B & P of Islam Mohammad Hamid Mahmood Assaleh

How the Qur'an was collected.

‘We have sent down the Qur’an Ourself and We Ourself will guard it’ (Qur’an 15:9).

Linguistically in English the word Qur’an has been used for both the oral and written
(manuscripts), on the contrary, Arabic distinguishes between the written as Mus-haf
and oral as Qur’an. Hence, the concept of the ‘Qur’an’ being collected could be
examined in its oral and written forms. Francois Deroche explains this as a “precise
distinction, which demonstrates the simultaneous existence of two realities:
transmission in written form and transmission in spoken form. Islam strongly
emphasises the oral nature of the Qur’an and the particular importance of this feature
should not be overlooked. The role of the written word cannot, however, be ignored”
(p. 172). The Qur’an, was collected, gathered and transmitted in aural and written
format. It is therefore important to examine both notions of the collection of the
Qur’an experienced over time. I will initiate with the analysis of the oral collection
and the emphasis the Prophet made towards the memorisation of the Qur’an and
thereafter examine its collection in written format, which took place over three
overlapping periods. The collection of the Qur’an was initiated in the Prophet’s era
followed by the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and fully collected as a complete manuscript
and codex in the third period under the authority of Uthman, the Third Caliph and
son-in-law of the Prophet.

The primary and most effective collection of the Qur’an was its spoken form (jam’),
which the Prophet himself instigated and also urged his companions to engage with.
At the time of Wahi (divine revelation) the Prophet rushed in its memorisation in-
order to safely collect it letter by letter, thus he was commanded by Allah: “[Prophet]
do not rush your tongue in an attempt to hasten [your memorization of] the
Revelation: We shall make sure of its safe collection and recitation” (Q. 75:16-17).
Allah assured Muhammad of two critical elements within its oral transmission, its
safe ‘collection’ and ‘recitation’. Hence the pioneering institute for the fulfilment of
this notion was the Prophet’s Mosque at Medina, where at times Muhammad had even
rebuked his companions on the strident clamour they created whilst diligent on its
memorisation.1 Many female companions of the Prophet were reluctant of
materialistic dowry and instead wedded men, who in return would teach them the
Qur’an, so they too could form a part of the oral collection of the Qur’an. It is
important to note how the collection through memorisation and recitation had become
an integral part of the lives of the Sahabah (companions of the Prophet), which gives
the observer an insight to the oral transmission of the Qur’an.

The other aspect of the oral collection, which has totally been ignored by
contemporary Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, is the ‘recitation’. To understand
this notion, it is crucial to examine examples from the lives of the Sahabah, in this
case I think it sufficient to observe one: Sa’eed ibn Mansur in his Sunan relates:2 A
man was reciting the Qur’an to Abdullah ibn Mas’ud and he recited,
“InnamasSadaqaatu lil-Fuqara-i wal-Masaakeen, Ibn Mas’ud said, “This is not how
the messenger of Allah recited it to me!”, so the man inquired, “how did he recite it to
you?” so he said, “lil-Fuqaraaaa-i wal-Masaakeen”, he prolonged the vowel, though
1
Manaahil al-I’rfan (Vol. 1 – p. 234) cited in: Uthmani, T., (1996). U’lum al-Qur’an. Karachi:
Maktaba Darul U’lum. (p. 175) [Urdu]
2
Cited from: Rashed, M., Reach the Goal Via Tajweed Rules. (p. 2)

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B & P of Islam Mohammad Hamid Mahmood Assaleh

not to do so constitutes a lahn al-Khafi.3 It is evident from this incident that the
collection and preservation of the Qur’an was not merely a written or spoken
phenomenon, but rather transmitted phonetically and linguistically in accordance with
the recitation of the Prophet and ultimately the Divine.

The oral transmission of the Qur’an has its significant and logical reasons. Allah had
promised Muhammad: “I am to reveal such a book upon you [Prophet], which water
cannot obliterate”,4 clearly evident from this, is the notion of the protection of the
Qur’an in the hearts of men, which could not be obliterated or distorted. In Arabia
education was not widespread, only a minority could read, from among them only
some could write and the majority were illiterate5, but on the contrary they all had
astonishing potential to memorise. Muhammad’s youngest wife Aa’isha, had
memorised 70,000 poems. Montgomery Watt (1970) emphasised this phenomenon:
“For one thing, knowledge of the Qur’an among the Muslims was based far more on
memory than on writing” (p. 47). The Prophet urged his companions to memorise the
Qur’an as it was being revealed by promising them in return lofty palaces, streams of
Rayyaan, high status in paradise and radiant crowns for their parents. As this was a
crucial task for the primary Muslim community.

