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Is the presence of a space between the letters alif and dhal in the word (فماذا) in Surat Ash-Shu'ara in the Talking Pen Mushaf considered a distortion? And which of the two is distorted, this one or another Mushaf that does not contain this space? And what should be done about it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The word "ماذا" (madha) in the Arabic language has two forms: either it is a single word, serving as an interrogative particle or a noun of genus meaning "thing," or it is two words, where "ما" (ma) is interrogative and "ذا" (dha) is a relative pronoun or an expletive. Quranic verses can accommodate both forms. Ibn Al-Jazari mentioned six forms for the word "ماذا" in Arabic, and the benefit of this becomes apparent in contexts such as the Almighty's saying: "وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنْفِقُونَ قُلِ الْعَفْوَ" (And they ask you what they should spend. Say: The excess [of your needs]), where the pause is determined based on reading the word as a single word or two words. The same applies to other verses such as "مَاذَا أَنْزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ" (What has your Lord revealed?), and "وَقِيلَ لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا مَاذَا أَنْزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ قَالُوا خَيْرًا" (And when it was said to those who feared Allah, "What has your Lord revealed?" they said, "Good"), and "وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا" (But as for those who disbelieve, they will say, "What is this?").

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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