Transmission Of The Qur'anic Revelation

[umm Zachariah]

Assalamu aleikum,


Will start a new thread since this topic has got involved in another topic, and it is given a better highlight and place on its own.


Part 1.


Memorisation and oral transmission



The Prophet Muhammad, saws himself was the first to commit a revelation to memory after the Angel Gabriel had brought it to him:


'Move not thy tongue concerning the (Qur'an) to make haste therewith. It is for Us to collect it and promulgate it; but when We have promulgated it, follow thou its



recital' (75: 16-19).


'... an apostle from God, rehearsing scriptures, kept pure and holy ...'
(98: 2).


Memorisation by the Companions



The Prophet, saws then declared the revelation and instructed his Companions to memorise it. When (Ibn Mas'ud) arrived at the maqAm, he read


"In the name of God the Compassionate the Merciful, The Compassionate who taught the Qur'an ..."
(55:1)


The Prophet, saws encourages Memorisation



'Narrated 'Uthman bin 'Affan: The Prophet said: "The most superior among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it".' Bukhari, VI, No. 546.


It is also well known that the recital of the Qur'an during the daily prayers is required and hence many Companions heard repeatedly passages from the revelation, memorised them and used them in prayer.


The Prophet, saws sent Teachers



The Prophet, saws sent teachers to communities in other places so that they might receive instruction in Islam and the Qur'an.


Qur'an Readers among the Companions



'Narrated Qatada: I asked Anas bin Malik: Who collected the Qur'an at the time of the Prophet? He replied, Four, all of whom were from the Ansar: Ubay bin Ka'b, Mu'adh bin Jabal, Zaid bin Thabit and Aba Zaid.' Bukhari, VI, No. 525.


The Qur'an Memorised in the Prophet's Lifetime



It is therefore certain that the Qur'an had been memorised by the Companions of the Prophet, saws during his lifetime. This tradition continued among the Companions after the Prophet's death and, later, among the tabi'un and all generations of Muslims that have followed, until today.


To be continued...

[umm Zachariah]

Bismillah


Part 2.


TRANSMISSION OF THE WRITTEN TEXT


The Written Text at the Time of Prophet Muhammad, saws



What is meant by Jam' al-Qur'an?


The general meaning of jam' al-qur'an is to 'bring together the Qur'an'. This was done and has to be understood in twoways:


- Bringing together the Qur'an orally, or in one's mind (hifz).


- Bringing together the Qur'an in written form, or on sheets, or in a book.


Jam' al-qura'n therefore, in the classical literature, has various meanings:


- To learn the Qur'an by heart.


- To write down every revelation.


- To bring together those materials upon which the Qur'an has been written.


- To bring together the reports of people who have memorised the Qur'an.


- To bring together all such sources, both oral and written.


The ordering of the Qur'an and the arrangement of the suras, was fixed by the Prophet, saws himself and safeguarded through oral transmission.


Stages of Collection



As far as the written text is concerned, one may distinguish three stages:


1. In the time of the Prophet, saws - in the hearts of men (memorisation) and on writing materials


2. In the time of Abu Bakr.


3. In the time of 'Uthman.


Writing down the Revelation



'And thou (O Muhammad) wast not a reader of any scripture before it, nor didst thou write it with thy right hand, for then might those have doubted who follow falsehood'
(29:48).


The Qur'an written during the Prophet's, saws Lifetime



There is no doubt that the Qur'an was not only transmitted orally by many Muslims who had learned parts or the whole of it, but that it was also written down during the lifetime of the Prophet, saws.


The Qur'an Dictated by the Prophet, saws



The Qur'an was not only written down by those Companions who did so on their own initiative. Indeed, the Prophet, when a revelation came, called for the scribe and dictated to him. The Prophet, saws while in Madina had several such scribes, among whom Zaid bin Thabit was very prominent.


(M. M. A'zami, in his book Kuttab al-Nabi (Beirut, 1393/1974) mentions 48 persons who used to write for the Prophet)


Written during the Prophet's, saws Lifetime



When people came to Madina to learn about Islam, they were provided with 'copies


of the chapters of the Qur'an, to read and learn them by heart'.


(Hamidullah, M.: Sahifa Hammam ibn Munabbih, Paris, 1979, p. 64.)


The Qur'anic verse 56:79, read in context, clearly explains that the Qur'an is available to those who receive instruction by revelation, in the form of a book or a piece of writing:


'... this is indeed a Qur'an most honourable, in a book (kitab) well guarded, which none shall touch but those who are clean: a revelation from the Lord of the worlds'
(56: 77-80).


The fact that the Qur'an did exist as a written document in the lifetime of the Prophet is proved by the following ahadith:


From Ibn 'Umar: ... 'The messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) 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". Muslim, III, No. 4609, also 4607, 4608; Bukhari, IV, No. 233.


