History of the Qur’an

Module 1
1. Collection of the Qur’an

A. The Classical View

Section I: Phases of Collection

i. Collection under the Prophet (sws)
ii. Collection under Abu Bakr (rta)
iii. Collection under ‘Uthman (rta)

Module 2
1. Collection of the Qur’an

A. The Classical View

Section II: Some Related Issues

i. The Extraneous Verses
ii. The Seven Ahruf
iii. The Variant Readings

Module 3

1. Collection of the Qur’an

B. The Contemporary View

Section I: Collection in the Light of the Qur’an

Section II: A Critique of the Classical View

i. The Collection under Abu Bakr (rta)
ii. The Collection under ‘Uthman (rta)
 Module 4

1. Collection of the Qur’an

B. The Contemporary View

Section II: A Critique of the Classical View (Continued)

iii. The Extraneous Verses

iv. The Seven Ahruf
v. The Variant Readings

Module 5

2. Transmission of the Qur’an

Section I: Transmission of Texts

i. Person-to-Person Transmission
a. General Introduction
1. Information on Narrators
2. Continuity
3. Verbal Coincidence
b. Degree of Authenticity

ii. Generation-to-Generation Transmission

a. General Introduction
b. Degree of Authenticity

Section II: The Case of the Holy Qur’an

Appendices
Appendix A. The Controversial Personality of Zuhri
Appendix B. View of the Orientalists
Appendix C. A Comment on Some Dissenting Views
History of the Qur’an Module 1

Contents

1. Collection of the Qur’an

A. The Classical View

Section I: Phases of Collection

i. Collection under the Prophet (sws)

ii. Collection under Abu Bakr (rta)
iii. Collection under ‘Uthman (rta)

Section I: Phases of Collection

As far as the collection of the Qur’an is concerned, one may distinguish three
stages:

i. Collection under the Prophet (sws)

ii. Collection under Abu Bakr (rta)
iii. Collection under ‘Uthman (rta)

i. Collection under the Prophet (sws)

During the time of the Prophet (sws), the Qur’an was collected in two ways:
orally and in written form. The oral collection was based on Hifz or memorization
and the Prophet Muhammad (sws) himself was the first to commit a revelation to
memory after the angel Gabriel had brought it to him. The Prophet (sws) then
declared the revelation and instructed his Companions to memorize it. Zarkashi
records: 1


  
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The Companions memorized the Qur’an in his [-- the Prophet’s --] life.

1 . Zarkashi, Burhan, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Beirut: Daru’l-Fikr, 1980), p. 241

History of the Qur’an 4 Module 1
Every portion of it was memorized by such a vast majority that the least of
them reached the status of Tawatur2.

The case of Ibn Mas‘ud (rta), who was the first man to publicly recite the
Qur’an in Makkah, shows that even in the very early phase of the Islamic Ummah
recital of the revelation from memory was practised by the Companions. It is also
reported that Abu Bakr (rta) used to recite the Qur’an publicly in front of his house
in Makkah.3 Suyuti4 mentions more than twenty well-known persons who
memorized the revelation; among them were Abu Bakr (rta), ‘Umar (rta), ‘Uthman
(rta), ‘Ali (rta), Ibn Mas‘ud (rta), Abu Hurayrah (rta), ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (rta),
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr Ibn al-‘A%s (rta), ‘A%'ishah (rta), Hafsah (rta), and Ummi Salama
(rta). From among these, the Prophet (sws) himself recommended especially the
following:

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3 & 4 5 & :  ()* & +, #-.
Take [learn] the Qur’an from four: ‘Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud, Salim, Mu‘adh
and Ubay Ibn Ka‘ab'.5

Hafiz Dhahabi has specified that most of the names of the companions which are
found in history and have reached us through reliable means are those companions
who memorized the Qur’an and recited it out to the Prophet (sws). As far as the
companions are concerned, who memorized the Qur’an but whose names did not
reach us, their number is much more.6
Not only was the Qur’an collected orally through memorization, but it was also
written down during the lifetime of the Prophet (sws). The Qur’an itself contains
many references. Of these the most prominent one is perhaps in Surah Furqan,
where the Qur’an has narrated the view of the disbelievers according to which the
Qur’an is a collection of old tales and the Prophet (sws) had had it written (25:5).
The well-known report about ‘Umar’s conversion shows that large passages of the
revelation had already been written down even at a very early time, in Makkah,
long before the H~ijrah, when the Prophet (sws) was still in the house of Arqam.

