THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT From Revelation to Compilation ‘A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments MUHAMMAD MUSTAFA AL-A‘ZAMI UK ISLAMIC ACADEMY LEICESTER + ENGLAND: THE AUTHOR CONTENTS MUtAM@AD MUSTATA ALA‘ZAM, one of the works premier scholars of Presace ” Hadi vas born in Man, India inthe eary 1980s and recived i education successively at Dar al"Ulam Deoband, India (1952), al-Azhar University, Cairo L The History of the Qpr'anic (MLA, 1955), and University of Cambridge (Ph.D, 1968). He ia Profesor Emeritus at King Sa'0d University ijedi) where he also china the department of Islamic Studs; he holds a Sand citizenship, Al-A'zamt served Spite 48 curstorof the National Public Library Qptar; Associate Pofawor at Umm 2. BaRLY Hisrony oF Is-aMt: A BRizF Loox. 5 aL-Qurt University Makkah Vistng Scholar at University of Michigan (An 1. Pre‘lamic Arabia i 5 ‘sbos) Ving low at St. Cros ailege (University of Oxford; King Tal i The Geo-Poical Condition is ising Profesor for Isami Statins at Princeton; and Vaiting Scholar at ii. Ibrahim and Malia 16 Univety of Colorado (Boulder). He is alto. an’ Honorary Profesor at ‘i, Quayy Gains Fll Control of Malian 19 University of Wales (Larmpete) His publications include San Ear jw Maklah: A Tibal Society 20 Lite, Hath Mededsogy ond Litrtuc, On Sachs Orgs of Malormadan From Quayyto Muhammad’ ° | a1 ipa, Die fl Had an-Nab, Katte Yo, Mahon Nagd da i The Regeee Conditong ia Arahin H ‘adi, a a Mada minIaninah Anang his ede works ea 2.Drophet Mahtnad 09 ban 1 SaTL-ARR Gx) os ‘Tal of To ol-Maat, Kilt at Tap: of Tn Mastin, Maghiet Rasiulih of : a cel, ‘Uraok ibn Zibay, Meat! In Mat, Sais tn Rhuzainah, and Suan ibn Sete etch aera ee ‘Mil. May of adams works have boen ranted internationally an ie i Mujammad a the Amin 24 forthoming works include The Quranic Chlloye: A Poni Pata, nnd Te fi, Muhammad the Messenger of Allth % Lod Shen: Re Origins end Authentic. In 1980 he waa the ecpint of te iw Aba Bakr andhis Acceptance of Mlam |; S26 restigous King Pal Inernational var fr Ime Stace +e The Prophet Presches Openly f 26 i vi Quraish Offer Muhammad 4 Great Temptations 27 ii. Quraish-Boycots Muhammad % and hig Clans 28 vill The Pledge of ‘Aqaba 29 ix. The Plot to Asaisinate the Prophet 30 x Muhammad # in Madinah 30 vi. Prelude tothe Battle of Badr I 32 xii, The Execution of Khubaib bin ‘Adi alAnsart 33 xii The Conques:of Makkah 34 3. Death of the Prophet and Accestion of Abt Bakr 35 i, Aba Bakr Handles Widespread Aj 35 i Military Advances in Syria I 37 i 4."The Countries and Provinces Conquered During the Reigns i of ‘Umar and ‘Uthman 37 : 5. Conclusion 39 t |vis FHE bus ORY Or end QUK amie TEAL 3. REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD 1."The Creator and some of His Attributes i, The Purpose Behind Mankind’s Creation 5i, The Message of the Prophets 2. The Final Messenger 3. Receiving the Revelations i, The Beginning of Waby and the Miracle of Qu'an fi, The Impact of the Prophet’s Recitation on thePolythests 4. The Prophet's Roles Regarding the Qur'an 45. Recitation of the Quen in Turns with Jibei 6. A Few Remarks on Orientalist Claims 7. Conclusion 4, TeAGHING THE QuR’AN 1. Incentives for Learning, Teaching and Reciting the Holy Que'an 2, The Makkan Period i, The Prophet as Teacher i. The Gompanions as Teachers i. The Outcome of this Educational Policy in the Makkan Period 3. The Madant Period 1, The Prophet as Teacher ii, Dialects used by the Prophet for Teaching in Madinah ii, The Companions as Teachers 4. The Outcome of the Educational Activities: Hui 5. Conclusion 5. THE RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUR'AN 1, During the Makan Period 2. During the Madant Period i. Seribes of the Prophet fi, The Prophet’ Dictation of the Qui’an fi, Recording the Qur'an was Very Common Among ‘Companions 3. The Arrangement of the Qur'an i, The Arrangement of Verses Within Stiras fi, The Arrangement of Saras ‘The Arrangement of Siras in Some Partial Mughals 4. Conclusion 41 42 43 8 6 47 48 50 52 53 54 55 36 59 39 él él él 62 63 64 66 67 67 68 69 69 70 70 2 B 16 LeNTEN S 6. THE Wert eN!Commntarion OF TRE QUR'AN 7 1. Compilation of the Qur'an During Aba Bakr's Reign 8 i, Appointment of Zaid bin Thabit as Compiler of the Qur'an 8 ii, Zaid bin Thabit’s Credentials 8 iii, Aba Bake’s Instructions to Zaid bin Thabit 79 i, How Zaid bin Thabit Utilise the Written Materials 81 'v. Zaid bin Thabit and the Use of Oral Sources 82 vi, Authentication of the Quran: The Gase of the Last “Two Verses from Sura Bara’ 83 vii. Placement of the Subuf into the State Archives a 2, Umar's Role in the Spread of the Qui’an 85 3. Conelusion 86 7. “Uraman’s Mostar 87 1. Disputes in Recitation and ‘Uthman’s Response 87 2. Uthman Prepares a Mushaf Directly from the Subut 88 3."Uthintin Makes an Independent Copy of the Mughaf 89 ‘Appointing a Committee of Twelve to Oversee the Task 89 ‘Arranging for an Autonomous Copy 89 ‘Uthman Retrieves the Subuf from ‘Risha for Comparison 90 jv ‘Uthman Retrieves the Subuf from Hala for Verification 92 4, The Sanctioning aad Distribution of ‘Uthman’s Mushaf 98 i, The Final Copy Read to the Companions 93 ‘The Number af Certified Copies Made on fii, (Uthman Burns All Other Manuscripts 4 i, Uthman Senes Reciters Along with Mushafs 4 . ‘Uthman’s Instructions with the Mushafs He Sent 96 5. Studies on "Uthman’s Mushat : ” 4. Studliés on the Mughaf of Malik bin Abt ‘Amir al-Asbaht 100 6. Al-Hlajaj and His Contribution to the Mushaf 102 7, Miughafs in the Marketplace : 105, 8. Conclusion 107 8. Tue EVOLUTION oF READING Aips WrraiN THE MusHar 109 1, Sara Separators 109 2. Ayah Separators ut 3. Conclusion ue 9, THE HisTORY OF ARABIC PALABOGRAPHY 11s 1. The Historical Background of Arabic Characters 115 2, Studies in Early Arabic Documents and Inscriptions 18x THE MISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT i. The Blorred Line Between Nabataean and Arabic Inscriptions si. What Language Did the Nabataeans Speak? ii. The Barly Arabic Language Possested a Distinct Aiphabet iu The Emergence of Various Scripts and the Isue of Dating Katic Mughals 3. Conclusion 10. ARABIC PA‘ EOGRAPHY AND ORTHOGRAPHY IN THE QUR’AN 1. Waiting Styles During the Time of the Prophet 2 Studies on the Orthography of “Uthman’s Mushaf 4. The Nugat (Dotting) Scheme in Early Muha i. Barly Arabie Writings and the Skeletal Dots ii, The Invention of the Diacritical Markings i, Parallel Usage of Two Different Dincritical Masking Schemes 4 Sources of the Skeletal and Diacrtical Dotting Systems 5. Orthographic and Palaeographic regularities’ in Early Non-Qur’anic Script 6. Conclusion 11, Causes oF Vantan Reaoitic 1. The Qjraatis Sunna 2. The Need for Muliple Readings: Simplifying Recitation for Unaceustomed Masses 43. Main Cause of Miatipe Readings (Variants: the Orientalist View 4. Secondary Cause of Multiple Readings (Varian) 5. Altering a Word for its Synonym Daring Recitation 6 Conclusion 12, Thre Mustiit Eovexrtowat. MerKopotocy 1. The Hunger for Information 2. Personal Contac: An Essential Element for Learning 43. Beginning and Development ofthe Isnad System i. The Phenomenon of Ian Proliferation 4:The Authentication of Imiid and Hladth 1 Establishing Trustworthiness &i The Unbroken Chain ai, Supporting or Negating Evidence iw A Test Case with a Misleading ia 118 120 122 125 128 129 130 131 135 136 139 41 43 45 148 151 152 153 155 159 162 163 165 166 167 167 169 172 172 175 176 176 cowrents 45. The First Generations of Scholars 6 Preserving Books fiom Adulteration: A Uniqué System i. Conditions for Uslsing a Book losses: the Addition of External Materia iii, Establishing Anthorship | 7. Certificates of Reading i i. The Importance of Reading Notes 4, Impact of Hadth Methodology on Other Branches 9. Tsnad and the Trarsmission of the Qur'an 10, Conclusion 13, Tite So-Catuen MUs#aF OF InN Mas’OD ANY ALLEDED i ‘VaRiances THEREIN | i 1. First Point: The Arrangement of Ton Mas‘td’} Mushat 2. Second Point: The Text Differed from Our Mushaf 43. Third Ppint: Three Sofas were Omitted i. Analysis of the Contents of Ibn Mac‘od’s)Moshat : ii. Ton Mas‘ae’s Beliefs 4. When Can Any Writing be Accepted as Part 6f the Qur'an? i Principles for Determining Whether a Velse Belonge'to the Qur'an ii, Examples of Scholars Punished for Violating the ‘Above Principles | 5. Conclusion i TL. The History of the Biblia Sexighures 14, Bary History oF fupaism: A Barr Loox 1. Jewish History Prior to Establishing the Kingdom 2 Jewish History After Establishing the Kingdom ‘The Divided Kingdoms . The Destruction of the First Temple (586 8.¢) and the Babylonian Bale 686-5383.) | iii, The Restoration of Jerusalem and the Bstablishmen: of the Second Temple (915 8.c) iu The Hellenistic rule (983-168 2.0) and the Maccabaean Revolt (168-195 3.C) + The End of the Maccabaean Dynasty (63 B.C), i the Roman Rule and the Destruction of the Second Temple (70 0.2, 3. Conclusion 7 178 18 182 182 184 186 191 192 193 195 196 197 199 200 201 203, 203, 205 206 aun au 218 219 224 24 224 205 226xi ‘THE HISTORY OF THE que’ANic Text ~’ 15, THe Oto TestaMENT AND ITS CORRUPTION 1, History of the Old Testament i, History of Torah According to Jewish Source ii, History of the Torah According to Modern Scholars 2, The Sources of Jewish Literary Culeure i, Original Language of the Old Testament was Not Called Hebrew ii, The Barly Jewish Script: Canaanite and Assyrian fil The Sources of the Torah 43. History of the Oral Law 4. History of the Hebrew Text: The Masorah i, Only. Thirty-one Surviving Masorah Text of OT. 5. In Search of an Authoritative Text i, The Role of the Council of Jamia ~ Late First Century 6.8, ii, The Old Testament Text was known in a Variety of Differing Traditions iii, Approximately 6000 Discrepancies Between the Samaritan and Jewish Pentateuchs Alone ix, Unintentional Corruptions of the Text ‘No Qualms Felt in Altering the Text when there Appeared to be Adequate Doctrinal Reasons vi, No Single Authoritative OT Text Existed Till 100 c.z. vii, Jewish Scholars Established the Text of the OT in the "Tenth Century, Actively Destroying Earlier Manuscripts vili, The Masora and Textual Integrity 6. The Jewish Revival: a Legacy of Islamic Literary Advancements i. Pointing and Vocalization Induced by Islamic ‘Achievements fi, Masoretic Activity Flourished in the West Under Islamic Influence ili, The Talmud and Islamic Influence 7. Establishing the Date for a Fixed, Authoritative OT Text i, Qumran and the Dead Sea Serols: The Western View fi, The Counter View: The Terminus Datum of Qumran and Other Caves is False 4. Some Major Examples of Deliberate Textual Corruption. 9. Conclusion 227 227 228 230 232 232 234 235, 236 238 238 240 241 24 242 243 24 245 246 246 247 247 269, 250 251 251 252 256 261 16. ‘convents wt EARLY History oF GxmisTianrry: A Bais? LOOK 265 I. Did Jesus Exist? 265 i. References to Jesus in Non-Christian Books from the First Century 266 ii, The Historical Christin Christian Circles 266 ii, Christ and His Mother-Tongue 268 iv, Christ: the Moral Attributes of God? 268 2, Jesus’ Disciples 269 i, Some Remarks on the Twelve Disciples 272 4, Jesus and his Message: Repent, for the Kingdom of ‘Heaven is at Hand 272 i, Jesus and the Scope of his Message 278 ‘Christian Creeds 273 iil The Implications of the Term ‘Christian’ the Barly Days 275 4. The Persecution of Early Christians 276 5. Practices and Belief in Barly Christianity and its ‘Aftermath 207 6. Conclusions 278 ‘Tue New ‘TESTAMENT: 175 ANONYMOUS AUTHORSHIP AND Cornuerio’s i 279 1. The Lost Gospel Q.~ A Challenge 279 2. The Authorship of the Present Four Gospels 280 3. Ave the Gospels Inspired? 281 4. Transmission of the New Testament 282 i, The Creation of Different Text Types 283 fi, Dates of Recensions 284 5. Textual Corruptioa 285 i. Variant Readings in the New Testament 285 fi, Seribal Alterations 288 6. The Erasmus Bible and the Comma Johanneum 290 7. Contemporary Corruption of the Text 201 8. Barly Manuscripts Negates the Prevalent Chistian Doctrines 295 9. Conchision 298xiv ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT UL An Appraisal of Orientalism 18. THe OnienTaLisr AND THE. QURAN 1. The Necessity of Proving Distortions in the Qu’an 2.Orientlist Criticism of the Quran's Compilation 3. Transmutation of Islam into Foreign Taioms 4 Orientalist Accusations of Appropriation i. Accusations of Botched Appropriation ii A Countefeited Bible 5, Deliberate Distortion of the Qui?an i, Flugel’s Attempted Distortion of the Qur'an ii. Blachére’s Attempted Distortion of the Qur'an fi, Mingana’s Attempted Distortion of the Quen 6. Poin and the San‘s’ Fragments i. Are the San’ Fragments the Only Proof of the Quran's Completion by the First Century? 7. Conclusidn 19. Onuenratist Motivarions: A Srupy oF SunjgorivirY 1. The Jewish Analogue i. The Validity of an Anti-Semitic Work li, Can an Antijudaie Scholar be Impartial When Dealing with a Jewish Theme? ii, Are Jewish Scholars Fre to Study Jewish Topics? 2, The Muslim Counterpoint i lac Suppression of Palestinian History fi, An Orientals Pioneer and Deceiver of Muslims 4. Searching for Impartiality 4. A Historical Perspective: Jews, Christians, and Romans i. Impartiality in Modern Studies 4, Pressures and Motives i, Colonialism and the Demoralisation of Muslims 4 The Jewish Question and the Erasure of History and Fabrication of a New One 5. Conelusion 20, CLosinc REMARKS Bisuiocrarsy Iwpex 303 303 304 305 308 306 307 308 308 308 aul 34 315 318 321 321 321 322 323 325 325, 326 327 327 330 331 331 333 339 34 347 357 In the Name of Alls, Most Gracious, Mo eit PREFACE | “This work comprises a short introduction tothe history of the Quan, its recording and its collection, The reader may therefore be puzdled as to ‘why one third ofthe material in this book tackles the ld Testament (OT) dnd the New Testament (WT), wondering what signficance this has on the Qur'an’ history. This significance shal, Thope, Be made clear as the chapters progres, since Thave attempted t present oly those deals which have a direct bearing on the current subject matter. | “The idea of auithoting abook about the Qur'an, abgutits collection and Jmmaculate preservation, bad long germinated in my mind, and approx- Jmutely dee and half years ago Tfinally began worknigon this book along side another entitled Llamic Studs: What Metaolagy? Iwas journalist Toby Lester's atte in The Ante Monty Jarry 1996) hojeve, and the chaos it had the potential to sow among Muslims, which prompted a greater ‘concentration on this work. His article suggested thht Muslims, despite beliving inthe Quan asthe unadulterated Book of Al, were thoroughly incapable of defending thie view in any scholarly fshign, The gauntlet was how and et ecear oak 2 is chaejge and expan the stringent methodology used by early Musim scholar in accepting a text as genuine, or rejecting ite fake. This has lead to the ujavoidable repetition of some material in both Looks. As moat of the scholafs that Lester quotes axe cither Jews or Chistians, [also considered ie iting to cover the histories of the Old and New Testaments by way of comparison. This should help the reader to regard the disparity of opinions between Mustim and O: nals scholars witha fais measure of insight. ‘With their insistence on a purely oral transmissioh, most Orientalsts rejectall reports that cite recording and compilation of the Quran during the Prophet Muhammac! lifetime, Many of them evep deny that any inal compilation occurred during Aba Bal’ reign, wile ome accept the role of the thd caliph "Uthman in this regard. Only ffl years lapsed between the Prophet's death and ‘Uthman’s distrbtion of writen copies of the Quran to diferent proves of the Masi wo. Viewing is intervalavi ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QuR’AMIG TEXT with serious misgivings, Orientalists have often focused on the possibilty of deep-seated corruptions crawling into the text within tis time span, Stran- igely, many Biblical scholars deem the text of the Old Testament to be historically viable even though some of the OT books were maintained purely as an oral tradition for up to eight centuries! ‘The Orientalist spotlight has also been cast on the Arabic script with clscussions of its shortcomings, though it took only hall century from the Prophet's death for the script to evolve and extinguish its initial ambiguities. ‘They blame this period again for triggering textual distortions, though in doing so they contradict themselves and negate their earlier emphasis on ‘oral transmission which isa fact, in that people were memorising the Qur'an, even while they possessed it in writen form). Hence the ‘defective script? should not have had any impact within a span of fifty years. By contrast the Hebrew script, transforming with the return of Jews from their captivity in Babylon to Palestine, was thoroughly devoid of vowels and in fact ‘remained so for two thousand years, until contact with the Muslim Arabs spurred them on in this regard. ‘To suppose that the lapse of fifty years proved damaging to the Quranic text whilst the OT, suffering from a severely disjointed oral tradition and a vowebless text for two millennia, ‘deserves a mote hearty benefit of the doubt is totally unscientific ‘Along similar ine, there exist Mushats in the Hlejatsript from the early first century of Hija late 7th-early 8th C..)®as well as dated manuscripts of portions of the Qur'an belonging to the frst century. Discarding the value of these specimens, Orientalists claim that they are still too late to prove that the texts untainted by corruption; some choose to simply regard them as fakes. By comparison the oldest complete and dated manuscript of the Hebrew Bible belongs tothe beginning of the LIth century G.,and " Byen the existene of this oral transmission i highly questionable; see Chapter 15, 2 Whenever possible I will use CE. (Common er] aa substitute for A, (enno Domini) the latter of which means ‘year of the Lor” 3M, Mino in his article “Outline History of Arabie Writing.” claimed thatthe extant early Que'inic specimens are all eter forgeries or suspect. (A. Grohmann, “*The Problem of Dating Barly Qur'ans", Dr Iam, Band $8, Het 3, ep. 1958, p 207 # In the words of AB. Beck in his introduction to the Leningrad Codex, “The Leningra! Codex isthe wor’ oldest complete manuscript ofthe Hebrew Bible ‘The only other extant manuscript of the ‘complete’ Hebrew Bible For this sribal lwadiion isthe Aleppo Codex, whichis about a century older... Howeves the Aleppo Codex is now fagmentary and undated, while the Leningrad Godex is complete and dated 1008 or 1009 ca" [“ntrodation tothe Leningrad Codex in ‘Te Leingrad Goer Facsimile Eton, WB. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1996, pp. ix x]. Por firther detail see this work pp. 298-40. Po aerace sii the eatiest dated Greck manuscripts of the Gospels were written ¢ the Oth century Crs? yet thes sme concerns do not seem to apply here. ‘This discrepancy in the attitudes towards the Qur’an on the one hand, and the OT and NT on the other, must be addressed if we are to fully assess the Quran's integrity ‘The anal practice at the dawn of Islamic literary history was that any religious text (hadith fr, figke) had tobe transmitted by those who had learned the work direc from is authors, they in turn teaching it to the next generation, Fullectds ofthese transmissions were kept, allowing tus to peer into the pedigree of every book regarding sharia at least in its eauly stages a method of authentication unsurpasted in the world even now? If we were to apply th: tenets of Muslim literary transmission to any random book atthe local bookstall, proving ts authenticity and authorship ‘would in all ikeinood be iapousibe, Despite ll the books of the OT and NT having been penned anonymously towever, Western scholarship finds iteaser to grant them hstorcal legitimacy than to the Maslin transmission ‘chains, which are often cast under suspicion or found altogether inadequate. ‘After delving into both the Muslim and Westera methodologies, Till let the reader decide which ofthe two is the most reliable “Judaism and Christianity are undoubtedly religions in history, but where the doubt does arse ison the anthorship of the Old and New Testament ‘The answer cannot ii fact te established. The OT was initially considered, work of revelation, but was later deemed the work of Moses; the latest ¢heory i that mulple sours extending over approximately one thousand year) contributed to the authorship of the five books of Moses® Who twere these shadow writers? How honest and accurate were they? How reliable was their knowledge of the incidents involved? Did they ever participate in any ofthese incidents? And how di these books eventually reach us? The only known facts are that the OT books appeared on the scene only to disappear prompty for afew hundred yeas, before abruptly resurfacing? Again they disappeared without trace for many centuries, Sea ceed oat citer amstoeee eames Sova nmaee tae tiere ned eco at apa — 1 ateanttctte mentite eee rope aeeeeaarae ee eeewil ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT. and were once again suddenly recovered, Compare this history with that of a few thousand honest souls iving alongride the Prophet and actively participating with him in war and peace, in jest and misfortune, in hunger and ease, meticulously documenting every verse and every hadith, Their biographies form a poignant chronicle though Orientalists dismiss much of it as fiction; for the Wansbrough school itis purely an example of a ‘salvation history’, with no bearing on what really happened. ‘Meanwhile ather scholars are actively engaged in expunging their own religious narratives in favour of something new, which Tcan illustrate briefly here by referring to the tale of Jesus’ crucifixion. The Orthodox Jewish viewpoint states that, According tothe Talmud, Jesus was executed by a proper rabbinical court for idolatry, inciting other Jews to idolatry and contempt of rabbinical authority All elasical Jewish sourees which mention bis cxccution ae quite happy to take esponsibility for in the Talmdic sccount the Romans are not even mentioned. Th audition wa series of scurrilous sexual alegtios against Jesus, the Talmud states that bie ponishment in hell is to be immersed ia boing excrement! Ironically the New Testament ancl modern Christianity are being cleansed of all such references even though they exist inthe Talmud. What isthe definition of sacredness if deliberate shifls in wording and tone are being ‘wrought within the Seriptures in this day and age?'® And with such goings-on as a backdrop, how can some intellectuals accept Judaism and Christianity as historical religions white denying the same to Islam?"? tissue here isnot what Islam is or what Islamic sources say, but rather how Muslims perceive their own faith and how Orientalis research wants them to perceive it. Several years ago Professor C.E, Bosworth, one of the editors of Bril’s Engeopaadia of Islan, delivered a lecture at the University (of Colorado. When asked why Muslim scholars, even those trained in ‘Western institutions, were not invited to contribute tothe Encyclopaedia’ essential articles (such as Quran, hadith, kad, et), he responcied that this '0 Israel Shahak, Jewish Hisry Jewish Rago, Pato Press London, 1977, pp. 97- 98, While the Qur'n categorically denies the eruixion [Qur'an 4:157}, it dos record the Jewish claim of erueiying Jesus ii, pp. 20-21 12 Fo detail refer to this work pp 291-2 '3 Andrew Rippen, "Literary analysis of Qhir'in, Taf, and Sira: The Metho: Aologies of John Wansbrough”, in RC. Matin (ed), Appooce Ilan in Regus ‘Suis, Uni of Arizona Pres, Tuscon, 1985, pp 151-52 PREFACE, | ax, { ‘work was by the Weitern pen for Western people. His absver though was only haf correct: this wore isnot intended solely for Weslera consumption, ‘To quote something which Edward Said uses in his wat, Orintalisn: “They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented.” — Karl Marx Here Mare is dioussng he French peasantry bu the idea of muting reat swathes of people wits a single centence and casting the burden of representation wholly upon outsiders by no means novel one. ‘One last point before ending this preface. When a tertain amount of research finally yields a theory, academia dictates tha this theory must face rigorou testa IC itfads then itmust be ether moliied and retested or abandoned altogether But studies of Islam are unfortunatly Liered vith ilLeonceived thesres that have ascended to the point of almost becoming hard fact ven when they fail on several counts, The next two examples wil clarify { Profesor Wensinck comments on the famous hat regarding the Eve pillars of Elam i heey AS ay LAN fy a YAY oF gD al Je OL gt signs olny Taam has been bait on ve pila: teniying that ther sno god but ‘Allah, performing the prayer, paving the zak fasting Ramadin, ad raking the pilgrimage tthe House" | He views this as-spurious since it contains the kakima shakada (ists bearing testimony that these is no god but Allah). According to his view, the Genapanion Of Pret Mlbammad intoduced the fain only ar coming acros soine Cohrisians in Syria who employed a declaration of faith, thus thieving this idea from the Christians to develop one of the core pillars of Islam, Confronted with the problem thatthe Klima sak also partof the varhabad (4) the daily prayer, Wensink put forward another theory instead of medifing his earlier one: the prayey was standardised after the Prophet's death.