How the Qur’an was codified?
Author: Sajid
Mahmood Ansari
The Last
Messenger of God Almighty, Muhammad (May Allah shower His Blessings and Peace
upon him and his progeny) completed his Divine Mission within a short period of
23 years approximately. During this period, thousands of people responded to
his call for Tawheed (monotheism) and gave up the indigenous
polytheistic religions of their forefathers. These true believers have been
mentioned and praised in the Qur’an at a number of places. Their firm belief,
commitment to the Prophet (PBUH), obedience and love for Allah, was exemplary. They
led their life in the bright light of Prophet’s teachings. These true believers
were the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (May Allah shower His Blessings and
Peace upon him and his progeny). This group of Companions includes not only his
family members, relatives and friends but also the people who had been
strangers for him at a point of time; but after accepting the Faith of Islam,
they devoted their lives for their beloved Prophet (PBUH).
Allah
Almighty briefly mentioned the characteristics of Prophet’s Companions (R.A) in
this narrative:
(190)
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the
night and the day are signs for those of understanding.
(191)
Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give
thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], "Our Lord,
You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then
protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
(192)
Our Lord, indeed whoever You admit to the Fire - You have disgraced him, and
for the wrongdoers there are no helpers.
(193)
Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], 'Believe in
your Lord,' and we have believed. Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove
from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous.
(194) Our Lord, and grant us what You
promised us through Your messengers and do not disgrace us on the Day of
Resurrection. Indeed, You do not fail in [Your] promise."
(195) And their Lord responded to them, "Never will I
allow to be lost the work of [any] worker among you, whether male or female;
you are of one another. So those who emigrated or were evicted from their homes
or were harmed in My cause or fought or were killed - I will surely remove from
them their misdeeds, and I will surely admit them to gardens beneath which
rivers flow as reward from Allah, and Allah has with Him the best reward."
[1]
Mass Transmission of the Qur’an
Prophet
Muhammad (May Allah shower His Blessings and Peace upon him and his progeny)
presented and preserved two major sources of his teachings including the Holy
Qur’an and his Sunnah (sayings and practices). The Qura’n was revealed
to the Prophet (PBUH) in the form of short sermons separately. It means the Qur’an
was not revealed as a written book simultaneously. This phenomenon has been
mentioned in the Qur’an on occasions.
The Prophet
(PBUH) used to recite these Divine Sermons to the people of his nation,
including the believers and disbelievers. The Prophet’s Companions (R.A) not
only listened to the Qur’anic verses repeatedly, whenever the Prophet (PBUH)
recited to them, but they used to learn them by heart. So, hundreds of the
Companions (R.A) memorized the Qur’an, from alpha to omega. The Qur’an appreciates
these learners and declares them the Men of Knowledge.
Rather, the
Qur'an is distinct verses [preserved] within the breasts of those who have been
given knowledge. And none reject Our verses except the wrongdoers.[2]
Transcription of the Qur’an in the Prophet’s Lifetime
Prophet’s
Companions (R.A) were the eye-witness for the Divine Mission. They directly
observed the events of Prophet’s life and experienced his truthfulness in all
his claims and achievements. They listened to the Divine Speech from the
blessed mouth of Divine Messenger (PBUH) and learned its meanings and
implications from the vey person. So they preserved the Divine Speech (Qur’an)
in its actual textual form, without any missing or addition. They wrote down
the whole Qur’an in the presence of the Prophet (PBUH) with his command on the
parchments and papyrus (qirtas). Sometimes, when the revelations
descended to Prophet (PBUH) while he was travelling with his Companions (R.A),
the scribes wrote the revelations on shoulder-blades (scapula) of camels or
even on leaf-stalks of date palm. [3]
The Qur’an
itself claims that the Qur’anic revelations were not mere verbal traditions,
but it was being written, while it was being inspired to the Prophet (PBUH). That
is why Qur’an calls itself Al-Kitab (The Scripture). Allah Almighty says:
Beyond
doubt, it is Al-Kitab (Divine Scripture).[4]
He says further:
And you did not
recite before it any Scripture, nor did you inscribe this one with your right
hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.[5]
This
Ayah (Verse) indicates that the Scripture which was not authored by the Prophet
(PBUH), is the Holy Qur’an, which existed in the written form during the Prophet’s
worldly life. It is interesting to know
that Arabs of the seventh century C.E were familiar with the papyrus (paper)
and have been using it for decades. The Qur’an uses the word Qirtas [6:7] that
was used for inscribing. So, despite the ignorance of Arab people, there had
been a few intellectuals, who loved to read and write. Fortunately, the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) was blessed with such intellectuals as his Companions. In
Prophetic biography, at least forty scribes have been mentioned who served to
inscribe the Qur’an at different occasions. The leading intellectuals among
these Companions were the four Rightly Guided Caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman,
Ali R.A). The Prophet (PBUH) used to dictate them the Qur’anic verses and ask
them to read before him whatever they had inscribed.
Codification of the Qur’an
When the Prophet (PBUH) responded to call of his Master Almighty,
he left the Qur’an written in the separate parchments along with hundreds of
human hearts. The said parchments were not compiled into a single codex.
Although, the Qur’anic text was fully inscribed, but it required to be codified
properly. It was very easy for any faithful Companion to Codify the Qur’an
individually; but the Companions left no stone unturned to remove any possible
doubts relating to the Qur’anic codification. So, just after the sorrowful demise
of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the first Caliph Abu Bakr (R.A)
commissioned a committee of the learned Companions to codify the Qur’an, who
were considered the best reciters of the Qur’an among them. The commission
comprised of Umar bin Khattab, Ubayi ibn Ka’ab, Zayd ibn Thabit (R.A). The main
objective of the commission was to codify the Qur’an with mass consensus and
collective endorsement of the Companions, so that no one would have a reason to
doubt this Codified Qur’an.
The
method that was adopted by this Commission was as follows:
1.
They had the
original parchments of the Qur’an that were inscribed in the presence of the
Prophet (PBUH).
2.
Certain
Companions had compiled their own copies of the Qur’anic text with Prophet’s
permission; among these Companions were Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abdullah ibn Amr,
Ubayi ibn Ka’ab and Muadh ibn Jabl (R.A).
3.
They invited
the Companions to bring any piecemeal of the Qur’anic passages that they had
written down with Prophet’s permissions.
4.
They compared
all of the available inscribes with each other and with their own sharp memory.
5.
Thus they
inscribed the Qur’an on leather parchments, arranging the chapters in the order
they had been taught by the Prophet (PBUH).
Caliph
Abu Bakr (R.A) was himself overseeing the Commission. Thus, the Ummah had
a Qur’anic Codex, that was collectively endorsed and successively transmitted.
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