How quran was collected

[Evanaaa]

Hello,I have a question, how the quran was collected and why?Actually a hadith is bothering me,It's say In the battel of Yamama many hafiz died so in the fear that quran will be lost so he gathered quran but the main problem is as we know quran was written in a defective script ie,ba,ta,cha,nun etc had no distinction between them, so even if it's collected in a book form it's very much hard to understand if there is no hafiz and someone to teach them who know quran by heart and also know to write quran.It's also quoted by a nonmuslim to me "We learn that some of Muhammad's followers already knew the whole Quran by heart in his lifetime -- yet subsequently it had to pieced together out of fragments collected from here and there. We are told that Muhammad regularly dictated his revelations to a scribe -- yet the scripture was later in danger of being lost through the death in battle of those who had it by heart. It was collected and made into a book by the first Caliph; or by the second; or by the third, Uthman. Alternatively, it had already been collected before the time of Uthman, and he merely had the text standarised and other versions destroyed. The last of these traditions has tended to prevail, but the choice is a somewhat arbitrary one "Can anyone explain this to me.

 

[Muhammad]

Assalamu alaykum,

Hello,I have a question, how the quran was collected and why?Actually a hadith is bothering me,

To avoid sounding disrespectful it is better to say you are trying to understand a Hadith.

It's say In the battel of Yamama many hafiz died so in the fear that quran will be lost so he gathered quran but the main problem is as we know quran was written in a defective script ie,ba,ta,cha,nun etc had no distinction between them, so even if it's collected in a book form it's very much hard to understand if there is no hafiz and someone to teach them who know quran by heart and also know to write quran.

The primary way the Qur'an was transmitted was orally and it was preserved in the hearts of many Companions. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud stated that he memorised more than seventy surahs of the Qur'an simply by hearing them from the lips of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.This is why, when Mushafs were later sent to different provinces, a teacher would also be sent to teach the people how to recite the Qur'an correctly.

It's also quoted by a nonmuslim to me "We learn that some of Muhammad's followers already knew the whole Quran by heart in his lifetime -- yet subsequently it had to pieced together out of fragments collected from here and there.

The Qur'an was already in the possession of the Muslim community. But when an official compilation was being made, nothing was included in the compilation unless it was corroborated simultaneously by the written records and from memory or by two independent witnesses. This is indicative of how serious the rules imposed by the first Muslims were when collecting the text of the Qur'an. This project was being overseen by Zayd bin Thabit who had memorised the whole Qur'an, who recited the Qur’an twice to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم during the year in which he passed away and who had been present during the Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم last recitation to Jibril عليه السلام.

It was collected and made into a book by the first Caliph; or by the second; or by the third, Uthman. Alternatively, it had already been collected before the time of Uthman, and he merely had the text standarised and other versions destroyed. The last of these traditions has tended to prevail, but the choice is a somewhat arbitrary one "Can anyone explain this to me.

The Qur'an was compiled during the time of Abubakr رضي االله عنه and later official copies were made during the time of Uthman رضي االله عنه. Uthman رضي االله عنه sent teachers along with the Mushafs who would teach the people what they had learnt from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Muhammad Mohar Ali writes:

All the sources unanimously state that 'Uthman, on receipt of Hudhayfah's report, immediately consulted his principal colleagues, borrowed the master copy of the Qur'an prepared by 'Abu Bakr and then in the custody of Umm al-Mu'minin Hafsah, had copies of it made by a committee and sent these copies to the different provinces, with instructions to destroy and put into disuse the extant incomplete and uncorroborated copies. This prompt measure was adopted to preserve the integrity of the Qur'anic text and to prevent any divergent and extraneous elements being introduced into it. That is why all the surviving Companions of the Prophet, including those who had in their possession their personal "codexes" supported and welcomed 'Uthman's action...

...Thus the 'Uthmanic copy, which was in fact the complete authentic copy of the Qur'an made during 'Abu Bakr's time by taking into consideration all memorized and written texts including those possessed by individual Companions, was accepted by all the surviving Companions of the Prophet. [The Qur'an and the Orientalists, pp. 229-232]

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