The Quran: An Abiding Wonder
We owe much to the human sciences. Yet the absolute maximum that we can learn from them is what the universe is. Till now, they have not given us one iota of knowledge on the subject of why the universe is as it is. Bring together a few gases, minerals and salts, and you have a moving, conscious human being. Put seeds in the ground and up spring plants and trees. Just make a change in atomic numbers and innumerable elements come into being. From just two gases, water- that most precious of commodities-is prepared. Steam, produced by molecular motion within water, gives inanimate engines the power to move. The electrons within an atom are too tiny to be seen through a microscope, but they too are a vital source of colossal, mountain-shattering power. These are all matters of fact. Scientific events do take place as described. But this description is the outer limit of our scientific ‘knowledge.’ When we ask why things are as they are, and why things happen as they do, human science gives us no guidance whatsoever.
Studies in astronomy show that the number of stars in the sky is as numerous as all of the sand grains on all the sea-shores of our planet, many of the stars being vastly greater in size than our earth, some even being of such enormous girth that they could accommodate hundreds of thousands of earths inside them and still have room to spare. A few of them are even big enough to contain millions and millions of earths. The universe is so vast that an aeroplane flying at the greatest speed imaginable, i.e. at the speed of light, (186,282 miles per second) would take about ten billion years to complete just a single trip around the whole universe. Even with such a huge circumference, this universe is not static, but is expanding every moment in all directions. So rapid is this expansion that, according to an estimate by Eddington, every 1300 million years, all the distances in this universe are doubled. This means that even our imaginary aeroplane travelling at the speed of light would not ever be able to fly all the way around the universe, because it would never be able, to catch up with this unending expansion. This estimation of the vastness of the universe is based on Einstein’s theory of relativity. But this is just a mathematician’s guess. To tell the truth, man has yet to comprehend the vastness of the universe.
Human studies bring us face to face with this astonishing universe. And there they leave us. They do not tell us the true meaning of the universe. They do not tell us who causes events to take place. Neither do they tell us whose hand it is that controls the great spheres revolving in the vastness of space. If we wish to have the answers to these questions, it is to the Quran that we must turn. If we want to know how things came into existence, how they are sustained and what their future will be, it is the Quran alone which will tell us. In so doing, it will acquaint us with the Lord and Master of the Universe, opening out before us the sublime nature of His works.
Quran: The Voice of God
The Quran bears verbal witness to the sovereignty of God. It describes, with great force and clarity, the great, hidden, determinative force at work throughout the entire world, and gives us definitive information on those metaphysical realities which elude the hand and the eye. Not only does it spell out the facts of existence, but it also builds up an astonishing gallery of word- pictures which bring a hitherto unseen world before our very eyes.
The Quran not only tells us that God exists, but also paints an incredibly vivid picture of the Being who sustains and directs the Universe. Not only does it tell us about the Hereafter, but describes the Day of Judgement so graphically that its horrors become deeply etched on our consciousness. There is a well-known story of a Greek artist who painted such a realistic picture of a bunch of grapes that birds would come and peck at it. Just think that if a painting executed by an ordinary mortal could have such an extraordinary effect, what heights of consummate artistry could not be reached by the Lord of the Worlds in His creation of the Quran? Could any mere mortal truly appreciate the perfection of such art?
The Quran opens with the words: ‘Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds. ‘This invocation is of great significance. It means: ‘Thanks be to God, Maker and Sustainer of all creatures in the world.’ A master and sustainer is one who is filled with profound concern for his subjects and provides for all their needs. Man’s greatest need is to know what he is, where he has come from, and where he will go. He also needs to know where he will gain and where he will lose. If he were to be taken to some region of space in which there was neither air nor water, this would not be such a great calamity for him as finding himself in the world without any accurate knowledge of his origin or ultimate fate.
God has more compassion for His creatures than a father has for his own son. It is inconceivable, therefore, that He should have seen this need on the part of His servants and not provided for it. By means of revelation, He has sent down whatever knowledge a man must have in order to understand himself, and He has sent it in a form which could be conveyed by the human tongue. This is the greatest favour that the Lord has done His servants.
A man who realizes to what extent he needs his Maker’s help in acquiring True Knowledge will feel his heart simply overflowing with gratitude to and praise for his Lord, when he sees what favour He has shown him in sending him the Quran. The words: ‘Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds!’ will spontaneously burst forth from him. These are the words of a true servant of God having been inspired in him by God Himself. Even when it is a question of how a man should serve his Lord, he needs the guidance of his Maker. The desire to serve may itself be quite instinctive, but the would-be devotee does not know in what manner to give expression to it. The Quran, however, is explicit on this subject, and even provides him with the exact words he should use. In this respect, the prayers of the Quran are the most sublime gifts.