The correctness of the assumption that the reference is to a written document is supported by one of the transmitters: Ayyub (i. e. one of the narrators in the chain of transmission of this report) said: 'The enemy may seize it and may quarrel with you over it.' Muslim, III, No. 4609.


To be continued...

[umm Zachariah]

Bismillah


Part 3.






Collection of Revelation during the Prophet's, saws Lifetime


During his last pilgrimage, at the sermon which he gave to the large gathering of Muslims, the Prophet said: 'I have left with you something which if you will hold fast to it you will never fall into error- a plain indication, the book of God and the practice of his prophet.


(Ibn Hisham, p. 651.)


This advice from the Prophet to the Muslims implies that the revelation was available as kitab (writing) before his death, for otherwise he would have referred to it in some other term.


From other reports also, we can conclude that the Prophet himself took care of the actual arrangement of the revelation, when it was written down.


Zaid is reported to have said:


'We used to compile the Qur'an from small scraps in the presence of the Apostle.'


(Itqan, I, p. 99; Salih, p.69.)


'Uthman said, that in later days, the Prophet 'used to, when something was revealed to him, call someone from among those who used to write for him and said: Place these ayat in the sura, in which this and this is mentioned, and when (only) one aya was revealed to him, he said: Place this aya in the sura in which this and this is mentioned'.


(Jeffery, A.: Materials for the history of the text of the qura'n, (incl. Kitab al-masahif by Ibn Abi Dawud (abbr. as Ibn Abi Dawud, masahif) Leiden, 1937, p. 31.)


This indicates that not only was the revelation written down during the lifetime of the Prophet, but that he himself gave instructions for the arrangement of the material. According to some other reports, it is also clear, that this proper arrange-


ment and order of the ayat was well known to the Companions of the Prophet, and they were not prepared to tamper with it.


'Narrated Ibn Az-Zubair: I said to 'Uthman "This verse which is in Sura al-Baqara: 'those of you who die and leave wives behind ... without turning them out' has been abrogated by another verse. Why then do you write it in the Qur'an?" 'Uthman said: Leave it (where it is) O son of my brother, for I will not shift anything of it (i . e. the Qur'an) from its original position.'


Bukhari, VI. No. 60.


There are three ahadith in Sahih Bukhari, informing us that the Angel Gabriel used to recite the Qur'an with the Prophet, saws once a year, but he recited it twice with him in the year he died. The Prophet, saws used to stay in i'tikaf for ten days every year (in the month of Ramadan), but in the year of his death, he stayed in i'tikaf for twenty days.


Bukhari, VI, No. 520


We can therefore distinguish the following measures which ensured the collection of the revelation in writing during the lifetime of the Prophet, saws:


- Revelation used to be written down even in the very early days of the Prophet's call.


- In Madina, the Prophet had several persons who wrote down revelation when it was revealed.


- The Prophet himself instructed his scribes as to where the different revealed verses should be placed, and thus determined the order and arrangement.


- This order and arrangement was well known to the Muslims and strictly observed by them.


- The Angel Gabriel went through all the revelation with Muhammad each year in Ramadan, and went through it twice in the year the Prophet died.


- There are numerous reports about the existence of the written Qur'an - in the form of a book or piece of writing (kitab) during the lifetime of the Prophet.


What did the Prophet, saws leave behind?



The way the material of revelation was left by the Prophet, saws at his death was the most suitable for the Companions in that:


- All parts of the revelation were available both in written form and memorised by the Companions.


- All pieces were available on loose writing material, making it easy to arrange them in the proper order.


- The order already fixed of the ayat within the suras, in the written form, as well as in the memory of the Companions, and of the suras in the memory of the Companions.


What arrangement could have been better than to have everything to hand in written form, as well as memorised by the Muslims, and to have the order and arrangement already determined, partially in the written form and completely in


the memories of the people?


It is for these reasons that a later scholar, al-Harith al-Muhasibi in his book kitab fahm al-Sunan, summarised the first phase of the written collection of the Qur'anic material in the following words:


'Writing of the Qur'an was no novelty, for the Prophet used to order that it be written down, but it was in separate pieces, on scraps of leather, shoulder blades


and palm risp, and when (Abu Bakr) al-Siddiq ordered that it be copied from the (various) places to a common place, which was in the shape of sheets, these (materials) were found in the house of the Prophet in which the Qur'an was spread out, and he gathered it all together and tied it with a string so that nothing of it was lost.


(Suyuti, Itqan, I, p. 58.)


It is obvious that the history of the Qur'anic text cannot be compared with that of other Holy Scriptures. While the books of the Old and New Testaments, for example, were written, edited and compiled over long periods, sometimes centuries, the text of the Qur'an, once revelation had ceased, has remained the same to this day.


To be continued...