* Pethaps a farther theory is required, since ‘Wensinck has not explained the existence of the kang inthe adn (25! and the igima (2), nor when these two were introduced into Islam. ward Sad, Crimtaion, Vintage Book, New Yoo, 1974p 1S Min, Soi a-man22. The Howse” eee othe Holy Mosque in Maa, 16 A. Wenn Misti Ge, Cambri, 1882, pp. 1-34 17 ‘These are the cal the Mate Sve diy prayers The wht is the Sst calle pons se secon eal Gat pris to the inadon of the page)ax ‘THD HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT ‘My second example is Goldziher, who theorised that the differences in the girdat (ws: readings of the Quin are duc to the consonantal text ‘used in early copies, Bringing forth a few examples to show the validity of his idea, he avoids alluding tothe hundreds of instances where his theory fails~ though that has not stopped it from acquiring great popularity in certain circles." Considerable effort has been invested in making this work, while worthy of the scholar, accessible tothe layman as well. If there are any passages ‘which the former may find repetitious, othe later esoteric, itis because maintaining a happy medium has not always been possible. Regarding the rendition of verses into English, no single English trans- lation of the Qur'an was used uniformly throughout this book, though ‘most of the verse renderings are based either on the efforts of Yasuf ‘Alt ‘or Mohammad Asad. These translations were occasionally modified, and sometimes even rewritten, depending on how elear I found the original rendition to be, This does not constitute tampering since the Qur'an is in Arabic, and the translator’ duty isto distil some of the shades of meaning dn the text; the end product is not Qur’an but simply a translation just as a shadow is merely a shadow), and so long as nothing is misquoted or taken out of context, there is no need to follow one particular translation ‘or another. ‘The reader may perceive that Ihave generally dispensed with the phrases of glorification or invocation that follow certain names, such as $8 (lustrous bbe His Majesty) after Allah, 8& (peace and blessings of Allah be upon hitn) after the Prophet Muhammad, #28 (peace be upon him) after the names of other prophets and messengers (eg Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, Jesus ate), or e (may Allah be pleased with him) after any of the Companions. ‘My purpose was to maintain the tex’ flow as much as possible, with the hope that the Muslim reader will mentally inser these phrases into the text 8s appropriate. Some of Islam's greatest scholars adhered to this same practice infact, including no less a figure than Imam Abmad b, Hanbal, and though subsequent writers saw fit to add all such phrases explicitly into the text, the eye is just as capable of slotting them in by instinct. ‘And a note of caution. A Muslim’ faith requires firm belie in the purity and righteous concltof al of Allah's prophets. I willbe quoting from non- Muslim sources however, some of whom feel no hesitation in referring to {heir ov Lord Jesus Christ as an adulterer or a homosexual, to David as ‘an adulterous schemes, or to Solomon as an idolater(O Allah, how unjust are such words) As itis very cumbersome to insert a note whenever T 8 Fora detailed diseussion, see Chapter 11. PREFACE ai quote such low ideas, I wil suffice for the most part by explaining the ‘Muslim position here, that these words in no way reflect the veneration which Muslims hold uncosditionally forall of Allah’s prophets. Finally, in composing this book I have often chosen the single best representative view to illustrate a few cases, and have avoided 2 detailed discussion of all existing views, a8 this would hold litte interest for the common reader. ‘The reader will, Tope, continue through the coming pages in light of this overture. fee oblige, with pleasure, to mention afew names from Yemen, Without their tremendous help, cooperation, and permission, it would have been almost imposible to obtain photocopies of the early Qur'an manuscripts fom San‘a’. They include Sheikh ‘Abdullah b. Husain al-Almar, Sheikh al-QdTama'l al-Alcva (who treats me with a father’s affection, Dr. Yasut Mohammad ‘Abdullah, alUstidh ‘Abdul-Malik alMaqhatfi, and Nasir al‘Absi (who kindly photographed the manuscripts). May Allah reward them, here and inthe hereafter. Imus also acknowledge the Khuda Bukhsh Library Patna, and the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad (ancl especially Dr. Rahmat ‘Alf for permitting me to utilise their extensive material, and Dr. ‘Wigdr Husain and Aba Sa‘ Isaht of Raza Library, Rampur for providing the colour slides of certain Qur’anic manuscripts ‘And there are still othe:s who deserve special recognition: the King Faigal Foundation for nomirating me as ther visiting profesor to Princeton University the Princeton Seminary for providing a kaleidoscope of rich ‘materials for this book, and tie people behind the Mdina Must for printing the most accurate Quranic text in the world, Thanks are also due to M. Maciani Iqbal Azmi and Tim Bowes for their assistance in typesetting this text, to Muhammad Ansa for his work on indexing, to Ibrahim a5-Sulaifth for being a paragon of neighbourly help during the composition of this book, and to Prof Muhammad Qutb, Dr. ‘Adil Salah, Br. Daud Matthews, Dr. ‘Umar Chapra, Sheikh Jamal Zarabozo, Br. Hashir Pariqi, Sheikh Iqbal Azra, ‘Abdul-Basit Kzmt, ‘Abdul-Haq Muhammad, Sheikh Nizam Ya'qabl, Dr. ‘Abdullah Subayh, Haroon Shirwani, and the many others ‘who participated in proofreading the text and providing valuable feedback, [must also extend tremendous gratitude to my family for their unwavering, assistance throughout the many stages of this effort: to my elder son ‘Aqil for his continuous help with manuscript preparation, transliteration and ‘compiling bibliography, to ray daughter Fatima for extensive photocopying, and to my younger son Anes who receives complete credit for making the ‘manuscripts English sound and lucid, Anda particular tribute to my wife for tolerating me through Sty years of marriage and suffering throughvei ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT the many sacrifices she has had to bear with extraordinary patience and a loving smile, May Allah reward all of them for their kindness and generos Finally, my deepest gratitude to Almighty Allah for providing me wit the opportunity and privilege of embarking on this topi; whatever faults are present in this book are entirely my own," and whatever pleases Him is for His Glory alone. I pray that He will accept this work as asincere effort on His behalf ‘This book was initially completed in Riya, Saudi Arabia in Safar 1420 A.H./May 1999, Subsequent years witnessed its revision in various cities and countries throughout the Midle East and Europe, including once in al: Haran ash-Shaifin Makkah during Ramadan 1420 A. /December 1999, and culminating in a final revision in Riad, Dhul-Oi'dah 1423 A../ January 2003. MM. al-A'gamt '9 T can only recall the saying of an eaty scholar: at p26) toa all. (A, ‘Shaki ed.) or Risa of esha, p 73 Footnote no. 8). I | | | : i The History of the Quran} | | ic Text(Caarrer ONE INTRODUCTION Aah & uo BIBS Loin = salt Cle > oe Sct us SH ge i OE MQOLS LLL “0 you who ble! Stand fry fr Al witness fir dating, nd lent hat of ethers oon maa you sero loads ney and depart fon justice. Be just: that is closer to Pity and far Ala, For Alls is well-acquainted with all that you da.” Guidance, comfort and beauty For the believing Muslim the Holy Qur'an is allthis and much more: tre heartbeat of faith, a remembrance in times of joy and anguish, a fountain of precise scientific reality and the most ‘exquisite lyricism, a treasury of wisclom and supplication. Its verses hang from the walls of shops and ving rooms; le etched in the minds of young and old, and reverberate through the night from minarets across the globe. ‘Even so, Sir William Muir (1819-1905) adamantly declared it one of “the ‘most stubborn enemies of Civilisation, Liberty and the Truth which the ‘World has yet known”? Others have been no more charitable, seeing fit to heap abuse or cast suspicion upon it throughout the centuries and up to our present day, among them scholars, missionaries, and now even the ‘occasional politician. Such a dichotomy is aggravating to Muslims and certainly perplexing to the non-Muslim, who would be well justified in supposing that each group was alluding to a different book altogether. ‘What are the facts and whatis the evidence? Faced with such an immense and sensitive topic brimming with ideas to consider, I could have begun my explorations anywhere; the siting point, ait finally turned out, was (o be an article by someone I had never heard of before. “What is the Koran?™, the lead article of the January 1999 issue of The Allantic Monthly, raised many issues concerning the origins and integrity of the Qur’an.* The author’ credentials, a certain Toby Lester, are given 1 Qui'in 58. 2 Quoted in M. Broomall, lan a China, New Impression, London, 1987, p.2- 3 Cited thereafter as Lester. also, though his article sels the Oust ae Koran’ this is technically incorest and Iwill tlie the proper spelling whenever T am not directly quoting,4 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT. in the magazine and suggest that he does not have any knowledge of Islan fom having lived in Yemen and Palestine for a few years, though hardly seeins to hinder him for he-delves headlong into controversy. He mentions that: ‘Western Koranic scholarship has traditionally taken place in the context of en openly declared hosilty between Chiistianity and Islam... The Horon has teed, for Christian end Jewish scholars partculaly, to aura of heresy...+ posses Alter citing William Muir's denunciation of the Quan ine states that ven early Soviet scholars subjected Islam to their ideological biases: N.A. ‘Morozov for instance flamboyantly argued that “unt the Crusades slam was indistinguishable from Judaism and ... only then did it reeeive its independent character while Muhammad and the fist Caliph are mythical figures” Such passages may suggest to some that Lester's approach is purely academic: a curious reporter filing an objective report. In an interview with the ash Shag al-Aetat Daily he denies any bad intentions hard feelings, or wrongdoing towards Musims, insisting that he sought only the truth, But there is no doubt that he has taken pains to collect his information strictly from the anti-traditionalist camp, heralding the artival of secular reinterpretations ofthe Muslim Holy Book. He extensively quotes Dr Gerd R. Joseph Puin, associated with the restoration of old Quranic fragments in San'a, Yeren (which Ihave seen recently and for which he and his tear, deserve due gratitude). Now, a bookbinder who completes a magnificent binding of a complex mathematical text will nt automatically ascend to the rank of mathematician, but because of his restoration of the pages of old manuscripts, Puin is fashioned into a world-aathority on the Qin’ entire history. “So many Muslims have ths belief that everything between the two covers of the Koran is just God's unaltered word,” (Dr. Pui) sap. “They like to quote the textual work that shows thatthe Bible has a history and eid not fall straight out of the sky, but until now the Koran thas been out of this discussion. The only way to break through this wall isto prove that de Kiran ha a itr io, The San fgets wil lp so do ti” 4 Leste. 46 5 iti, pp. 46-7, 5 London, 18 February 1999, 7 Leste, p. 44, Tlic added, 5 ITRODUCTION Leser’snext point of seleerie i Andrew Rippin, Prfesor of Religious Studi at he University of Calgary who states that "Vasant seating and ve ode ae alley sii. veo sgrcson hat. These mancsipa yt erly Rr ofthe ered tts mich more af at pen queso then mary hae pet text was less stable and therefere had le authori than has always been claimed.”® Personally I find Prof. Rippin’s comments baffling, on the one hand variant readings (or rather, multiple readings) have been recognised and commented on by Muslim cholars since the time ofthe Prophet. By no ‘means are they a new discovery. On the other hand net even Pain as far as Tam aware) claims to have uncovered differences in the order of verses in his manuscripts, though hs views on the Qur’an are ih line wth modern revisionism. “My idea is that the Koren is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not Al Understood cen atthe tine of Muhammad” [eu mye *Naoy Of them may gt bea hundred yar older an sk ce ey within the dae nes ther 8s huge Say of conenceey information ing a guinnt Chien sts] one conden 4 wl li an ity om them fone wana Pasi Crone ‘etends the gon of tha tor of thinking "The Korps expe witha Kory ke any eter except Cat we dot eos tis Reon td tend to prove howl of pte when we stay Arabic speakers have long held the Qur'an as a Book of unique beauty; even the idol-worshippers of Makkah were spellbound by its lyricism and failed to produce anything resembling it. Such qualities do nat deter Puin from speaking disdainfilly about it. “The Ka cin tr at itm ten heat if you look at it, you wil notice that every ith sentente ot so simply dott har any Matin“ neeonsh oar oti of cust be e's dts oe Kone na fononpse Seat ee cee Derma hone ae the nature of Orientalist scholarship. | 9 ibid, p. 46. w Seedy. 4050 "ieee | | pote es6 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT GR. Pain strings many words together but provides no examples, which ‘sunfortunate because Thave absolutely no idea where this incompreensible fifth of the Qur'an happens o be. Lester then states that the unwillingness to accept the conventional understanding of the Quu’an only began in carnest in the 20th century he references Patricia Crone, quotes R.S, "Humphreys" and ends up at Wansbrough. The main thrust of Wansbrough's ‘work isto establish two major points: firstly, that the Qur'an and adi ‘were generated by various communities over the course of two centuries; and second, that Islamic doctrine was modelled on Rabbinical Jewish prototypes. Puin is apparently re-reading his works nows for his theories have been germinating slowly in certain circles eventhough “many Muslims understandably find them deeply offensive." Readers have known Cook, Crone and Wansbrough for a quarter of a century, but the new face to «emerge from this piece is Dr: Puin, whose findings form the backbone of Lester's lengthy article, Some of the Yemeni parchments, dating back to the first two centuries of Islam, {reveal) small but intriguing aberrations from the standard Koranie text, Such aberrations, though not surprising to textual historian, ace teoublingly at odds with ch orthodox Muslim belie that the Koran as ithas reached us today suite simply the perfect, dmeles, and unchanging Word of God. The mainly secular efor renter the Foren ~in past based ‘on textual evidence such as that provided by the Yemeni fragments! isdlsacbing and offensive to many Must, just as attempt reinterpret the Bible and the life of Jesus are disturbing and offensive to many conservative Christian... [Such secular reinterpretation] can be none- theless very powerfil and —as the histories ofthe Renaissance and the Reformation demonstrate ~ an lad to major scial change. The Koran, after al, is currently the world’s most ideologically influential text. So the entire matter lies before us: + The Qur'an is currently the world’s mast ideologically influential text + Many Muslims look co the Qur'an as the Christians once did to lhe Bible, as God's unaltered Word, "ti, p54 13 bid p85, iid, p55, 'S Just fr the record: n my assessment the Tink film ele Mit (Museum of Islamic Ar) in Istanbul may house an even greater collection than tht in Yemen, Unfortunately Twas denied access ta thie collection, 20 this notion must remain speculative, though according to F. Dérache it houses about 210,000 folios "The Quran of Amagts”, Manacrpt ofthe Middle Ea, Leiden, 1990-91, vo. 5, p. 5). "6 Lester, p. 44 Hales added, mvroDucTION fl “+ ‘The Yemeni fragments will help secular efforts to reinterpret the Qur'an. + Though offensive to countless Muslims, this reinterpretation can provide the impetus formar sal changes that mirror what Christianity experienced centuries ago. + These changes may be brought about by ‘showing’ that the Qur'an -wasinitally uid text, one which the Musi community contributed to and frecly rearranged over several centaries, implying that the ‘Qur'an was not as sacred then as it has now misguidedly become. ‘The majority of Lester’s references, those quoted or mentioned in his piece, are non-Muslim: Gerd-R. Joseph Puin, Bothmer, Rippin, R. Stephen Humphreys, Gunter Luling, Yehuda D. Nevo, Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, James Bellamy, William Muix, Lambton, Tolstoy, Morozov and ‘Wansbrough. He also spreack the glad tiing that, within the Iltamic world, revisionism is on the move. In this category he names Nasr Abt Zaid, ‘Taha Husain, ‘Ali Dushti, Muhammad Abdu, Ahmad Amin, Fazlar- ‘Rabsndn, and finally Muhammad Arkoun and his fervent advice to batle ‘orthodoxy from within.” Sciolars from the traditional school of Islamic thought are largely cast aside and ignored, with only Mulammad Abdu’s controversial name being included. Bue what is. te fevisionis: school? Lester fails to define it clearly, s0 1 will allow Yehuda Nevo, one of the authorities he quotes, co supply the Aefinition: ‘The ‘revisionist approach is by no means monolithic... [but they] are united in denying historical validity to accounts based purely on ‘Tacs? ‘derived from the Muslim literary sources... The information they provide must be corroborated by the ‘hard facts’ of material remains. [The written sources] shoul always be checked against external evidence, and where the two conic, the latter should be preferred."* Because external evidence must necessarily be found to verify every ‘Muslim account, absence of such corroboration helps to negate the account and implies that the event never took place. “Thatcher's no evidence for it ouside of the “traditional account thus ‘becomes postive evidence in support of the hypothesis that it did not happen. A suiking example isthe lack of evidence, outside the Muslim literature, for the view thet the Arabs were Muslim atthe time of the Conquest. 17 id, p96. '8 J. Koren and ¥D. Nevo, “Methodological Approaches to Itamic Stade”, De ‘ea, Band 68, Het 1, 1991, pp. 09-90. 19 i, pp 92.8 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT The outcome of this revisionist approach isa complete erasure of Islamic history, and the fabrication of another in which such events asthe pre- Islamic presence of paganism in Makkah, the Jewish settlements near Madinah, and the Muslim victory over the Byzantine Empire in Syria are absolutely denied. Infact, revisionism argues that the paganism which alflicted| Makkah prior to Islam is simply a fictitious back-projection of a Pagan culture that thrived in southern Palestine ‘The central point, which must be made clea is that there isa definite ‘motive behind all thes ‘discoveries. Such findings do not exit ina vacuum, or fall unexpectedly into the scholar’ lap; they are the brainchild of a particular ideological and political arena, served up inthe guise of break through academic research.?! ‘Attempts to distort Islam and its sacred texts are in fact as old as the religion itself, though the strategy behind these efforts has fluctuated according tothe intended goal. Beginning with the rise of Islam and up until the 13th century AH, (7th-18th century C.E), the first objective was to establish a protective fence around Christians to counteract the rapid aeivance of the new faith in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Libya ee. Among the notables of this period were John of Damascus (35-133 4.11 /675-750 C5), Peter the Venerable (10841156 c.B), Robert of Ketton, Rayzmond Lall (1235-1916 C.z), Martin Luther (1483-1546 ¢.2) and Ludovico Marraci (1612-1700 G.), their pens dipped in unsophisticated yet will ignorance and falsehood, Spurred by the change ia political fortanes and the tart of colonialism from the 18th century onwards the second phase of attack witnessed a shift in posture from defensive to offensive, aspiring to the mass conversion of Muslims o, at the least, of shattering any pride and resistance that emanated from their belief in Allah, Abraham Geiger (1810-1874) belongs squarely to this second period his 1853 dlsertation, Was hat Mohamed aus den Fudentun axfgenommen? (‘What did Mohammed take from Judaism?"), inaugurated the search for ulterior influences on the Qur'an and lead to innumerable books and articles aimed at branding it a poor Biblical counterfeit, replete with mistakes Foture chapters wil bring to light other names which have spearheaded this second phase, including Noldeke (1836-1930), Goldziher (1850-1921), Hurgronj (1857-1936), Bergstrasser (1896-1953), Tidal! (1859-1928), Jeffery (¢. 1952) and Schacht (1902-1965). A third phase, beginning in the mid 20th century on the heels of the founding of Israel, has actively 2 iba, pp. 100-102. See alo this work pp387-8 For mote om this essential topic, refer to Chapter 19. | | | iwrnopucrion i 9 sought to purge all verses that cast ain unfavourable light on Jews. Among the follower of ths tual we Ripin, Crone, Powe, Calder and ot least of all Wansbrough, whose theory, that the Quen and hadith are a community product spanning two centuries which were then fctitiously attributed to an Arabian grophet based on Jewish prototypes, is doubtlesdy the most radical approach to ousting the Quan from ts hallowed status The povou evades hme winced» quckened often of thee ast two phases, swelling in mult-aceted ways; afuishy recent scheme for uling te Gur hs ben is reduction fo alu ext one ih in a by-product of a particular era and is therefore obsolete, rather than a Book that is meant forall nations at all times. ‘Traditional Islam had rot been resistant tothe notion that the revelation reflected the milieu in which it was reveled. But triitonal Islam could never have ace the leap fom the idea af a serprre which ‘ngage the society in which eva revealed tothe notion of one which isa produc of it. Rjomost Muslims in the madern world any igniicant ‘move itis direction sail hardly an option, and tis unlikely to become one in the neu foreseable future This was the inspiration for Nast Aba Zaid (declared an apostate by Egypt's highest court and according to Cook, a “Muslim secularist), ‘whose central belief about the Qur'an was that, IF the text was a message sent to the Arabs ofthe seventh century then of seem lomsned in a maner wich ob fo granted ovially specific aspects of their language and culture. The Koran th teol tape ina bp seting srl pe pra ‘Abu Zaye used several mes, and which was highlighted by the Court ‘of Casation whén it cetermined him to be an unbeliever2* Approaching ti in rn ex venpoaps bn ch to the uninitiated how insidious could concepts such as ‘senjantcs’ and ‘ext linguistics’ be? But the focus is not study of the text itself so much as it isa study ofthe nu of the text, of how forms and structures within the Qui’an can be derived from 7th/Sth century Arabic literature. This ‘essentially eads to a thorough secularisation and desanetfication of the text. 2 Michael Coot, The Kr Yi Sart eda, Oxted Ui Pres, 200. ® ap | 2 ip 46, Hain added \ 2 For dena refer to Stan Wilts (dl) Preface to The Qian ax Te BB, Leiden, 1886p. vie,10 ‘THE MISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT Speaking ofthe Biblical scholar Van Buren, Professor BxL. Mascal tates that“ he] finds the guiding principle of the secularization of Christianity in the philosophical school which s commonly known as inguistc analyis.”* IE such isthe aim of linguistic analysis in Biblical studies, what other motive can there be in applying it to the Qur'an? ‘This being outside the realm of what is tolerable to Muslims, an alternate strategy isto substitute the holy text with vernacular translations, then inflate their status such that they are held on a par with the original Arabi In this way Muslim societies, three-quarters of which are non-Arab, can be severed from the actual revelations of All, ‘There is necessarily a mismatch between the Arabic of the Koran and ‘he local language of primary education... The tension is exacerbated by the fat that modernity brings an enhanced concern for the nligiliy of sriptures among the believers at large. As the Turkish nationalist Ziya, GGokalp (d 1924 putt: “A country in whose schools the Koran is read inant one in which everyone, eid and adul, nove Godt After describing the ftile Turkish efforts to displace the actual Qus with a Turkish translation, Michael Cook concludes, ‘Todt, the non-Arab Musi world shows ite sign of adopting the fea cf vernacular sripaure inthe manner of snteenth-century Protestantism or twentieth-century Catholic 2° If all other stratagems are left in tatters, one last resort remains. As described by Cook: In a modern Western society it is more of lest axiomatic that other people's religious belie (though not, of course, all forms of religiously ‘motivated behaviour are o be tolerated, and perhaps even respected Indeed it would be considered ill mannered and parochial t refer to the religious views of others as jai and one’s own at tr..the very notion of abst uh in mates of region sounds haps out of dete. It is, however, a notin that was ceuel lo tain Lela, a8 t vas to traditional Christianity; and in recent centuries it has survived better in am.” 2% ELL. Masal, The Sexlrzatn of Cvisiony, Darton, Longman & Todd Lid, London, 1965.41. De Paul M, Van Buren ithe author of "Tse Secular Meaning of the Gospe", which is based on the analysis of Biblical language {i p. 41] 2 M.Cook, Te Kran: A Try Short Inte, p26, Interestingly Ziya Gokalp was «Dona Jew who converted to Ilam [M. Qs, al-Mutasoga a-,p. 198). 2M. Gook, The Kian: iy Shot Intec, p. 27. 2 iti, p. 88, emphasis added. Cook’s word, ‘that was central to traditional lam’, sem to imply that it sno longer appropriate for modern Iam, vrRopUeTION un (Cook writes this under the heading ‘“Tolerating the beliefs of others", but what he expounds instead is aniveralim. Imbued with tolerance, Islam ‘maintains clear and firm injunctions governing the rights of non-Muslims; this is well known, Cook’ thrust here is instead about doubt and relativism: the notion that all religions are equally valid because to think otherwise is to betray oneself as provincial and ignorant. This, sadly is an easier pitfall for many contemporary, ilLeducated Muslims. And as a corollary to this idea, “There [ij a nearly unanimous rejection of any attempt to distinguish between a non-Muslim and a Muslim scholarship in present day Quranic studies” ‘A rising chorus of Western scholars now come forward to assail the traditional ffrlterature' demanding something altogether new. Arguing for the exclusive right to interpret the holy text, many Orientalsts dismiss ‘earlier Muslim writings on this topic “on the grounds that Muslims ~ being dupes, as it were, of the notion that [the Qur'an} was Scripture ~ cof courte could not anderstand the text so well as could a Western scholar free from that limitation” * Basett-Sani and Youakim Moubarac both insise that ter be made compatible with ‘Christian truth’, a sentiment endorsed by W.C. Sirith and Kenneth Gragg: This last, an Anglican bishop, urges Muslims to scrap the verses revealed in Madinah (with their ‘emphasis on the politcal and legal aspects of Islam) in favour of their “Makkan counterparts, which are generally more involved with basic issues of monotheism, leaving precious litle of the religion intact aside from the verbal pronouncement that there is no god except Allah. All these concepts are meant to shake the already-slender faith of wary ‘Muslims, arming them with Orientalist barbs and setting them out to question and dismiss the very Book which they have inherited, in the process becoming mere susceptible to Western ideology. Toby Lester's article is just another card in this deck, and the tales behind the Yemeni fragment simply another bait. Dr. Puin himself has in fact denied all the findings that Lester ascribes to him, with the exception of occasional differences in the spelling of some words, Here isa part of Puin's original 5 Stefan Wild (6), The Qur'an at Tit p. x. The orginal contains ‘was instead of “i, but changing the tee seme valid given that nothing ele has changed, In fact ‘Mosim scholarship concerning the Qur'an is generally relegated to second-dass status in Western ctl, since the former espouses traditionalism while the later teks revisioniem, 3 Exegesis of the Quan. 52 WG. Smith "The True Meaning of Scripture”, JMES, vo. 11 (1980), p. 498. {8 eter Ford, “The Qua as Sacied Seip”, Mutn Wil vol bow, no. 2, April 1998, pp. 151-58 1 A, Saced, “Rethinking Revelaton aa Precondition for Reinerpreting the Quan: A Quranic Perspective”, 705, 193-114.2 ‘THB HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT letter — which he wrote to al-Qdi Isma'l al-Akwa' shortly after Lester's article— with its ranslation.