The Quran is not a book in the ordinary, accepted sense of the word. It is more an account of the final struggle to convey the message of Islam. From the most ancient times, God has been sending down knowledge of the truth through His specially chosen emissaries. In
The Quran explains that it is this One God alone
who sustains us throughout our lives here
on this earth.
the seventh century of the Christian era, it was God’s will that the inhabitants of the Earth should quite finally be provided with Knowledge of Truth and that a society should be founded on the basis of that Knowledge which would be a source of enlightenment and an example for the whole human race until the Last Day.
The Message of the Quran
The Quran shows us where strength in this world really lies, giving us a handhold on a rope that never breaks. Without this, we have no real support in life. Moreover, it is only through our attachment to God that human beings can retain their hold on the cord that binds each to each.
The Quran explains that it is this One God alone who sustains us throughout our lives here on this earth. Through Him our hearts are set at ease, for it is He who provides true warmth in life. He rescues us in times of peril, assists us in the hour of need. All power rests in His hands: honour and glory will be the rewards of any nation who looks to Him for support, while only disgrace and humiliation will be the lot of those who abandon Him. To know this is to hold the key to all the treasures in life. He who possesses this key gains all; he who loses it, loses all.
The Quran, first and foremost, is the Proclamation of God. Just as every enlightened sovereign has a Constitution, so is the Quran the ‘Constitution’ of the Almighty, Master of Man, King of kings. To put it very simply, the Quran is a book of directions, showing man the right path to tread. It is a Light which guides his faltering steps, giving him timely reminders of God’s will, awakening his sleeping nature and conveying the Lord’s admonition. It is a book that, in giving him the moral sense to distinguish right from wrong, cures him and his society, of all ills. In that sense, it is a book of wisdom, full of every expression of correct understanding. More, it is a book of laws, laying down for us the very foundations on which to build and organize society. In short, it provides everything that man—as an individual and as member of society—can ever need. Without this, man can never be the gainer, no matter how hard he tries.
How can a man gauge whether he has actually developed a relationship with God or not? There is only one answer to this question: by turning his eyes inward, and judging how his inner self stands related to the Quran. For how one relates to the Quran is a true reflection of one’s relationship with God. The degree to which a man adheres to the tenets of the Quran will be a sure indication of his attachment to his Maker. If the Quran is the book he values most, it goes without saying that God is dearer to him than any other. But if some other book is held in greater esteem by him, then the most important person in his life will be its author, and not his Maker. Just as it is impossible to find the true God anywhere but in the Quran, so is it impossible that, after finding God, any book other than the Quran should be more precious to him. For the Quran is the book of God. It is the means through which the Almighty converses with His servants, His living representative on this earth. It is a scale on which man’s devotion to his Creator may be measured.
When man fears to stand alone, without support, in an unfathomable universe, the Quran sets his mind at rest by making his destination clear to him, and directing him towards it. In the Quran man thus meets his Lord, beholds His promises and rejoices in His good tidings. In this way, the Quran fills a man with sufficient conviction to define his place in the world. Giving concrete form to the instinctive feelings which swirl in man’s subconscious about his Lord and Master, the Quran sets his feet well and truly on the path of submission to Him. In so doing, it brings him closer to God.
In seeking to ascertain God’s will, just to read through the Quran is not enough: one has rather to become deeply engrossed in it. It is only when one has formed a strong degree of attachment to the Quran that one has access to all the advantages it offers. One has to be bound to the Quran as one is by a contract or
ta’ ahud (the word used by the Prophet) in order to reap its benefits. This awareness of the greatness of the Quran, and consequent adherence thereto, cannot come about at second hand. That is, one may hear a commentator or man of letters discourse upon the Quran and may form a high opinion of the speaker and his attainments, but that is not the way to form a genuine attachment with the Quran itself. A real bond with the Quran can be forged only if one reads the Holy Scriptures oneself, thus having direct access to the contents. Only then will its wisdom be engraved upon one’s memory. Only then will it be appreciated for what it actually is.
This is not a mere figment of the imagination. It is supported by basic psychology. For example, it may be contended that the difference between cotton wool and stone is merely relative, in fact, they are the same thing, both in the last analysis being accumulations of the same kind of electrons. But this contention is purely academic. In the real world, cotton cannot be thought of as anything but soft, and stone as anything but hard. It is not superficial or abstract definitions which determine the impression one shall have of the matter at hand, but the knowledge that one gains of it by direct, personal experience.
The Preservation of the Quran
The very first injunction given to the Prophet—‘Read in the name of your Lord who created’ stresses the importance of knowledge (96: 1). And the last words of revelation pertains to the life hereafter (2:281).
The Quran was revealed over a period of twenty, three years and was written down in its entirety during the Prophet’s lifetime, although the verses were not gathered together in one volume at that time (Al-Katani, V.2, p.384).
