The Compilation of the Qur'an

[islamirama]

The Compilation of the Qur'an

Syed Abul 'Aala Muadoodi


Muhammed (salallahu alayhi wasalam) was the first to commit the Revelation to memory after Jibreel (alayhi salam) had conveyed it to him.

The Messenger then declared the revelation and instructed the companions to memorise it. According to Imam Sayuti (Al-Itqan) 20 companions memorised the revelation including the Khulafa Rashideen.

The Qur'an was not only transmitted orally but was also written down during the life time of the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam). An example of this is when Umar bin Khattab (radhiallahu anhu) converted to Islam, he wanted to see the leaves his sister was reading (Ibn Hisham pg.156). Ibn Umar narrated that Muhammed (salallahu alayhi wasalam) said: "Do not take the Qur'an on a journey with you, for I am afraid lest it should fall into the hands of the enemy."(Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 4 No. 233). This indicates that the Qur'an was a written document.

The order and arrangement was well known to the Muslims due to daily recitation of the Qur'an in their prayers.

There are 3 ahadith in Bukhari indicating that the angel Jibreel (alayhi salam) used to recite the whole Qur'an with the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam) once a year in Ramadan, but recited it twice in the year he died (Vol 6 No. 518, 519, 520.)

The Revelation after the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam) was available both orally and written down on various materials. Its internal order was known to the Muslims and strictly observed by them.

At the battle of Yamama, in the time of Abu Bakr (radhiallahu anhu), a number of Muslims who had memorised the Qur'an were killed. Abu Bakr (radhiallahu anhu) instructed Zaid bin Thabit to collect the Qur'an that was written and also from those who had memorised it. The Qur'an was collected by mutawatir transmission.

The compiled Qur'an was kept by Abu Bakr (radhiallahu anhu) until he died, then by Umar bin Khattab (radhiallahu anhu), and when he died he gave it to his daughter Hafsa (radhiallahu anhu). Various Companions such as Abdullah ibn Masud, Ubay bin Ka'b and Ibn Abbas (radhiallahu anhu) had their own Masahif (collected pages).

During the Khilafah of Uthman (radhiallahu anhu) differences in reading the Qur'an became Obvious and after consultation with the companions, Uthman had a standard copy prepared by Zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Zubair, Said bin Al Asn and Abdur-Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham. Copies were made and distributed. Two of these copies today can be found in Topkapi museum in Istanbul and Tashkent.

Proof & Challenge of the Quran.

The Qur'an's linguistic style makes it unique and impossible to be imitated. (Inimitability means the weakness of human power in trying to achieve a miracle). This is called the I'jaz Al-Qur'an. From this I'jaz, the Qur'an issues a Challenge (Tahaddi) to all of Mankind to imitate the Qur'an as the rational proof of its divine source. This is because Islam Does not accept Blind faith and the challenge results in the definite conclusion that the Qur'an is from Allah (SWT).

As for confirming that the Qur'an is revealed by Allah, It is well known that the Qur'an is in Arabic and was conveyed by the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam). Thus it is EITHER from the Arabs, or Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam) or Allah T'aala. It is not possible that the Qur'an came from any source other than these sources.

1. It is not from the Arabs because the Qur'an challenged them to bring any similar
book:


…Say: "Bring you then ten forged Sûrah (chapters) like unto it…"(Hud 11:13)

…Say: "Bring then a Sûrah (chapter) like unto it…"(Yunus 10:38)

They tried to meet the challenge but failed, hence this book is not their speech.

Hearing from the recitation from the Qur'an, the Arabs would rush, captivated by its dignity, deep insight, perfect arrangement, coherence and eloquence. So much so that Walid ibn Al
Mughira said after hearing the Qur'an:

“By God, None of you is more conversant than I with poetry, melodious hymns, and songs, and by God never did I hear anything similar to what he says. It is so sweet, and so graceful that it remains at the summit with nothing to surpass it."

2. It is not from Muhammed (salallahu alayhi wasalam) because Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam) is one of the Arabs, and whatever his height of Genius he must remain one of the human beings, and one of the community and nation. As the Arabs had themselves failed to bring the like of Qur'an, this also applies to Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam), the Arab.

Furthermore Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam) has left some authentic (SAHIH) and absolutely authentic (hadith mutawatir) traditions whose authenticity is beyond approach. If these traditions are compared with any verse of the Qur'an, there is no similarity between them in style, even though the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam) would say the hadith at the same time with difference in style between them. This in spite the fact that whenever anyone attempts to disguise his speech it will remain, nevertheless, similar in style, because style is part of man himself. The Qur'an is not Muhammad's (salallahu alayhi wasalam) speech due to the clear difference between it and Muhammad's (salallahu alayhi wasalam) speech. None of the Arabs alleged that the Qur'an was Muhammad's (salallahu alayhi wasalam) speech.