® oh nn ay Los panei Ge Pamir Fy oak B00 a OS iM pest Gs nl os peteenae alt al Ga AG eos Gana oat 9 I ON iab tae ont ae Sowa Figs 1.1 Part of De. Pins original ltr to o-Q5 al-Akw™ “The importanthing thank God, that these Yeni Quan agement do not difer from thre found in museums and libraries elsewhere, ‘withthe exception of deals chat donot touch the Quan itself but are rather diferences inthe way word are spelled. This phenomenon s ‘well town, evn inthe Qur'an published in Cairo i which i writen Ton (on) ne orn (e!) Qprin (913) nex to Qn (28) Sindhi (poe) next to Sinan (4s) Inthe oldest Yemeni Quin ragments for ample, the phenomenon of not witig the vowel aif rather common. ‘his deflates the entie controversy, dusting away the webs of intrigue that were spun around Puin’s discoveries and making them a topic unworthy of further speculation.» But iet us suppose forthe sake of argument that the findings are indeed true; what then is our response? Here we face three questions a) Whats the Qui’an? b)_ If dny complete or partial manuscripts are uncovered at present or in the future, aiming to be Qur’n but dilfering from what we now have in our hands, what impact would this have on the Quranic, text? €) Finally, who is entitled to be an authority on the Qur'an? Or in general terms, to write about Islam and alts religious and historical, facets? 55 For the Arabic text of his complete letter, the Yemeni newspaper, th-Thawa, fssue 24.11.1419 a8,/11.3.1999, 5 [wll cover Pins discoveries and cai in pp. 9148, inrnopucTion | 8 ‘These will be pondered over the course ofthis work, fo reveal not only the following answers but also the logic which stipulates them: 8) ‘The Qur'an is the very Word of Allah, His fal message to ll ‘humanity revealed to His final messenger Muhammad and trans- ending all intaten of fe and pace. leis preside orl tongue without any amendments, additions or deletions. b) There will never bea discovery of a Quan, fragmented or whole, which differs fom the consensus text circulatidg throughout the ‘world. IF it does diferthen it cannot be regarded as Quin, because ‘one of the foremest conditions for accepting ahything as such it that conform othe text wed in ‘Uchmtas Muha? 9) Certainly anyone can waite on Islam, but onlyja devout Muslim hhas the lgitnate prerogative to write on Islamjc and its related subjects. Some may consider this biased, but thes who is not? Non- followers cannot clim neutrality for their writings swerve depending on whether Isms tenes agree or ctagiee mh their personal beliefs, and so any attempts at interpretation frorh Christians, Jews, atest oom racy Minis ate nero oded ‘may add that if any proffered viewpoint clashes ith the Prophet's own guidelines, cer explcily o oer, becomes objec tionable; in this igat even the writings of devoht Mui raay be rejected if they lack merit. This selectivity lies af the very heart of golden rule (d. 110 A./728. CR): | pSi9 ghee ey oo pata of» ‘This knowledg> constitutes your de religion), o be wary of ‘whom you take your religion fom.2® i Some may argue that Muslims do not have any sound arguments with which to counteract non-Muslim scholarship, that for them the cate is based entirely on faith ard not on reason. Iwill therefore being forward iy arguments against their findings in fature chapters] though Iwill first begin by recounting some passages from early Islamic History asa prelude to an in-depth look at the Qur'an. | 57 i tesco ofthe tt which may how some vation} a vowel wing 0 further Chapters, 1a 1. Westnet ta into contra hat tee are over 256,000 rants of the Quan sentered all oer he gabe (ep 316 toe 38). When comparing tem itis alvays posible to find copying mistakes here teeth san erarpl of human lily and bas een Fcogied a sch by tuthors who have writen extnsily on heer of “inten errors” Such ecorence cannot be wed prove any compton (xi) wihinthe Quran 30 In fac Ton Hib hs credited thi eying to ther ches ae wel, eg AQ Huraira (581), Trt a-ak (96-4) 36-DsBlkb ahaa thea 100 at) al asa aap (2110 Ast) and Za Alam (196 a). [on ban op £2125) t4 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT Cuaprer Two EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 1, Pre-Islamie Arabia i. The Geo-Political Condit ‘Arabia, Situated near the crossroads of three continents, atthe heart ofthe (Ole World, the Arabian Peninsula juts out into one of the most recognisable features on the globe. Bordered by the Red Sea toits west, the Persian Gulf to its east, the Indian Ocean to the south and Syria and Mesopotamia to the north itis fanously arid but forthe vegetation of the Sarawat Mountain, ‘which anchor. the western coastline, Despite the scarcity of liquid there are a few sources of underground water available, and these have produced ‘oases which have long served as the backbone for human settlements and ‘The Arabian Penirsula has been’ populated since the eariest days of recorded history the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf actually establishing city-states prior to the thd millennium €.8.? Many scholars consider this region to be the erade of all Semitic races, though there is by no means a fall consensus. Theoriss on this cradle include: Babylonia (the opinion of ‘Von Kremer, Guide and Hommel} the Arabian Peninsula Sprenger, Sayce, DeGorje, Brockelmana, and others} Africa (Noldeke and others* Amara (AT. Clay}$ Armenia (John Peaters the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula (Job Philby); and Burope (Ungnand)® Phillip Hits in his work, Hitry of the Arabs, says: “Though the teim ‘semitc’ has of late come to be used in the West more generally wit reference to the Jews because of their concentration in America, its ore appropriately applicable to the inhabitants of | Jawad ‘Al, a Mufagal ft Tathal‘Arab Opal iam, 569. 2 ii, 2280-91, 7 ani, 1232-288. ° ii, 238,16 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT Arabia who, more than any other group of people, have retained the Semitic characteristics in their physical features, manners, customs, habit of thought and language. The people of Arabia have remained virtually the seme throughout all the recorded ages”? ‘Most hypotheses regarding racal origins emanate from linguistic research, {and occasionally the information supplied by the OT),""and much of this §s neither scientific nor historically accurate. For example, the OT includes among nations of Semitic stock many who are not Semites, such as the Blamite and Ludim, whilst discarding many which are Semitic, such as the Phoenicians and Cannanites."' Given the myriad viewpoints, subscribe to the notion that the Semitic races emerged from within Arabia, As to the question of who is or is not Semitic, Arabs and Israelites share @ common ancestry through Abraham"? fi Tbrahim and Makkah ‘Ata fixed time in history Allah bestowed on Ibrahim (Abraham) a son in his old age, Ism&'l (Ishmael), whose mother Hajar (Hagar) ~ supposedly, a slave ~ was a gift tendered by Pharos to Sarah, Ismi‘t’s birth sted great jealousy in Sarah's heart, and she demanded that Ibrhim cast out this ‘bondwoman’ and her son.!* Faced with this domestic squabble, he brought Hajar and Isma‘l to the barren land of Makkah, to a harsh sun- beaten valley bereft of inhabitants, food, and even water. As he began the tuek home, Hajar gazed at the emptiness around her in bewilderment, and asked him thrice whether he was deserting them. He made no reply. ‘Then she asked whether this was the command of Allah, and he replied yes: Hearing this she said, “Then He will not abandon ws” And indeed He did not abandon them, causing the waters of Zamzam to eventually gush out of the sand atthe infant lama‘ fet; this spring made possible the first settlements in the area, with Jurhum being the eatiest tribe to settle there." 2M Mohr Ali, Sint an-Nob vol LA, pp. 30-81, quoting PK. His, Hist of the Arabs, pp. 8-8 "0 Jawad "AR, al Mifesl £228, i, 3204, "sbi, 690. The OT decares that both Arabs andJeve are descendants of Shen, son of Nosh, 13 Aig James Veron, Genesis 2:10 ' ALBokhss, Soi, al-Anbiya, hah nos. 3964-65 (wth Ibn Hajar’s commentary). EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK v Several years lates Inrahim, on a visit to his son, informed him of a BG OE CEH sect § esl gy 08 gap ts fates FE uate “Then, when (Uh son) ached (the age of serous) eoork with hi, (Iran) said: ‘O my son! Ise a dream that I offer you in sacrifice oto see what ‘your view!" (The son said: ‘O my father! Do as you are commanded: you veil finde, if lah soils, one practicing Patience and Constancy! We ransomed hie iit a memantoussacrifce?"© And On the heels of this incident, Ibrahim and Ism&'ll received a divine commission to establish the first sanctuary on earth deilicated for the sole worship of Allah. i 4D ixrlel ots BLK, cc th horas Theft Hose fei) opined pple ws at Bab of blessing and of guidance fora kinds of beings” akin is another nam: for Maa, and in that roaky vale both father and son concerted their efforts towards the construction of the sacred Kaba, with the piety of one whose gruelling ordeal had just been resolved by the Almighty Himselé Upon its completion Ibrahim made the following supplication: ! "eparkiats “0 our Lond! Thase made some of my firing to dali a aly without Every tribal member constituted an asset for the entire tribe, so that the presence of an accomplished poet, an intrepid warrior, or someone of famed hospitality within the tribe, generated honour and credit forall those of his lineage. Among the prime duties of every stalwart clan was defence, not only of its own members but also those who temporarily came under its umbrella as guests, and in protecting the latter there was always rmuch, honour to be gained. Thus Makkah, the city-state, welcomed people who «either sought to attend fairs, or perform pilgrimage, ¥ or pass through with their caravans. Serving this demand required security and the appropriate 59 Ibn Hishtm, She, ed. by M. Saga, [abtbyitt and ‘A. Shalab, 2nd edition, Mostafa a-Babi at Halab, pubisers, Cairo, 1375 (1955) vol. 1-2, pp. 117-8. This book has been printed into two pars, part one covers volumes 1-2, while part 80 covers volumes 3-4, The page sumbering of each part runs continuously. 1 Ibn Qutaibs, Me’, pp. 640-41 53 Ibn Hishim, Si, vo. +2, pp. 105-108. For the dates inthe char, see Nabia ‘Abbot, The Rise ofthe Noh Arabie Sit and ts Kine Deeopment ith ll Darin of th Kizan Manas the Oral Fate, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1988, pp. 10-11, Abbot har mentioned some disagreement among Orientals about the date. 39 bn Hishtin, Sra, vl. 34, p. 315. 14 By this time the Ka'ba was surtounded and housed with hundreds of idol. EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM (A BRIEF LOOK a facilities, and so the following institutions were setup ip Makkah (come of them by Qusayy himself) Naciv (ity counel), Mashira (advice council, (Qipdda (leadership), Saddna (administration of the sanctuary), Hib (gat keeper of the Ka'ba}, Sigaya (supplying water to the pilgrims), ndratul-bait (ensuring that the sanctity of the Ka'ba was not violatel!), [fada those who permitted the first departure in a ceremony), za, Nas’ (the institution of Adjusting the calenlani, Qua (pitching a tent to collect nations for some public emergency}, Aina (reins of the horse), Rada (tax for feeding the ‘poor pilgrims), Amn! muhajara (offerings to the Sancthary), Aysar, Ashnidq (assessing the value of pecuniary iabiltis), Huma, Sia (ambassador- 28, Ui ona Hee ame) and Hulu (mobiisation sratuiy aon Cee Mah ‘These sundry duties became the responsibilty of Qusayy)ssons. Descendants of ‘Abdul-Dar for example retained the custody of the Ka’ba, the council hall and the right of mounting the banner on its staff in pase of war?®‘Abd- ‘Manaf managed the freign relations “withthe Roman authorities, and the Ghassanide prince. HeShim [son of ‘Abd-Manai] himself concluded a treaty, and he is sai to have received from the Emperor a resiiph authorizing the (Quraish to travel rough Syri in security” Hashim and his party maintained the office of providing food and water tothe pilgrims his wealth allowed him to entertain pilgrims with princely magnificence ‘While trading in Madinab, Hashim met and becarhe enamoured of a Khazarte noblewormn, Sala bint ‘Amr He marrefl her and returned ‘with her to Makkah, but with the onset of pregnancy she chose to journey back to Madinah and there gave birth toa son, Shaita.. Hashim died in Gaza on one of his trade journeys,” entrusting hs brother Muttalib to take care of his son" who was still with his mother. Travelling to Madinah for this purpose, Muttalib found himself embroiled in a fight with Hashim’s widow over the ety of young Saibe which he entualy won, With 8 The iy State of Mec, pp. 261-276, | 38 Wiliam Muir, The Lif of Mahomet, 3d edition, Smith, Elder, 8 Co, London, 1894, p. cv 9 ibid p. nevi 2 iid p. nev 29 Ton Hishm, Se, vol. 12, p. 137 © i vl. 1-2, p. 187 | | b.2 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT uncle and nephew returning to Makkah, people mistook the litle boy to bo the slave (ase: ‘Abd) of Muttalib. Hence Shaiba’s nickname: ‘Abdul- Muttalib “The death of his uncle meant that‘Abdul-Muttalib inherited the duties of Sigiya and Raféda:® And having rediscovered Zamzam, whose waters hha been buried and forgotten beneath the weight of sand and neglect for many years, he gained such prominence and dignity that he effectively became the chief of Makkah. In earlier years he had made a vow that if granted ten sons, he would sacrifice one of them to an idol. Now, having ‘been blessed with this number, ‘Abdul-Mutalib sought to full his pledge by consulting with the Azlin® to find out whom to sacrifice. The name of his youngest (and favorite) son ‘Abdlullah appeared. Human sacifces being distastefl to Quraish, they conferred with a soothsayer who revealed that ‘Abdullah could be ransomed with camels. The Azlan were consulted again, and the boy's life was spared forthe price of one hundred camel. Delighted with this tr of events, ‘Abdul-Muttalib took his son ‘Abdullth to Madinah to vs some relatives. There ‘Abdullah mazried Amina, te niece oof Wahaib who was their host and of the same ancestral tribe (Quays brother founded Bana Zuhra, Wuhaib’s clan). ‘Abdullah enjoyed the domestic comforts of home life for some time before embarking on a trade route to Sytia, Along the way he fell il, returned to Madinah and died. By then Amina had already conceived Muhammad. vi. The Religious Conditions in Arabia Inthe time preceding Muhammae's prophethood, Arabia was thoroughly antagonistic to any religious reformation. For centuries the cult of pagan ‘worship had withstood both the presence of Jewish setlements and foreign attempts at evangelisation from Syria and Egypt. William Muir in his The ‘Lif of Matome, argues that this Jewish presence helped to neutralise the Spread of the gospel in two ways; fist, by establishing itself inthe northern. frontiers of Arabia, and thus forming a barrier between the Christian expanses to the north and the pagan stronghold to the south. His second, argument is that Arabian idolatry had formed a sort of compromise with, Judaism, incorporating enough of its legends to diminish the exotic appeal ‘of Christianity’* I do not concur at all with his theory. What the Arabs 4 shi, vol. L2,p. 137. © shi ol. 2, p14. 48 A procedure for picking a candidate randomly, using divining arrows that were ‘kept under the protection ofa certain dei, ‘4 Wiliam Mui, Te Lif of Mahont, pp. boxset, EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 3 professed in fact was a dstorted remnant of Ibrahim and Isma'’s mono- theistic faith, corrupted by centuries of superstition and ignorance. The legends which the Jevis and Arabs held in common were, therefore, a result of their common ancestry. ‘The Christianity of the 7th century was itself mired in corruption and, ‘myth, caught in state of complete stagnation. Formally submitting Arabia to Christianity would hav: required, not religious persuasion, but the political ‘coercion of a superior Christian power-* No such power bore down upon the pagan Arabs, and idolatry held Arabia in the tightest of grips. Five centuries of Christian evangelism had produced meagre results: converts ‘were limited to the Band Hirith of Najran, the Band Hantfa of Yamama, and some of the Band Tayy at Tayma’ In these five centuries, historical records do not show any incidence involving the persecution of Christian missionaries This is vastly cifferet from the fate which awaited Muhammad and his earliest followers in Makkah, revealing perhaps that while Christianity ‘was viewed as a tolerable nuisance, Islam was deemed overtly dangerous to the institutional fabric of pagan Arabia. 2. Prophet Muhcnmad 8 (586.81.-114.8./571-6820.8,)" Covering the life of the Prophet of Islam isan immense undertaking, one that can easily fill volumes; copious literature is readily available on this, topic for every interested reader. The aim of this section is somewhat different. In upcoming chapters we will discuss some of the prophets of Israel, including Jesus, and witness both their hostile reception by the Israelites and the rapid corruption of their divine teachings. Hee, in liew of retracing paths already carved out by other writers, Iwill simply offer brief synopsis to complement such future references to Moses and Jesus. 4 ibid p. bows This als holds true for mare recent times, whien Critianity was ‘often advanced by dit of Colonialit coercion. © ibid, pp. booi- bocce The Christian date is approximate, Invented wsing the model of the Islamic Catena, tid not céme ito oficial public use unt at eat ten centuries ater Jesus (most likely mare), passing through several moeifcations. The Gregorian calendar as presenlly used goes back gly o 1582 ¢£./990 4.1, when itwas adapted by che then- (Catholic counties on the detee of Pape Gregory XIU, in a Pepal Bull on 24 February 1582. [See Khalid Bai, Tae Milennins Bug", Jmpat Iutnatna, London, vl. 30, ‘0.1, January 2000, p 5), Modern writers project back the dates ftiosly thus ereating ‘many problems in the dating of event.24 ‘re uisToRY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT i. The Birth of Muhammad # ‘As mentioned easlier ‘Abdullah, Muhammad's father, died while Amina ‘was in pregnancy. Muhammad was therefore brn into precarious circum “ances, a member ofa poor but very noble fnily Soon bereft of hismother ts well he became an orphan at the age of six and took to working as a Shepherd in Makkah’s barren landscape. Following in the footsteps of Quraishi fashion he began engaging in trade, and here bis integrity and access asa merchant attracted the attention of an older and particularly jnteligent rich widow, Khadija, who eventvally married hirn-? Mfufammad twas renowned throughout the city for this honesty and integrity in all matters; quoting Ibn Isha; “Prior tothe revelations, Quaish labelled the Prophet as ‘the trustworthy one” (iI: amin)" ii Muhammad %, the Amin “There came a time when Quraish concurred on the necessity of rebuilding the Ka'baj allocating the work among themselves, each sub-clan gathering stones and built a portion of the structure by itself As the construction reached the Black Stone (2,-S! J) a controversy ignited. Every sub-clan Gquarrelled forthe sole honout of depositing the Black Stone into its appro- priate comer, tothe point where alliances were quicy formed and hostilities Lppeated inevitable. Aba Umayya, who at the time was the oldest mas in {Quraish, urged them to consent tothe judgment of the first man entering the gate of the Holy Sanctuary, and they approved. It so happened that the fist to enter was none other than Mubammad. Seeing him Quraish ‘exclaimed, “Flere comes the ants, we are pleased with him (as a judge). Here comes Muhammad.” Whea he was informed ofthe dispute he asked fora cloak. He then took the Black Stone, placed it on the cloak, and told ceach sub-clan to clutch a side of the garment and liftit collectively. This they did, and once they were atthe designated spot he raised the Black Stone and set it in with his own hands. With the controversy dissipated to everyone's satisfaction, the construction continued without incident. © ALBolbe, Soli Tara © Ton Hishtm, Se, vol. 2, pp. 187-189 50 id vol 1-2, p 197 3 si el 1-2, pp. 196-7 EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 25 ‘ii, Mulpimmad 88 the Messenger of Allah Blessed with an ideal natare and a hated of idolatry, Mubammad never vroatted before Quai dls nor took part in any a ther polythitic Mreals Instead he wore pped one God, in whatever nlanner he thought feachiscomplets literacy precluding any knowledge of Jewish or Chris actors Soon theme wearpe for is commision 8 Prophet and Messenges, we Ash prepared him or this task gradual. Fst he started bebolding teciona! He noize rocking hin: he also observed the Archangel ‘Tort (Cabrie calling him from the sky by his name?" and oberved a Toke ‘Risha reports that the prelude of prophethood for Muhammad were bisperfect ams forsnmonths he witnessed visions acerate that they voce to materiale fom the very fabri of reality The suddenly the fist ‘Eauation descended pon him while he was secluded ithe cave of Hits ‘Jibrl appeared before him and repeatedly asked him to read, countering Mahacmnd’s insistence that he was Hiterate by continaing the same rorand ail east be dvulge to him the fis veres of Sm al‘Alags* Dee ATE OE cslltgs UBD “Read inthe name of your Lord and Cherishar who create. Created man, cout ofa lec-like clot, Peclan! And your Lord is Most Bounif. He Who taught (the use of) the Pen. Taught man that which he knew no.” “This was the frst descent ofthe way (.~-»: revelation), the very beginning of the Que'an ‘Ando, unexpectedly atthe age of forty, Allah summoned Mubammad ‘witha simple message, sharply outlined and crystal clear: sve al} BY “Bidyey (There is no gol except Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger). ‘And with this he was gven a living eternal miracle, something o satisfy the intellect, capture the heart, and give rebirth toslifled souls: the Holy Quan. 52 Ton Hajar, Feta! B95 ab Buknt, Sih, Ba! al Way. 59 Maslin, Sli, Fag, p. 1782. 4 “Urata Zale, compe by MM. aba Malta a-Tsbiya lsArabia Liduwal Kha, st dion, Riya, 401 (1981), p 100. 58 Ton Haj ill 27 123, 86 Sora 95, ee al- Bake, Sl, Bad! al-Way 57 Quen 961526 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QU’AMIG TEXT fn Aba Bakr ancl his Acceptance of Islam The first man to embrace Islam’putsde the Propher’s family was Aba Bakr ibn Qubafa (ater nicknamed ag-Siddie), an experienced and wells respected merchant, and a devoted friend of the Prophet. He asked him cone day, “Is it crue what Quraish claims regarding you, © Mubammad? ‘That you have forsaken our gods, belittled our minds and disbelieved in the ways of our forefathers?” “Abn Bak,” he replied, “I am the Prophet of Allah and His Messenger, Iwas sent to convey Fis message... Teall you to Allah with the Trt, ands for che Truth that Tam calling you to Allah, to the One Who has no associates. To worship none but Him, and to be supportive of those who obey Him.” He then recited to Aba Bakr some verses fom the Qur'an, which so captivated him that he fordwith announced his conversion to Istam.5* Besides being a highly respected merchant, Abii Bakr was also greatly regarded within Quraish, Taking it on himself to further the message, he began inviting to Islam ll those he trusted among the people who frequented his quarters, and many embrace it, including a2-ubaitb, al“Awwaim, "Uthman b,‘Affin, Talha b. ‘Ubaidullah, Sad b, Abi Waqqas and ‘Abdule ‘Rahman b, ‘Auf, Aba Bakr became the Prophet's staunchest supporter, his faith standing im in good stead in every dificult. In the case of the Prophet's ‘nocturnal journey to Bait al- Maggs (Jerusalem), some eary followers could not rationally accept this occurrence and deserted Islam. Makkah’s poly- theists, keen to seize this opportunity and divert Ab Bakr, goaded him 1s to whether he believed that Muhammad journeyed to Jerusalem by night, returning to Makkah before dawn. He replied, “Yes, [believe it, Fbelieved an even stranger thing when he informed me that he was receiving revelations from Heaven.” 1 The Prophet Peaches Openly ‘After three years of preaching in secret, the Prophet was ordered by Allah to spread the word openly. SoU EAN gf eh HY Eat “e 58 Ton hig, a-Si un abMaghcy, the version of Ibn Bula p19, Here Aba Bale {questions do not mean that the Prophet once allowed the way of the polheis. It simply means, ‘Did you denounce openly? 