ISLAM AND HANDWRITING SCIENCE

by

Zaka A. Malik
(This article was published in "The Pakistan Times" a leading English language newspaper in Pakistan
and was later presented in an In-House Seminar at Advanced Forensic Document Lab, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.)

Identification of handwriting is a new and important branch of scientific knowledge in the modern times. One can determine the authenticity of a hand written document or signature with its help. Actually handwriting is profoundly connected to and affected by the state of the writer's mind. Mr. John H. Wigmore, a famous jurist and author of "Wigmore on Evidence" writes on page 106 in his book "THE SCIENCE OF JUDICIAL PROOF" that "Handwriting is a visible effect of bodily movement; and this bodily movement is the almost unconscious expression of fixed muscular habits, reacting from fixed mental impression of certain ideas associated with script forms" Mr. Justice (Retd.) M. Monir formerly Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan while agreeing with Mr. Wigmore, states on page 618 of his book, "LAW OF EVIDENCE" that "Handwriting, not withstanding it may be artificial, is always, in some degree, the reflex of the nervous organization of the writer. Hence there is each person's handwriting some distinctive characteristic which, as being the reflex of this nervous organization, is necessarily independent of this own will"

This fact is supported in Woodroffe and Amir Ali's "LAW OF EVIDENCE" 11th Edition: page 999 which reads; "Writing has been rightly described as mirror of the mind. Though writing ultimately becomes the automatic production of the hand, it is equally a fact that it does so as the pupil and agent of the mind."

This statement is further strengthened by Russel A. Gregory on pages 5 and 12 of his book, "THE IDENTIFICATION OF DISPUTED DOCUMENTS" in these words

"Handwriting is controlled by the brain though produced by the hand; it is the subconscious mind that directs your hand to shape your letters and words" and on page 5; "The act of writing does not depend upon a person's hand, but emanates from his brain".

INHERENT CHARACTERISTICS OF GENUINENESS: If a person tries to commit fraud by forging somebody else's handwriting or signatures, the inherent characteristics of his fraudulent state of mind will overwhelm him and force its appearance prominently in the forged handwriting or signatures. In the same way if a person writes unconsciously in his natural manner, meaning thereby that there would be no contribution of the self conscious will, (which is present when a person is committing a forgery), his handwriting or signatures will automatically manifest/show the inherent characteristics of being genuine and natural. This connection is supported by the Honorable Judge of the Full Bench of The West Pakistan High Court, Lahore (A.P.R. 1963, LHR. 74) and (P.L.D. 1963, LHR-141) in the following words; ".........there are certain of these inherent qualities in handwriting that, by the observing, can be seen without comparison with any standard writing whatever, that point towards genuineness and others, that are highly significant symptoms of forgery. This of course is not comparison, but is reasoning from knowledge which is an essential part of handwriting investigation and also of handwriting testament" "In his tense anxiety for a perfect result the forger is naturally dissatisfied with his work as first produced and is its severest critic, often attempting to perfect it by careful overwriting and retouching, thus marking it as unquestionably fraudulent. He knows it is not genuine and attempts to correct that he thinks are it s worst faults." (PLD 1963,
LHR. 141 and APR. 63 LHR. 74)

It is clear from the above references that just as the influences of a person's state of mind appear in his handwriting similarly, other parts of his body are also subject to his state of mind and thus will be affected by the inherent characteristics of limitations also if put in that position.

HIRA CAVE INCIDENT AS A PROOF OF GENUINENESS: If we keep this principle in view the truth of Islam can be ascertained from just one important incident. It is now well proven from authentic books and "Hadith" that the

Holy Prophet often visited the cave of "Hira" for meditation/prayers. He used to spend a great deal of time at one stretch in this cave. Once during the last ten days of the month of Ramadan, when he (Muhammad PHUH) was engaged in prayers, Gabriel appeared suddenly, identified himself and declared that he (Muhammad PHUH) was the prophet of God. "Read", Gabriel said, to which the Holy Prophet replied that he cannot read. Gabriel embraced him and then asked him to repeat the same words after him. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was deeply moved and overwhelmed by this great responsibility. Therefore after Gabriel left, he became anxious and started trembling due to his unconscious state of mind. His heart beat bacme louder and body became feverish. He went back straight to his home and told his wife "Hazrat Khadija" that he is feeling cold due to fever and sked her to cover him up and put a blanket over him. Hazrat Khadija immediately covered him with a blanket and inquired about the reason for his anxiety. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) narrated the whole incident of the cave "Hira", upon this she gave her blessings and said that God will never spoil you. Nearly all historians and researchers state this incident in the way it is given above. Some of them are:

