虽然在前伊斯兰时期写作并不十分普遍，但在阿拉伯人中是为人所熟知的。第七世纪所使用的文字，即先知穆罕默德ﷺ在世时所用的文字，由非常基本的符号构成，只能表示一个词的辅音结构，而且即便如此也颇为含混。

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.

虽然如今像 ba、ta、tha、ya 这样的字母可以通过字母上的点轻松区分，但在早期并非如此，这些字母过去都只被写成一条直线。

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.

从这一最基本的书写体系出发，历经数百年的演变，逐渐发展出多种字体，如库法体、马格里布体、纳斯赫体等，并传播到世界各地。

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.

后来印刷术的发明，以及标准化活字的使用，促进了书写的规范化。

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

然而,就《古兰经》本文的书写形式而言,有两个重要步骤促成了我们今天所见的《古兰经》文本形式。这两个步骤是引入:

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:

元音符号（Tashkil）。

 Vowelling marks (tashkil).

附点符号（i'jam）。

 Diacritical marks (i'jam).

“Tashkil”（تشكيل）是阿拉伯文字中用来标示元音的符号的名称。据说在伊斯兰之前的时代并不存在这些符号。这些符号有助于确定词语的正确读音，避免出现错误。

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.

示例:Byt Baitun 随着越来越多非阿拉伯裔的穆斯林以及不少无知的阿拉伯人开始学习《古兰经》,发音错误和错误的诵读也随之增多。据记载,在杜厄利(卒于公元69年/638年)的时代,巴士拉有人错误地诵读了《古兰经》中的下面这节经文,使其意义完全改变:

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: :

{真主及其使者，宣布与多神教徒解除盟约（9：3）。}

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

真主解除了对多神教徒的盟约义务，使者也是如此（9:3）。

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

这一错误是由于将 rasuluhu 误读为 rasulihi 而产生的。在书写文本中，二者无法区分，因为当时没有标示正确发音的符号或音点。除非有人记住了正确的读法，否则出于无知，很容易犯这样的错误。[另见 fihrist, 1, pp. 87-8。] 为防止此类问题而引入的符号或音点，在不久之前才出现于 i'jam 之前，随后逐渐形成了今天的样式：[Hughes, T.P.: A Dictionary of Islam, London, 1895, p. 687。] 关于旧式写法的例子，请参见图版 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.

有人认为,fatha 的来源是 alif,kasra 的来源是 ya(如早期书籍中那样不带点),damma 的来源是 waw。hamza 以前是写作两个点的。[Abbott, N.: The Rise of the North-Arabic Script and its Koranic Development, Chicago, 1939, p. 39]

It has been suggested that the origin of fatha is alif, the origin of kasra is ya (without dots as in early books), and the origin of damma is waw. Hamza was previously written as 2 dots. [Abbott, N.: The Rise of the North-Arabic Script and its Koranic Development, Chicago, 1939, p. 39]