[umm Zachariah]

Bismillah


Part 4.


Suhuf and Mushaf



Both words are derived from the same root Sahafa 'to write'. The word suhuf also occurs in the Qur'an (87:19) meaning scripture or written sheets.


Suhuf (sg. sahifa) means loose pieces of writing material, such as paper, skin, papyrus, etc.


Mushaf (pl. masahif) means the collected suhuf, brought together into a fixed order, such as between two covers, into a volume.


In the history of the written text of the Qur'an, suhuf stands for the sheets on which the Qur'an was collected in the time of Abu Bakr. In these suhuf the order of the ayat within each sura was fixed, but the sheets with the suras on them were still in a loose arrangement, i.e. not bound into a volume.


Mushaf in the present context means the sheets on which the Qur'an was collected in the time of 'Uthman. Here both the order of the ayat within each sura as well as the order of the sheets were fixed.


Today we also call any copy of the Qur'an, which has both order of ayat and suras fixed, a mushaf.


How the suhuf were made



The following is the account in the Sahih Bukhari


Narrated Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari, one of the scribes of the Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra were killed). 'Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said: "Umar has come to me and said, the People have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be some casualties among the Qurra (those who know the Qur'an by heart) at other places, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur'an.' Abu Bakr added, 'I said to 'Umar, "How can I do something which Allah's Apostle has not done?" 'Umar said (to me) "By Allah, it is (really) a good thing". So 'Umar kept on pressing trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as 'Umar'. (Zaid bin Thabit added:) 'Umar was sitting with him (Abu Bakr) and was not speaking. Abu Bakr said (to me), 'You are a wise


young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness); and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript)'. By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur'an. I said to both of them, 'How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?' Abu Bakr said, 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr and


'Umar. So I started locating the Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuzaima two verses of Suras at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else (and they were):


'Verily there has come to you an Apostle (Muhammad) from among yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He (Muhammad) is ardently anxious over you (to be rightly guided)'
(9:128).


The manuscript on which the Qur'an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah, SWT took him unto Him, and then with 'Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, 'Umar's daughter.


(Suyuti. Itqan, I, p 62)


Here we can distinguish the following steps, which led to the preparation of the suhuf:


- Zaid was instructed by Abu Bakr to collect the Qur'an.


- Zaid collected it from various written materials and the memories of people.


- The sheets thus prepared were kept with Abu Bakr, then'Umar, then Hafsa.


THE MASAHIF OF THE COMPANIONS



There are numerous indications in the literature of hadith that several of the Companions of the Prophet had prepared their own written collections of the revelations. (Suyuti. Itqan, I, p 62)


Some example of the private or personal copies.


The Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud (d. 33/653), Surah al-Fatiha seems to be missing. Assuming that all these are reliable reports, the copy of Ibn Mas'ud would then have been prepared for his personal use and written before all 114 suras were revealed. And if written BEFORE it means INCOMPLETE.


The Mushaf of Ubay bin Ka'b (d. 29 H/649), He wrote a mushaf, in which two 'additional suras and another 'additional aya' were reportedly found.


(I will exclude the explanation to this, since it is very long, and the one that is interested can read it at http://www.sunnah.org/sources/ulumquran/ul...20Quran%202.htm under point 41).


The order of the suras is again different from 'Uthman as well as Ibn Masud.


The Mushaf of Ibn 'Abbas (d. 68H/687), Ibn 'Abbas also wrote a mushaf, which according to the Itqan also included the two additional suras which Ubay


had. Again his arrangement of the suras differed from the other copies.


And others, if there is interest to read about them, they can be found on the same reference as above www.sunnah/org....


As long as the sahaba wrote their own copies for personal use only, there was nothing wrong, if they did not strictly adhere to the order of suras which was the order of the Qur'an. Later on, when 'Uthman's copy became the standard version, the Companions adopted the order of this copy including Ibn Mas'ud who perhaps differed most. (Ibn Abi Dawud, p. 12; Salih, S.: Mabahith fi 'ulum al-qura'n, Beirut, 1964)


There were also, as indicated, some variant readings in these copies, when some words were pronounced and spelt in slightly different ways, etc. However, it should be noted that variant readings are usually reported by a single person


only, and occasionally by perhaps two or three while the version called the 'Uthmanic text is mutawatir, i.e. transmitted by numerous people and is without doubt authentic.


To be continued...

[umm Zachariah]

Bismillah


Part 5.


THE MUSHAF OF 'UTHMAN



During the time of 'Uthman differences in reading the Qur'an became obvious, and after consultation with the Companions, 'Uthman had a standard copy prepared from the suhuf of Abu Bakr that were kept with Hafsa at that time.