Muhammad at Mecca (By W. Montgomery Watt, page 40) Muhammad - His Life on the Earliest Sources (By Martin Lings Page 43 & 44) A Life Sketch of the Prophet Muhammad ALAMIN (By Pickthall pages 12 & 14) The Life and Times of Muhammad (By John Bagot Glubb, pages 84, 85 & 86) Muhammad (By Essad Bey, pages 74 & 75) Life of Muhammad, 8th Edition (By Muhammad Hussayn Haykal, pages 76, 77 & 78) The Prophet of the Desert (By K.L. Gauba, pages 38, 39, 40 & 41) Muhammad Seal of the Prophets (Routedge and Kegan Paul, (London - Boston), pages 23, 24 & 25) Bokhari Sharif (Bab Kaifa-Kanna-Bad-a-ul-Wahi-Illahi)

On close scrutiny this incident will bear out that there is no element of planning and makeup in it. Consequences like anxiety, trembling, fever point out to the fact that the Holy Prophet's body was unconsciously and thus naturally reacting to a strange and overpowering influence/incident. The bodily reactions are evidence of a genuine state of mind which are quite inconsistent with mental condition of the act of forgery. If the Holy Prophet would have been making up a story then he would not have experienced extreme anxiety, trembling and fever which is a very strong evidence of his being genuine and not fake. This fact is substantiated by "OSBORN" who writes at page 364 of his book "QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS" under the heading "Proof of genuineness of a disputed document" that "Any-thing of any kind about a writing that indicates that the writer was not thinking about the writing itself is evidence of genuineness for the reason that forgery is necessarily a self conscious, careful act, while natural writing comes to be so nearly automatic that it is almost unconscious."

It is further supported by these words of the Honorable Judges of the Full Bench of the West Pakistan High Court, Lahore (P.L.D. 1963, LHR-141) "When writing shows by any quality or in any way that it is the result of unconscious habit this always is a forceful indication of genuineness" (PLD 1963, LHR. 141 and APR. 63
LHR. 74)

"MUQATIAT" - QURANIC ABBREVIATIONS AS PROOF OF GENUINENESS One often finds Muqatiat (abbreviated letters in the Holy Quran). They are abbreviations used as beginnings of various "Suras" (Chapters); some examples are; 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura Al-Baqrah 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura Al-Imran 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura Al-Un-Kaboot 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura Al-Room 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura Luqmaan 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura Al-Sajdah 'ALIF - LAM - RAA' in the beginning of Suras 'Yusuf', 'Hood', 'Ibraheem', and 'Yunus' 'HAA - MEEM' in the beginning of Sura 'Al-Momann', 'HAA-MEEM', 'Al-Sajdah', 'AlShura', 'Al-Zakhraf', 'Al-Ad-Ghan' and 'Al-Jazia' 'ALIF - LAM - RAA' in Sura Al-Raad 'TAA - HAA' in Sura Taa-Jaa 'TAA - SEEM - MEEM' in Suras 'Al-Shara' and 'Al-Qasas' 'ALIF - LAM - MEEM - SUAD' in Sura Al-Araf 'KAAF - HAA - YAA - AIN - SUAD' in Sura Muryum 'TAA - SEEN' in Sura Al-Naml 'QAAF' in Sura Qaaf 'NOON' in Sura Al-Qalm

'YAA - SEEN' in Sura Yaa-Seen 'SUAD' in Sura Suad

The meanings of such words are not clear. Nothing can be said about them with any certainty whether they mean anything separately or joined together. Most interpreters and scholars have confessed their failure in deciphering them. Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani says on page 3 of his "TAFSEER SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM" "these words are called Muqatiat. Nobody has access to their meaning" Similarly Maulana Fateh Mohammad states on page 3 in his "TAFSEER-E-QURAN" about 'Alif-Lam-Meem' that "Similar kind of letters appear before several 'Suras' of the Quran; they are God's secret; one should believe in them to be the words of God. The Holy Prophet has also not explained their meaning except that they are only letters" Therefore many scholars have given these letters as they are separately and without meaning. Another famous scholar of Quran Allama Ibne Qaseer has this to say about them on page 47 of his "TAFSEER - IBNE - QASEER " "Letters like Alif-Lam-Meem, which appear before 'Suras' attract different interpretations from different scholars. Some say that their meaning is known only to God that is why they make no interpretations. Qartabi has attributed the same interpretation to Hazrats Abu Bakar, Omar, Usman, Ali and Ibne-Masud. Aamir Shoabi and Sufian Soari along with Rabi-bin-Khaseem 'Afhanallah' also say the same. Abu Hatim-bin-Habban also prefers the same interpretation. "Some people attach some meaning to them, but the meanings they give are also different" In his translation of the Quran at page 21 Maulana Syed Abul-Alla Maudoodi writes that: "Different meanings have been given by different interpreters to these words. There is no agreement on any one meaning. It is not necessary to know their meaning because it does not make any difference to the sufficiency of guidance that man can have from the Quran" Similarly in his Tafseer 'Ma'araf-ul-Quran' Maulana Mohammad Ali Kandhalvi writes that "the real meanings of these letters are a secret and nobody can unearth their meaning" From the above extracts it is clear that the meaning of these letters or 'Muqatiat' is known only to God and even the Prophet has not explained them. If he would have done that his

