Q. As I understand it, Islam has the strong tradition of Hadith, but it also has the Qur’an. Islam is very strict as to how the Qur’an is presented. But I read that when Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) died, the Qur’an was not assembled in its present form; it was a collection of smaller fragments that were collated and put together by others. Could it be asked that since the Prophet left the Qur’an in the way he did, is it not possible that he intended it to be left that way, so as to let everyone puzzle out how it should be assembled? Do we know today how each original fragment was? Are they preserved in their original forms?
Matthew Buynoski
A. We need to differentiate between two forms of revelation Prophet Muhammad received from on high during the 23 years of his mission. The first and the more important is the Qur’an, which is the word of God given to Prophet Muhammad in both word and meaning. It is the form of revelation whose reading is an act of worship. It is read in prayer and at other times. The other form of revelation is the Hadith, which the Prophet expressed in his own words. To put it differently, the meaning was given to him by revelation, and he put expression to it in the way he chose. While the Hadith is to be studied and acted upon, its reading is not a form of worship, and it cannot be read in prayer as part of it.
How the Qur’an was recited, taught, recorded and compiled during the lifetime of the Prophet and in the early days of Islam after his death is a well documented process. Numerous books and papers have been written on the subject. The best work that tackles this theme in English is Professor Azami’s recent book: The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation published by UK Islamic Academy. The publisher’s address is “P.O. Box 6645, Leicester, LE5 5WT, United Kingdom”.
The Qur’an is often referred to within the text itself by this name and also as The Book. The word Qur’an means ‘something to be recited or vocalized’, while the book is something written down. It is in both these forms that the Qur’an has been preserved and handed down to us intact, generation after generation. Ever since its first day of revelation, Muslims learned the Qur’an by heart and were taught how to memorize it by competent teachers. When you memorize a passage or a surah of the Qur’an, you do not want to forget it. Therefore, you recite it as often as you can, in your prayers and at other times. The motivation is always there because you earn a reward from God for every letter of the Qur’an you read. Besides, the Qur’an has its unique charm and superior style, as well as fine rhythm and superb music. It is charming to read, delightful to recite. When you add all this to the fact that its reading is an act of worship, you realize why Muslims revere the Qur’an and continue to read and recite it at all times.
The Qur’an was revealed in short or long passages over a period of 23 years. Every time a verse, passage or surah was revealed, the Prophet, who was unlettered, called in one of his scribes and dictated it to him. The scribe would write it down in the presence of other people, whose number was never less than three. As the Arabs were largely an unlettered community, they did not have any sophistication of writing materials. Those privileged with education were the scribes who recorded whatever the Prophet dictated on scrolls, palm-date stems, bones, and similar materials.
The Qur’an comprises 114 units, each of which is called a surah, an Arabic word used only to refer to these Qur’anic units. The word is derived from soor, which means a fence. Thus a surah is a well-marked, clearly defined unit of the Qur’an which cannot be increased or decreased. These surahs are of different lengths, some very short and some very long. The Prophet might receive a passage or a few verses of a long surah. This was revelation that came to him from God through the angel Gabriel who would also tell him the exact location of the new revelation in the overall order of the surah and the Qur’an in general. What should be understood here is that the Qur’an is God’s book: He is the author and His instructions defined its shape and gave it its final form. The Prophet only relayed it to us as he was instructed to do.
Moreover, every year in Ramadan, the Prophet received the angel Gabriel and they read the Qur’an together. In the last year of the Prophet’s life, they read it twice together in its complete form. The Prophet read it out to his companions in prayer and at other times, keeping to the arrangement of its surahs.
Can we say that the Prophet intended it to remain in fragments and everyone should puzzle out how it should be collated? Certainly not. We are not dealing with a puzzle or something undefined. As the Qur’an is also called The Book, it has been preserved in its written form. The Qur’an was collated in a single copy during the time of Abu Bakr, the first ruler of the Islamic state after the Prophet. He was the Prophet’s closest companion, and one of the first five individuals to accept Islam. His rule lasted less than two years. This means that the Qur’an was collated in a complete copy and in the order it is now within the first two years of the Prophet’s death.
A second effort of compilation and standardization was undertaken by Uthman ibn Affan, the third Caliph whose rule extended from year 22 to year 36 of the Islamic calendar. If you remember that the Prophet died in year 11, this means that this second effort was undertaken only about 15 years after the Prophet’s death. It was an effort that matched and excelled the best standards of research the world’s most famous and stringent academic institutions or universities may require today. Several copies were made, and a copy was sent to every population center in the Muslim state so as to provide easy reference. Countless millions of copies of the Qur’an were produced ever since that time. You do not find any difference between them, despite the fact that printing is only a relatively recent development.
The preservation of the Qur’an was achieved in its two forms. As a text to be read, it was taught and learned by word of mouth, and memorized by countless millions of Muslims and some non-Muslims as well. Teachers would not undertake the task unless they are certified as competent by their own teachers. The written text, which is not different from the recited one, has been authenticated and preserved ever since the Prophet’s time.
Scholars have stipulated three rules to accept any text as part of the Qur’an: 1) it should conform to the written version collated by the third Caliph, Uthman; 2) it should conform to the grammatical rules of Arabic; and 3) it should be learned through a continuous chain of teachers going up to the Prophet, with many teachers agreeing to it at every stage. The first condition relates to the written form and the third to the verbal form.
No other book or text that belongs to any other faith or nation has been preserved with any degree of care that approaches one hundredth of the care that was taken of the Qur’an throughout successive generations.
