Islam 102

Lesson 1: The Divine Book Of Allah

Preservation of Quran

Soon after the revelation of Quran, its chapters were reduced into writing from the beginning till the last revelation. The Holy Prophet was an illiterate person, so he called upon various scribes who wrote down the revelations for him. Quran was present in complete written form in the Prophet’s lifetime. Most of his companions who were scribes, possessed their own copy of Quran. Zaid bin Sabit, the chief scribe, remarks:

“Whenever any verse was revealed, the Prophet sent for me, I went to him and wrote it down for him.”

Quran was written down on separate pieces of leather, cloth, leaves, shoulder blades, ribs of camel, palm leaves and tablets of stones.

Compilation of Quran during the caliphate of Abu Bakar

At the battle of Yamama, when a number of memorizers of Quran were martyred, it was feared that unless Quran was not compiled in an official copy, its preservations was at high risk. At last, on the advice of Umer Farooq the caliph Abu Bakar called Zaid bin Sabit, the chief scribe of the divine revelation. He was given the task of preparing an accurate compilation of Quran. Zaid bin Sabit went from place to place in search of men who memorized Quran. He collected Quranic material from the custody of several companions of the Prophet (P.B.U.H). A committee was established under the supervision of Zaid bin Sabit to undertake the tedious task of compilation. They gathered the compilation on the principles of authenticity.

The completed manuscript was handed over to the caliph Abu Bakar, and it then went from one caliph to another. Finally the copy remained in the custody of Hafsa (R.A),the daughter of Umer Farooq, till her death. For this reason, that copy of Quran got the name of Mushuf-e-Hafsa. This copy of Quran was unanimously accepted and approved by the Ummah (Believers).

Quranic compilation by Usman Ghani

During the caliphate of Usman (R), Huzefa bin Al Yaman approached him and said that the people of Syria and Iraq were in the course of conquest of Armenia and Azerbaijan; he was shocked to notice the difference in the recitation of Quran by these people. He pleaded to save the nation (Muslims) from differing in their understanding of the book of God (Allah). Usman (R) asked Mother Hafsa to send him the copy of Quran compiled by Zaid bin Sabit. The Caliph then ordered Zaid bin Sabit and others to rewrite the manuscript in accordance with Quraish dialect. When the copies were prepared, it was sent to every quarter of the Islamic territories and it was further ordered to burn the other copies. The copies of Quran at Usman’s time are still found today in Istanbul (Turkey ) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

Sir William Muir states in the Life of Mahomet (vol 1):

“ There is probably no other book in the world which has remained 12 centuries (it is 14 now) in so pure a text.”

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