59 Aah-Sham, Sabu -ada i133, 50 Qur'an 15:96-95, T I TBARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK a “Therefore expound spenly what you are commanded, and turn azoay from thas joa fe gd eth A, We are ficient wna yom again tase oho scl” ‘Atthe outset the Prophet enjoyed some success, asthe powerful chief tains were absent fron: Makkah, But upon their return they assessed the situation and, realising the danger ofthis new faith, brought pressure upon, the newly born Muslim community; some weaker people were made to revert to their old ways, while others stuck to their new belie. Cruelty and harassment mounted daily and the Prophet, afer nearly two years under its erushing weight, advised those who could not bear any more persecution, to migrate to Ethlopian® Occurring inthe fifth year of the prophethood, those accepting this Ter totalled less than twenty Muslims. A second migration to Ethiopia commenced not long afterwards, spurred by the polytheist increasingly desperate bid to raise the level of hardships and uproot Islam. Observing the failure of their strategy, the polytheists decided on a different approach. si, Quraish Offers Muhammad & Great Temptations ‘The conversion of Hamza (one ofthe Prophet's uncles) was noted by Quraish with considerable alarm, ‘Utba bin Rabta, a chieftain, observed the Prophet praying inthe Holy Sanctuary alone and informed the Quraishi assembly, Iwill go to Muhammad with some proposals which he might accept. We will offer him whatever he seeks, and then he will eave us in peace.” So ‘Utba went to the Prophet and said, “O my nephew, you are one of us, of the noblest of the tibe and of admirable ancestry. You have come to your ‘people with a great metter that has divided their society and mocked their ‘way of life, have insulted their gods and their religion, and stated that their forefathers were disbeievers, so pay attention to me and I will make you offers, and perhaps youwill consent to one of them.” The Prophet approved, and ‘Utba continued, “O my nephew, if you seck ~ with what you have brought ~ money, we will gather from our wealth so that you will be the richest among us; if you seek honour, we will make you our leader so that nodecision can be made without you; if you wish sovereignty, we will make ‘you king; and if this thing that comes to you is a bad spirit that you can see but cannot get rid of, we will find you a physician, and will use our 81 "Urea agp. 104 { Thn Hishain, Soa; v0. 1-2, pp. 322-328; Ton Sayyid an-Nas, Up a-Atay, 15. © “Una, ab Maghiep. 11128 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT. riches in having you cured, for often a spirit possesses a man till he can be cured of it.” Having listened patiently, the Prophet then replied, “Now listen to me: the Nan of Alb, Mot Gracious, Mest Mei Ha Mi. A relation fom (Al) te Most Gracious, Most Merl A Book ke th ves ar expaiad in detail ~ a Quan in Arabs, fr people who cmprekend ‘Bestwing glad ings and admonition: yet most of the tw arya they ha not. They 23: “Our hats render ils, (conceal) frm thao toch you nite ws, ad in ers ia defers, and Bate us and you isa sren: 20 do wha you wil: and we shal do what will” ‘And the Prophet continued reciting while ‘Utha listened attentively «ll he reached a verse that required prostration, and prostrated himself He then said, “You have heard what you have heard, it is up to you." vii, Quraish Boycotts Muhammad # and his Clans Stinging fom their failure to tempt Mubammad, the Quraish went to Aba “Talib, «highly respected elder who was the Prophets uncle and tribal protector, and demanded that he put an end to Muhammad's behavious, ‘whom they accused of cursing their gods, denouncing thei forefathers and insulting their teligion, Abn Talib sent for hisnephew and conveyed to him Quraish’s mesage. Anticipating that his uncle ad forsaken him and that he ‘was about to loge his support, he replied, “O my uncle, by All if they were to place the sum in my right hand and the moon in my let, to force me to abandon this thing, I would not, till Ala lett come forth or I perished therein.” And he timed his back and wept. Touched by his words, Aba “Talib assured him that he would not turn him away. Soon afterwards the sub-clans of Hashim and al-Mutalib, unvillingto desert one of their own, decided against giving up Mubammad even though they were idolaters 5t Quan 41:15, 6 Ton Hishim, Sb, vel 1-2 pp. 203-04. nthe translation, here and in other places, Guilaume's work has been consulted. EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 29 like the rest of Quraish.Faling to subdue him once again, Quraish wrote 2 decree nsating a boycot.of the shim and al Muga bub-lans: marzage, and all forms of buying and selling, between the rest of Quraish and the two sub-clans wes conpetly suspended, such that nt even basic provisions could be secured. This utless and devastating embarg| carried on for three years during which the Prophet and his lans sllered immeasurably carving ‘ut a precarious existerce with nothing to eat but the Hough leaves of the sparse desert vegetation | viii. The Pledge of ‘Aqaba | ‘Adecade of preaching and the Prophet had earned a fe hundred steadfast followers all enduring every conceivable form of persecution. During this time the new faith had also touched the ears and hearts of some people in Madinah, an oasis terzitory about 450 kilometres|north of Makkah, “These Muslims would journey to visit him during eackt pilgrimage season, their numbers steadily grew until they finally met with the Prophet in secrecy at ‘Aqaba, in aearby Mina under cover of hight, to make the following pledge eure 2.2: The site where the (en old Mosq adorns the plc) Phat by Anas gl-A'ani. 6 Ton Hisham, Sa ol. 1-2, pp 85015 Ibn ekg, ar Sor wu al: Maghh the version of Ton Baka, pp. 154167 Hl © bn Hisham, Sta, vol 1-2, p. 433300 THE HISTORY OF THE QuR’ANIC TEXT (1) Not to associate any parthers with the one true God, Allah; (2) To ‘obey the Prophet in all righteous matters; (8) To refrain from stealing; (4) ‘And adultery; (6) And infanticide; (6) And slander. In the following year a larger delegation (over seventy including two women) again met with him during the pilgrimage season ancl invited him to migrate to Madinah, On that night they proclaimed the second pledge of ‘Aqaba, with a new added clause! (7) To protect the Messenger inthe same manner as they would protect their own women and children. With this invitation the persecuted Muslim community finally found an outlet, a land they could journey to where they would be welcomed. ix. The Plot to Assassinate the Prophet Aller the tormentof the three-year boycott, much of the Muslim community (ook heed of this offer and began migrating, Realising that any mave by the Prophet northwards to Madinah would only delay an inevitable con frontation and serve to strengthen his cause, Quaish knew that the time hhad come to purge their bitter enemy: in their assembly they finally reached ‘ consensus on how to assassinate the Prophet. Informing him of this plot, Allsh ordered him to hasten his preparations and migrate to Madinah with the greatest posible stealth. No one was aware of this except ‘Aland Abo Bakr and the laters family. The Prophet asked ‘Allo stay behind briefly in Makkab, for two reasons. First as a diversion: "All was to sleep in the same bed and in the same manner as the Prophet, ‘with the bedeovers pulled over him, to trick thase who were lying in wait their daggers. Second, to return the valuables that men had deposited with che Prophet (for despite these trying times, people still entrusted him with their goods; his status as Makkah’s amin had remained untouched). x Muhammad in Madinah Escaping from the assassination attempt by the grace of Allah the Prophet ‘commenced his migration, with the companionship of his most sincere follower andl friend Abn Bakr, hiding for three days in the darkness of a ‘mountain cave at Thur Madinah rang with an air of jubilation at his 9 bid val 1-2, p42, 59 ibid, vol 1-2, p 485, 70 shi vol 1-2, p 486. [EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 31 arvval in the third Islan calendar month of Rabi" I the strets resonating ‘with excitement and poetry. With the incessant persecution lifted he set to work immediatly building a simple mosque that was nevetheles spacious enough to accommodate students, guests and worshippers for the daily and Friday prayers. Before long a constitution was drafted, outlining the responsibilities ofthe emigrants from Makkah and the inhabitants of Madinah towards each other, and towards the new Islamic state; and the Jews, their position and their responsibility towards the community and the state. ‘This was, in fat, the frst written constitution in the history of the world.” ‘Madinah was composed partly of some Jewish tribes, and to a much larger extent of two Arab tribes, the Aus and Khazraj. Both tribes were linked to each other through blood-ties but were constantly at odds, ‘occasionally taking up arms. The Jews regularly shifted their allegiance fom one faction to te other, further exacerbating the situation. The Prophet's arrival in Madinals heralded the entry of the new religion into neatly every house ofthe Aus and Khazraj such that a new politcal situation became appareit with the drafting of the constitution the Prophet became the supreme authority and leader of all the Muslims, as well as the Jews "Those who were riot favourably inclined towards the Prophet deemed it unwise to oppose him openly, and for them two-facedness soon became daily routine. These hypocrites (cls!) attempted to harm the Prophet ‘and his followers through diverse means, with a zeal that continued unabated throughout most of his lif : ‘The dear ensnity betyeen the Muslims and Arabia's polytheists in addition to the neighbouring Jews and their wayward allegiances, resulted over the years in several ghazawat (battles) and a few more modest rads. ‘The most prominent bates were Battle of Back, Ramadan, 2.41.” Bate of Uhud, Shawl, 3 At; Battle of the Ditch (34s), Shawwal, 5 a; Battle of Bant Quraiza, 5 at; Bate of Khaibar, Raby‘, 7 a1t5 Bate of Ma's, Jumad I, Ban Conquest of Maklah, Ramadén, 81H; Hunain and Taf Shawwal, 8 Aut The Year of Deputations”% and Tabak, Rajab, 9 At 21 M, Hamidullab, Th Fist Whitin Costinton nthe World, Lahore, 1975. 2% A. (After Fi) is the Musi lunar calendar. Initiated during the reiga ofthe 2nd caliph, “Umar (and mos likely asl), it begins with the Prophet’ migration to ‘Madinah (the Hira). 13 Though nota batle, Thaveinlided this because tsgies pagan Arabia's growing ‘warmth and reeptivenes towards Islam. Glace (534) means to expend energy in the spread of Islam, and the Year of Deputations i lovely example of Arab wibes ‘coming tothe Propher, sas compulsion, and contributing tothe spread ofthe religion by embracing it voluntarily.32 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT “Though the Prophet's adversaries in these battles were generally idolaters, they did on occasion include Jews and Christians who had allied themselves ‘with Quraish against the Muslims. I will mention afew incidents from some of these ghazawat, not forthe sake of detail but rather to facilitate a comparison of Islam's rapid spread under the Prophet’ leadership with the disarray of the Isracites’ desert wanderings at the time of Moses, and the struggles of the twelve Apostles during the time of Jesus." si Prelude to the Battle of Badr [News came to the Prophet that a huge caravan was passing by a route near to Madinah under the leadership of Aba Sufyan. The Prophet sought to intercept the caravan, but Abd Sufydn learned of this and altered his route, dispatching a messenger to Makkah to request reinforcements. Con sequently an army of one thousand men with seven hundred camels and horses was readied under Abd Jahl’s command, an imposing display of steel and strength marching northwards for an assault on Madinah. Receiving intelligence concerning both the caravan’s new route and ‘Aba Jahl's army Muhammad informed the people of the circumstances before them and sought their advice. Ab Bakr stood up and spoke nobly, and ‘Umar followed suit. Then al-Migdid bin ‘Amr rose and said, “O Prophet of Allah, go where Alla tells you to go and you will nd us with ‘you. By Allah, we will not ay to you what Bant-IsraW” said to Moses, ‘Go, you with your Lord, and fight while we st here (and watch,” but ‘Go, you with your Lord, and fight for we will ight with you.” By the One Who hhas sent you with the Truth, if you were to take us to Bark al-Ghimad”” ‘we would fght resolutely with you against its defenders until you conquered it” His intrepid words fell gratefully on the Prophet’s ears, and he thanked him and prayed for him. Then he exclaimed, “Advise me, O people,” by which he meant the ‘Ansar. There were two reasons behind this: (a) they formed the majority and (b) when the Ansar gave their pledge to him in ‘Aqaba, they made it clear that they were not liable for hs safety till he entered their boundaries Once there they would protect him as they would their own wives and children, Hence the Prophets concern that they might view with reluctance 74 See Chapters 14 and 16 25 Children of ral 2% Quran 5:26 17 A place in Yemen, others say the farthest stone. Regardless, it means, “as far as you would go" EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 33 any attack on AbtiJahfs daunting army, so long as it remained outside the boundaries of Madinah. When the Prophet had uttered these words, Sad bin Mu'dh said, “By Allah, as if you meant us?™ He replied, “Yes, no doubt.” Sa'd said, “We believe in you, we affirm your Truth, we bear ‘witness that what yon have brought isthe Truth, and we have given you cour pledge to hear and obey. So go wherever you want and we are with you; by the One Who has sent you with the Truth, if you were to cross this sca and wade throuigh is, we would wade through it with Jou, nota single ‘man lingering behind. We do not abhor meeting our enémy tomorrow. We ae skilled in warfare, dependable in bate. It may well be that Allah will et us show you something which will delight you, so take'us along with His blessing’”* The Prophe:, assured and encouraged by Sa‘d’s words, pressed onto Badr with an army of $19 men, two horses and seventy camels. There they encountered the Quraisht forces: one thousand men (six hundred ‘wearing chain mail), ore hundred horses, and hundreds of camels.” By the day’s end the grace of Allah had shined brightly upon the Muslims; the polytheists suflered a catastrophic defeat, and the Islamic state ascended to maturity and becamz a renowned power in the Arabian Peninsula. ssi, The Execution of Khubaib bin ‘Adi aliAnsici Khubaib, a Muslim cative, was procured by Safwan b, Umayya withthe sole aim of having him publicly executed, as vengeance for his father who ‘was killed at Bac: A mob gathered eagerly to witnessithe event. Among them was Abd Sufyan, who taunted Khubaib as they brought him out for execution, “Iswear to you by God), Khubaib, do you not wih that Muhammad was here in your place so that we might behead him instead, and leave you with your family?” Khubaib replied, “By Allah, I would not like to see Muhammad in the place he is in now with even a thorn in his side, while I sit with my family” Aba Sufyan growled, “I have never seen a man so loved as Muhammad isby his companions.” Then Khubaib was brutally dismembered, limb after limb, and was ridiculed as beads of sweat and streams of blood gushed from every corner of his bods, before he was beheaded.” 78 Ton Hishtra, Se, vol. 1-2, pp. 6145. 7 Mahdi Rizqallah, aS, pp. 337-9. (0 “Urwah,a/-Mapaetp.177, Khubaib and Zaid were capewred in the same incident and both were martyred at Tan‘im, a shor time apart. Inthe Work of Ybn Ishaq (Ibn Hishim, Sa, vl. 3-4, p. 172] thi eply i atibute to Zaid4 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT. sri, The Conquest of Makkah According to the conditions of the Hudaibiya peace treaty (6 A.) Arab ‘vibes were given the option of joining whichever faction (the Prophet ot (Quraish they desired an alliance with. Asa result Khuzaa joined the Prophet ‘while Band Bakr joined Quraish. Then Band Bakr, acting against the co ditions ofthe treaty and with the assistance of Quraish, attacked Khuza’ ‘the Khuza‘a tribesmen scurried towards the sanctuary of the Holy Ka'ba Dut contrary to the accepted custom their lives were not spared. Khuza'a brought their grievances to Mulbammad and asked for justice. The Prophet offered both Quraish and Band Bakr three options, the last of which was to consider the Hudaibiyya truce as null and void. With an arrogant air ‘Quraish picked the third option; Realising afterwards how unwise this was, Aba Sufyan went to Madinah to renew the truce, but returned fruitless. ‘The Prophet prepared for an attack on Makkah, and all the neighbouring tribes bearing allegiance tothe Muslims were invited o join forces. For twenty- cone years Quraish had perpetrated every conceivable form of hardship, persecution and atrocity on the Muslims, and now that the wheels had turned they were flly aware of what these preparations really meant, Dread and fear spread rampantly in every alley and every house. Leading an ‘army of ten thousand, the Prophet proceeded to Makkah on the 10th of Ramagin, 8 AH. The Muslims camped at Marr az-Zahran and Quraish ‘were completely ignorant of this fact. The Prophet did not seek to take the ‘Makkans by surprise nor was he anxious for bloodshed; he wanted Quraish to filly assess the situation before opting fora hopeless battle. In the mean- ‘while Aba Sufjan and Hlakim b, Hlizim had ventured out ona spying mission ‘when they encountered ‘Abbas, the Prophets uncle. ‘Abbas discussed the situation with Aba Sufjan and ad\ised him to accept Islam, With Aba Sufyan's conversion the road was paved for a ‘bloodless conquest” ‘Aba Sula hurried to Makkah and eried at the top of his voiee, “O ‘Quraish, this s Muhammad who has come to you with a force you cannot resist, He who takes refuge in the house of Abd Sufyan s safe, he who shuts his door upon himself is safe, and he who enters the Holy Sanctuary is safe.” And so the Prophet returned to his birthplace, the very city which hhad menaced him a few years before with brutish cruelty and assassination, now heading an army that marched bloodlessly through the veins of Malekah, ‘The resistance was minor at best, and the Prophet soon stood at the door of the Ka'ba and delivered a speech, conchuding with, “O. Quraish, what-do you think I am about to do to you?” They replied, “O noble brother and son of a noble brother! We expect noting but kindness EARLY EISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIBF LOOK 35 from you.” And he said, “Go, for you are free.”*! Thus was the clemency Ine granted the Makkans,o those who had persisted in the torture of Muss for twenty years. Inten years’ time all of Arabia, from Oman to the Red Sea, and from, southern Syria to Yemen, had come under Muslim control. A mere decade after his arrival in Madinah as an emigrant, Muhammad had become not ‘only a Prophet implementing the Divine Order of Islam, but also the supreme and uncontested ruler ofthe entire Arabian Peninsula — uniting it for the first time in history. 3. Death of the Propet and Accession of Abii Bakr 4. Aba Bakr Handles Widespread Apostasies Prophet Muhammad's death in 11 A. led to Aba Bakes unanimous nom- ination as his heir o the burgeoning Muslim state, During the Prophet's twilight days some of thehypocrtes, among them Musailama al-Kadhdhab (Musailama the Liar’ had claimed prophethood for themselves. Now, spurred by the Prophet’ passing, wholesale apostasy" flared across most of the region. Some of the tribal leaders who had lost their seats during the Prophet’ lifetime fellowed Musailama’s example, giving rise to new ‘prophets’ such as Tulaiha bin Khuwailid and the prophetess Sajah bint al-Hirith bin Suwaid, a stalwart Christian. ‘The situation was so acute that even ‘Umar suggested to Aba Bakr a temporary compromise with those who refused to pay Zakat. He rebuked any such idea, insisting, “By Allah, I will definitly fight anyone who severs prayer from Zakit, for i:is an obligation upon the rich. By Allah, if there ‘seven asingle cort (ised for hobbling the feet of camels} which they once proffered to the Messenger of Allah as Zakat, but have now withheld it, thn Hisham, Sv, vol $4, pp. 989-412 ® Bosworth Smith ays “If he had worn a mask a al he would now tal events tad thrown i of. now would have been the moment gratify his ambition, to saat hislust, to ght his eenge. Ia there anything ofthe kin? Read the acount of the enty of Mohammed isto Mecca side by side with that of Maras of Sula into Rome... We shall hea be ina psion ber wo appreciate the magoanimity and ‘moderation of the Prophet of Amb.” [Makanda Mohanneoon, Lon, 1876p 142, quoted by AHL Sidi, The af Melamed lane Research Academy, Karachi, 1968, p. 313) ‘9 Inthe Yamima region plates inthe central north-east egon ofthe Arabian pening "% Generally aposay is he desertion of ones religious th 1 Some refed to py the Zakat (mandatory alms) othe central government. % AeTabart, Tal, i27236 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIG TEXT would fight them over it Aba Bakr stood alone in hie resolve, like an tunshakable mountain, till every sincere person sided with him. ‘To combat these heretics Abo Bakr hurried to Dhul-Qassa, six miles from Madinah. He surnmoned all the availabe forees ofthe Muslim army and, distributing them into eleven regiments, appointed a distinguished ‘commander for cach, along witha banner and a spcife target: Khalid bin al-Wald to Tulaiha bin Khuwail ‘Tkrima son of Abs Jah, with Shurahbi, to Musailama; Muhajir son of Abo Umayya to the remnants of al-Aswad al“Ansi, then to Hadramout; Khalid bin Sa‘td bin al‘As to al-Hamgatain, near the Syrian border; ‘Amr bin al-‘As to Quau'ah and others; Hudhaifa bin Mipsin al-Ghalafini to Daba, on the Gulf of Oman; ‘Arfaja bin Harthama to Mahata; Turaifa bin Hajiz to Bant Sulaim; Suwaid bin Muqattin to ‘Tahama of Yemen; AlAls’ bin l-Hadraml to Balrain; and Shurahbil b, Hasana to Yamima and Quda‘a.!® ‘OF these, perhaps the largest and fiercest battle was waged in Yamama against Musailama, whose forces exceeded forty thousand and enjoyed very strong tribal tes in the area. ‘Ikrima was initially sent to finish him, ‘but because of his limited success he was dispatched to some other region. Shurahbil, who had been sent to assist ‘Tkrima, was now told to wait for the arrival of a new commander, Khalid bin al-Walid, who by the grace of Allah successflly vanquished Musailama’s imposing army. allowing the suppression ofthese rebellions and the return of the Arabian Peninsula to Muslim control, Abo Bakr next ordered Khalid bin al-Walid to march towards Iraq.” There he encountered and defeated the Persians st Ubuila, Lady’s Castle, Maaas, Ullas afar 12 A11./May 633 C2), Walaa, the river of blood (in the same month), Amghisia, and Hira (Dhul Qa 12x. /January 634 6.8),* where he established his headquarters.® After Hira he advanced to Anbar (12 .#./Autumn 633 ©...) and discovered a fortified city with protective ditches. Hs terms for peace being accepted however, he proceeded to ‘Ain at-Tams, a town straddling the desert three days west of Anbar** Here the enemy was a potent mixture of Persians and Arab Christians, some belonging to the Christian prophetess Sajah;* © Masi, Sai, Imin:82 © AwTabart, Tih, 248, {9 Ay Taba, Tait 2249; se also W, Mui, Amal of the Lay Caliph pp. 17-18. According tothe historian Khalifa bin Khayyig this was in 12 1. (Tat :1003 81 F4, Mones, Als ofthe Hinary Ta, az-Zahrs for Arab Mass Media, Caico, 1987, p. 128 22 We Mul, Annas of the ery Calphatp,81 £8 bi p. a, 3 bi. a. EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 37 in the ensuing battle the Christians fought more fercelythan the Persians. ‘Both were defeated and the city fell to the Muslims. ‘i. Military Advances in Syria | [Regaining the Peninsula athe end of 12.418, (683 G.), Aba Bakr formulated ‘plan to conquer Syria, His frst two choices of commander, Khalid bin ‘Sa‘d bin al'As followed 5y ‘Tkrima bin Ab Jah, met with limited success. So he divided the region into four zones and appointed a commander to ‘each: Aba ‘Ubaidah bin l-jarrah to Hiims (in the western part of present day Syria); Yarid bin AbtSufyn to Damascus; ‘Amr bin al“‘As to Palestine; and Shurahbil bin Hasana to Jordan. ‘The Romans had acted accordingly, setting up four regiments of their ‘own. Abt Bakr then amended his strategy and ordered his four generals to join together, in the process directing Khalid bin al-Walid to race swiftly to Syria with half his army to assume the position of commmander-in-chief ‘There he was blessed with tremendous success, while Elsewhere Mustim armies advanced swiftly against various other adversaries. 4, The Coures and Provinces Conquered During ‘the Reigns of ‘Umar and Uiiniin ‘Yarmak or Wactia, 5 Rajab, 13 a. Sept. 634 6.) + Battle of Qadisiya, Ramadan, 14 a. (Now 635 .); + Ba‘albak, 25 Rab, 1548. (63668), | + Hims and Qinnasrin, captured in 15 A. (636 G.); + Palestine and Quis (Jerusalem) in Rabi' II, 16 AH. (637 2, + Capture of Madian, 15-16 Ax. (636-7 C8); | + Jazira (Ruba, Raqge, Nastbain, Harran, Mardien), mostly inhabited ‘by Christians, in 18-20 Ax, (639-40 c..); + Conquest of Persia: Nebavand, 19-20 Ax. (640 C.E)s + Egypt (excluding Alexandria) in 20 Ax. (640 G..), + Alexandria in 21 a. (641 0.2); + Barga (Libya) in 22 A. (642 6.5); i + Tripoli Libya) in 23 a. (643 08.) + Cyprus in 27a (647 62.) + Armenia in29 Aa. (649 CEs + Dhat as-Sawart, naval war in $1 A. (651 C2); ‘+ Azerbaijan, Deulaw, Marw (Merv), and Sarakhs in $1 A. (651 CEs Kinman, Sijistan, Khurastin and Balk, also in $1 at. (651 CE).38 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT. ‘And so after ruling 395 years, the curtains fll forthe Sassanid (Persian) Dynasty atthe hands of a newly born nation of three decades, which could not boast of either administrative experience nor war expertise. This could not have occurred save for the Muslims’ unshakeable faith in All, His ‘Messenger, and the supremacy of Islam. ‘According to Prof. Hamidullab,® the territories conquered by 35 A (che conclusion of ‘Uthmain’s reign) can be divided as follows: ‘Tervitories annexed during the Prophet lifetime GL 11ax% 1,000,000 Sq, miles [Aba Bakr as-Sideiqy 11-18 as. 200,000 Sq, miles “Umar b.al-Khaetab 13-25 ax. 1,500,000 Sq, miles “Ushman b ‘Alin 25-35 AH. "800,000 Sq. miles Total 3,500,000 Sp. miles Five 2.3: Border of the [lami sate at the end of the tied Calihi’s reign (25 4.1. 