A Rasm-Based Perspective on the Qur'an: Paleography, Epigraphy, Philology, Radiocarbon Dating, and the Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Translation of Ancient Texts

Preface Throughout human history, written works have not merely been documents carrying information; they have also served as historical witnesses transmitting to the present day the systems of thought, linguistic structures, worlds of belief, and cultural memories of the civilizations to which they belonged. Therefore, the accurate reading and translation of ancient texts cannot be regarded solely as an activity based on linguistic knowledge. In order to reach the true meaning of a text, its historical context, the material on which it was written, the writing system employed, the historical semantic layers of its words, and the language family to which the text belongs must be examined together. Especially when sacred texts, legal documents, historical records, and philosophical works are concerned, the process of translation becomes far more complex. This is because the meaning of a word in such texts cannot be determined merely by its dictionary equivalent; the semantic field of that word in the period in which it was used, its cultural associations, and its function within the language must also be taken into account. This situation has transformed ancient text studies into an interdisciplinary field of research. In modern academic research, four principal disciplines come to the fore in the study of ancient texts: philology, paleography, epigraphy, and radiocarbon dating. In recent years, artificial intelligence-based methods of analysis have also been added to these disciplines, thereby inaugurating a new era in historical text research. Today, thanks to high-resolution imaging systems, machine learning algorithms, and natural language processing models, texts thousands of years old can be examined in a level of detail that was previously impossible. While philology investigates the historical development and semantic transformations of words, paleography studies writing forms; epigraphy examines inscriptions and material writing culture; and radiocarbon dating determines the age of writing materials. Artificial intelligence, in turn, analyzes the data obtained from all these disciplines and provides researchers with new possibilities for evaluation. Thus, not only what a text says, but also when it was written, to which linguistic layer it belongs, in which cultural environment it was produced, and how it changed over time can be revealed more reliably. The purpose of this study is to examine the roles of radiocarbon dating, philology, paleography, epigraphy, and artificial intelligence methods in the translation of ancient texts and to demonstrate the scientific advantages provided by the combined use of these methods. Within the scope of the study, not only classical manuscripts but also early sacred texts, inscriptions, parchments, and historical documents will be evaluated. In addition, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, one of the earliest dictionaries of Arabic, cognate languages belonging to the Semitic language family, and the contributions of modern artificial intelligence technologies to ancient text research will also be discussed. This approach proposes a holistic research model that brings together scientific measurement techniques and the possibilities of the digital humanities, rather than relying solely on traditional methods in the interpretation of historical texts.