Quran is the Holy Book of Muslims and Muslims from all over the world revere it equally and

turn towards it in times when they require moral or spiritual enlightenment. Another major
reason why Muslims rely on Quran in every case is the fact that firstly it is revealed by Allah
Almighty and secondly that it has remained the same since its revelation and not even a single
letter has changed.

Merits OF Quran:

Before moving on to the revelation and preservation of Quran it is important that a person
understands the merits of Quran and what Allah Almighty has said about its preservation and
divine nature in Quran. In Quran, Allah Almighty says:

“…..And we have sent down to thee the Book explaining all things, a guide, a mercy and glad
tidings to Muslims.” (16:89)

Thus, Quran is a book of guidance, mercy and glad tidings. Moreover, besides this belief, a
Muslim must also believe in Quran that it is above and free from any doubt. In Quran, Allah
says:

“This is the book: it is guidance sure, without doubt.” (2:2)

Thus, a Muslim must not have any doubt on whatever is said in Quran. Moreover, as  far as the
authenticity of Quran in terms of its preservation is concerned, Allah Almighty says in Quran:

“We have without doubt, sent down the message; And We will assuredly guard it (from
corruption).” (15:9)

Therefore, the Quran in its present form is the same as it was revealed and there can be no doubt
regarding its being Divine in nature and a source of guidance without any doubt or reservation.
Revelation of Quran:

Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the form of Wahi which was made open
to Him by Allah Almighty in different forms, either during sleep, while awake, with imprint on
His heart, or Gabriel brought the verses in his original or humanly forms from time to time.

The process of revelation of Quran started in the month of Ramadan as Allah Almighty says
about it in Quran in the following way:

“Ramadhan is the (month) in which we sent down the Quran…” (2:185)

Furthermore, Allah Almighty also explains the reason behind the in-parts revelation of Quran
over a period of 23 years. Allah says in Quran:

“(It is) a Quran which we have divided (into parts from time to time), in order that thou
mightiest recite it to men. At intervals we have revealed it by stages.”  (17:106)

Therefore there was a gradual process of revelation where the verses were revealed at specific
instances to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) making it easy to disperse and disseminate the
information to the followers.

The Compilation of Quran:

When it comes to compilation of Quran, it has been divided into specific parts and eras in the
history where different Muslim rulers at different times made different contributions to make the
compilation of Quran better and more reliable. The lines below discuss the different phases of
compilation of Quran throughout the Islamic history which has made it possible to view and read
Quran in its present form.

A) During the Time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

The compilation and recording of Quran started in the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Whenever Prophet (PBUH) would receive a revelation, He would narrate it to the Companions
present and then the Companions would memorize it and then disperse it to other people. Thus
this way, the primary source of compilation of Quran was its memorization.

Oral memorization and recitation was the tradition of that time, therefore, Quran was primarily
memorized as a means of its preservation. However, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also paid
attention towards its ascribing as well and the literate companions who knew how to write they
would record the revelations on different types of materials. The scribers would scribe the verses
on leather skin, parchments of paper and even on leafs as well to ensure that the revelations were
documented. Therefore, the initial compilation was started in the life of Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) and according to some historians; the compilation was even completed in the life of
Prophet (PBUH) as well.

B) In the Reign of Hazrat Abu Bakkar (RA):

After Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in whose life Quran was written down but still was dispersed
and not in the book form, the first major development towards compilation of it in the book form
took place during the reign of Hazrat Abu Bakkar’s (RA) Caliphate.

During his Caliphate, a person in the distant part of Arabia made the claim of being the prophet,
in response to it, Abu Bakkar (RA) sent a Muslim army where a bloody battle was fought to
bring the false claimer to justice. During the battle, in Muslim casualties there was a high number
of Huffaz (person who memorize Quran). Seeing the increasing number of casualities of Huffaz,
Hazrat Umar (RA) became concerned and he advised Abu Bakkar (RA) to pay heed towards the
matter and work towards compilation of Quran in a book form.

Although Hazrat Abu Bakkar (RA) resisted the suggestion initially as he gave the argument that
how can they compile the Quran in book form if it were not done in the life of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH). However later on he had a change of heart and ordered Hazrat Zain bin
Saabit (RA) to be the chief scriber and work on compiling the Quran in a book form.

After listening to various Huffaz, cross referencing it with the different written verses of Quran
found on tree leafs, parches and leather skins, he compiled a final copy of Quran which was then
presented to Hazrat Abu Bakkar (RA). Hence the first Book version of Quran was compiled in
the life of Hazrat Abu Bakkar (RA).

C) In the Reign of Hazrat Usman (RA):

In the reign of Hazrat Usman (RA) Islam was expanding to farfetched corners of the world
starting from Arabia to the central Asia in countries like Armenia and Azerbaijan. With the
spread of it, people from non-Arabic cultures also became Muslims and it was quite natural that
Arabic was not their mother tongue.

Due to this difference in mother tongue and lack of exposure to Arabic, the variation in
pronunciation of Arabic in general and Quran in particular was quite natural. However, the
situation once surfaced was quite alarming and Hazrat Usman (RA) took notice of it, because if
it were not dealt at the initial state, it would give raise to controversy.

To eliminate this issue, Hazrat Usman (RA) requested Hazrat Hafsa (RA) to provide the earlier
compilation of Quran so that more copies could be made out of it. Moreover, He also formed a
committee consisting of Hazrat Zain bin Haris (RA) and a few other Companions to make sure
that they agree on the pronunciation of the original copy and produce more versions of that copy
in the very same way.

Thus, in the reign of Hazrat Usman (RA) copies of Quran were produced with a single version
and then were distributed to all the Muslim dominions across the Asia.

D) The Introduction of I’Jam:

I’jam refers to the diacritical points that are put on alphabets in order to differentiate them from
other alphabets of the same shape so that proper pronunciation of the words could be produced.
Although Hazrat Usman (RA) made the copies of Quran but it was without any diacritical points,
thus the new convert Muslims found it hard to differentiate between pronunciation of alphabets
and faced confusion.

Pertaining to this issue, in the reign of Abdul Malik, it was Al-Hajjaj who was the governor of
Iraq who took the responsibility of incorporating I’jam on the alphabets of Quran. Therefore, he
assigned the duty to renowned scholars of that time to put I’jam on Quran which ensured that the
Tajweed rules were followed in quran recitation, and the quran that we read now with tajweed is
of the same form which was produced in the time of Hajjaj.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, although Allah Almighty Himself took the responsibility of preserving Quran,
however, He had the work done by humans where different rulers in different times made efforts
to make sure that Quran was preserved and it was in a form that was universal with no deviation
whatsoever in terms of its textual content.