companions and the four Caliphs would have some knowledge of it. Therefore it is obvious that these letters were revealed in an abbreviated concise, concealed and secret form. It also shows that they wee revealed to the Holy Prophet in an unconscious states, because, according to the handwriting science artifice is an act of conscious will and a person writing something with a conscious will would create clear, legible, complete and meaningful words.

COMPARISON OF THE WRITINGS OF QURAN AND HADITH Now the question arises that if the Holy Quran is not a man's creation and if it is God's, what characteristics make it exceptional in the light of handwriting science? The answer is that if it would have been written by the Holy Prophet then it would be no different from the language of 'hadith' when studied from the angle of handwriting science. This remarkable difference is so pronounced that even a person of common intelligence can perceive it. The Quran is a veritable sea of fluent, meaningful and impressive verses. The 'hadith' cannot match it in these qualities although it also is not the creation of any ordinary man, nor can any other writing of man match the profundity and depth of the Quranic verses. The Quran itself challenges man to create something similar or comparable. It is said that the Holy Prophet displayed this challenge on the outer door of the Holy Kaaba, but nobody has been able to come up with a comparable work. The power of its words is such that Hazrat Omar, who went out of his house to kill the Holy Prophet, chanced upon his sister reciting the Quran and was so overwhelmed that he became a Muslim. It was due to such qualities that the non-believers used to call the Prophet a poet who ensnares and traps people with his beautiful verses. At times they would also call him a sorcerer who melts the hearts with his verses (Ibne Hishan vol. 1, page 187). One can quote Mr. Justice (Rtd) M. Monir formerly chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan whose words in his famous 'LAW OF EVIDENCE' Vol I (1974) on pages 620, 622 and 623 are worth our attention; "The admitted abnormality of a signature (writing) is at least some evidence that it is not the handwriting of the person who purports to have written it". "On the other hand, a clear dissimilarity of habit between two writings is evidence to show that the documents are not in the handwriting of the same person"

IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE On observing the Prophets youth one sees that his friends and foes all considered him to be truthful. He had a spotless character - pure and sincere. His truthfulness was exemplary. He would shun bad company and sit for many days and nights at a stretch praying in the Cave of 'Hira'. His piety, honesty and truthfulness was well known even before his Prophethood. He was extremely honest in business and would never usurp

somebody else's right. he would also go on to support the securing of somebody else's right. Because of these qualities he was known by his people as 'Amin' (the honest keeper) and 'Sadiq' (the truthful). People would keep their valuables in his safe custody frequently. They would look up to him for resolving their dispute. He would visit his relatives and help those in trouble. In short, all qualities which had become absent in his times could be found in his person, that is why his enemies could not ascribe even one untruth lie to him after his prophethood (Ibne-Hisham vol-1 page 187) It was because of his well known and established qualities that when the Prophet gathered his people on the hill of 'Safa' and asked them if they would believe him if he told them that there is an army hidden behind 'Safa' ready to attack them. Although everybody knew that such a small and barren hill could not possibly hide an army, but still they all of them said that they would believe him since he is 'Sadiq' and 'Amin' and they have never heard him telling a lie or giving an untrue statement. The Prophet said that he bears witness that God is one and Muhammad (himself) is his prophet. The above event proves that Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him) never told a lie even under most difficult circumstances and cases. A question arises that if he remained truthful and steadfast all his life and kept on advising members of his movement to always speak the truth then how he could have managed to run a false movement. How can a movement, whose roots are spread all over the world, and which is spreading knowledge and spirituality, be based on lies and falsehood? No building, whose foundations are weak and defective, can remain strong for a long period, how can then a strong movement become successful if it is based on foundations of lies and falsehood. Here I would like to pause and ask all those people of the world who like justice and truth and the courts that base themselves in law and justice, if we can ignore or legally reject such an evidence? The evidence of a man who was complete in all respects and whose fine qualities were confirmed by friends and foes alike; who was known as 'Sadiq' and 'Amin'; who had never lied or given a wrong statement.