The Compilation of the Quran

The Compilation of the Quran

Conception

  The Quran is held by Muslims to have been revealed to the Prophet of Islam over a period of twenty three years, the length of his prophetic mission. The process by which the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, however, has been an area of debate by some questioning the authenticity of the Quran as they claim it isprone to human error. Those holding these doubts also believe that much of the Quran was "lost" along the way. This argument and more are summarized below.  

 During the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, the Quran was never compiled in a single bound volume as we have today. Rather , the compilation of the Quran took place over two distinct stages:

1. The first phase was under the Caliphate of Abu Bakr who began the compilation of the Quran but in a method that was later rejected by his followers;

2. The second phase was under the Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan , who compiled the whole Quran adding things that where left out in the first phase among which were:

a. The placing of dots on the various Arabic letters. (Before  this time, Arabic was written without dots, making similar letters look alike).

b. The placing of diacritical marks signifying  vowels on all the letters.

c. The placing of the different signs for pauses, short and long, throughout the Quran.

d. The placing of circles around all the verse numbers.

These two phases contain much human error making it quite probable that additionns and substractions to verses and chapters were made.

Response

The question of the authenticity of the Quran is a fairly new one and has be virtually non-existent in the past. Certainly in Muslim circles, the question of the Quran being authentic or not is not really an issue at all since from the creedal standpoint, the Quran is the ternal Word of Allah (God) revealed from the Preserved Tablet (Al-Lawh Al-Mahfudh) to the Prophet of Islam. Accordingly, Muslims view the Quran as containing the literal Words of Allah, words and verses that are eternal, preserved and protected from fabrication. 

As for the historical context through which the Quran came to be, it must be remembered that the Arabs of pre-islamic Arabia were an oral people. Their primary method of holding on to important facts was composing them into poetry and commiting the verses to memory. In essence, their mastery of language and ability to memorize things by rote were the greatest legacies the Arabs before Islam had. The fact that the Quran was not "written" in one complete volume before the Caliphate of Uthman does not mean that the Arabs before them were not able to preserve the Quran in its entirety. Memory was the method of preserving facts and documents so much to the point that memory was relid on more than written material.  This tradition was maintained  by Islam and the memorizing of texts was always a pre-requisite to the scholarly life.

The Quran `s  Arabic , while not exactly poetry, is rich and sophisticated; it easily captivated the attention of the Arabs. In fact, it was precisely the Quran that caused so much of a stir in Arabia , as it challenged the status quo and out did the best poetry the Arabs composed which posed a direct threat to the ruling elite and their established ways.

There were two main factors, which assisted the early Muslims to memorize the Quran as it was revealed:

1. The Quran was revealed piecemeal, and not all at once. This allowed the meaning of the Quran to permeate the minds and the souls of the followers and allowed them to understand the message step by step, internalizing it first then teaching it to others.

2. The structure of the Quran and the manner in which it is recite create a harmony that is attractive to the ears of an Arabic  speaker. The structure of the verses creates an intricate pattern of similar sounding words and tones. The Quran was never just read , but it was always recited according to the rules of tajwid (Quranic Recitation), allowing these patterns to be accentuated. For example, chapter one hundred of the Quran:

(1) By the (Steeds) that run, with panting (breath),

(2) And strike sparks of fire,

(3) And push home the charge in the morning,

(4) And raise the dust in clouds the while,

(5) And penetrate forthwith into the midst (of the foe) en masse;

(6) Truly, man is ungrateful to his Lord;

(7) And to that (fact) he bears witness (by his deeds);

(8) And violent is he in his love of wealth.

(9) Does he not know, when that which is in  the graves is scattered abroad?

(10) And that which is (locked up) in (human) breasts is made manifest?

(11) That their Lord had been Well-Acquainted with them  (even to) that Day?

This short chapter has eleven verses and the endings of each verse can be classified into four categories: The first group includes the first three verses, in which verse ends in a hard H (ha) ; dabha, qadha and subha. The second group includes the fourth and fifth verses each ending with an `ayn (`aa); naq`aa and jam`aa. The third group includes verses six throught eight, in which each verse ends with the letter dal (d); lakanud, lashaheed  and lashadeed. The last group includes the remaining verses, i.e. nine through eleven, in which each verse ends with the letter ra` (r); al-qobur, al-sodur and lakhabeer.

Furthermore, we see that verses six through eleven all end in elongated vowels; either ya or waw. The combination of the ending letters with the elongated vowels form a rhythmic pattern found almost everywhere in the Quran. 

There are two other factors that make this chapter easy to memorise. First , the chapter itself is no only short but also so to its verses. These verses consist of two words, the first three verses, three words, the fourth and fifth verses, and four words, verses six through eight. The verses employ few words to maximize meaning at the same time minimizing the amount of words needed to convey that meaning which is exactly what eloquence or fasahah in the arabic language stands for. The second factor is the coupling of meaning throughout the chapter. For example, the first three verses swear by the running steeds in battle and verses four and five provide detailed information about these steeds in battle. Thus, the first five verses revolve around one topic. Then verse six proclaims that man is ungrateful towards his Lord. Verse seven confirms this ungratefulness , and verse eight shows disgust at man`s love of wordlythings, a cause of his ungratefulness. Finally, the last three verses of the chapter serve as a warning for man to get out of this heedless state. This progression and coupling of meaning , combined with the short nature of the chapter and its verses added to the rhyming verses endings, allserve to facilitate memorization, which means that the meaning of the chapter is always kept at heart. The same can be said of the other chapters in the Quran. 

The early Muslims, and Muslims of all generations, became familiar with the Quran by memorizing it. The message of the Quran from the beginning was sonarol meaning it was transmitted by listening and internalizing it. This pattern was mimicked and passed on to others, orraly, who in turn memorized it and passed it on until the current age. Anyone who memorizes the Quran with a licnsed teacher receives a certificate with a chain of transmitters (isnad), connecting the student to the Prophet of Islam, pbuh, displaying the men and women who memorized and passed on the Quran preserving it each generation. 

Upon receiving revelations, the Prophet of Islam, pbuh, would order some of his companions to write down the new verses. Many companions undertook this task of writing down the different verses on various parchments. During the life of the Prophet, pbuh, then, there were two methods by which the Quran was documented and preserved. The first  was rote memorization, and the second was the written documentation of which there were several concurrent copies. However, the arabs, being a primarily oral people, relied on memorization. The Prophet, pbuh, was considered the foremost authority as, according to Islamic historiography, he would  review  the Quran with Archangel Gabriel once a year and twice in the year he died. From the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, many companions were able to memorize the Quran. There were those who memorized parts of the Quran and ther were those who memorized the entire Quran. Of the companions who memorized the entire Quran, seven were considered the authorities of the Quran after the Prophet, pbuh.  Their memorization was authorized by the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, thus giving them thepermission (ijazah) to teach and transmit the Quran to others. By the time that Caliphs Abu Bakr and Uthman sought to compile the Quran into one volume, these seven were consulted and their knowledge of the Quran guided the entire project. 

-to be continue, inshaAllah-