1655 C8); the boundaries atthe time of the Pope’ death are provided in green ‘Moses and the twelve tibes of Israel had wandered the Sinai desert no ‘more than one hundred miles in radius ~for forty years as punishment for 99 M, Hamidulla, el Matias Sin, pp, 498-99 y EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: A BRIEF LOOK 39 dlscarding the orders of Allah; in less time than thatthe Muslims succesflly acquired three and a half million square miles of what is now the Middle East 5. Conclusion [Aside from the vast territory which had come under Muslim contro, either through battles or deputations, the Prophet at his death left Mustims with the two greatest assets of all: the Holy Qur'an and the suma°® His cause was taken over by thousanes of Companions who had personally known him, lived alongside him, shared food and starvation with him, and unsheathed their blades at his side: These Companions had literally pledged their lives inevery hour of need without trepidation, We can only guess at their sheer ‘number, but given that Musailama’s force of forty-thousand was only one ‘of a dozen apostate armies that were successfully engaged and defeated smuianeosy, the number must indeed be staggering, Itis unlikely that they approached the 600,000 ‘men of Bighting strength’ who crossed the sea with ‘Moses according to Exodus),.” but whilst that multitude wandered aimlessly inthe desert sun, the Companions were blessed with one colossal military triumph after another, And all the while the new religion was scrupulously uanded, the entre ralm’s management based on the foundations ofthe ‘Quran and sunna sch that heresies were never given reigh to germinate or flourish. Such an environment proved extremely receptive tothe preservation and propagation of thelMuslim texsin their intact forms, as we shallsee next. 95 “The ama constints the authenticated traditions of the Prophet, all his propesy seid words and deeds(along wit the actions of others which met with his consent) Hundreds of thousands 3 these actions exis; a single traction i termed hat 97 See p 216.40 ‘TH HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT Cuarren THREs \ REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD From eatly Islamic history we now turn to face Prophet Muhammad's reseage tell ois nacure as well as ois link with the Feachings of earlier prophets Allah created humanity for the singular purpse of worshipping Him, though He sino need of anyone’s worship a it adds nothing to His tupremacy:The mange of worship was not eto the diate of indvivals or communities, but was explicitly delineated through the dispatching of| ‘prophets and messengers, As all messengers received thelr commission from the same Creator, so the core message remained essentially the same; only some of the practical details were altered. Nah (Noah), Ibrahim (Abrahatn), ‘zt ha Yq Ja) bi ina) Von Joh Dawa David Sulaimméin (Solomon), ‘sa (Jesus) and the countless others He sent forth aa Cnet nope te npn cme ataparular ne These were limb comp ole ling the message and leaving its followers inthe throes of idolatry superstition, or fabrication. With Muhammad however, the time was ripe for a message that would not be hedzed in by national boundaries or particular epoch, a faith that could never be nullified because it was intehded forall people and for alltime: Islam refers tothe Jews and Christians as ‘people ofthe Book’. These three religions have a comon patriarch in Ibrahim, and hypothetically worship the same God that was worshipped by Ibrahim and his sons Ismail and [shlq. In discussing these religions we inevitably encoupter some common terms, but though the words appear similar to the ees the underlying implications often are not, For example, the Qui’an states explicitly that everythingin the universe hasbeen created forthe sole parpose of worshipping ‘Aah, while in Jewish mythology the entire universe was created fr the merit, of the children of Israel! In addition the Israelite prpphets supposedly indulged in fashioning images of false gods (Aaron) or coramitted adultery (David, while Islam insists on the virtuous character gf all the prophets. Meanie, the Ossian concept of a rin - with being th sole member of the Gadhead visible within church confines ~ thoroughly con- tradicis the precisé Ozeness of Allah in Islam, We will therefore briefly cover * See the quotes at che beginning of Chapters 16 and 15. |4a Li Si5 SS ow “or wuld We se don Our wnthsi WE ha etme lo ive warning)” ‘The Creator purged His messengers, paragons of virtue and piety without exception, from all ev They were model examples of human behaviour, and instructed their respective communities to follow their lead inthe worship of Allah, Their core message throughout history was ages. Ng gy eB Si TZ 8 Yd oe Lie yp vheslt “Newer did We dispatch a messenger before you without revealing to kim this: ht thee smo go but I thie worship and sree Me” ‘And the message of all the prophets was, "egos SLB y “$0 be mindfid of Allah (proclaimed the mestenger), and obey ma.” ‘The concise phrase «2 Y}.Y (there is no god but Allah) isthe core belief uniting all the prophess from Adamn to Muhammad te Quy’an approaches this theme time and again, particularly calling the attention of Jews and Christians to this point. 2. The Final Messenger Jn the arid heat of Makkah, Prophet Ibrahim thought ofthe nomads who ‘would come to settle in that barren valley and entreated his Creator: SLi est aetlis Sis ed at os» "Ou Land! snd amongst them a Messenger of ther eum, ch shall reberse ‘Tour Sign to thers an inctrut than in the Book ond Wisdom, and purify ‘ham: for Tou ae the Exel in Might the Wie” ‘And ata fixed time, inthe same barren land, Allah planted the fruit of brahim’s supplication in the form of His last messenger to all humanity "© Quran 17:18. 1 Quran 21:25 "2 Qn 26:108, See alo the same Sara verses 110,126, 11, 44,190,168 and 178, Thins tal the popes hosed hen Eom hr xm 15 Quean 2129, REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD 8 Mg sep BOS 5 SES of pa OF Ey “Muhanad no i er fey of your, a he] the Meseger of All, and the Seal of the Prophets” Ft AE Sh Gass at tl LL Sy euskal ty > "Qt “Wehner tal mann sg hen ad ings and sng har [geist nb mas ple aro car” Hp Sneha G5 Sy cashes» “We have not sent ou but aso me fra worlds” ‘As Allah Willed it, it came to be, that an unlettered shepherd should carry che burden of receiving, eaching and disseminating a revelation that ‘was intended to ast il the end of history: a heavier responsibilty than that shouldered by allprevious messengers combined, 3. Receiving the Revelations Concerning the revetion ofthe Qur'n we Gnd verse 2185, ADT 5 i 6 Sieh 93 agl call Ls 28 > € a6 “Thamanth of Ronan in hie the Qn as fit ste fom on igh asa uidance io man date roof of Bat uid,” ‘And in verse 97:1, QTD gisistyy “Babel gh Ws bested ine rin ie ho Ds” (Over a span of twenty-three years the Qur'an came to be revealed bit- by bit according to te impending circumstances. Ibn ‘Abbas (4 68 A.) ‘one of the greatest scholars among the Companions explains thatthe Quan was sent initsentiey tothe lowest heaven of the world (Bait al-Teza in ‘one night, arriving from there co the earth in stages as necessary.” “The reception of revelation (woly) is onside the realm of the coramon. perso’ experiences For the previous fourteen centuries no true messenger % Quan 33:40. "5 Quran 3428. "6 Qu’an 2:107 1 aeSuyagy, abla 17.2 ‘THp HISTORY OF THE QURANIO TEXT the nature of prophethood in the light of Islam; this will lay the groundwork forthe fundamental diferences between Iam and the two preceding corrupted ‘monotheistic religions, and define some of the ideals that Allah conveyed to the world at large in His final revelation. L. The Creator and some of His Atibutes leaily we did not create ourselves, a8 no creature has the power to create elbly “ey eo na an ile Bol ‘All reation therefore emanates from Creator, Sa Sal] pS STs DLs FE “That is Allah, our Lard! Ther is no gd but He, the Cratr of all ‘things, s0 worship Him; He has the power to dspace of all affairs” “TA have nde crated man in tebe of mals.” The Creators unique, nothing has been fshioned ino His Image. He is aio without bn, the one and only God. A Sighs Gy Uy pls i @ eat Hi gy ela why sqqptstgi. “Say: He is Allah, The One; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He did not ‘beget, nor is He begotten; and there is nome like unto Hm.” eis gracious, mercifil and loving, He ewvards good deeds most generously if done with sincerity, and accepts repentance from the truly penitent. He forgives as He pleases, but does not forgive those who ascribe other gods besides Him and die unrepentant. 2 Quran 3s, \ 3 Qur'an 6:102. + Qur'an 95:4, > Qur'an 1121-4. [REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD as oo Whe Spy ob oe ial oall cate wb > pe sill ga Sy Cpe Sal ss “Say: O my esa wh hace agreed against thiol! dap ot of henry of fir AU gis infor Hei offing, Most Meri’! S33 98 O55 ony Beth of aks TATE > 2G Cake C8 fi ih "Ah gins ot ha pres sou be stu with Hin ul He fries ghee tower He pleases; whoee sts up artes wide A has cami st ious sin nde.” i. The Purpose Behind Mankind’s Creation Aah create masse hac hey fy ori i Botts 3 bes “have cetd jn ad men, ony that thy may sere Me CE 5 > Given that food, vate, shelter, reproduction and thousands of other rmaiters are inextricably ted to human survival, siamhas transformed all of these into acts of worship, so long as the intentioh behind them is to beter serve Allah, & The Message of the Prophets Within mankind, Allah instilled a nature that leads instinctively to His ‘worship alone, provided there is no external interference * To compensate for such interferences He dispatched messengers from time to time, to displace the webs of idolatry and superstition and guide people to the proper way of worship. © Quran 3888, 7 Quran $48 8 Quran 5156. 9 This is clear fom the bast of the Prophet, “Phere is none born but is created to is tre natre (lam, Te his parents who make him a Jew ora Christin or agian.” (Musi, Soi, rendered into English by Abdul Hamid Sidi Sh. M ‘Ashraf, Kashmiri Bazar Lahore, Palistan bath no, 6423)oe em for. wr)__exr: thas existed, nor will there be another, 0 to understand the phenomenon ‘of wahy we have to depend solely on the reports that come authentically from the Prophet, and from those trustworthy individuals who witnessed him. These narrations may perhaps mirror what other prophets experienced as wel, i the throes of divine communication. + Al-Hlavth bin Hisham inquired, “O Messenger of Allah, how does the revelation come to you?” He replied, “Sometimes it comes like the ringing of a bell, and that isthe hardest on me, then itIeaves me and Iretain what it said. And sometimes the angel approaches me inhuman form and speaks tome, and Ietain what he said.”® ‘Aisha, related, “Verily I saw the Prophet when the revelation descended. ‘upon him on a day severe with cold, before leaving him. And behold, his brow was streaming with sweat." + Yel once told ‘Umar of his desire to observe the Prophet while he as receiving weuly. Atthe next opportunity ‘Umar called out to him, ‘and he witnessed the Prophet “with his face red, breathing with a snore. Then the Prophet appeared relieved (of that burden].”* + Zaid'b. Thabitstated, “Ion Um-Maktam came to the Prophet while the was dictating to me the verse, ove 34> “Nod equal ve thse Ble who sit.” On hearing the verse Ton Um- ‘Maktim said, ‘© Prophet of Allah, had I tue means I would most certainly have participated in jh.’ He was a blind man. So Allth revealed [the remainder of the verse] t the Prophet while his thigh ‘was on mine and it became so heavy that I feared my ehigh would bbreak.”® Clear physiological changes enmeshed the Prophet during the reception of waly, but atal other times his manner and speech were normal. He never 18 There are many events that an be decried to, bu no aly comprehended by someone westlife ange of experiences gus inthe way, An easy example is “docrbing&landsepe (et lone i colors oa blind person, or cirping of bids to someone nt is deat They may beable to appreciate one of the description, but toto the fllexten of someone bested wth hearing and eyesight In the same eae, {Be crpdon of the wand how he Prophet ek daviag i receptions to he ‘esto um matters beyond oar al comprehension. 1 Atak, Si, Ba a Way 2 i Ba aka 2 pati, So, Manas. 2 Quin 495. 2% ALB, Sei, a9. possessed any coitrol a to when, where, and what the revelations would by as is evident from rumerous incidents. Thave chosen the following two ‘examples arbitrary: em the ease of seme people slandering his wife ‘Aisa, and accusing her of mischief with a Companion, the Prophet received no im- redlate revelation. In fact he sulfered for an entire month because of these rumours before Al declared her innocence: saute te dad SIS yeas BS) Neg tke “And why id yo not (O people che ou heard (the ron), 9, ‘Tis ot right of sto speatf th: ely to Tou (ur Lord) sis amos serous sland!” «Meanwhile, in the case of Ton Umn-Maktam’s objection on account of his biindnes, the Prophet received the revelation instantly: Sacer pis ae nS G tell 689) eee seth “Nou vse Ble who ta oe) —epting as wt ae (aban ashore nd ght the cose of AURA wth tr ods nd his” i. The Beginning of Wahy and the Miracle of Quan? Preparing the fature prophet for his role was a gradual proces time in ‘which puedling occurences and visions seemed to percipitate about him, nd in which the Archangel Jbl repeatedly let is presence be known?” ‘Appearing before Muhamniad suddenly one day while he was secluded inva cave, Jibs cofnianded him to read; he replied that he did not know how to read, The angel repeated his demand thrice, and received the same confused and fightened answer thrice, before revealing to this unsuspecting Prophet the very fit verses he was to hear of the Quy‘: 1 Qyrsn 2616, 2 Qur'an 488, 28 In the following pages T will backtrack a lite relating some incidents fom ‘Muhammad's ist ewyears as Prophet. These fer from the biographical overview Dt the previous chapter in tht the focus here i explicit on the Qu’ 2 on Haan ol Ba, vii 16,48 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIG TEXT walls 226 By ot £ ctige “Read! in the name of your Lord and Chevsher, Who created, Created ‘man, out of a letch-tke clot. Proclaim! And your Lord is Most Bountiful. Hle Wha taught (the use of] the Pn, Taught man that which he ew not” Shaken from this unexpected encounter and eanying this greats of. burdens, Mahammad returned trembling tis wife Kala animplred her to conceal hi, illsome measure of calmness had retrned him ‘Asan Arab he was fair whl sor of Arabic oxpresons with pty and pos, but nothing bre resemblance to these verve he had hea something the kes of which he had never herd belo These inefiabe Word this Qua, became the fist and greatest miracle bestowed upon him. In another time and place Moses had been granted his on aces = light emanating fom hs hands, the transformation of his sick into 2 Sdhering snake ~as sigs of his prophethood. Compare a tothe ube of Mubanmaks eae the solitude ofa mountain eve an angel beckons an unletered man to read is miracles included no snake, no plagues no cing of lepers ot raking ofthe dea but Words nlite saying thee had eve fallen on bunan er 4 The Impact of the Prophet's Recitation on the Polytheists The passage of time helped to settle the Prophet into hia new role, and 2 he bused himself expounding Islam to his loses companions by da so Alth encouraged him to recite the Quan during the snes of ight Sil, Gable SI DS ep gisidly mega Sisy opi 55 ale “0 emurapped oe! Repel fn pro ag, at all art of one-half thereof — or make it aie less than that, or add to it fat ail and aig tha tne ci th Qn cally and eine th our ind ated ots marin” Letuus chronicle the effect of these recitations on the idolaters. Ibn Ishq, writes: 28 Queen 96:15 2 Quran 78:64, [REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD 9 Matimmad b. Mosim , Shhh a-Zar to me that he vasinfarmed that Abo Suan b Hab, Aba. His, and allAkAnes by Shar, Ame, Wa t"Thaga anally of Bant Zara) had ventured ot ‘by night to eavesdroo on the Prophet as he recited in his house. Each of the three chose an appropriate place, and none knen the exact where= abouts of his eomraces So they pasted th night litenig to him. Atm they dpered and, meting one another on the way Bic, each of them chided his companion, "Do not repeat ths again, kt on of te spt spots you and becoes suspicious. Then they le onl to return on the second night, exesdop agai, and chide eachother at dan. When his recurred on he hd night they confonted each other the next moring and sai, “We wl nctleae ant we take solemn oll never eure ‘Alter this oath they dispersed. A few hour lateral Anat took his walking sick and, approaching the house of Ab Sufjn inquired his pinion as owt they had heard om the Prophet, He replied, "By ‘God, I head thing: whose meanisgs cannot compichend or what is intended by them’. Aka xd, "Such slo the ese with me" “There proceeded) Ab Jas howe and asked the ste question le answered What, ined did Thea! We and tet of ‘Abd Manat +have always rivalled sach other in honour. They have fed the poor, and so have we; the have assimed other people’ troubleg anda have we, they have show geneoss and ao have we. We hve matched each other lke two salon of eqal sed. Then they proche, "We have a prophet vores revelations om te hese When wwe ams arin a Despite the severity cf ther hatred the Prophet continued reciting, and «the eavesdroppers continued to increas til they constituted a sizeable portion (of Quraish, each of them wary of having hs secret exposed.*" The Prophet ‘was not asked to argue with his antagonists about Allah's Oneness because the Qur'an, clearly not the work of a man, contained within iself the logical proof of the existence and Oneness of Allah. Yet as his recitations spilled from the stllnes of nightinto the use of day and beeaine public, Malkah’s anxieties were quickly brought to the boil. ‘With a popular fai ft approaching, some people from amongst Quraish approached al-Walid binal-Mughira, a man of some standing. He addressed them, “The time of the far has come round again anid representatives of the Arabs will ome to you. They will have heard abou this fellow of yours, s© agree upon one opinion without dispute so that none wil give the lie tothe other” They sa, "Give us your opinion about hin,” and he replied, Pp 515-16. Ibn Isha, ar Soy wa anMaghicl, pp. 205-6. | i | | {50 ‘THB HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC-TEXT “No, you speak and I will listen.” So they said, “He isa kin (ja: clair. voyant).”al-Wal responded, “By God, he is not that, for he has not the ‘unintelligent murmuring and rhymed speech of the kthin”. “Then he is ‘possesed.” “No, he snot that, We have seen possessed ones, and here there jzno choking, no spasmodic movements or whispering” “Then he sa poet.” “No, he sno poet for we know poetry in alt forms and meters.” “Then he’s a sorceren” “No, we have seen sorcerers and their sorcery, and here ‘here is no spitting and no knots.” “Then what are we tosaj, O Aba ‘Aba Shams?” He replied, “By God, his speech is sweet, his root is as a palm- twee whose branches are fruitful, nd everything you have said would be Jnown as false. The nearest thing to the truth is your saying that he is a sibir (,-L+: sorcerer, who has brought a message by which he separates a man from his father, or from his brother, or from his wife, or from his ‘aii We find the same phenomenon in the ease of Aba Baks, who built a ‘mosque in Makkah next to his own house and devoted himself to regular prayer and recitation ofthe Holy Qur'an. The polythests approached Ibn Addaghinna, who was responsible for protecting Aba Bakr, and asked him toprevent Aba Bakr fiom reading the Qur'an because, among other things, ‘women and children were known to eavesdrop on his recitations, and were naturally more susceptible to such an infkuence.® 4. The Prophets Roles Regarding the Quin ‘The Qur'an consistently employs derivations of tal (36: recited): yu, ati, atl, yt et. (sa, 5,8, Js). We read this in verses 2129, 2:151, 3:164, 22:30, 29:45 and 62:2, among many others all of them allude to the ‘Prophet’ role of disseminating the revelations throughout the community. ‘Bor recitation alone i insufficient if its unaccompanied by instruction. The Prophet's responsibilities towards the Word of Allah are easily discerned {nthe following verses, the first being from Prophet Ibrahim’s supplication: "Our Lord! Send amongst them a messenger of thro, ok shallreberse ‘our Signs to them and instract them inthe Book and Wisin, and purify ‘han* 2% Ibn Ishq, o Sr ae al-Maghic, edited by Suhail Zakk, p. 1515 Ibn Hii, Sho, el. 1-2, pp. 270-71. 59 Ibn Hisham, Ste, vol 1-2 . 373; abBalachust, Aud, £206, 3 Quran 22129, REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD pe bts Lie jai fe MG By LL AT LS pi sas ofr gra fu th Baker inde, sending 0 A se eae ores ant af Ml ed perf earns than in be Bak and Wise es Se i pee Ss pet aa aa oe pict. geod ST Eat *, rr you have already received] in that We have sent among i ae mon, eng ou Our Sis od ung Fandango te Bok cd Wis” ‘And in Sia al-Qiyane: i ep Highs Ate ED Sy 4 gee ye ie) OU : Dent mney bg concrig he sma ase Pepe Drala finger ht ou may ee fd compile t ‘ao he ced li el smal): Noy mo Fir epan frogh your gt” ‘memory before they sipped aay he would move his onguein anion eee nea sae ne \ on ee ta mess dhe epinginindt Tia ee kt a ede ht Se area mu Ree hae a a merc retin eet cyan neh et eh oon52 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANG TEXT 5. Recitation of the Qur'an in Tioms with Jbl ‘To continually refresh the Prophet's memory, the Archangel fibril would visit him particularly for that purpose every year. Quoting a few hadith in this regard: + Fitima sad, “The Prophet informed me secretly ‘Jib use to recite the Qur'an to me and Ito him once a year, but this year he has ected the entire Que’én with me twice, Ido not think but that my death is approaching”™* + Thn ‘Abbas reported thatthe Prophet would meet with Jbril every night during the month of Ramadan, til the end of the month, cach reciting to the other:* + Abu Huraira said thatthe Prophet and fibril would recite the Qur'an toeach other once every yea, during Ramadan, bu that the year of his death they recited i twice: Tn Mas‘ad gave a similar report to the above, adding, “Whenever the Prophet and ibritinished reciting to each other I would recite to the Prophet as well, and he would inform me that my recitation was eloquent." +» ‘The Prophet, Zaid b. Thabit, and Ubayy b. Ka’b recited to one another after his last session with bri The Prophet also rected twice to ‘Ubayy in the year he passed away’? Each of the above fats describes these recitations between Archangel and Prophet using the term Mu‘rada.* ‘The Prophet’ duties towards the aly were myriad: he was the instrument of divine reception, the one who supervised proper compilation, provided the necessary explanations, encouraged community-wide dissemination, and: taught to his Companiots. Naturally Allah did not descend to earth to ‘explain the meaning of this verse or tha; by stating that “it is for Us to 88 ALBukhat, Sli, Fag a. Quan: 2 ALBukbit, Sf, Saum:7. © ALBukhist, Sh Fal a-Qye'an, ‘41 ApTabas, eT, i28. The on i very weak 12 A, Jellry (ed), Magainati, p, 27. © ibid p74; also Tai alfa, of Tig, p. 126 Malaga ue fom Mita (Wes), meaning that two people are engaged ‘nthe same ation, For example mya.) tofight each thes This Miadsneates ‘hat Jib would read once while the Prophet steed, then vce versa. This general Practice continues to this day. A few of the Companions were infact py to this ‘Mtrajo between the Prophet and iri, such as"Uthnn (Iba Kath, Foi, vet), ‘sid b. Thabit, and ‘Abdallah b Mas, [REVELATIONS AND THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD 33 explain it” instead of “itis for you (Muhammad) to explain i, Allah was conferring fll legitimacy on the Prophets elucidation of all verses ~ not as guesswork on his par, butrather as divine inspiration from Allah Himsell ‘The same holds true regarcing the compilation of the Qur'an, ‘Ando after memorsation, the responsibilities of recitation, compilation, education and explanation coalesced into the Prophets prime objectives throughout his prophethood, duties he discharged with tremendous resolve, sanctioned in his efforts by Allah, The focus of the forthepmaing chapters will involve primarily the frst three among these; as for explanation of the tal, the iterate ofthe Probets amas whole constateshis elucidation OF te Oye, incarporton fis teaching int praca ernie 6.A Few Remarks on Orientalist Claims Some Orientalst writers have put forward strange theorigs regarding the (Qur’n’s revelation. Noldeke or instance claims that Muhammad forgot the cautiest revelations, while Rex. Mingana stats that nether the Prophet nor the Misi community eld te Quan in high esteem ll long afterwards ‘when, with the rapid expansion of the Muslim state, they t last thought it perhaps worth to preserve these verses for future generations Approaching the issue from a logical viewpoint is sulicient to dispel these claims. Tn fact this logical approach works regardless of whether one believes in Muhammad asa prophet o: not, because either way he ould have done his utmost to preserve what 2e was claiming tobe the Worf of Allsh. If he truly was Allah’s messenger then the case is obvious: preserving the Book was is sacred duty. As discussed ears, the Qur'an was the first and greatest miracle ever bestowed upon hrm, its very nature a testimgny that no man hhad penned it.‘To casually neglect this miracle, the sole pfoof that he was indeed Allah’s Prophet, woald have been abysmally stupid. But what if Muhammad was, for the sake of arguraent, an imposter? ‘Suppoding tha the Qur'an was hs ow creation, could he afford indifference towards? Certainly not: he woul have to keep up appearahces, and shower it with regard and concern, because to do otherwise would be to openly ‘admithis fraud. No leader o* any stature could afford such,a costly blunder. ‘Whether one consigns Mubammad tothe category of Prophet or impostor, Ss bchvour ford the hn wuld ave ben salon eer cae Any theory claiming even an iota of indifference is entirely irational. If theorist profers no satisfactory explanation as to why the Prophet would act 30 grievously againsthis own interests (et lone the commands of Allah), then the theory is quite simply a throwaway statement with no basis in fact. : cfcy ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT 17. Conctsion ‘Memorising, teaching, recording, compiling, and explaining: these, as we have stated, were the prime objectives ofthe Prophet Muhammad, and such ‘asthe magnetism of the Quan that even the poytheists found themselves inclined to lend it their attentive ears. In subsequent chapters we will deal jn some depth with the precautions taken by the Prophet and the early ‘Muslim community to ensure that the Qur'an circulated in its pure, unadul- terated form, Before ending this chapter let us turn our attention to the present, and gauge how successflly the Qur'an has been taught in our times, Muslims across the globe are passing through one of their bleakest petiods in history, an era where hope and faith seer to hang precariously in the balance everyday: Yet there are countless Muslims ~ numbering in the hundreds of thousands and covering every age group, gencles, and continent — who have committed the entire Quen to memory. Compare this with the Bible, translated (wholly or partially) into two thousand languages and dialects, printed and distributed on a massive scale with funds that ‘would place the budgets of third-world countries to shame. For allthis effort, the Bible remains a bestseller that many are eager to purchase but few care to read. And the extent of this neglect runs far deeper than one could possibly imagine, On January 26th, 1997, The Sunday Times published the results of a survey by its correspondents Rajeev Syal and Cherry Norton regarding the Ten Commandments. A random pol of two huncred members of the Anglican clergy revealed that to-thrds of Britain's vicars could not recall ll Ten Commandments These were not even lay Christians but vicars. "This basic code of morality for Jews ane Christians a mere handfal of lines; the Qu?’an on the other hand, fully memorised by hundreds of thousands, translates into roughly 9000 lines A clearer picture of the Quu’an's esteemed influence and the Prophets educational success cannot be imagined. “Refer to Manfred Bartels quote in p. 298 note 65. 