2. Tawatur: Transfer of knowledge by such a large number of people that no posibility

of any falsehood exists. Mahmud T~ahhan, Taysir Mustalihu’l-H~adith, (Karachi: Qadimi
Kutub Khanah), p. 18
3. Suyuti, Itqan Fi ‘Ulumi’l-Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Baydar: Manshurat al-Radi, 1343
AH), p. 247
4. Suyuti, Itqan Fi ‘Ulumi’l-Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Baydar: Manshurat al-Radi, 1343
AH), p. 249
5. Suyuti, Itqan Fi ‘Ulumi’l-Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Baydar: Manshurat al-Radi, 1343
AH), p. 244
6. Zarkashi, Burhan, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Beirut: Daru’l-Fikr, 1980), p. 242
History of the Qur’an 5 Module 1
Many Ahadith also record the compilation of the Qur’anic text in the lifetime of
the Prophet (sws). The Prophet (sws) had appointed many scribes for this purpose.
Zayd (rta) is reported to have said:

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We used to compile the Qur’an from small scraps in the presence of the
Messenger.7

Ahadith mention the material on which the Qur’an was written consisted of:
‘Usub (83 ); plural of ‘Asib ( 8'3 ): leafstalk of palm trees
Likhaf ( DE ); plural of Lakhfah ( E ): stone
Riqa‘ ( <( ): plural of Ruq‘ah (  (): scraps of paper, skin or leather
Qita‘ al-Adim ( F2G H! ): pieces of leather
Aktaf ( D ); plural of Katif ( > ): shoulder bones of camels
Aqtab ( I! ); plural of Qatib (8!.).saddle wood

Indeed, the Prophet (sws), when a revelation came, called for the scribe and
dictated to him. While in Madinah, he had several such scribes at his disposal;
among whom Zayd Ibn Thabit was very prominent. The Prophet (sws) himself
supervised the order and arrangement of the verses within the Surahs of the Holy
Qur’an. This new order was different from the chronological order:

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There were periods in the life of the Prophet (sws) when several surahs were
revealed simultaneously to him. So whenever a part of a surah would be
revealed, he would call someone from among those who used to write for
him and would say: Place these in the surah, in which this and this is
mentioned.8

Consequently, this indicates that not only was the revelation written down
during the lifetime of the Prophet (sws), but that he himself gave instructions for
the arrangement of the material. It may be noted that in the opinion of most classical
scholars, the verses of the Qur’ān ere arranged by the Almighty through the Prophet (sws)
but the su#rahs of the Qur’ān were arranged by the ijtihād of the Companions of the
Prophet (sws).9

7. Suyuti, Itqan Fi ‘Ulumi’l-Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Baydar: Manshurat al-Radi, 1343
AH), p. 202
8. Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal; Musnad Al-Asharah al-Mubashsharah
9. Suyuti, Itqan Fi ‘Ulumi’l-Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Baydar: Manshurat al-Radi, 1343
History of the Qur’an 6 Module 1

Till the death of the Prophet (sws), all the Qur’an had been written down though
not in one bound volume. While explaining the reason for this Zarkashi writes:

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In the time of the Prophet (sws), the Qur’an had not been collected in one bound
volume so that it would not undergo repeated changes. So the final collection in
written form was postponed until at the death of the Prophet (sws) when its
revelation stopped.10

ii. Collection under Abu Bakr (rta)

Certain reports inform us that in the Battle of Yamamah (11 AH/633AD), in the
time of Abu Bakr, a number of Muslims, who had memorized the Qur’an were
killed. Hence it was feared that unless a written copy of the Qur’an were prepared,
a large part of the revelation might be lost.