Besides the oral collection, the Qur’an was written at the time of the Prophet. At the
death of the Prophet, it is traditionally recognised by al-Suyuti (Itkan, i. 71), ‘that
there was not in existence any collection of revelations in ‘final’ form, because, so
long as he was alive, new revelations were continually being added to the earlier
ones’.6 However, there is substantial evidence to prove that the Qur’an was written
during the life of the Prophet in its entirety, according to a statement made by Zaid ibn
Thabit: “The Prophet was taken [from his life] whilst the Qur’an had not yet been
‘gathered’ into a book”. The Arabic word used is jumi’a, which refers to the Qur’an
not being ‘gathered’ rather than it being written. Al-Khattabi commentates, “This
quote refers to [the lack of] a specific book with specific traits”.7 Hence the Qur’an
had been ‘written’ in its entirety during the life of the Prophet, but not collected
together, nor the surahs arranged systematically between two covers.

The Qur’an was revealed over an approximate period of twenty three years, in which
Muhammad ordered scribes to write the aayaat and surahs as they were being
revealed. A typical example of this: ‘There was revealed, “Not equal are those who
sit [at home] and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah” (Q. 4:95). The
Prophet said, “Call Zaid and let him bring the board, the ink pot and the scapula
bone.” Then he said: “Write: ‘Not equal are those believers’… (‘Asqalani, n.d.,
9:22).8 The scribes according to Azami (cited in Esack. F.) were up to forty eight in
number, the most prominent among them were Zaid ibn Thabit and Ubayy ibn Ka’b,
and the four caliphs have also been counted among the many scribes. It is also
evident from Fathul-Bari (cited in Uthmani, T. 1996), that the Prophet also ordered
3
In the science of Tajweed (Correct recitation of the Qur’an), the Qari (the one reciting) must abstain
from Lahn Jali (clear/obvious/major mistakes) and Lahn Khafi (not so obvious- minor mistakes). Ibn
Mas’ud rebuked his student even on the minor mistakes.
4
Sahih al-Muslim cited in: Uthmani, T., (1996). U’lum al-Qur’an. (pp. 173-174) [Urdu]
5
article Koran , Encyclopaedia of Islam (p. 1067)
6
Cited in: article Koran , Encyclopaedia of Islam (p. 1067)
7
All cited in: Al-Azami, M. Mustafa, The History of the Quranic Text: from Revelation to
Compilation, U.K., Islamic Academy 2003 (p. 77)
8
Cited in: Esack, F., the Quran: A Short Introduction, (pp. 78-97).

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B & P of Islam Mohammad Hamid Mahmood Assaleh

the scribes to place a specific verse in so and so surah, before or after so and so verse
(p. 179). It therefore becomes evident that the written collection of the Qur’an had
already been instigated during the life time of the Prophet, though not in the form of a
complete systemised codex. But on fragments of writing material such as paper, skin,
papyrus and bone, which were termed as suhuf, and later the collected suhuf were
termed mus-haf.

Under the reign of Abu Bakr, the Muslim empire had experienced a flood of ridda
wars, in which many qurraa’9 were martyred and there was a dire need for a further
systemized and authoritative collection of the Qur’an. In the Yamamah battles many
qurraa’ had been martyred. Umar ibn al-Khattab, fearful of the Qur’an being lost if
further more qurraa’ were to be matyred, urged Abu Bakr, the caliph, to initiated this
task. After acceptance, together they approached Zaid ibn Thaabit, the most prominent
of the scribes and ordered him to collect the Qur’an from the scattered suhuf and from
the hearts of men. Zaid ibn Thabit himself describes this difficult task: “By Allah,
had they asked me to move a mountain it could not have been weightier than what
they requested of me now”10. Zaid ibn Thabit along with many other scribes,
including Umar ibn al-Khattab himself were instructed to embark on the task under
rigorous conditions.

Abu Bakr had instructed Umar and Zaid, “Sit at the entrance of the [Prophet’s]
Mosque. If anyone brings you a verse from the book of Allah along with two
witnesses, then record it”11. Ibn Hajar commentates on the meaning of two witnesses,
were memory backed by written word, or two witnesses to prove that the verse had
been written in the presence of the Prophet. The analogy of the two witnesses must
have been from verse dealing with writing a contract, “…Call in two men as
witnesses (Q. 2:282). According to Professor Shauqi Daif (cited in Al-Azami, 2006),
Bilal ibn Rabah paced the streets of Madinah requesting the attendance of any
companion who possessed verses recorded by the Prophets own dictation” (p. 80).
After receiving such suhuf in the presence of the aforementioned witnesses, Zaid and
Umar would confirm from memory such verses and thereafter have it written.

