Significance of the Qur’aan’s Preservation

[Dr. Jawad]

Bismillahir Rehmaan ir Raheem

All praise is due to Allaah, and may Allaah’s Peace and Blessings be upon the
last Messenger Muhammad, and all those who follow the path of
righteousness until the Last Day.

Significance of the Qur’aan’s Preservation

Allaah promised in the Qur’aan that He would take on the responsibility of protecting His final word from loss. He said, “Verily I have revealed the Reminder (Qur’aan), and verily I shall preserve it.”(Al Hijr 15:9. Thus, the Qur’aan has been preserved in both the oral as well as written form in a way no other religious book in history has.
Why did Allaah preserve the Qur’aan and allow His earlier books of divine revelation to be changed or lost? The answer to that question lies in the following three facts:
1. The earlier prophets and their books were sent to a particular people in particular periods of history. Once the period ended, a new prophet was sent with a new book to replace the previous book. So, it was not necessary that these books be preserved by Allaah. The preservation of the earlier books was left up to the people as a test for them. Thus, when the people went astray, they changed what was written in the books which their prophets brought in order to make allowable the things which were forbidden to them. In that way, all of the earlier books of revelation became either changed or lost.
2. Prophet Muhammad (ρ) was the last prophet whom Allaah sent, and he was not sent to a particular people or a particular time. He was sent to all of mankind until the end of the world. Allaah said in the Qur’aan, “I have only sent you (Muhammad) as a giver of glad tidings and a warner to all mankind, but most men do not understand.” (34:28)
Thus, his book of revelation, the Qur’aan, had to be specially preserved from any form of change or loss so that it would be available to all the generations of man until the last day of the world.
3. The Qur’aan was the main miracle given to Prophet Muhammad (ρ) to prove that he was a true prophet of Allaah and not an imposter. So, the Qur’aan had to be saved to prove to the later generations that Muhammad (ρ) was really the last prophet of Allaah. All of the false prophets who came after Prophet Muhammad (ρ) brought books which they claimed to be revealed from Allaah, but none of them have the miraculous ability to be memorized by thousands, nor have they improved on the message of the Qur’aan.
The significance of the Qur’aan’s preservation is that Islaam has been kept in its original purity because of it. Humanity can always return to the sources of Islaam no matter what people may have added or forgotten in time. All of the essential principles of Islaam are to be found in the Qur’aan. Consequently, the preservation of the Qur’aan meant the preservation of Islaam in its final form. The loss of the Gospel of Jesus means that Christians can never return to the true teachings of Prophet Jesus except by accepting Islaam.
Similarly, the original Torah was lost when Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians.(The New Encyclopedia Brittanica, vol. 14, p. 757). Thus, the Jews cannot return to the pure teachings of Prophet Moses except by following Islaam. It is only in Islaam that the pure teachings of the prophets have been preserved without any change. That is why Allaah said in the Qur’aan, “Verily, the only acceptable religion to Allaah is Islaam.” (3:19)

Order of the Verses and Chapters in Quran

The order of the aayahs in each soorah was set by the Prophet (ρ) himself, as is indicated in a number of hadeeths (recorded sayings or actions of the Prophet [ρ]). For example, ‘Uthmaan ibn Abee al-‘Aas said, “Once while I was sitting with Allaah’s Messenger (ρ), he rolled his eyes upwards in a stare, then after a while he lowered them and said ‘Jibreel came to me and ordered me to place this aayah in this place in this soorah: ‘Verily Allaah commands justice, kindness, and charity to close relatives.” 16:90.

The Prophet (ρ) also made reference to aayahs in particular positions in soorahs. For example, Aboo ad-Dardaa’ reported that the Prophet (ρ) said, “Whoever memorizes the first ten verses of Soorah al-Kahf will be protected from Ad-Dajjaal (the Anti-Christ) (Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, pp. 386-7, no. 1766) and Aboo Daawood (Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 3, p.1203, no. 4309).

Ahmad reports in another hadeeth that ‘Uthmaan told Ibn ‘Abbaas, “Soorahs were revealed to the Prophet (ρ) over a period of time. Whenever something would be revealed to him, he would call one of his scribes and tell him, ‘Place this in the soorah that mentions such-and-such.’ (Musnad Ahmad, nos. 376 and 468.) The hadeeth was also collected by Aboo Daawood (Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 1, pp. 201-2, no. 785) and at-Tirmithee and has seven isnaads, all containing Yazeed alFaarisee, who was classified as maqbool (acceptable for corroborative reports) by Ibn Hajar.

If the order of the verses was not fixed, these hadeeths, and others like them, which attach special benefits for particular verses would be meaningless. There are also numerous authentic reports in which the Prophet (ρ) recited soorahs with the verses in order during salaah (prayer), Jumu‘ah sermons, etc.
During the second copying of the Qur’aan, Caliph ‘Uthmaan personally checked the position of each aayah in every soorah, making sure that every one was in place, even if they were abrogated verses. Ibn az-Zubayr reported that he said to Caliph ‘Uthmaan, “The verse: ‘And those of you who die, leaving wives behind...’ (2:240) has been cancelled by the other aayah, so why are you having it written [or why are you allowing it to stay written]?” He replied, “O my nephew, I will not remove anything from its original place.”( Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 40, no. 53).
Similarly, the order of the soorahs was fixed by the Prophet (ρ) himself, although it is recorded that ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib had compiled a text in which the soorahs were ordered according to the time of their revelation. That is, it began with Soorah al-‘Alaq, then al-Mudath-thir, and then Noon. It has also been recorded that Ibn Mas‘ood had a text which began with Soorah al-Baqarah, then an-Nisaa’, and then Aal‘Imraan; while Ubayy had one which began with Soorah al-Faatihah, then al-Baqarah, an-Nisaa’, and Aal ‘Imraan.( See al-Itqaan, vol. 1, pp. 181-3, and Ma‘ al-Masaahif, pp. 81-7). However, none of these great companions of the Prophet (ρ) argued with the order confirmed by Caliph ‘Uthmaan and the committee of sahaabah that copied and distributed copies of the Qur’aan to the various centers of the Muslim state. In fact, these and other companions burned their copies in order to avoid any confusion (See al-Itqaan, vol. 1, pp. 170-1.)
None of this would have taken place if the order of the soorahs was not fixed. It should also be noted that Jibreel reviewed the Qur’aan once during every Ramadaan of the Prophet’s life except during the final year, in which he recited it to him twice (Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 486, no. 519). For such a review to be of any value, a fixed order had to have been there, especially considering the fact that some of the sahaabah used to listen to the Prophet (ρ) as he recited it to Jibreel. a fixed order had to have been there, especially considering the fact that some of the sahaabah used to listen to the Prophet (ρ) as he recited it to Jibreel.