The following is the account in the Sahih Bukhari:

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AH), 216.
10. Zarkashi, Burhan, 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Beirut: Daru’l-Fikr, 1980), p. 244
History of the Qur’an 7 Module 1
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Musa Ibn Isma‘il narrates from Ibrahim Ibn Sa‘ad who narrates from Ibn
Shihab Zuhri who narrates from ‘Ubayd Ibn Sabbaq who narrates from Zayd
Ibn Thabit Al-Ansari, one of the scribes of the revelation: ‘Abu Bakr sent for
me after the casualties among the warriors [of the battle] of Yamamah. ‘Umar
was present with Abu Bakr who said: “‘Umar has come to me and said: ‘‘the
people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of [the battle of] Yamamah,
and I am afraid that there will be some casualties among the Qurra’ at other
places, whereby a large part of the Qur’an may be lost, unless you collect it.
And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur’an.” Abu Bakr asked
‘Umar: “How can I do something which Allah’s Apostle has not done?”
‘Umar said: [to him]: “By Allah, it is [really] a good thing”. Abu Bakr said:
“So ‘Umar kept on pressing trying to persuade me to accept his proposal till
Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as ‘Umar’s.” Abu
Bakr said [to me]: “You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you [of
telling lies or of forgetfulness]; and you used to write the Divine Revelation
for Allah’s Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur’an and collect it.” By Allah,
if he [Abu Bakr] had ordered me to shift one of the mountains [from its
place], it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me
concerning the collection of the Qur’an. I said to both of them: “How dare
you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?” Abu Bakr said: “By Allah, it
is [really] a good thing.” So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah
opened my bosom for that for which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr
and ‘Umar. So I started locating the Qur’anic material and collecting it from
parchments, scapula bones, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of
men. I found with Abu Khuzaymah two verses of Surah Tawbah which I had
not found with anybody else [and they were]: ‘Verily there has come to you
an Apostle [Muhammad] from among yourselves. It grieves him that you
should receive any injury or difficulty. He [Muhammad] is ardently anxious
over you [to be rightly guided]’, (9:128).11

Here we can distinguish the following steps, which led to the preparation of the
Suhuf:
1. Abu Bakr (rta) directed Zayd (rta) to collect the Qur’an in one place.
2. Zayd (rta) collected it from various written materials and the memories of people
in the form of Suhuf (eg. Sahifah). Suhuf means loose pieces of writing material, such
as paper, skin, papyrus, etc. In these suhuf the order of the verses within each surah
had been fixed by the Holy Prophet (sws) as explained earlier, but the sheets with the
surahs on them were still in a loose arrangement, ie. not bound into a volume.

11. Bukhari: Bab Jam‘u’l-Qur’an

History of the Qur’an 8 Module 1
3. The last verses of Surah Tawbah were only found with Abu Khuzaymah.
4. The sheets thus prepared were kept with Abu Bakr (rta), then ‘Umar (rta), then
Hafsah (rta).

iii. Collection Under ‘Uthman (rta)

During the time of ‘Uthman (rta) differences in reading the Qur’an became
obvious, and after consultation with the Companions, ‘Uthman (rta) had a standard
copy prepared from the suhuf of Abu Bakr (rta) that was kept with Hafsah (rta) at
that time.
The following is the report transmitted in the Sahih Bukhari:

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Musa narrates from Ibrahim Ibn Sa‘ad who narrates from Ibn Shihab Zuhri
who narrates from Anas Ibn Malik: H~udhayfah Ibn Al-Yaman came to
‘Uthman at the time when he was fighting against the people of Syria with
the people of Iraq in the conquest of Arminya and Adharbaijan. H~udhayfah
was afraid of their differences in the recitation of the Qur’an; so he said to
‘Uthman: ‘O chief of the believers! Save this nation before they differ about
the Book [the Qur’an], as Jews and the Christians did before’. So ‘Uthman
sent a message to H~afsah saying: “Send us the manuscripts of the Qur’an so
that we may compile the Qur’anic materials in perfect copies and return the
manuscripts to you”. H~afsah sent it to ‘Uthman. ‘Uthman then ordered Zayd
Ibn Thabit, ‘Abdullah Ibn Zubayr, Sa‘id Ibn Al-‘A%s and ‘Abdu’l Rahman
History of the Qur’an 9 Module 1
Ibn H~arith to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. ‘Uthman said to the
three Quraysh men: ‘In case you disagree with Zayd Ibn Thabit on any
point in the Qur’an, write it in the dialect of the Quraysh as the Qur’an was
revealed in their tongue’. They did so, and when they had written many
copies, ‘Uthman returned the original manuscripts to H~afsah. ‘Uthman sent
to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered
that all the other Qur’anic materials whether written in fragmentary
manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. Zayd Ibn Thabit added: “A verse
from Surah Ahzab was missed by me when we made copies of Qur’an and I
used to hear Allah’s Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it
with Khuzaymah Ibn Thabit Ansari. [That verse was]: Among the believers
are men who have been true in their covenant with Allah (33:23).’”We
placed these verses at their place in the Mushaf.

