Saff 61/6 Âyetinin 'Ubeyy b. Kab'a İsnad Edilen Kıraati: Hz. Muhammed'in “Ahmed İsmiyle Müjdelenmesi mi?" Yoksa "Peygamberlerin Sonuncusu Olduğuna Atıf Mı?”.

In the Qur'anic verse Şaff 61/6, the Prophet 'Isa announces the coming of a prophet with the name or attribute of Ahmad after him. Since the first centuries, some Muslim scholars have associated the traces of this announcement with the word Paraclete in the Gospels, which has opened the door for the issue to become one of the main polemical issues between Muslim and Christian cultures. The debate between the two cultures over the verse Şaff 61/6 was reignited by the emergence of an alternative qira'at of the verse attributed to the Companion 'Ubayy Kab. This difference of qira'at was first encountered by Arthur Jeffery (d. 1959) in the manuscript of Abū Ishāķ Ibrāhīm b. Muhammad al-Marandi's (d. 588/1192) Ķurra'atu 'Ayni al-Kurra' fi al-Ķırā'at in the Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. According to this qira'at, the verse Şaff 61/6 does not herald the coming of a prophet named Ahmad after the Prophet Işā, but the coming of a prophet whose ummah will be the last ummah and who will be the last representative of the institution of prophethood and messengership. In this study, the interpretation of the verse Şaff 61/6 in Islamic sources and the works of Western and Arabic authors that contain information about the qira'at attributed to 'Ubayy b. Kab were analyzed using qualitative research methodology. In the exegetical tradition, the verse is mostly interpreted in terms of the glad tidings of the Prophet Muhammad with the name or attribute of Ahmad. The most comprehensive evaluation of the difference in the qira'at pointed out by Arthur Jeffery belongs to Sean W. Anthony and Zakariyyā Muhammad (d. 2023). While Anthony argues that the qira'at attributed to 'Ubayy b. Ka'b cannot be regarded as an original and historically preferable reading of the verse because it does not conform to the diction of the Qur'an and cannot be confirmed by other sources, Muhammad emphasizes that the difference between the 'Ubayy's qira'at and the 'Ubayy's qira'at may be due to the tashīf. In this context, Muhammad proposes a third alternative qira'at for the correct reading of the verse. According to Muhammad's suggested qira'at, the verse can be translated as follows: ""Īsā, son of Mary, said, O Children of Israel! I am a messenger sent to you from Allah, to confirm the Torah that you have, and to bring good tidings of a prophet who will come after me, whose ummah will be the most virtuous/superior ummah, and with whom Allah will end the institution of prophethood. They said: "This is sheer magic'." The analysis revealed that the qira'at attributed to 'Ubayy b. Kab about the verse Şaff 61/6 and the alternative qira'at suggested by Muhammad could not be confirmed by the ancient Mushafs and the sources containing information about the differences in qira'at and were not compatible with the Qur'anic style. It has been observed that both recitations are not preferable to the Khatt al-Osmānī recitation in terms of both the wording and the meaning they contain. It is highly probable that the qira'at attributed to 'Ubayy b. Ka'b in al-Marandi's work is based on an exegetical commentary on the personal Mushaf of the companion or on a qira'at of the seven letters that was in circulation before the appearance of the Mushaf of Uthman. It is concluded that the absence of the name Ahmad in the relevant qira'at does not affect the authenticity of the Mushaf of Uthman. (Saff 61/6) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]