4 In the fet ereeor four centuries of Chriasanity, ordination to the éeaconate or priesthood required that the applicants memarise a certain portion ofthe Scriptures, Though the exact requirement eifeed from bishop t bishop. Some insisted on Jon's GGospe others offered a choice between wenty Palms or two Eps of Pulte more demanding may have even wanted twenty Psalms andtwo Epistles. [Broce Metage, The Tet of th New Tedanet, p87, footnote no] This requirement for hopeful deacons san priest i palr at best how ean memorising the Gospel according o Jon or ey five Pele by a lengyman compare wit the complete memorization of the Que'an by Musi chiden? Carrer FOUR TEACHING THE QUR'AN “The it verse reviled tothe Prophet was: gg Nepal salty 2 ity “Rea in th nan of yor Led and Chri, Who crete * ‘There are no indications thatthe Prophet ever studied the artof the pen, and its generally believed that he remained unlettered throughout his life. “This first vers, then, provides a clue, not about his own literacy, but about the importance of establishing a robust educational policy for the masses that were to come. Indeed, he employed every possible measure to spread the spirit of education, describing the merits and rewards for learning as, ‘well a the punishment for withholding knowledge. Aba Huraira reports that the Prophet said, “If anyone ures a path in search of knowledge, Allah will thereby sake ensy for him a path to paradise.”= Conversely he warned, “He who is asked about something he knows and conceals it will have ‘a bidle of fire placed around him on the Day of Resurrection.” He ordered the lterate and literate to cooperate with one another and admonished those sho did not learn from, or teach, their neighbours." A special significance was given to the skill of writing, which in one Hadith is described asthe dury of a father cowards his son.* He also championed free ‘education; when ‘Ubadla bin as-Samit accepted a bow from a student as a gift (which he intended to use in the cause of Islam), the Prophet rebuked hi "Qua 96: 2 Aba Khaithama ain bath no, 25. 3 AtTiemid, Sian, aim: 4 ALithamt, Mginaae-Zatd, 64. 8 ALKalttn, at Tai aH, 239, quoting ad-Dur and adalat. 1-Manth, Aba Nim56 ‘THE MISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT “IP it would pease you to place a bridle offre around your neck then socept that gift Even non-Muslims were employed in teaching literacy “Ransome for the prtoners of Badr varied. Some of them were told to instruct children on how to write” 1, Scones for Learning, Teaching and Resting the Holy Qur'an ‘The Prophet spared no effort in piquing the community’ eagerness to learn the Word of Allah: 1. ‘Uthmin bin ‘Affin reports thatthe Prophet said, “The best among you isthe one who learns the Qur’an and teaches it”® The same statement is reported by ‘AIT bin Abi Talib? According to Ibn Mas‘td the Prophet remarked, “If anyone recites aleter from the Book of Allah then he will be eredited with a good deed, and a good deed attains a tenfold reward. I do not say that Alf Lin Mim are one letter; but Aifis aleter, Lam is a letter and ‘Min a leter”" c. Among the immediate rewards for learning the Qui’ was the privilege of leading fellow Muslims in prayer as ima, a crucial post ‘especially inthe early days of Islam. ‘A’isha and Aba Mas‘td al- ‘Ansfsf both report that the Prophet said, “The person who has memorised, or learned, the Qur'an the most wil lead the others in prayer”! ‘Amr b, Salima al-jarmf recounts that the people of his tribe came to the Prophet, intending to embrace Islam. As they turned to depart they asked him, “Who will lead us in prayer?™, and he replied, “The person who has memorised the Qur'an, or learned it, the most.”!* During the Prophet's last days it was Aba 8 bn Hanbal, Mund, v3. 2 Th S‘d, Tabpi 14. Also Tbn Hanbal, Mued, i247. ® ALBukhidt, 74, no, 5027-8; Aba Dawnd, San, adh no. 1452; Aba "Ubaid, Fede pp. 120-124 9 Aba "Ubaid, Ft, p. 126 '0 AvTicmidht, Sawn, Pada a Qur'an; see sao Aba "Ubaid, Rut . 6. "8 Aba *Ubaid, Rt, p. 92, a-Tirmidt, Sman, hadth no. 235; Abo Dawad, Sina, haath no, 582-584 '2 Aba ‘Ubaid, Fal, p01; ab BukhA, Seb, no. 818; Abo Dawid, Sinan, no. 55, 587, | ‘TEACHING THE QUR'AN | 37 Bakr’s privilege to lead the daily prayers, and this proved to be his sreatest credential when the time came to appoit a caliph forthe Muslim nation 4. Another benefit was the electriffing possibility of olserving the anges. ‘Usaid bin Hugair was reciting the Qur’sn in his ehlonure one night ‘when his horse begar jumping about frantically Repeatedly he would tcp rein gece he ee jump wildly again, Exentually he stopped altgethet for fear of having his son.trarapled; while standing near the horse He observed some= thing ike an overhanging canopy above hm unated with lamps and ascending through the sky tlt disappeared! The next day he approached the Propet and informed him of the nights occurrences ‘The Prophet told him that he should have contifued reciting, and Usaid bin Hludair replied that he had only stopyed on account of his son Yahya. The Prophet then said, “Those were the anges istening to you, and had you continued reciting, the peopl would have seen them inthe morning fo they would not have confealed themselves from them.” € Thn ‘Umar narrates rom the Prophet, “Envy is justified in only two cases: a man who, having received knowledge of the Qur'an from. Allah, stays awake reciting it night and day; and a|man who, having received wealth from All, spends on others night and day." “Umar bin al-Khattt states thatthe Prophet said, “With this Book Allzh exalts some people and lowers other." | & Severaliliterate elders found memorising the Quinto be arduous, their minds and their bodies being frail, They were not denied is blessings however, for great rewards were promised to those who Hstened tothe Que’an ast was recited. Tbn ‘Abbas said that whoever listens toa verse from the Book of Allah will bé granted light on the Day of Judgmert.* | bh, Itwas quite posible tata person, not having membrised well enough to read from memory, may feel an inkling of laziness in searching fr a written copy. 80 the Prophet stated, “A. person's recitation "3 Musi, Salil, Bogish translation by Sidi badth no. 1742. See also adth nos, 173941740. 1 Abs “Ubaid, Fi, p. 126; a-ha, Seth, Tawbid46; Must, Soi Salat al-Musdftn, no. 265; at Fri, San, no. 1937 15 Muslim, Soi Slit al: Musici, no. 269; Aba “Ubai, Ra, p. 94 See also ‘Msim, Sai, Salat al-Musafin, no. 270, che rame incident but narated dough ‘Arnie b. Wathilaab-Latht. 18 Aba ‘Unsaid, Fadl, p. 62; ab Faryib, Fg, p 170,58 mm JISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT without the aid of a Mushaf [written copy elicits reward of one thousand degrees, but his recitation sing a Mughaf doubles chat reward to two thousand”? 4, Tn expounding on the excellence of the duff (C-: who have commited the entre Quen to memory) ‘Abdallah bin ‘Amr reports that the Prophet said, “The one who was devoted to the Qur’tn ‘willbe told [on the Day of Judgment] to recite and ascend, andl to recite with the same care he practised while he was in this world, for he will reach his abode [in Heaven] with the last verse he pea ‘And for that lethargic slice of society which favours idleness over {hese benefits the Prophet confonted them with warnings Ibn ‘Abbas narrates that the Prophet said, “A person who has nothing of the Quran within him slike a ruined house." He also condemned the forgetting of verses after having memorised them as grievous sin, and advised people to go through the Qur"an regulasly: Aba Masa al-Ash'arl reports that the Prophet said, “Keep refreshing your Jnowledge of the Quo'tn, for I swear by Him in Whose Hand is thelifeof Muhammad that itis more lable to escape than hobbled camels"® 1k. Alls bin asA(war relates story that ocurred aftr the Prophets death “While passing by the Mosque 1 encountered people indulging in [insidious] talk, 0 I visited ‘AM and told him this. He asked rei this was true and I confirmed it, Then he said, Theard the Propet declare, “Dissension will certainly come”. I asked the Prophet hw itcould be avoided, and he replied, “Atal (AS ‘tN: Book of Alla) the way, ort contains information of what happened before you, news of what will come afer you and a decision regarding matters that will occur among you. Is the Disinguiher and isnot jeting I any eneeweening person abandons it, Allah will break him, and f anyone seeks guidance elsewhere Allah will lead him astray. It is Allah's stalwart rope, the wise reminder, the straight path; ite that by which desires do not swerve nor the tongue becomes confuse, and the learned cannot "7 AeSuyats, abit, £304, quoting a [Narrated by Aus ath-Thagaf 1 Aba Diwod, Say, hadith no, M464; ac-Tirni Fai, ath nos. 60-1 19 Av-Timidh, Saas, Chapter Fadl a-Que'sn, hd no. 2813 2% Most, Sol, English translation by Sieg, no. 1727. Se also no. 1725, ars and ak Bathagt in Shuts aa, Sinan, no. 29145 s-Fory, ‘TEACHING THE QUR'AN 59 grasp it completely Itt not worn out by repetition nor do its ‘wonders sver cease tis that of which the inn did not hesitate to remark when they heard it: “We have heard a wonderfal recitation which guides to what is right, and we believe ini Ihe who utter it speaks the truth, he who acts according tit is rewarle, he who pronounces judgement according to iis jus, and he who invites people to it guides them co the straight ~hoom “The next point toponder is how did the Prophet achieve the momentous aim of teaching the Quu’an to each and every Muslim? This can best be answered if we divide the subject into two main periods: Makkah and Madinah, 2. The Makan Porod i. The Prophet as Teacher Most of the Qur'an was revealed in Makkabs as-SuyOfi provides a lengthy list of the soras revealed there.” The Qur'an served asa tool of guidance for the distraught souls that found a life of idol worship unsatisfactory its dissemination throughout the infant, persecuted Muslim community neces- sitated direct contast with the Prophet. 1, The first man to embrace Islam outside the Prophet's family was ‘Aba Bake: The Prophet invited him to Islam by reading some verses from the Quran 2. Aba Bakr subsequently brought some of his friends tothe Prophet, including ‘Uthman bin ‘Affin, ‘Abdur-Ralman bin ‘Au, az-Zubait bin al‘Avwem, Talha, and Sa‘d bin Abi Waqqis. Again the Prophet presented the new faith to them by reading verses from the Qur'an and they allembraced Islam." 3, Aba ‘Ubaidch, Abt Salama, ‘Abdullah bin alArqam and ‘Uthman bin Mag‘tn visited the Prophet, enquiring about Isham, The Prophet ‘explained it to them and then recited the Qur'an. All of them accepted Islam. 21 AeTixmihs, Sean, Fa 2 AeSuyoth,a-g, 22-50, 2 tom Isha, ar-Syar ea abMaghss,eited by Subail Zak, p. 199, 2 ip. 40. 7 bi p14. ‘Quan: hadth ao, 29066 ‘THB HISTORY, OF, THE QURANIC TEXT ‘+. When ‘Utba b, Rabr's went to the’ Prophet with-his proposal, on behalf of Quraish, offering him every conceivable temptation in exchange for abandoning his mision, the Prophet waited paticnty before replying, “Now listen to me,” and then reciting afew verses as his response tothe offer:* 5. Some twenty Christians from Ethiopia vite the Prophet in Makkah enquiring about Islam. He explained it to them and recited the Quran and they all became Muslim.” 6. As'ad bin Zurtra and Dhakwan wavelled fom Madinah to Makkah to see ‘Utha bn Rab'a regarding a contention of nobility (mums, ‘when they heard news of the Prophet. They visited him and, hearing ‘recitation of the Qur'an, they too accepted Islam. 7. During one ofthe pilgrimage seasons the Prophet met with a dele- sation from Madinah, He explained the tenants of Iam and recited 8 few verses, They all embraced Islam. 8. Inthe second pledge of ‘Aqaba, the Prophet again rected the Qur’tn®? 9. He rected to Sawaid bin $amitin Makkah" 10. Iyss bin Mu'tdh came to Makkah, seeking an alliance wth Qurssh, ‘The Prophet visited him and recited the Qur'an ™ UL. Ral bin Malik al-Angist was the frst to bring Sa Tis/to Macinah ® 12. The Prophet taught three of his Companions Sir nu, Taka, and Hal-aia respectively" 1, Tb Un Makttm came to the Prophet asking him to recite the Qur'an. 1% The Companions as Teachers + Th Mas‘ad was the first Companion to teach the Qu’tin in Makkah 2 25 Ton Hisham, Sb, 9012, pp. 298-4, 2 Ib hha, Sper al Maghiced by Zap 218 28 yn Se, Tote 2130599, 2 Ibn Hin, vol. 1-2, p 428, 2 ido. 1-2. 47. 2 ol 2p 427, 2 i oh. 12.7. 8 ALKattiny, oath eb ge, 4-4 St Bh Webby Fen a Qa, p 27, Tes ae srs na 10, 20 and 76 repeat. 35 Tha Hk, Si, vo 1-2, p, 360, J, Ton S's, Tao 107; Ton hig, a Sour ok Mage by abt, p 186, ‘TeacmnNe THE QUR'AN | st * Kabab taught the Quran toboth Fatima (Umar bin al-Khatab’s sister), and her husband Sa‘id bin Zaid,” * Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair was dispatched by the Prophet to Madinah, as a teacher | | ‘ti The Outcome of this Educational Policy in the Makkan Period This fury of educational activity in Makkah continued unabated despite the boycotting, harassment and torture which the community forcibly endured; this stalwart attrude was the most convincing proof of their attachment to and reverence forthe Book of Allzh. The Companions ‘often imparted verses to their tribes beyond the valley of Makkah, helping to secure firm roots in Madinah prior to ther migratibn. For example: * Upon the Prophet’ arrival in Madinah he was presented with Zaid bin Thabit, a boy of eleven who had already snemorised sixteen stras? * Bara sates that he was amir with the entice Masala from ‘Stra Qéf tl the end of the Quin) before the Hrophet’s arvval in Madinah. ‘These roots soon blossomed in various mosques, whose walls echoed with the sound of the Qur'an being taught and read belie the Prophet had set foot in Madinah, According to al-Wagid, the frst monque honoured by recitation ofthe Qur'an was the Masjid of Bant Ziraig" 3. The Madant Priod =| {TheProphetss Teacher | + Arivingin Madina, the Prophets up the Sua choo dicated toinsrucing i atendecsin dell of Herary providing the wth food and a place to slep as well. Approximately 900 Companions took up thir Whi the Prophetimparted tie Quethos 2 Ton ih er Sow Mage by Zapp. 14h % Thn Hisham, Sta, vol. 1-2, p. 434. t ‘% ALHikim, af-Mustadat, i476, { Tn a Yoon W202 4 Anti un dh 312 I {ALi Tah a £47640, Acortg to Qs 6-117 a oe number of opel soe hinted icc ee62 ‘THB HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT such as ‘Abdullah bin’Sa‘td bin al“As, “Ubada bin ae Samit, and Ubayy bin Ka'b taught the essentials of reading and writing * + Ibn ‘Umar once remarked, “The Prophet would recite to us, and ihe read. verse containing a sida S4>~: prostration), he would say ‘Allabu Akbar’ and prostate)" + Numerous Companions stated that the Prophet recited such and such sas to them personally, including renowned personalities ike Ubayy bin Ka‘b, ‘Abdullah bin Salim, Hisham bin Hakim, ‘Umar bin al-Khartab, and Ibn Mas'td.* + Deputations arriving from outlying areas were given into Madinite custody, not only forthe provisions of food and lodging but also for «duction. The Prophet would subsequently question them to discover the extent of their learning’ + Upon receiving any map, the Prophet obsened a habit of immediatly reciting the latest verses to all the men in his company, proceeding aerwards to recite them to the women in a separate gathering’? + ‘Uthman bin Abt al‘As regularly sought to learn the Qu’ from the Prophet, and if he could not find him, he would resort to ABO Bake? Dialects used by the Prophet for Teaching in Madinah ‘cis well-established fact that the dialects of diferent people speaking the same language can vary drastically ffom one area to the next. Two people, bboth living in New York but coming from different cultural and socio- «economic backgrounds, will each possess a distinct and recognisable accent, ‘The same is true of people ving in London versus those residing in Glasgow ‘or Dublin, Then there are the differences between standardised American and British pellings, and quite often (as in ‘schedule’ a similarity in spelling but a difference in pronunciation, Let us examine the situation in present-day Arab countries, using the word qulty (* Mujamnma' b. Jartya; 2 nn Hajar Ft B52, quoting Aba Una 21 Ton Bajar Fel 2% AL Kato Tabak, 5; om Haj, Fla Ba, 7M Haj, Fi Bo, 52 Sua, 202 tn Sad, Tabs 5/2012 sb-lr,Sa hach S003, 5004; Bon Hab ate, p86; a0 Nc, Flip. 27; ach Daal, Sele ve il 245, 318 2 Tm Haj, Fel 30, 52 a tina Tr a, 28 I Fajr, el 2 { 2 ton Habib, al-Maatoyp. 295; sb Hakim, Mutat, 360; an-Nadin, e ‘i 27; ah Dhaba, Tao af Gre,p.1Tow Hae Fal on Sayan 202 78 on Haj, Fd 20 | 2 ln Haat iba 15 Kt oT ay, : (bn Hajar, Flan; ak Katt, a: Tet adr. 8 on Hajar, Ftd Bay, 325 ae Says, apn 202. 9 Ibn Hajar, Fala, 32°55 99 Tn Halas, eBay, 325 -Kattn,a-Tadt a ra t. bn Kathir, Foi o-Qu’t, pp. 7,471; Ibm Hales, Fal Ba, 52 © bn Hajar, Fl Bay, 2 igi, 3202; adh-Dhahab, Tabata eri p. 19. 6 Ibn Hajar, Fl 2a, 82 © Ton Hajar, Fal Bary, be32; adh-Dhahabt, Tago Qu. 8. bn Hibban, Thi p. 285; anRext, Toth Madina Sn, p. 937 © bn Hajar, Fila Biy, 2; as Soy, agin, :203; adh-Dhahabt, Tap a eri p19. 0 An-Nadim, a-Finis, p. 27; Ton Hajar, Fal Ba, ict, 92; adh-Dhahabs, Tobagit ol. Qurit’,p. 7; a Kate, a. Tah alle, AS, aS, gd, £202, 81 ALKattin, at Tard el-fp, 5; Ton Hajar, Fel Ba 52; ar Su, ‘ab, 202; Se also Tom Wal fm Qe, p. 20 5 Ibn Hajar, Fl Bi, 2 | 58 AsSuyats, abo, 202; fm Hija, Fel Ba, 52, | % As-Suyasy, aga, 208; bn Haas, Ftd Ba, 82 9% Uo Fang Fie Bary, bc; al Katt, Tb ai,6 "THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT Maslama b. Makhlad,! Mu'sdh b, Jabal” Mu'adh Ab Halima,"* Um- ‘Warqah bint ‘Abdullah b. al-HHarith,” and ‘Abdul Wahi. 5. Conelusion History has not always dealt kindly with Scriptures, Jesus’ original Gospel, as we shall see Inter on, was irretrievably lot in its infancy and replaced. by the biographical works of anonymous writers lacking any firsthand Jnowledge of their subject; Hkewise the OT suffered heavily under chronic {idolatry and neglect. There ean be no sharper contrast than the Qur'an, ‘blessed as it was with rapid diffusion throughout the Arabian Peninsula luring the Prophet’ lifetime, carried forth by Companions who bad. learned its verses, and received their teaching commissions, directly from the Prophet himself, The vast number of fufiz stands testament to his success. But was this dissemination purely verbal? We have noted that ‘compiling the Qur'an in written form was one of the Prophet's primary concerns; how then did he accomplish this tsk? These questions are the focus of our next chapter. 86 Ibn Haj, Fal Bar, i825 -Suy0, alg i202. 7 ALBukhts, Se, hadts nos $008, 5004; Ibn Habib, a-ha, p 286; a= Dhaabt, Tab o- Que p. 15 erNadtm, oF, p. 27; Ton Haan, Fl Bi, x5. (9 Ton Hajar itl Ba, 82 £9 Tb Haj, Fld Ba, 5% ne Say, a ia, 3209-4 a-Kattn, a Tra al Hp, i57- 1h Wi tn rin 6. ede Main eig cents words (Cuaprea Five, THE RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUR'AN 1, During he Makan Period "Though revealed verbelly the Qur'an consistently refers to itself as Kitab {S! Book), as something writer, indicating that it must be placed into written form, In fact verses were recorded fiom the earliest stages of Islam, even as the fledgling community suffered innumerable hardships ‘under the wrath of Quraish, The following narration concerning ‘Umar ‘bin al-Khattab, taken jast prior to his conversion (o Islam, helps illustrate this point ‘One day ‘Umar came ou, hissword unsheathed, intending to make for the Prophet and sone of his Companions who (he had been told) were gathered in a house at af-SaB. The congregation numbered forty it ‘Giding women; alse present vere the Prophets uncle Hamza, Aba Baks, “Alf and others whic haa not migeated to Ethiopia. Nu'aim encountered Umar and asked him where he was going “Tam making for Muara, the apostate who has spit hurath asunder and mocked thei ways, who hha insted their belief and eher gods, to il him.” “You only deceive youre "Umas?” he replied, "f you suppose that Bani ‘Abd Manaf will, {ow you to continie treading the earth if you dispose of Muhammad. Tsitnot better thatyou return to your family and resolve ther affair?” "Umar was taken azack and asked what was the mater with his Fan. [Nu‘aim said, “You: brother-in-law, your nephew Sa'kl and your ster [Fatima have flloved Mubammad in his new religion, and itis best that you go and deal with thera.” Umar hurried to his brother-in-iaw's houte, where Khadbab was reciting sira Taff to them from a parch- tment, At dhe sour of "Umar's voiee Khabbab hid in a small room, ‘while Fatima took the parchment and placed it under he thigh. Umar’s angry quest that day culminated in his embrace of Islam; his, stature and reputation proved a tremendous boon to those who, just afew hours before, he had meant to il. The point of this tales the parchment, ‘AccordingtoTbn ‘Abbis verses evened in Makkah were recorded in Malta? "thn Hisham, Sia, ol 1-2, pp. 348-6.68 ‘THB MISTORY OF THE QURANIG TEXT a statement echoed by az-Zub ‘Abdullah b. Sab. Abiap Sah, the one scribe offically engaged in recording the Qur'an duving this period is accused by some of fabricating a few verses in the Quin ~ accusations ‘hich Thave exposed elsewhere as baseless? Another candidate for offical scribe is Khalid Said b aA, who sates, “Twas the fist to write down, “Biol r-Rohin ax Rak? (ro home: Tn the Nama of llth, Most Compassionate, Most Mereiil,"* AbKoattdnt cite this incident: when RaQ b, Malik al-Angiet attended al“Agabs, the Prophet handed him all the verses that had been revealed duting the previous decade. Once back in Madinah, Ral gathered his tebe together and read these pages to them.? 2. During the Madani Period i Scribes of the Prophet Regarding the Madani period we have a wealth of information including, atpresent, the names of approximately sixty-five Companions who finctioned as scribes for the Prophet at one time or another: Abin b, Sad, Aba Umiima, Aba Ayyab alAns:t, Aba Bakr ay Siig, ‘Abt Hudhaifa, Aba Sufyén, Aba Salama, Abs ‘Abas, Ubayy b. Kat, a, ‘Avgam, Usaid b. al-Hudai, Aus, Buraida, Bashi, Thabit bis, Jafar b, Abt Tali, Jam b, Sad, Juhaim, Hat, Hudhaifa, Husain, Hanzala, “Huvaitb, Khalid b. Sa‘rd, Khalid b, l-Walid, az-Zubair b, al‘Avwam, Zubait b, Argam, Zaid b, Thabit, Sad b, ar Rabt’, Sa‘d b, "Ubada, Sate + Sag, Shurabbilb, Hasna Talha, ‘Amir b, Fuhaica, ‘Abbas, Abdullah al-Argam, ‘Abdullah b, Abt Bakr, ‘Abdullah b, Rawah, ‘Abdullah b, Zaid, ‘Abdallah b.Sa‘d, ‘Abdullah b, ‘Abdullah, ‘Abdullah b, ‘Amr, ‘Uthean by ‘AMR, “Ugba, al“Ale al-Hadramt, al‘Ala’b, ‘Ugha, ‘Ali b. Abr Talib, “Umar b, al-Khattab, ‘Ame b. al“As, Muhammad b. Maslama, Mu'adh, > Jabal, Mu'wiya, Ma'nb. ‘Adi, Mu'aigib, Mughira, Mundhir, Muhajir and Yazid b. AbI Sufjan 2 bh Duras, Re al rin, p 3, & AxZulvt, Tent a Qor’n, $2; Ton Kathi, Bde, «840; Th Hajar, Fal Bai nc Ton Haar, Fh Bo, 22. 4 For denis see MM alA‘ami, Kab r Net Sr edition, Riv, 1401 (1981), pp 0309, S ‘Ae SuyO od-Dar al Mant, 11. The printed text gives his name as Khali bs Kid Sd, ike the mistake of a previous copies, 4 AbKoaceos ot Trt oli, i, quoting Zubair b, Baler, Athi. Mane "Fora detailed study see, MIM. ab-A‘amt, Kut an ab [ THE RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUR'AN 69 4 The Propiet’s Dictation of the Qui’an Upon the descent of maby, the Prophet routinely called for one of his seribes to write down the late verses. Zaid b. Thabit narfates that, because of his proximity tothe Props Mosque, he was often suypmoned a scribe ‘Whenever the zzaly commenced." When the verse pertaining to jd (>) was revealed, the Prophet ced on Zaid b, Thabit with iakpot and writing ‘atrial board or scapula bor) and began dicating “Amb, Um Maken aL-A‘m, sitting nearby, inquired of the Prophet, “What about me? for T am blind.” And so came, «-al! Js! sé»! (“or those wo are not among the diabled”)." There is abo evidence of prooteading ater dications, ‘once the task of recording the verses was complete, Zaid would read them back to the Prophet to ensure that no sribal erro had crept in fii Recording the Qur'an was Very Common Aron Companions ‘The prevalence of this practice among the Companions spurred the Prophet to declare that no ore should record anything from him save for the Qur'an, “and whoever has writen anything from re other than the Qin should erase i" by which he meant Ut Qhietie and are Qu’anie (gad) materials must not be written on the same sheet so 35 to avoid any confusion, Infact those who were unable to write often appeared in the Mosque, vellum and parchment in hand, requesting volunteers who might record for them." Based on the total nuaber of scribes, and the Prophet's custom of summoning them to record all new verse, we can safely assume that in hi own listime the ent Qur'an was available in writen form, { j | i ® Ala ‘Ubid, Pai p. 280; See ao Ton Hajar, Fl Bo, 22, quoting “Ushmtn,refving to Senn of tT, an-Nast, AbO Diwa,and at aee inhi atta | 10 Ibn Ab Dav, Maja pe ao a Bul, Sat, Fae't Qn 4 Quin 498, 22 Tn Har, Fil Bo, 22 2 th, Mise Met 7 "8 ApS, Ado aKa, p 65; Hatha, Maja e-e,152 Moat, Si n-Zab72; ao Ton Abi Dad, el Mat, p 4. For a dtd discusion see MM. aba, Suc in Eaiy Hadid Linaion Americas Tre, ablations Indian, 1978, pp, 2224 "8 Se alata, Sian ab, 60 “THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT 3. The Arrangement of the Quran i The Arrangement of Verses Within Stras cis commonly acknowledged that the arrangement of dat (verses) and. sires (chapters) in the Qur'an is unique. The layout does not follow the chronological order of revelation, nor does it follow subject matter. What secret lies behind this arrangement is best known to Allah, for itis His Book. Now if I play the unscrupulous editor and re-arrange the words of someone else's book, changing the sequence of the sentences et, then altering the entire meaning of the work becomes tremendously easy. This end product ean no longer be attributed to the original author, since only. the author himself is entiled to change the wording and the material if the rightful claim of authorship is tobe preserved, So itis with the Book of Allah, for He i the sole Author and He alone hhas the right to arrange the material within His Book. The Quran is very clear about this: ey Fg inch (55 HS OS @ Anh A EY "eget, “teisfor Uso collect fin your herd] 20 you may eit (and compile i). Bu hen We hace ced itl trial es promulgated Ney more, itis for Us to epi it (trough yr tongue.” Tn lieu of descending to earth to explain His verses, Allsh entrusted the Prophet as His viceroy The Qur'an tate: 94 pe CU Ge od and We he se dn lo 0 Be Msgs [0 Manoa); at yu may epi clear to pleat ser ten” In granting him this privilege, Allah was sanctioning he Prophet's explan- ations as authoritative!