Did the collection of the Qur-an cast any doubt on the authenticity of its text?
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم chose scribes from among his companions, who wrote down everything that had been inspired to him by Divine Revelation immediately after its revelation. They wrote on whatever was available such as parchment, wood, pieces of leather, stones or flat bones. According to authentic Islamic sources there were twenty-nine scribes, the most renowned among whom are the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman and ‘Ali in addition to Mu’awiya, Al-Zubayr Ibn Al-‘Awwam, Sa’id Ibn Al-‘As, ‘Amr Ibn Al-’As, Ubay Ibn Ka’b and Zayd Ibn Thabit رضي الله عنهم.
- In addition to the scribes who wrote down the inspired Revelation of the verses of the
Qur-an there were others who learnt what was revealed by heart. This fine tradition has continued through the centuries and exists up to this very day. There were hundreds of Muslims who learnt the Qur-an by heart and specialized in reciting it during the Prophet’s lifetime. The Prophet declared that he always revised the recital of the Qur’an once a year during the month of Ramadan in the presence of the Angel Gabriel, and he revised its recital twice during the last Ramadan of his life. The Qur-an was arranged in its final form according to the prophet’s instructions and every single verse was placed exactly as he had commanded.
- One year after the Prophet’s death, seventy of the learned men who had learnt the
Qur-an by heart were killed in the battle of Al Yamama against Musaylima the liar, and ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab رضي الله عنه advised the Caliph Abu Bakr to charge Zayd Ibn Thabit, one of the scribes, with collecting the various documents upon which the Qur-an was written and to have them written in a complete copy that would be easy to refer to. Following this a rule was enforced by which manuscripts were considered authentic and accepted or rejected as not being authentic. The authetic scripts were those that had been dictated by the Prophet Muhammad as witnessed by two persons. Naturally, the Companions of the Prophet who had learnt the Qur-an by heart played an important role in this matter. When Zayd Ibn Thabit completed his mission of recording in writing the whole Qur-an, he presented it to Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, who presented it before his death to ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, who gave it to his daughter Hafsah رضى الله عنهاbefore his death.
- During the Caliphate of ‘Uthman Ibn ‘Affan, a committee of four scribes including Zayd Ibn Thabit was formed. These scribes wrote five copies of the original manuscript preserved by Hafsah رضى الله عنها, Mother of the Faithful. One copy was sent to Makkah, another copy to Al-Madinah, and the third copy was sent to Al-Basra. The fourth and the fifth copies were sent to Kufa and Damuscus. These four deligent and precise scribes who had copied the original authentic manuscript and had also checked it with what the learned men who had lived during the Prophet’s lifetime had committed to memory. This is the Mus-haf, namely the Glorious Book of the Qur-an, which has been in circulation in the Muslim world ever since.
No one has ever disputed the authenticity of the Qur-an since it was first recorded in writing more than fourteen centuries ago up to this very day. This point has been confirmed by a number of Orientalists among whom are Lablois, Muir, and the contemporary German Orientalist Rudi Paret who stated in the introduction of his translation of the Qur-an: “There is no reason to doubt that any verse in the Qur-an could be ascribed to any person other than Muhammad.” He meant that after the death of Muhammad no one has altered anything in the Qur-an either by adding a single word to it or removing a single word from it. (Diraz, Muhammad Abdullah, “An Introduction to the Qur’an, p. 34 ff. Also see Rudi Paret: Der Koran Ubersetzung, Stuttgart, 1980, p. 5.)
No proof has ever been presented to dispute or deny the authenticity of the manuscript compiled during the Caliphate of ‘Uthman Ibn ‘Affan. If any of the companions of the Uthman Ibn ‘Affan had any other manuscripts in their possession, they would have produced them and disputed the authorized copy. Such an allegation had never been made in the history of Islam and even the sects that have been looked upon as dissenters, such as the contemporary Ahmadites, sanction the same certified copy of the Qur-an.
From Islamic Facts Refuting the Allegations against Islam by Professor Dr. Mahmoud Hamdy Zakouk, Minister of Al-Awqaf (Endowments), Chairman of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affair, Egypt
|
