in The Comparative Textual Criticism of Religious
Scriptures, 2024.

Best wishes,

Slavomír
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TODA Satoshi

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Sep 11, 2025, 9:21:41 PMSep 11
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Dear Martino and Slavomír,

Thanks for your responses. I could check the TOC of both books; they seem very helpful. Thanks again.


Best wishes,
Satoshi


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Bishoy Habib

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Sep 12, 2025, 9:45:08 AMSep 12
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Dear Slavomir and Martino, 

Thank you very much for the valuable references. 

Regards,
Bishoy

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