® Only the Prophet, through divine privilege and revelation, was qualified to arrange verses into the unique fashion of the ‘Qu?an, being the only privy to the Will of Allah, Neither the Mustim ‘community a large nor anyone else had any legitimate say in organising the Book of Allzh ‘The Qur'an consists of stras of uneven length; the shortest contain three verses while the longest has 286. Various reports show that the Prophet actively instructed hie scribes about the placement of verses within siras. 6 Quran 7537-19, 1 Quran 1634, 18 fs mentioned previously in this ight the Prophet’ me ~ which i in fet working explanation of the Qur'an —has also been praccaly and vrbaly sanctioned fw Allth with no one ostesting the authority to deny itis righ place ‘THE RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUR'AN 7 “Uthman states that whether the revelation consisted of lengthy, successive verses, or a. single verse in isolation, the Prophet would summon one of hisseribes and say, “Place this verse [or these verses] in the sara where such-and-such is mentioned.” Zaid bin Thabit remarks, CoP a ig DS we S Wee ye se “We would compile the Qur'an in the presence of the Prophet." And according to ‘Uthman bin Abt al“As, the Archangel Jibil came to the Prophet once expresily to instruct him about the placement of a certain + ‘Uthman bin Abt “As reports that he was sitting with the Prophet ‘when the later fixed his gaze at @ definite point, then said, “The ‘Archangel Jor has just come to me and expressly asked me to place the ve . SUI ob (Atis - Sodll 3 ols phys Jad HE BG» 24 Ssh peal Ke in a certain position within a particular sora.”™ + Al-Kalbinarrates from Abd Salih on Ibn ‘Abbas’ authority regarding the verse: (6 tls GBT Sh nd Sats d Uy ills > He states, “This was the last verse revealed to the Prophet. The ‘Archangel Jbril descended on him and instructed him to place it after verse two hundred and eighty in Siva al-Bagara.”® +) Ubayy bin Kat states, “Sometimes the beginning ofa sara isrevealed to the Prophet, o 1 writ it down, then another revelation descends upon hi sole says, Ubayy write this down inthe stra where such- andé-such is mentioned.’ At other times a revelation descends upon hhim and T await his instructions, tlhe informs me of it rightfal place” + Zaid bin Thabit remarks, “While we were with the Prophet compiling, the Qu?’an tom parchment, he sai, ‘Blessed be the Sham." He ‘was asked, ‘Why so, © Prophet of Allah? He replied, ‘Because the angels ofthe Most Compassionate (ga 2) have spread their wings 19 See a-Tirmidht, Sinan, no. 3086; ako al-Bathag,i42; Yon Hanbal, Mune 169; Aba Dawod, Siar, i290; a Hakim, eb. Mustoda, 221; Yon Hajar, Fb Bo, 22; se also Aba ‘Ubaid, Fai p. 200, 20 See at-Timidh, Sunn, Mangih41, no, 8954; hn Hana, Musna, v5; Hakim, abMastadeb, 229. 21 As-Suyah,abligi,:173 Quran 1690. 2 thm Hanbal, Mirnad, 218, no, 17947; see abo as-Suyif, abligi,i173, 2 Qur'an 2281, 25 AL Big, p76. 28 ii, p. 176. 2 Shim i the nase given to preten-day Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.2 ‘THE MISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT ‘pon i.” Tn this hadith we aguin note thatthe Prophet was super- vising the compilation and arrangement of verses + Finally we have the clearest evidence ofall, that of reiting stras in the five daily prayers. No public recital can occurif the sequence of verses has not been universally agreed upon, and there is no known incident of a congregation disagreeing with its imam on his sequence of verse, whether in the Prophets era ot our own. In fac, the Prophet would occasionally recite entire stras daring the Jumu'a (Friday) sermon as wel” Further support is given by numerous hadths which demonstrate that the Companions were familiar with the beginning and end points of stra, *+ The Prophet remarked to ‘Umar, "The concluding verses of Site 4-Nis# would alone be suliient for you fin reolving certain cases of inheritance)" + Aba Mas‘ad al-Badii reports that the Prophet said, “The final wo verses from Sir al-Bagara wil suffice for whoever recites ther at night + Tha ‘Abbas recall “Spending the night in my aunt Maimdna’s house {wie ofthe Prophed, heard the Prophet stirring up from his sleep And reciting th final ten verses from Sira lem." it The Arrangement of Saras ‘Some references allege that the Mughafs (La: compiled copies of the (Qur'an) used by Ubayy bin Ka'b and Ibn Mas‘ad exhibited discrepancies in their arrangement of siras, based on the universal norm. But nowhere ddowe find any reference toa disagreement in the ordering of verses within ‘particular sora. The Qur'an’ unique format allows each stra to function as an independent unit; no chronology or narrative carries over from one to the next, and therefore any change in the sequence of stra is purely superficial. Such were these discrepancies, if indeed they did exist, that the message of the Qur’tn remained inviolate, Variations in word order or the sequence of verses would be a different matter altogether ~a profound alteration that thankfully not even the best-known variant Mughal can make claims to. a 28 AL-Bsgiany, al dnd, pp. 176-7. 29 Muslin, Soi, Jum 52 29 Mastin, Sol al Fare 5 ALBukhasy, Sol, Fal aL Quean:10, {2 ALBukitr, Sal a-Wago!:37; Maslin, Si, Mussfirn, no. 162. For details sce Muslim, Kibet Tony, edited by M.M alA‘zae, pp. 1835 3 Literally collection of sheets, here meaning sheets of parchment containing the Qur'an. See pp. 84-85, ‘THE RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUR'AN” 73 Scholars unanimously agree tha to follow the stra order in the Quan isnot compulsory whetherin prayer, recitation, leaning, teaching or mere. otisation.* Bach stra stands alone, and the latter ones do not necessarily Possess greater legal bearing than their easier counter-parts; sometimes an abrogated (4: naskh) verse appears in a stra that is subsequent to the stra containing the ve'se that replaces it. Most Muslims begin mem. orising the Quen ffom the end, starting from the shftest sans (Nos 114, 113, ..) and working backwards. The Prophet once recited the Svar of al-Bagara, ansNis’ then A-ha (auras No. 2, 4 anid 8, respectively) within a single rak'a (45), contrary to ther order of appearance in the Qur'an. { ‘As farasTam aware, there are no had in which the Prophet delineates the order of all the stras. Opinions dif, and canbe sumsparised a follows, 1, The arrangement of al the stra, ast stands, harkens back to the Prophet himself Ths isthe opinion that I subscribe to. The counter view disagrees with this, citing that the Mushalsof certain Com panions (uch as Ibn Mas‘td and Ubayy b, Ka'b) supposedly difer in stra order from tae Mushaf presently in our hands” 2 Some believe thatthe entire Qui?an was arranged by the Prophet ‘except for stra no. &, which was placed by ct * 3. Another view credis the arrangement of all siraso Zaid b, Thabit, Caliph "Uthman andthe Prophet's Companions to this notion.” 4. Ibn ‘Adyya supports the view that the Prophet arranged some of the stras while the rst were arranged by the Companions [-Baqilant adheres ‘it, The Arrangement of Sarasin Some Partial Mughals Mast cholaty opinion uranimousy holds thatthe present arrangement of stiras is identical to that of ‘Uthman’s Mushaf*" Anyone desiring to copy the Quen in its entra ast follow that sequence but fr tse who seckto copy oly paiciar tes, flowing the arangement one in‘Uthmas’s Masha no ger necssary An anlogos ation sere when T travel by air: ket take my work with me bat, ot waning to ‘ ALBagillant, al Intsir, p. 167. | 2 Aaa oi, Mnf, 203, % See ay gt £17677 cao Aba Dad Say 786 2 See Chapter 3 whith pec domte o Moya o fe aro 8 Ay lin 5177, eotig a Daag, Mea He ses a Dawe, . Aint 16, | 1B ‘Ata aor 45, 4 See Ghaper" ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT carry bulky volumes in my suitease, I simply photocopy those portions that I need during my trip. In the early days Mushafs were scribed on parchment of course, usually much heavier than paper, so that a full Mushaf may have weighed a few Jlograms. And we have many examples (for instance the Yerneni collection; see Figures 5.1-5.2) where the Qui’an is written in such large calligraphy that an entire Mughaf"s thickness would easily exceed one metre, Figure 5.1: parchment fom the Yemen colection, Dimensions are ~ 182m x 130m. Courtesy: National Archive Museum of Yemen. Figure 5.2: Another parchment from the Tomer collection. Dinsensions are ~ Tem x Bem. Courtesy: National Archive Museum of Yeren ‘THE RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUR'AN 75 ‘Taking the Mushaf thatis printed by the King Fahd complexin Madinah as a standard, we find that it contains some six hundred pages (approx imately 9,000 lines) Interestingly the entre text of the parchment in Figure 5.2 is half a line in the Mushaf printed at Madinah, meaning that an ‘entire Mughaf written on tat scale would require 18,000 pages. Voluminous calligraphy is by no means rare, but it does generally indicate that the Mushaf consisted of no more than 2 handful of saras. Library shelves throughout the world axe filled with partially written Qui’ans; listed below are a few dozen examples from just a single library, the Salar Jung ‘Museum*® in Hyderabad, Indi. Mamie] We of| rae lta Onder of sas pus | 244 [29° | 36, 48, £5, 56, 62,67, 75,76, 78, 98, | c Barly llth 94,72, 7 and 99-114 246 [16 | 62 Gist 3 ayahs only), 110, 1,57, 118,| c An early 10th, 56, 94, IL4, 6, 48, 47,89, 112,36, | and late 11th Band &7 century copy. 2a7__ [10 |, 96, ¢, 36, 67, 78, 109 and 113-114 m8 [9 | 73,51, €7,55,62, 109and 112114 | 1076Au. B—|9 | 17,18, 27,44, 90, 69,51, 9 and 3B " 767 C8) 250 |S | 0,21, 72, 63 and 96-98 Early 2th 251 [a [6,36, 4, 56, 62, 67, 76nd 8c Barly Lich 252 [e|1,6, 10,34, 35, 56, 67 and 78 «Early Leh 255 [8 11,36, 48, 55, 67,73, 56nd 78 fe Early th | 253 [8 136, 48,56, 62,67, 71, 98 and 78 |e Late 11th 25¢ [7 11, 55, 5¢, 62, 68, 73 and 88 ‘Late 12th 256 [7 | 36, 48,78, 56,67, 55 and 73 fe Barly 11th 257___ [7] 36, 48,78, 67,36, 78 and 62 ¢ Mid 1th 25a [7 | 16, 32,86, 48,86, 67 and 78 Late Hdl 259 (7 118, 36,97, 48,56, 67 and 78 Late Lich 260 [7 136, 48, 56, 67,78, 55 and 62 Late 12h 261__|7 136, 48,78, 56,67, 55 and 73 Late 13h 262 {6 |1, 36, 48,56, 67 and 78 1115 aw 706 68) 2 Muhammad Ashraf, A Catal of Arabic Manus in Salar Jeng Mascon & trary, pp. 196-234, 48 Some Mughals had the serbing dete writen on them, while others are undated, For the ater, copied the approximate date (a8) as per the eatslogve and preceded ‘twit the cra symbol.16 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT ene Hof Onder of sures 26 [6 [95 48 55,36, BT ana oo TARE 264 | 6°11, 56,46, $6, 78 and 67 aly [th 365 [6 Hig, 36,71, 78, 56 and Laie 1th [265 [6 136,35, 56,62, 63 and 70 385 A 267 [5 36, 49,96, 67 and 75 07 an. 268 [535 48,96, 67 and 78 TOE 310 [3 —[ 36,48, 56 67 and 78 TO a 271 [5 30,48, 67,72 and 70 Toga 2 [5 [96 48,96, 67 and 78 TOO 273__[3 [36,4955 Sond G7 17a 375 [5 36, 78,48, 56 and 67 6am 3 |5 [36,48 56, 67and 78 Copied by Vag a- Mostiat [5 Tass TO84 An. TST CR) 25 _~[3 [35 49, 56, 59nd e Eay Tok 3——[3 16,16, Sand 35 Bary Teh Bet [3 [6 36,48, 36 and 67 Tate Tih 26 [5 [18,96, 44, 6 and 70 Easy TR 308 |4 6,18, Sand 35 eal 30 [Ie Bay Tah ‘We can conclude that anyone desiring to scribe a partial Mughaf ‘would have felt at liberty to place the stras in whichever order he saw fit. 4. Conclusion By understanding the need to document every verse the Muslim community (already swelling with the ranks of the fuffz) was setting up both an aid tomemorisation, and a barrier to shield the text ftom corruptive influences, Even the grind of Makan oppression could not dampen this resolve, anl ‘when the Muslims at last enjoyed the prosperity of Madinah the entre nation, literate and iterate ale, took this task to heart. At the centre of this nation resided its energising focal point, the final Messenger, dictating, cxplaining and arranging every verse through the divine inspiration which ‘was his privilege alone, til all the picces were in place and the Book was complete, How the sacred text fared after the Prophet's death, ancl how the nation shunned complacency and exerted renewed efforts to ensure the Qui’an’s integrity are the focuses of our next chapter ‘4 Six tras with some supplication in accordance with the Shite creed ‘Ti addition to some supticatons in accordance wit the Shite creed. Guarrer Six | ours THE WRITTEN COMPILATION OF THE QURAN ‘Though the Prophet enlisted all posible measures to preserve the Qui?n, hae did not bind all the strasogether nto one master volume, a evidenced by Zaid bin Thibits statement that, : Ne Fm TA SLB abe “The Prophet was taken rom thi if} whist the Qu hd nat et been gathered into a boos.” Nat the ung of te wl here han rien’ Commenting on this a Khatabrsnys, “Tai quote refs ie lacks pete book wipe als The Qua had indeed een writen dove aia eatacy dhrng he Prophets ninth nox een ele ger ores the seared Seting up maser vole might hae proved challenging ny vine sah abrogation) evened absent atetng tee pong oc wong oferta eae wn ne equted prope luo, And ose page format ret singled tn insertion of he wees soe ss forthe ron nt cet sho ne we he Pops eat. Bt with his death thes eed forever ere oul be noone ‘eres abrogation or earners a usar ie prey rte compton othe Qt ting ed valne No beans was fin acing th don, paca compa the com thasen ints tk an Al gi he Compost set Outta in sch shana full Hs promise offers preven Hs Bea ola iy Sareds 33 Gy “We have, witht dot, ont deen he masa and Wel eae guar th covaptin) | eH i Bo ee ah st, Jat hr, ad 1.466 2 AwSuya, sg, 164, * Quran 153.8 ‘ii HUSTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT 1. Compilation of the Quan During Abi Bas Reign 4 Appointment of Zaid bin Thabit as Compiler of the Quesn Zaid repos, ‘Abt Bakr sent for me ata time when the Yammna battles had witnessed ‘he martyrdom of numerous Companions. found Umar bin al-Khatia with him, Aba Bakr began, “Umar has just come to me and sai, ‘Ta ‘he Yamama batles death has dealt mos severely with the gery and ‘fear i will deal with them with equal severity in other theatres of war. Asa result mich of the Qur'an will be gone (OL ala), Lam therefore ofthe opinion that you should command the Qur’sn be collected.” ‘Aba Bakr continued, “Tsaid to "Uma, ‘Haw ean we embark on what the Prophet never dd?" Umar replied that it was a good deed regards, and he didnot cease replying to my scruples until Allah reconciled me to the undertaking, and [became of the same mind as him. Zaid, you fare young and intelligent, you used to record the revelation forthe Propet, and we know nothing to your discredit. So pursue the Que'Ea and collect ittogether” By Ala, had they asked me to move a mountain itcould not have been weightor than what they requested of me now. asked them how they could undertake what the Prophet had never one buc Aba Bakr and "Uma insisted that it was permissible and good ‘They didnot cease replying to my seruples wnt ll reconciled me to the undertaking, the way Allah had already econcied Aba Bakr and "Umea? a (On being convened Zaid accepted the momentous task of supervising the committee and ‘Umar, who had proposed the project, agreed to lend ‘is all asistance.® ii Zaid bin Thabit’s Credentials In his early twenties at the time, Zaid had been privileged enough to live in the Prophet's neighbourhood and serve as one of his most visible scribes. He was also among the hufaz, and the breadth of these credentials made him an outstanding choice for this task. Abt Bake ag-Siddig listed his quali fications in the narration above: 1. Zai’s youth (indicating vitality and energy) © Gd fierally recites is another erm fr the fi, those who had completly ‘memorized the Quin. The grin hee pe ahvay ought inthe fon ines ding ‘combat and hence suffered greater losses than other sleliers 8 Aluka, Salih, Fam’ al-Qur’'an, path no, 4985; see alo Ton Abt Dawad, ob Masti, pp. 6. 6 See lin Abs Daw, al Magi p. 6 ‘THE WRITTEN COMPILATION OF THE QUR'AN 79 2, Hisirreproachable morals. AbG Bakr specifically said «lag»; "We do not accuse you of any wrongdoing” ‘Hs intelligence (indicating the necessary competence and awareness) His prior experience with recording the aaly.? may add one more point to his credit Zaid was one ofthe fortunate few who attended the Archangel jibri's recitations with the Prophet coring Ramadan? fii Abo Bakr’s Instructions to Zaid bin Thabit etme quote a brie cu brought before Aba Bakr while he was Caliph ‘An eldery woman appreached him asking for her share the ahetance of her deceased gration. He replied that te amount of a grandmothers Share was not mentioned inthe Qu, nor did he recall the Prophet soaking any statements regnrding this Inqurng of those In atendance, ered an nsec a Maghta vi, nding up, ade ad been preent when the Prophet ated that a grandmother share was ones, Ibo Bakr asked if any thes could corroborate al-Mughia, to which Mahammad bin Masia tested inthe allrmativ, Carying the mater beyond th reain of dot nent tha Abi Balad to equest verieation beloe acing onal Mghiras statment? In this egard Ab Bak and subsequently thm as we hal se were simply following the Qu eit concering wines Ri at St yet hy asi Bie 6 LK oli a of CA pte G A Ls wp up ei Epa] dei off KisbS Gy AIT 0m oho have aie to fait! Whanecer you ior lake ee for a tae tern eit down in ring... And eal pote of your men ct as wise; and if to men art ot availabe, then a man and ta two om ena sch oar cplae to ou a wines, 50 hat if 2 See al-Bukhit, Sait, Jam' al Quesn, hadi no. 4986; also Ibn AbI Dawa, al Masi p. 8 1 ahi aati, ation, p, 125; ee alo A Jeter eal Mahan, . 25. 9 Mali, af Muwat, a-Fra'd,p. 51380 “THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT one of them shold make @ mistake, the other could remind he: And the wisest mt refs gine enidence] when they ae clled won” ‘Thislaw of witness played an essential role inthe Qur’an's compilation (as well asin hadth methodology), and constituted the very core of Aba Bal’s instructions to Zaid, Ibn Hajar relates: Lig pal SA ob lop sige oe lta cub ce Lal ass cdl assy ASE AS ge yg? Se gp aly LS Gb Soe oly gl all ‘Abo Bakr told ‘Umar and Zaid, “Sitat the entrance tothe [Prophet] ‘Mosque. If anyone brings you a verse from the Book of Allah along with two witnesses, then record it." Tn Hajar comments on what AbO Bakr may have meant by ‘witness’ de ges ag Af Ay at pit aH OL peo I or he hag LE AL PB AN Spey ws eee S Le MSV apg 208 OT aNd? Bag Me habl a2 oo VE ‘Asif what was meant by two witnesses were merry [backed by] the ‘wren word. Ox, ovo witness to tealy thatthe vere was writen serbatim in the Prophets presence. Ox, meaning they would texify that it was one of the forms in which the Quan was revealed. The intention was to accept only what hed been writen in the Prophet's resene, not relying on one's memory alone, ‘The second opinion finds the most favour with me: acceptance of only those materials which, according to the sworn testimony of two others, had ‘been written in the Prophe’'s very presence. Ibn Hjar’s statement affirms this view, that “Zaid was unwilling to accept any written material for con- sideration unless two Companions bore witness that the man received his dictation from the Prophet himself"! eal ae om According to Professor Shaugi Daif, Bilal bin Rabsh paced the streets ‘of Madinah requesting the attendance of any Companion who possessed verses recorded by the Prophet's own dictation. '* 1 Quien 2:282. The decree of substituting two women fer one man may be due to the former's eer fueney with general busines procedures. See Muhammad Aras teanalation of the Quen, Sir 2 footnote 278 4 Tym Abt Dawa, a-Mastip. 6; se lo Ton Hajar, ie Ba "2 Tym Haar, it Bc 141. 18 Ton ajo, By, ic 14, or the sources of collecting materials se a Buk, ‘Sata, pads no. 4986. "4 Shag Dai, Kiba Sa‘ of In Majid, Itrodeson, p 6 + elt i “THE WRITTEN COMPILATION OF THE QURAN 81 ‘a How Zaid bin Thabit Usitsed the Written Materials “The normal procedure in collating manuteript is for the editor to compare differen copies of the sare wor though naturally not all copies willbe of ‘equal value. In outining manuscript gradations, which aré most dependable and which are worthless, Bergstrsser set out afew rules among the most important of which are: | 1. Older copies are generally more reliable than newer ones. 2. Gopies that were revised and corrected by the scribe, through cor parison with the mother manucript, are superior to those which Jack this. : 8. If the original is catant, any copy scribed from this loses all signif cance. | Blachére and Sauvaget reiterate this third point should the author's original autograph exist, or a copy revited by the author then the value of all other copies is negated.” Likewise, inthe absenpe of the author's origin any duplicate whose mother copy i avablis discarded (CAuwtographed Copy FRgure 6.1: The lineage tree for an authors autographed text Suppose that a manuscript’ lineage follows the tree above. Consider these two scenarios: Assume that the original author only produced a single edition of his book. There wire no second editions, or emettdations to the first. ‘Thue manus of his werk are uncovered) he asugmped riginal (an entire copy written in the author's hand); (2) a single sate whic ws srbed fom the aut ogal or example; and (9) another manuscript which is very late (L pechaps) Obviously the second and thied manuscripts are worthless and ‘cannot be taken into consideration when editing the work, since neither of them is of equal stams to the original author's hand- viten copy. 1 Berry Uh pdm ra (Ai, 1969, 16 Big p.20, 17 Re Bc et: Sumge Ri felt fn ets nes Abi trandation by a Mig, p 7 |82 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’AMIC TEXT + Again, assume a single edition of the book, Failing to locate the autographed copy however, the editor is forced to rely on three other manuscripts. Two manuscripts, waitten by the original author's students, we designate as A and B. The third manuscript X'i copied fiom B. Here Xhas no value, The editor must depend entirely on and B, and cannot discard either of them since both have equal bearing ‘Such are the underpinnings of textual criticism and editing as established by Orientals in the 20th century. Fourteen centuries ago, however, Zaid did precisely ths. The Prophet’ sojourn in Madinah had been a time of intense scribal activity: many Companions possessed verses which they hhad copied from the parchments of friends and neighbours. By limiting himself to the verses transcribed under the Prophet's supervision, Zaid ensured that all of the material he was examining was of equal slats, thereby guaranteeing the highest attainable accuracy. Having memorised the Quan and scribed much of it while seated before the Prophet, his memory and his writings could only be compared with material of the same standing, ‘not with second or third-hand copies.