In this new collection, the verses of the Qur’an were written on paper, but every
surah had been written on a separate sahifa12. Therefore this collection was scattered
between many suhuf and termed ‘Umm’. The specifications of this collection were;
that, the ‘verses’ were systemised according to the Prophet’s dictation, but every
surah had been written on a separate sahifa yet to be systemised. The seven ahruf
were all collected in this collection, and the abrogated verses were taken out. The
purpose of this collection was, that, under the collective witnessing of the ummah a
systematic collection could be made, which could later be used to refer to as a primary
source.13 During the caliphate of Abu Bakr, he kept this collection under his
possession and after his death it was passed down to Umar, the second caliph. Upon
Umar’s death in 644 C.E the collection came into the possession of his daughter and
widow of the Prophet, Hafsa.

9
Qurraa’ (sing. qari) [literally ‘reciters], thoses who had memorised the entire Qur’an. Due to their
piety, they fought on the front lines of the battles, hence suffered great losses.
10
Sahih al-Bukhari (hadith no. 4986), cited in Al-Azami (2006) (p. 78)
11
Ibn Abi Dawud cited in Al-Azami (2006) (p. 80)
12
Sahifa (sing. of suhuf)
13
See Uthmani, T., (1996). U’lum al-Qur’an (pp. 185-187)

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B & P of Islam Mohammad Hamid Mahmood Assaleh

The third and final of the overlapping periods of the collection of the Qur’an was the
caliphate of Uthman. During his reign, Islam had spread far and wide, and many
qurraa’ had spread throughout the Islamic empire to teach the Qur’an. Until
knowledge of the sab’ah huruf14 prevailed among the Muslims there were no
problems. However, the problematic circumstances erupted as the teachers of the
Qur’an had spread far and wide teaching their students the different modes they had
acquired from the Prophet, that when they heard the differences, they began accusing
each other of heresy. The situation worsened as witnessed by Hudhayfa ibn al-
Yaman, who had led the Muslim forces against the Armenians in Azerbaijan, he
experienced arguments break out between the Muslims from different areas. Upon his
return to Medina, he urged Uthman to solve this bewildering dilemma. After hearing
such news and delivering orations, Uthman consulted the high ranking Sahabah and
they consented on collecting the suhuf of Abu Bakr as a single manuscript and
codex.15

Once again, Zaid ibn Thabit was instructed to collect the suhuf under a single mus-haf
(manuscript) alongside twelve other companions. The suhuf of Abu Bakr were taken
from Hafsa and the following tasks were undertaken in its final written collection as a
complete codex: The surahs, which were gathered on separate suhuf, were now
systematically ordered and written under a single manuscript. The text was written in
such a way that it included all seven modes of recitation, which meant the absence of
all diacritical signs, including the dots. Up until now there was only one consented
collection that had been made, but Uthman had prepared according to Abu Hatim
Sijistani seven such manuscripts, which were distributed in the Muslim world, and
one copy was kept in Medina. Finally, Uthman burnt all other individual manuscripts
that belonged to other companions, so to diminish the differences. This was done
after consulting the companions. There are various views among the Shi’i scholars
regarding a manuscript, which Ali had in his possession, but there is consensus among
the Sunni and Shi’i schools that the difference between the Uthmanic codex and that
produced by Ali was the arrangement of the surahs.16

I examined the collection of the Qur’an firstly from the notion of its two realities:
Oral (jam’) and secondly transcript (tadween). I mentioned it’s oral collection from
its memorisation perspective followed by its recitation. Thereafter, how the Qur’an
was collected into written format from the time of the Prophet, followed by the
collection of the surahs on suhuf and its final world wide accepted collection under
the caliphate of Uthman and the difference between the second and third collections.

14
There were seven modes in which the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet. See Uthmani, T., (1996).
U’lum al-Qur’an (pp. 97-156)
15
Esack, F., the Quran: A Short Introduction, (pp. 78-97).
16
Uthmani, T., (1996). U’lum al-Qur’an (pp. 187-192)

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B & P of Islam Mohammad Hamid Mahmood Assaleh

Bibliography

The Qur’an. A new translation by M.A.S Abdel Haleem, (2005). (O.U.P)

Al-Azami, M. Mustafa, The History of the Quranic Text: from Revelation to

Compilation, U.K., Islamic Academy 2003.

Deroche, F., 2006. ‘Written Transmission’. In: Rippin, A. The Blackwell Companion
to the Qur’an, Blackwell, 2006

Esack, F., the Quran: A Short Introduction, pp. 78-99.

Rashed, M., Reach the Goal Via Tajweed Rules

Uthmani, T., (1996). U’lum al-Qur’an. Karachi: Maktaba Darul U’lum. [Urdu]

article Koran , Encyclopaedia of Islam (p. 1063-1076)

Watt, W. Montgomery, (1970). Introduction to the Qur’an. Edinburgh University

Press (2005)