3. It is From the Non-Arabs. This was the only allegation against Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam), that he had bought it from a Christian youth called Jabr. As a Result Allah (SWT)
revealed:

And indeed We know that they (polytheists and pagans) say: "It is only a human being who teaches him (Muhammad SAW)." The tongue of the man they refer to is foreign, while this (the Qur'ân) is a clear Arabic tongue. (An-Nahl 16: 103)

The Qur'an is therefore definitely from Allah (SWT) and accordingly a Miracle for the one who brought it.

Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur'ân) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).(Al-Hijr 15:9)

The Qur'an defies the masters of eloquence, challenging them to produce a similar surah.

The Qur'an is the meaning-denoting Word that was revealed to the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam). Meanings alone do not constitute the Qur'an. And the word alone may not be without meaning because the word was originally written to denote a specific meaning. That is why Allah (SWT) described the Qur'an through Describing its word. It is an Arabic Quran.

The language is the description of the word Qur'an but not of its meanings, because these meanings are to humanity not to Arabs alone.

Translating some of its meaning into another language cannot be the Qur'an. It is Imperative that the word be Arabic. It is the miracle of the Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam).
It is not a miracle for Arabs only but to the whole human race for all times.

And We have not sent you (O Muhammad) except as a giver of glad tidings and a Warner to all mankind, but most of men know not. (Saba' 34: 28)

This covers the whole human race, for the verses of challenge are universal:

Say: "If the mankind and the jinns were together to produce the like of this Qur'ân, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another."(Al-Isra 17:88)

Method of preservations of the Quran during the Prophet's time

Besides, those of the Companions (salallahu alayhi wasalam) who were literate used to keep a written record of several portions of the Holy Qur'an. In this manner, the text of the Holy Qur'an had been preserved in four different ways during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam):

The Holy Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam) had the whole text of the Divine Messages from the beginning to the end committed to writing by the scribes of revelations.

Many of the Companions learned the whole text of the Qur'an, every syllable of it, by heart.

All the illustrious Companions, without an exception, had memorized at least some portions of the Holy Qur'an, for the simple reason that it was obligatory for them to recite it during worship. An estimate of the number of the illustrious Companions may be obtained from the fact that one hundred and forty thousand Companions had participated in the Last Pilgrimage performed by the Holy Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam).

A considerable number of the literate Companions kept a private record of the text of the Qur'an and satisfied themselves as to the purity of their record by reading it out to the Holy Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam).

Method of preservations of the Quran after the demise of the Prophet

It is an incontrovertible historical truth that the text of the Holy Qur'an extant today is, syllable for syllable, exactly the same as the Holy Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam) had offered to the world as the Word of God. After the demise of the Holy Prophet, the first Caliph Hadhrat Abu Bakr (radhiallahu anhu) assembled all the Huffath and the written records of the Holy Qur'an and with their help had the whole text written in Book form. In the time of Hadhrat 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) copies of this original version were made and officially dispatched to the Capitals of the Islamic World. Two of these copies exist in the world today, one in Istanbul and the other in Tashkent. Whosoever is so inclined may compare any printed text of the Holy Qur'an with those two copies, he shall find no variation. And how can one expect any discrepancy, when there have existed several million Huffath in every generation since the time of the Holy Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam) and in our own time? Should anyone alter a syllable of the original text of the Qur'an, these Huffath would at once expose the mistake.

In the last century, an Institute of Munich University in Germany collected FORTY-TWO THOUSAND copies of the Holy Qur'an including manuscripts and printed texts produced in each period in the various parts of the Islamic World. Research work was carried out on these texts for half a century, at the end of which the researchers concluded that apart from copying mistakes, there was no discrepancy in the text of these forty-two thousand copies, even though they belonged to the period between the 1st Century Hijra to 14th Century Hijra and had been procured from all parts of the world. This Institute, alas! Perished in the bombing attacks on Germany during World War II, but the findings of its research project survived. Another point that must be kept in view is that the word in which the Qur'an was revealed is a living language in our own time. It is still current as the mother tongue of about a hundred million people from Iraq to Morocco. In the non-Arab world too, hundreds of thousands of people study and teach this language.

The grammar of the Arabic language, its lexicon, its phonetic system and its phraseology, have remained intact for fourteen hundred years.

A modern Arabic-speaking person can comprehend the Holy Qur'an with as much proficiency as did the Arabs of fourteen centuries ago. This, then, is an important attribute of Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam), which is shared by no other Prophet or Leader of Religion. The Book which God revealed to Him for the guidance of mankind is today's in its original language without the slightest alteration in its vocabulary.

Source: Taken from part of a speech titled Message of the Prophet's (salallahu alayhi wasalam) Seerah

http://www.quranicstudies.com/articl...the-quran.html

[ayesha.ansari]

Quran is in its original form and will be till the Day of Judgment. Thank to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to gave us this holy book and also to the Suhaba Karam to save this book as it is for the guidance of all of us.