The following is the report transmitted in the Sahih Bukhari


Narrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to 'Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to 'Uthmfin, 'O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an), as Jews and the Christians did before'. So 'Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, 'Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you'. Hafsa sent it to 'Uthman. 'Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, 'Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, Sa'id bin Al-'As and 'Abdur Rahman bin Hari-bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. 'Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish as the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue'. They did so, and when they had written many copies, 'Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. 'Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. Zaid bin Thabit added, 'A verse from Sura al-Ahzab was missed by me when we copied the Qur'an and I used to hear Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari'. (That verse was): 'Among the Believers are men who have been true in their convenant xwith Allah' (33: 23).


(Bukhari, VI, No. 510)


The following events led to the preparation of the mushaf of 'Uthman:


- Disputes had arisen among the Muslims about the correct manner of reciting the Qur'an.


- 'Uthman borrowed the suhuf, which were kept with Hafsa.


- 'Uthman ordered four Companions, among them Zaid bin Thabit, to rewrite the script in perfect copies.


- 'Uthman sent these copies to the main centres of the Muslims to replace other materials that were in circulation.


The Chronology of the written text
can be read on the website provided earlier.


What the Prophet left to the Muslims



The revelation, as left by the Prophet, saws was available both orally and written on various materials. Its internal order was known to the Muslims and strictly observed by them.


Abu Bakr collected these loose materials and had their contents written on to sheets (suhuf).


The Difference belween Abu Bakr's and 'Uthman's Collection



Abu Bakr had made one single copy from the various verbal and written material. This copy was later kept by 'Umar and then by his daughter Hafsa.


'Uthman had many copies prepared from this copy and sent them to various places in the Muslim world, while the original suhuf were returned to Hafsa and remained with her until her death. Later, Marwan b. Hakam (d. 65/684), according to a report in Ibn Abi Dawud, collected it from her heirs and had it destroyed, presumably fearing it might become the cause for new disputes. 'Uthman also kept one of the copies for himself. This version of the text, also known as 'Mushaf 'Uthman in fact constitutes the ijma'(consensus) of the sahaba, all of


whom agreed that it contained what Muhammad had brought as revelation from Allah. (According to Ibn Abi Dawud (117-8) eleven changes wcre madu under


al-Hajjaj, among them e.g. 5:48 'shari'atan wa minhajan' into 'shir'atan wa minhajan'; 12:45 'ana atikum bi-ta'wilihi' into and unabbi'ukum bi ta'wilihi. These are again according to Ibn Abi Dawud mistakes which were made in the preparation of Uthmans copy (pp. 37-49). The first version of 12:45 e.g. was the reading of 'Ubay (ibid. p. 138) and Ibn Masud (ibid. p. 39).)


The wide distribution of this text and its undisputed authority can also be deduced from the reports on the battle of Siffin (A.H. 37) 27 years after the death of the Prophet, saws and five years after 'Uthman's copies were distributed, Mu'awiya's troops fixed sheets from the Qur'an on their spears to interrupt the battle.


(See Suyutl, History of the Caliphs. transl. H. S. Jarrett. Baptist Mission Presss Calcutta. 1881, p. 177.)


--------------


Edited with the best intention, may Allah, SWT forgive me if something of it is not in accordance with His revelation and the knowledge given to us. May He continue to guide us and make us better Muslims insha'Allah. And Allah knows best.

[Anyabwile]

Bismillah


Jazakallahu khayran sister. Actually a large chunk of this amongst a few other articles is what i have read and understood, and would have presented to those genuinely interted in the origins of the Qur'an. Jazakallahu

[ronniv93]

Umm_Zachariah,


Thanks for starting a separate thread. Give me a little while, if you don't mind, to go through all that you've posted. Most, I've seen or read before so I am not ignorant of what Muslims believe in this regard. But just give me a few to go through and find the parts where things become unclear so I can ask meaningful questions.


Thanks.

[ronniv93]

Okay, sorry I've been away for a bit, but I had to travel for my job, but now I'm back!


You know, I knew a lot of this sounded familiar. I found the source of this information and it is the EXACT SAME BOOK that I've been posting links to. Yet, when *I* quoted it, I was accused of bringing information from a non-Muslim.


Interesting!


Anyway, he tries to tell the story as straightforward as possible, but there are several holes and missing gaps here-and-there. Let me try to put together all of my thoughts in a clear manner and I'll post again soon.

[umm Zachariah]

Hi Ronniv,


Sure take your time. The interesting point is, that when we read the same source we understand it very differently. I wonder why?


But for now I leave the thinking and thoughts to you. Come back when you are ready.


Regards

[Anyabwile]

You know, I knew a lot of this sounded familiar. I found the source of this information and it is the EXACT SAME BOOK that I've been posting links to. Yet, when *I* quoted it, I was accused of bringing information from a non-Muslim.
Interesting!

Maybe it's the tone of your posts, the sarcasm here and there. Lose that and the doors of communication will open. Insha Allah.