The following events led to the preparation of the Mushaf of ‘Uthman (rta):
1. Disputes had arisen among the Muslims about the correct manner of reciting
the Qur’an. Various reasons have been cited for these disputes:
a. The different dialects of Arabic in Arabia. The Banu Qays for example would
say sheen (‡) in place of the feminine address by the letter kaf (€ J ). Example
(19:24) ˆQ1 u
J ‰ u
J ( " x  (Your Lord has provided a water stream under you)
would be read as ˆQ1 …J ‰ …
J ( " x .
b. The Seven Ahruf (For details see the following section)
c. The difference in accent and pronunciation of certain Arabic alphabets by various
tribes.
d. Some people had the initial chronological reading of the Qur’an with them
which was different from the final one.
e. Vowel sounds (I  ) were missing.
2. ‘Uthman (rta) borrowed the Suhuf, which were kept with Hafsa (sws).
3. ‘Uthman (rta) ordered four Companions, among them Zayd Ibn Thabit (rta), to
rewrite the script in perfect copies. Mushaf (pl. Masahif) means the collected
Suhuf, brought together into a fixed order, such as between two covers, into a
volume called a Mushaf. In a Mushaf both the order of the verses within each
surah as well as the order of the surahs were fixed.
4. A verse of Surah Ahzab was missing in the original Mushaf.
5. ‘Uthman (rta) sent these copies to the main centres of the Muslims to replace
other materials that were in circulation.
Moreover, it is evident from various reports that the copies made at this time were
different from each other in some respects. Many authorities like Ibn Taymiyyah are
of the view that this was to accommodate the seven Ahruf (see the next section) of
the Qur’an.

The classical view can be summarized thus:

History of the Qur’an 10 Module 1

During the life of the Prophet (sws) (570-632 AD)

• The Prophet (sws) and many of his companions memorized the Qur’an.
• Each verse received was recited by the Prophet (sws), and its placement
relative to other verses and surahs was identified by him.
• The verses were written by scribes, selected by the Prophet (sws), on any
suitable object -- the leaves of trees, pieces of wood, parchment or leather, flat
stones, and shoulder blades of animals.
• Several hundred companions memorized the Qur’an by heart.
• The Qur’an in the time of the Prophet (sws) was not bound in a single volume
because there was always a chance of the arrival of a new revelation.

During the caliphate of Abu Bakr (rta) (632-634 AD)

• ‘Umar (rta) urged Abu Bakr (rta) to preserve and compile the Qur’an after
many reciters had died in the battle of Yamamah.
• Abu Bakr (rta) entrusted Zayd Ibn Thabit (rta) with the task of collecting the
Qur’an.
• Zayd (rta), with the help of the companions who memorized and wrote verses
of the Qur’an, accomplished the task and handed Abu Bakr (rta) the first
authenticated copy of the Qur’an. The copy was kept in the residence of
Hafsah (rta), daughter of ‘Umar (rta) and wife of the Prophet (sws).

During the caliphate of ‘Uthman (rta) (644-656 AD)

• ‘Uthman (rta) ordered Zayd Ibn Thabit (rta), Abdullah Ibn Zubayr (rta), Sa‘id
Ibn ‘A%s (rta) and Abdu’l-Rahman Ibn Harith Ibn Hisham (rta) to make perfect
copies of the authenticated copy kept with Hafsah (rta). This was due to the
rapid expansion of the Islamic state and concern about differences in recitation.
• Copies were sent to various places in the Muslim world. The original copy was
returned to Hafsah (rta).
__________________