® Hence the insistence of Aba Bakr, ‘Umar and Zaid on first-hand material only, with two witnesses to back this claim and assure ‘equal status’ Spurred on by the zeal of its organisers, this project blossomed into a true community effort: * Caliph Aba Bakr issued a general invitation (or one may say, a decree) for every eligible person to participate + ‘The project was carried out in the Prophet's Mosque, a central gathering place. + Following the Galiph’s instructions, ‘Umar stood at the gates of the Mosque and announced that anyone possessing written verses dictated from the Prophet must bring them. Bilal announced the same thing throughout the streets of Madinah, 1 Zaid bin Thabit and the Use of Oral Sources ‘Teappears that while the focus lay on the written word, once the primary ‘written source was found — whether parchment, wooden planks, or palm leaves (_~) ele. ~ the writings were verified not only against each other but also against the memories of Companions who had learned directly from the Prophet. By placing the same stringent requirements for accep- tance of both the written and memorised verse, equal status was preserved. "8 In establishing any tet ti academically unacceptable to compare between liferent grads of manuscript. ‘THE WRITTEN COMPILATION OF THE QUR'AN 83 In any case Zaid alludes to people's memories: “So I gathered the Que’an from various parchments and pieces of bone, and from the chests of men. (Ute 3 ys) [ie their memories].” Az-Zarakhshi comments, “This statement 188 lea a few to suppose that no one had memorised the Qur'an init entizety dung the Propher’ lifetime, and cha claims of Zaid and Ubeyy bn Ka'y having done so are unfounded. But thisis erroneous, Wht Zaid means in fact is that he sought out verses from scattered sources to collate them against the recollections ofthe fu In this way everyone participated in the collection process. No one possessing any portion of it was lft out, and so no one had reason for texpresing concern about the ves collected, nor could anyone complain thatthe text had been gathered from only a select few! Tn Hajar draws special attention to Zaid’ statement, “found the last two verses of Sie at-Bar’a with Abo Khuzaima al-Angie,” as demonstrating that Zaid’s own writings and memorisation were not deemed sufficient. Everything required verification.” ln Hajar further comments, faye AT yp AMANS ge BZD da pITUMEN Se ple Panny ge pn 15 A ye Leg or bg [Aba Bakr had not authorised him to record except what was already available [on pitchmend). That is why Zaid refrained from including the final Ayah af Sta Ben’ unl he came upon it in written form, even though he and his fellow Companions could recall it perfectly well fom memory vi, Authentication of the Qur'an: The Case of the Last Two Verses from Sara Bara’a ‘Tawatur (71g) is common word inthe Islamic lexicon; for example, that the Qui’an has been transmitted by tawatur or that a certain text has be- come established through tavatur. Itrefers to gathering information from ‘multiple channels and comparing them, so thatif che overwhelming majority agrees on one reading than that gives us assurance and the reading itself acquires authenticity. While no scholarly consensus exists on the number of channels or incividuals needed to attain tawtur, the gist isto achieve absolute certainty and the prerequisites for this may differ based on time, 19 Ax-Zaraksht, Br, :238-239, 29 Tn Hajar, Fil Bas, 19, 2 ii, ;cy ‘THB HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT Place, and the circumstances at hand, Scholars generally insist on atleast tal a dozen channels while preferring that this figure be much highes since greater numbers make falsification less likely and more diffcun, So We return to Sina Bata, where the two concluding verses were verified And entered into the Suu/based solely on Ab Khuzaima’s parchment (and the obligatory witnesses), backed by the memories of Zaid and some the buf: But in a mater as weighty asthe Qur'an how ean we accept {broker recites a short, memorable poem and we, ditecty ater the lecture, individually quiz every student about it f they al recite the sana thing then we have our absolute certainty that this is what the profeaee between the players, and thisisa concept that I myself have demonaenet in classrooms empirically. Such was the case with Sita Bargain that the unanimity of the soures on hand, relatively meagre though they were, brovided enough grounds for certainty. And to counter any fears of collusion {pare a logical argument these two verses donot held anything sew ‘heclogically, do not speak praise of @ parcularwibe oF family de nor provide information that is not available elsewhere within the Qho'an A ig fen that Allah personally vouches forthe Companions’ honesty ia ‘ts Hook, we can infer that there was indeed silicientawatur tamer these verses, ui, Placement of the Subuf into the State Archives Once complete the compiled Quran was placed inthe ‘sate archives! under the custodianship of Abd Bak” His contribution, we cam navn Rout Madinah and arrange for their transcription into « master solar jis Compilation was termed Sutyf Ie isa plural word (ae literally, Sheets of parchment, and I eleeitbearsadlferentconnstaton Fear fe Singular Mlf( ae: which now designates writen copy of the Qur'an), At the conclusion of Zaid's efforts all soras and all verses theron wg Propet arranged, most ikely penned using the prevalent Madanite script wee BP, 2501 fran instance of fabrication where the page kas emendows theological importance, 28 ALBukhas, Soi, Fada a-Qu? Sac, hadith no, $102, 8; Aba ‘Ubaid, Fai p, 201; at-Tiemiks, ‘and spelling conventions (Uk) as he was a native son of Madinah, But it seems that sheets of unequal size were used for this task, resulting in what may have been a disorderly heap of parchments. Thus the pliral appelation Sub A mere fitezn years ater, when Caliph Uthman sought to dispatch copies tothe far corners ofthe expanding Musim realm, the revenues from military conquests had greatly enhanced the availabilty of sqalty parchments and he was able to adopt books of equal sheet sizes ‘These came to be known as Mushats. sunesowyach ‘Appointing ‘Umar asthe next Caliph on his deathbed, Aba Bakr entrusted Is succetor with the Sulyl™ Acide from decisive victorts on the batlefck, ‘Umar’ reign wat marked by th Quan’ rapid spread Beyond the confines of the Arabian Peninsula, He dspaiched at least ten Companions to Basra for the purpose of teaching the Qur’an,® and likewise sent Tbn Mas'ad to Kafa.™ When a man subsequently informed ‘Umar that there was a person in Kafa dictating the Holy Qur'an to them solely by heart, "Umar became firious tothe point of madness, But ciscoverng the culprit to be ‘one other than Tbn Mar‘ad, and recaling his competence and abilities hhe calmed down and regained his composure, | Significant information also exists about the spread of the Quan ia Syria. Yaad bin Abn Sufjan, Syria's govern, complared to "Umar about the masses of Muslims requiring education in Quin apd Tami matter, and urgently requesting him for teachers, Selecting three Companion for this mision — Mu'adh, ‘Ubida, and Aba ad-Darda’ 4 ‘Umar instructed them to proceed to Hims where, after achieving thei! objectives one of ‘them would journey on to Damascus and another to Peestine. When this triumvirate was satisfied with its workin Himg, AbO ackDarda continued ‘on to Damascus and Mu'adh to Palestine, leaving ‘Ubada behind. Muadh ded soon afterwards, but Abt a-Dard' lived in Damases fora ong tne ane ssablshed a highly reputable izle, the tudentj under his tatlage exceeding 1600.” Dividing his pupils into groups of ten, he assigned a separate instructor for each and made his rounds to check on their progress ‘Those passing this elementary lee then came under his direct instruction, se that the more advanced students enjoyed the dal pr}vlegs of studying, with Abd ad-Dardt’ and functicning as intermediary feachers™ 2 Aba ‘Ubaid, Fit, . 281, i 25 Soe ad-Dasimi, Sone, 135, edied by Dahmis, 2 Ibn Sa, Taba, v3. 2 Adh-Dhahabt, Sper al Aim an Mba, 5344-45, 2 ii,86 ‘THB MISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT ‘The same method was applied elsewhere, Abi Raja? al“Ataradi states that Aba Masi al-Ash‘art separated hie students into groups within the Basra Masjid,” supervising nearly three hundred.” Inthe capital, ‘Umar sent Vazidb.‘Abelllah b, Qusait to teach the Qur'aan to the outlying Bedouins, and designated Alba Sufjan a8 an inspector, to proceed to ther tribes and discover the extent to which they had learned.” He also appointed three Companions in Madinah to teach the children, cach with a monthly salary of fifteen dirhams, and advised that everyone (including adults) be taught in easy sets of five verses. Stabbed by Aba La’lo’a (a Christian slave from Persia) towards the end of 23 A.H., ‘Umar refused to nominate a caliph, leaving the decision to the people and in the meantime entrusting the Sufwy/to Hafja, the Prophet's widow. 3. Concusion Inserving the Qur’an Aba Bakr acquitted himself most admirably, heeding its mandate of two witnesses for establishing authenticity?” and applying this rule to the Quran's own compilation. The result, though waitten on rudimentary parchments of varying size, constituted as sincere an effort aspossibe to preserve the Words of, Allah. Decisive victories beyond Arabia's desert boundaries pushed the frontiers of Islamic education to Palestine and Syria; ‘Umar’s reign witnessed the blossoming of schools for the ‘memorisation of the Qur'an in both the parched sands of Arabia and the soils of the fertile crescent. But a new concern clouded the horizon during the ‘Uthmani Caliphate, and Zaid bin Thabit’s endeavours, as it turned out, were not to end with the passing of Aba Bakr. ® ALBaladhurt, Ansib al Asta, 110; thn Duras, it, p96; abHltkim, af Masai, 220, 80 ALPacyabi, Fail a Our, p. 128 3 Tha alKalb, Jobat on Nase, p. 143; Non Hazen, Jamba! al-Ans,p. 182 3 Ia Haj, al: ab, 185, no. 352 88 AbBaihagh, Sax al Fi, 24 34 Tha Kathy Fi, vist 58 Wiliam Mi, of the Ea Calipa,p. 278, 38 Quan 2.262, (CHAPTER SEVEN ‘UTHMAN'S MUSHAF During the reign of ‘Uthman, selected by popular pledge (ay) asthe third Caliph, Muslims engaged in jad tothe reaches of Azerbaijan and Armenia inthe north. Hailing from various tribes and provinces, these fighting forces possessed sundry cialects and the Prophet, out of necessity, had taught them to recite the Qur'an in their own dialecs, given the difficulty of having them abandon ther native tongues so suddenly. But the resultant differ- ‘ences in pronunciation now began producing breaches and conflict within the community, 1, Disputes in Recitation and ‘Uitodn’s Response “Hudhaifa bin al-Yaman went to ‘Uthman directly from the Azerbaijani and Armenian frostier where, having united forces from Iraq with others from Syria, he had observed regional differences over the pronunciation of the Qur'an ~ differences which had eaused fiction. “O Caliph”, he advised, “ake this anime [community] in hand before they difer about their Book like the Christians and Jews." Such disagreements were not altogether new, for ‘Umar had anticipated this danger during his caliphate. Having sent Ibn Mas‘td to Iraq, and siscovered him teaching in the dialect of Hudhail? (as Tbn Mas‘ad had originally learned i, ‘Umar rebuked him: TD 2 peg NS ne ag LS suber asl she Alay» a ele fF AN nS Ob I “The Quin was reveled in the dialect of Quis (3), 90 teach according to the dialect of Qsvaith and not tha of Hua Ibn Hiajar’s comments are valuable in this regard. “For a non-Arab Muslim who desires to read the Qur'an”, he says, “the most propitious choice is to read according to the Quraishi (2) dialect. That is indeed best for him {as all Arabie dialects for him will be of equal difficulty]. | ALBukhist, Sola, hath no, 4987; Aba “Ubai, Fal, p. 282. There are many cher reports concecing this problem, 2 One of the majer tines inthe Arabian Peninsula at the time 3 Ton Haat, Rul BB, 8, quoting Abu Dawad. 4 ii ie88 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT Hudhaifa bin al-Yaman’s warning to the Caliph came in 25 A, and that very year ‘Uthmain resolved to end these disputes. Assembling the people, he explained the problem and sought their opinion on recital in different dialects, keeping in mind that some might claim a particular dialect as superior based on their tribal afiiations® When asked for his ‘own opinion he replied (as narrated by ‘Ali bin AbI Talib), BEL IH KY BOSE tol inane eat dle» “sce that we bring the people on 2 single Mshat [with a single ialect] so that there is neither division nor discord.” And we sai An ‘excellent proposal”. ‘There are ewo narrations on how ‘Uuaman proceeded with this tsk. In the fist of these (which isthe more famous) he made copies relying exclsively on dhe Sub kept in Hafa’s custody, who was the Prophet's ‘widow. A lessesnown narration suggest that he frst authorised the com> pilaton of an independent Mushaf using primary sources before comparing thie with the Suhyé Both versions concur that the Suhfof Hija played a critical role in the making of “Uthman’s Mushal 2. Uthiin Prapares a Mushaf Directly fom the Subp According tothe first report “Uthman concluded his deliberations and retrieved the Sulu from Hala, arranging immediatly forthe scribing of dluplicate copies. Al-Bara? narrates, So ‘Uthmin sent Hala a message stating, “Send us the Sufyfso that ‘we may make perfect copies and then return the Sub back to you.” ‘Hain sent ito “Uthman, who ordered Zaid bin Thabit, ‘Abdullah bin ‘ae-Zubair, Said bin aly and ‘AbdurRabmin bin al-Harth bin Hisham to make duplicate copies. He told the three Quraishi men, "Should you disagree with Zaid bin Thibit on any point regarding the ‘Quean, rite iin the dialect of Quraish as the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue” They did so, and when they had prepared several copies ‘Uthman returned the Suly/'to Hafia..? 5 See tba Abt Dawa, aba p. 22. Diflerent dates ave been given for this incident, ranging fom 25-30 A, Ihave edopted Ibn Hajar stance. See as Saya, aga. 6 Toh Abt Davead, ab Masi p. 22. See also Ton Hajar, Fal Ba, 402. 7 Tm Hajar, Ftd Br, cI, hadith no, 4987; Yon AbI Daw, al May pp. 19-20; Aba "Ubetd, Fit p. 282. “UTHMAN’s MUSHAF 89 3. Utnan Makes an independent Copy of the Masbof i Appointing a Committee of Twelve to Oversee Task ‘he second accounts smeut more compen Sia 10-1) reper, T tal iptd baly pad op ory 28 Age Ole Ob pen ct tt P a When ‘Usha decided to elt eo) the "Bn, he aenbled a cree sce om bth he rah andthe Ase Arg nes fie eo oe “The dente ofthese telve canbe pied together fo various sources. ALMu‘arrij as-Sadisl states, “Tae newly-prepared Mushaf was shown to (1) Said b al'Agb. Sad b,al“As for proofreading; he Further adds 2) Naf b. Zuraibb, ‘Amr, Nani Others ince () Zaid. Thabit, (8) ‘Ubayy b. Ka’, (5) ‘Abdullah b. 2-Zubair, (6) ‘Abdur-Rabr b. Hisham, dvd () Katha b Ala" Thm Haris afew more: (@) Anas b, Mati), “Abdullah b. ‘Abbas, and (10) Malik b. Abt ‘Amir."’ And. {hBagillant ‘com- 1 lets the set (11) ‘Abdullah b ima, and (12)‘Abdullth ‘Arab. ab“Ag- | fi. Arranging for an Autonomous Copy “Uthain commissioned these twelve to manage this task by collecting and. tabulating all the Qur’anie parcaments writen inthe Prophet's presence." ‘he great historian Ath (571 a) report in try of Danas “Uthinta dtere armor anda, “Te people ae ere in Pea Sion snd Tam duced at whoee os ay wees Ted ty tne ropheHiwmnt ring ten ormeSo he peple trough i versa writen on archer and bones ab env and croak coven this pews it queso by than, “Did rrr ete nes tbe incon) dey op the Prophet © toa Sa‘, Taba fi/262, Not here that Ibn Sin used the word eax (cole) 8 ALMu'arij ax Sadat, Kab Hajn min Nose Oprah, p. 35 10 ip. 42. 1 Tha Abt Dawod, a-Mzi pp 20, 25-26. 12 Ton Haj, Pa Bi, 18. | 1 Lin, a-ar (ridgeh, p. 358. i 16 A detailed study of one ofthe personal Mushal (se pp 100-2) reveals hat these twelve were subdivided into more than one group, each engaged in dictation and ‘wotking independent. i0 THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT hime?" AI contributors answered under oath, and all he collected ‘material was individually labelled and chen handed to Zaid bin Thabit ‘Malik bin Abr ‘Amir relates, 1 was among those upon whom the Mushaf was dictated from the writen sources} andif any controversies arose concerning a particular ‘ere they would su, “Where isthe sciber [of ths parchment? Precisely how did the Prophet teach him this verse?” And they would resume scribing, leaving that portion blank and sending fr the man in question to clarify his scxbing” ‘Thus an independent copy gradually emerged, with the twelve setting aside all uncertainties in spelling conventions o that ‘Uthmén might attend to these personally Aba ‘Ubaid lists a few such eases, One uncertainty or example layin the spelling of abi, whether to use an open (22) ora closed one (5,2), Hin’ al-Barbasi a cent of ‘Uthmén, reports: A selon pers Whte ures Jolie dues adboe Lady Me gLA es Yo Nay ect 9 sled aS ox (gf dl HE GK ey 4a tb 9 yD sd ad yl Le 2 Mate SD ge PE lal Ned AT cass 9 Sy ee Fy eld vas with ‘Uthman when the committe was comping the Mashat He sent me to Ubayy bin Ka’ with a sheep's shoulder bone containing three diferene word from three different atras [a word each ftom 2:25, 30:80, and 86:17), asking him to revise the spellings. So Ubayy wrote them down [with the revised spellings} 4, "Uhm Retrieves the Subuf from ‘Nisha for Comparison ‘Umar bin Shabba, narrating through Sawwar bin Shabib, reports: Going in to see Ibn sz- Zubair in a small group, Tasked him why "Uthma destroyed athe old copies of the Quan... He replied, “DuringUmar's 18 Ton Mangos, Muldaur Tait Dimas, wis171-2; see also Yon Abt Daw, Masi yp. 28-24, 16 A Jelfery (ed), Mugadimatin, p22, Labeling (2g name of the scribe) may be deduce from the statement of Mili in the next quotation, "7 Thm Abt Dawad, Mapai pp. 21-22 "8 thn AbTDawod, ol Magi, pp. 19,25 8 Quen 2259, % Quen 90:30, 2 Quran 36:17, a ‘Ubaid, Fad, pp, 206-7. ‘urniaan's MusHAF on reign, an excesively talkative man approached the Caliph and told him thatthe people were diferng in their pronunciation of the Quin, “Umar resolved therefore to calle al copies ofthe Qur'an and stand- ardise their pronuadation, bute suTered that fatal stabbing before he could carry the mader any further During ‘Uthman's reign this same ‘man came to remind him of the issue, so 'Uthmn commissioned [his independent) Mushst Then he sent me to [the Prophet’ widow] ‘A'sha to rewieve the parchmenss upon which the Prophet had dictated the ‘Quy’ in it entieyy The independently;pepared Mushaf was then checked against thex parchments, and after the correction of all errors hae ordered that all ether copies of the Qur'an be destroyed.” ‘There are some wef details in this narration regarding the acquisition of parchment from ‘Nighas custody though by trations standards the narrative chain is weak The following report however lends strength to the previous one. Ibn Slabba narrates on the auhority of Harn bin Uma, ‘who relates that, ‘When ‘Uthman wanted to make an official copy, he asked ‘Aisha to send him thore parchments which were dictated by the Prophet and ‘which shekep is he: house. He then ordered Zaid bin Thabitto correct accordingly ashe himself was not fee since he wanted to devote his time to governing the people and judging among them.?> Similarly Ton Ushta (é, 360 A.H./971 0.8) reports in af Magahif that “Uthman, resolving on an autonomous copy using primary sourees, sent to ‘Aisha’s house for the Suhyf In this account a few differences were found, with ‘Uthman's copy being corrected as necessary Gathering these narratives together gives us the following: ‘Uthman pre- pared an independent copy relying entirely on primary sources, which included the Companions’ parchments along with additional material held by ‘A’isha.”” 2 Ibm Shabba, Tah ab Main, pp 990-991; Alo ae Say, al lg 5:272, quosing Ton Usbtah's ob Meals ° One of the narrazorsis of very low repute (2: maul) 2 In Shabba, Tath eM, p. 997, 2% AsSuy, ab-gin, {272 27 This can alo be consluded from the fllowing Jatin Soli of al-Bukhii: ape ATotng ge hed ae Sy pel OT adensin cil gad + git Satl gp dpi al) ag actos) yale glerky le pe cade ele png hag go Ky gle amos ‘Zaid bin Thibit reports that when be was compiling the Quin during the reign of Abo Bakr he could not locate two Ayah fom the end of Sire Bara til he found them ith Aba Khuzaimaal-Ansit, with noone ele posessing ‘firsthand copy. The completed. Subuf were kep in Abd Bak’ custody il Ine passed away. [ab-Bukh, Sei, badth no. 4985). ~ cnt2 ‘THE HISTORY OF THE QURANIC TEXT ‘in ‘Uthman Retrieves the Suhuf from Hlafja for Verification Ibn Shabba reports, SoA at Aa on ele Sig ypl ae oegae Ue gl JS 8 A on A oP don Bade oF wala cl oo A oe ge AML tlh ovale BIg CISL Ue Geakdll gs > 4 Ses iJ My a peel Lael ole Ll geal oo pel Sh eu thal bs sla ened Sb bee oy iat espD age lg Jay imal ea ol Lp lgie po ade ap OLE seals ANE at PAS lh gle Gal cb al chal yd Ma total eSeal il Ads 2 cmt SS Sita mipNop Melk Buel y Wierd eigen © Like dorset asa Ago Win Sy AD ral wall SEs gp HL (ea yee ‘Khai bin Zaid bin Thabie transmitted fora his father, Zaid bin That, “While we were copying the Masha I mised an aya (No. 23 fom Sta el. Aiea which Tus to hear the Prophet reciting, We sought it unt it was found with Khuzaima bin Thabit al-Angie, and chen inverted it into ts roper sora within the Musa” [aLBukia, Salil, hedth no. 4926). ‘These two fats have caused confusion among some scholars, mainly due (0 the proximity of the two names. Note thatthe two are distinc: Khuzama and AbD ‘huzaima. Now if we read the had careily we se that Zaid wed the word Sua forthe collection during Aba Bakr’ reign, and the word Muga or Massif (ph of Masha) for the work he did under ‘Uthmin's supervision, Thos we may safely conclude that these ate two different instances of compilation (Note that in the Sahih no. 4986 fas into the seein concerning the Qur'an collection during Abt) Bakr’ time, and no. 4988 during ‘Uthman's) It we consider the second compilation tobe Zaics work on an inendet copy of the Mshat, ten eveything becomes clear. On the other hand, if we asume that Zs was simply making uplicate copy for "Uthnan based on Abo Bakr's fu, not an autonomous copy, {hen we most confront the awkward question of why Zaid was unsble to locate verse No, 23 fom Sia alAketb— since all the verses should have ben righ in font of him, OF interest also is that Zaid uses the first perton singular pronoun in the first narration and the plural ‘we, indicating group activity jn the second. All of this strongly bolsters the view that the second compilation was indeed an independent endeavou, 28 Tn Shabba, Tait ahMadina, pp. 1001-2. “UTHMAN’S MUSHAP | 93 Zaid bin ‘Thabit said, “When I was revising [‘Uthmin's independent] ‘Mushat I discovered that it lacked the ayah (.. Joe desl), 20 T fearched among the Mubjirin and the Ansir [or sonjeone who had written tin the Prophet's presence, sil I found ie with Khuzaima bin ‘ThabitalAngst So wrote it down... Then Trevsed gnce more, and did not Find anything (questionable. “Uubrain then se to Haga and asked to borrow the Sifuf which hadi been entrusted ta her; she gave it to him only after he vowed to return it. In comparing these two, 1 found no disrepancis. So T gave it back to ‘Uthmaa dnd he, with an lated spr, ordered the people to make duplicate cops of the Mushaf” So this time the independent copy was rechecked against the oficial Sebyfwhich resided with Hala. ‘One may wonder why Caliph ‘Uthman took the trouble to compile an autonomous copy when the endl product was tobe comlred with the Sula? anyory. The likeliest reason is symbolic one. A decade earlier thousands of Companions, engagedn the bates against apostady in Yarntma and elsewhere, were unable to participate inthe Sub comgilatin. In drawing from a larger pool of writen materials, ‘Ushman's independent copy pro- vided these surviving Companions with an opportunity to partake of this ‘momentous endeavour. In the above account no inconsistencies were found between the Sly? and the independent Masha, and from this two broad cbnclsions emerge first, the Quranic text was thoroughly sable from the earliest Gaye and not as some allege) id and volatile unt the third century; and second, the methods involved in eamplation during both reigns were meteulous and accurate. 4. The Sic on Ditton of ‘is Maha i The Final Copy Read to the Comparfons ‘This definitive copy, once verified against the Subyf, was HOLE Gacy Mal lect gy “read to the Companions in ‘Uthman’s presence) With the final recitation over, he dispatched duplicate copies for distribution throughout the many provinces of the Islamic nation. His general injunction that people “write down the Mushali” suggests that he wanted the Companions to make duplicate copies of the Mushaf for their own personal use. 2% bn Kati, Fed, v0.of “THe HISTOR OF THE QUR'ANIO TEXT 4% The Number of Certified Copies Made How many copies did ‘Uthman distribute? According to some report, four: Kafa, Basra, and Syria, with the last one being kept in Madinah, another account adds Makkah, Yemen and Bahrain, Ad-Dani favours the first report.” Prof. Shauqt Daif believes however that eight were made, because ‘Uthma retained one for himself! In support of ths, we know that Khalid bin Iyis made a comparison between the Mughat kept by “Uthmin and the one prepated for Madinah," and so the premise of eight copies seems the most logical Al-Ya'qabf, a Shiite historian, says that ‘Uthman sent Mushafs to Kofa, Basra, Madinah, Makkah, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and alJazitah, fora total of nine There ivalo evidence that during the process of preparing these copies, some people scribed additional ones for their own personal use. A study of one ofthese unofficial copies is given in pp, 100-2 ‘i “Uthman Burns All Other Manuscripts With the task complete, the ink on the final eopy dry, and duplicate copies aispatched, there was no need for the numerous fragments of the Qur'an circulating in people's hands. So all such fragments were burned. Mus‘ab ‘bin Sa'd asserts thatthe people were pleased with ‘Uthma&n’s decision; at the very least no one voiced any objections. Other reports confirm this lunanimous approval, including ‘Alt bin Abt Talib who says, Sida age Masala Ja oll SL Ib hog ge Jb By Allah, he did what he id with these fragments inthe presence of usa [fe and none of us objected) in “Uthman Sends Reciters Along with Mushafs No copy was sent forth without agit: recite) These included Zaid b Thabit to Madinah, ‘Abdullah b. Sti to Malka, al’ Maghirab Shihab to Syria, ‘Amir b. ‘Abd Osis to Basra and Aba ‘Abdur Reean a-Sulamni to Kaa, ‘Abdul Fatih al- Qu says 2° Ad Dnt abu, p. 194 00 also Ibn Kathe who favours seven), i vit, 1% Shaugt Dif, Mi Seba of Tr Mui, intretction, p 7, 32 See pp. 97-99, 83 ALYa'gaby, Tas, 170, 3 Aba ‘Ubaid, Fat, p 264; ad-Din, al-Mugn,p 18, $9 Tn Abt Dior, af Mesa p. 22; see alto pp. 12, 23, ‘UrHMAN's MusHAP 95 Crea altel ig ly JS AS ad Cad ae ALND 9 Sonal ene Ag gy BED Dye gp A CL JD De op pall nal py Yenc Dy 8 pal eT ub FEB nag ee LY OAL a op ge a La nal go 2A AEN laps Sy Al gle ct 1B ge yo mall ASI Ay “Bach of these scholar ected tothe people of his respective Gy in themanner he hadlearedihough athentiated, mule channels gring back othe Prophet, insofar at thve channels layin complete agreement with each ether and fit the Musha's consonant skeleton ‘Any mode of reitaon atving through a singe channel (rconaining verses that had bees abrogated diring the Prophe'ifetime) was di carded. Dispatching recers wit the Maga meant limiting the pos Dilties chat were campaible withthe consonanta scrip o only those that enjoyed authertisated and malpe backing... Sending a scholar with every Muha wa, eherefor, chiang that rope ectation was dependent on the learning through direct contac with teaches whore transmision chanl reached othe Prope, not simpy a product of sexipt or speling conventions" Early copies of ‘Uthman’s Mushaf were largely consonantal, frequently ropping vowels and containing no dots much like the image in Figure 7.1 which is taken from a Mushaf in the Heit seript.* ‘These copies could be read erroneously in many different ways:® In “undertaking this secon compilation, ‘Uthman's main purpose was to elim- {nate all occasion for dsputes in recitation; sending a Mushaf by ise, or With a reciter at liberty o devise any reading, was contrary to the unity “Uthman sought to establish within the populace. The existence of total unity in the Quranic cexts throughout the world for fourteen centuries, between all countries end all divergent Muslim sects, is proof enough of “Uthman’s unparalleled success in gathering all Muslims upon a single text. 3 ‘Abdul-Faay al-Qfey “el-Qietst Nazar al-Mustasrigin wa al Mulhiin", Mga Azhar, vl. 43/2, 1891 (1971), p. 175 2 ‘The English endevng ia not verbatim but only meant to convey the narrations ia. 8 Fora detail dscusoron dos see pp. 185-1 5 Some ofthe fs oficl‘Uehmfnt Mihals were mos ice writen in the Hej script. There are a handful of Mughal attebuted to "Uthman worldwide [ee po 315-8], While itis impossible o confirm or deny such claims, given that che copies themselves are mute on hi: point, such atributions may imply that they were sctally coped from one ofthe Masha dispatched by ‘Uthmta, 4 One ofthe allegation i thatthe ‘Ushmni Missal being void of dots eased slivegences inthe readingsof the Qu’. See Chapter 11 fora thorough analysis of Ahi subject,