Unpointed Arabic script makes single consonant outlines ambiguous across five readings

Evidence

All the books discovered were difficult to decipher and translate. An extreme example of the ambiguities inherent in this form of writing is that the same consonant outline, when unpointed (i.e., without nuqat), could represent either b, t, th, n, or y. The permutations of uncertainty in 5. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1263

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the ambiguity of unpointed (nuqat-less) Arabic script, where one outline maps to five consonants.
• XREF: Bears on Quranic recitation debates and the history of Arabic orthography’s vowel point system.