Uandishi, ingawa haukuenea sana kabla ya Uislamu, ulikuwa unajulikana vizuri miongoni mwa Waarabu. Mfumo wa maandishi uliotumika katika karne ya saba, yaani wakati wa maisha ya Mtume Muhammad ﷺ, ulikuwa na alama rahisi sana, ambazo zilieleza tu muundo wa konsonanti wa neno, na hata hilo kwa utata mwingi.

Writing, although not very widespread in pre-Islamic time, was well-known among the Arabs. The script used in the seventh century, i. e . during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, consisted of very basic symbols, which expressed only the consonantal structure of a word, and even that with much ambiguity.

Ingawa leo herufi kama ba, ta, tha, ya, zinatofautishwa kwa urahisi kwa nukta, haikuwa hivyo siku za mwanzo, na herufi hizi zote zilikuwa zikiandikwa kama mstari ulionyooka tu.

While today letters such as ba, ta, tha, ya, are easily distinguished by points, this was not so in the early days and all these letters used to be written simply as a straight line.

Kutoka katika mfumo huu wa msingi wa uandishi, kwa karne nyingi zilizopita, zilizuka aina mbalimbali za maandishi, kama vile Kufi, Maghribi, Naskh, na nyinginezo, ambazo zilienea duniani kote.

From this very basic system of writing there developed over the ages, various types of script, such as Kufi, Maghribi, Naskh, etc., which spread all over the world.

Uvumbuzi wa baadaye wa uchapishaji kwa kutumia herufi zilizosanifishwa umechangia katika kurasimisha uandishi.

The later invention of printing with standardised types has contributed to formalising the writing.

Hata hivyo, kwa upande wa maandishi halisi ya Qur'ani, kulikuwa na hatua mbili muhimu zilizoleta maumbo ambayo tunayo maandiko ya Qur'ani nayo leo. Hatua hizo zilikuwa ni kuanzishwa kwa:

However, as far as the actual script of the Qur'an is concerned, there were two important steps which brought about the forms in which we have the Qur'anic text as it is today. These were the introduction of:

Alama za harakati (tashkīl).

 Vowelling marks (tashkil).

Alama za nukta (i'jam).

 Diacritical marks (i'jam).

Tashkil ni jina la alama zinazoonyesha irabu katika maandishi ya Kiarabu. Inasemekana kwamba hazikujulikana katika zama za kabla ya Uislamu. Alama hizi husaidia kubainisha matamshi sahihi ya neno na kuepuka makosa.

Tashkil is the name for the signs indicating the vowels in Arabic scripts. They were apparently unknown in pre-lslamic times. These signs help to determine the correct pronunciation of the word and to avoid mistakes.

Mfano: Byt Baitun Kadiri Waislamu wasio na asili ya Kiarabu na pia Waarabu wengi wasiojua walivyosoma Qur'an, matamshi yasiyo sahihi na usomaji usio sahihi ulianza kuongezeka. Imepokewa kwamba wakati wa Du'all (alifariki mwaka 69H/638) mtu mmoja huko Basra alisoma aya ifuatayo ya Qur'an kwa namna isiyo sahihi, jambo lililobadilisha maana yake kabisa: :

Example: Byt Baitun When more and more Muslims of non-Arab origin and also many ignorant Arabs' [Yaqut reports in his book irshad that al- Hajjaj b. Yusuf himself once read ahabba in 9: 24 wrongly as ahabbu, see GdQ. 111, 124, note 6.] studied the Qur'an, faulty pronunciation and wrong readings began to increase. It is related that at the time of Du'all (d. 69H/638) someone in Basra read the following aya from the Qur'an in a faulty way, which changed the meaning completely: :

Mungu na Mtume Wake wanaondoa wajibu walionao kwa washirikina (9:3).

That God and His apostle dissolve obligations with the pagans (9: 3).

Mungu anajitenga na wapagani na Mtume wake (9:3).

That God dissolves obligations with the pagans and the apostle (9: 3).

Kosa hili lilitokea kwa sababu ya kusoma vibaya neno "rasulihi" badala ya "rasuluhu", ambayo haikuweza kutofautishwa katika maandishi, kwa kuwa hakukuwa na alama wala lafudhi zinazoonyesha matamshi sahihi. Isipokuwa mtu awe amekariri toleo sahihi, anaweza kwa kutojua kwa urahisi kufanya kosa kama hilo. [Ona pia fihrist, 1, uk. 87-8.] Alama au lafudhi za kuzuia matatizo kama hayo zilianzishwa muda mfupi kabla ya i'jam, kisha zikapata umbo ililonalo hadi leo: [Hughes, T.P.: A Dictionary of Islam, London, 1895, uk. 687.] Kwa mfano wa mtindo wa zamani, ona picha ya 5.

The mistake occurred through wrongly reading rasulihi in place of rasuluhu, which could not be distinguished from the written text, because there were no signs or accents indicating the correct pronunciation. Unless someone had memorized the correct version he could out of ignorance easily commit such a mistake. [See also fihrist, 1, pp. 87-8.] The signs or accents to prevent such problems were introduced not long before the i'jam and then got the shape they have to this day: [Hughes,T.P.: A Dictionary of Islam London,1895 p.687.] For an example of the old style see plate 5.