For the first twenty-three years the Prophet himself was the fountainhead of Quranic learning. Then he appointed certain of his followers to convey the message of the Quran after him. These were men who, having memorized the entire Quranic text with complete accuracy, were fully competent to impart its teachings. During the caliphate of Umar Faruq, the second caliph of Islam, a man who had come from Kufa to Madina told the caliph that there was someone in Kufa who
In seeking to ascertain God’s will, just to read
through the Quran is not enough: one has rather to
become deeply engrossed in it.
was teaching the scriptures from memory. At this Caliph Umar was enraged. But when he found out that the person was none other than Abdullah ibn Masood, he regained his composure, (Istiab, Vol. I, p. 377) the reason being that Abdullah ibn Masood was one of those appointed by the Prophet himself to perform this service. Other more prominent scholars of the Quran were as follows: Usman, Ali, Ubayy ibn Kaab, Zayd ibn Thabit, Abu Darda, Abu Moosa Ashari, Salim Maula Abi Huzayfa.
However, these Muslims, who had been assigned this task, could not survive for ever. Undoubtedly, they were going to leave the world one by one, and then there would be the risk of the Quran falling into the hands of less responsible, less knowledgeable people, who might not preserve it intact and who would almost certainly differ as to its true meaning. There was even the danger of its being entirely lost to posterity. With the death of 700 of the Prophet’s Companions in the Battle of Yamamah in 12 A.H., this danger began to loom large.
It has been recorded in the annals of history that “when Salim Maula Abi Huzayfa was martyred, Umar felt the danger of the Quran being destroyed and came to Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, to discuss this” (Fathul Bari, v. 9, p. 5). Salim was one of the few surviving companions who had been selected by the Prophet himself to spread the teachings of the Quran. The solution suggested by Umar to Abu Bakr was to preserve the Quran by making a formal compilation of it in written form.
As has been established, the Prophet always arranged for each passage of the Quran to be recorded in writing as soon as it was revealed. This kitabat (writing down on paper) was so meticulous a procedure that after verse 95 of chapter 4 had been revealed, and the words “except those who are disabled” were revealed again as an addition to the same verse, it was arranged that this phrase—according to Imam Malik—be written at the same moment by the transcriber. (Durr Mansoor, Vol. 2, p.203)
It was customary for the Prophet to ask the transcriber to read out the verses after writing them down. According to Zayd ibn Thabit, if any part was missed out in the writing, he would correct it and only after this written work was fully completed would the Prophet allow the propagation of those verses (Majmauz Zawaid, vol. 1, p.60).
The number of transcribers who worked at different times is put at forty-two. A sizeable number, four of whom are worth mentioning: Abu Darda, Muadh ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thabit and Abu Zayd even possessed the complete Qur’an in its present arrangement.
The Quran and the Prophet Muhammad
It has been established from authentic traditions that the angel Gabriel, who conveyed the revelations of God to the Prophet, himself arranged these verses: each year during the month of Ramadan, Gabriel would come to the Prophet and recite before him all the Quranic verses revealed up till that time in the order in which they exist today, after which the Prophet would repeat the verses in exactly the same order. This dual process has been termed al-Irza, ‘mutual presentation,’ in the books of hadith.
It has also been established that in the last year of the Prophet’s life, when the revelations had been completed, Gabriel came to the Prophet and recited the entire Quran in the existing order twice, and similarly the Prophet also recited to Gabriel the entire Quran twice. This final presentation is called al-Arz al-Akhirah in the books of hadith. (Fathul Bari, p. 659-663)
When by the help of Gabriel the Quran was fully and systematically arranged, the Prophet recited it to his companions on different occasions in the order with which we are familiar today. The Quran was thus preserved in its pristine form in the memories of tens of thousands of the tompanions during the Prophet’s lifetime.
The preservation of the Quran passed through three stages: transcription, compilation and collection. In the first stage, as soon as a chapter or a verse was revealed, it was committed to writing. The following items are mentioned in books as examples of the writing materials used:
Riqa‘a—Thin leather piece
Likhaf—Thin slates of white stone
Katf—The round bone of the shoulder of the camel
‘Asib—The wide part of the root of the date branch.
In the hadith, the second stage of this process is referred to as “compilation.” That is, first the verses were written down at the time of revelation. Then, when one chapter was completed, the whole chapter (often it took several revelations to complete one chapter) was written in compiled form, i.e. arranged in proper order on riqa‘a (leather). Such copies of the compiled Quran (complete or incomplete) were in the possession of a large number of people during the lifetime of the Prophet. We have the well known incident of Umar who beat his own sister and brother-in-law mercilessly for having accepted Islam. Finally, when his anger had subsided, he asked them to show him the book they were reading from. His sister replied that he could not touch it in a state of impurity and only after he had bathed himself did his sister give him the book (Ibn Hisham).
The third stage of this process is termed “Collection” that is, writing down the entire Quran together in one volume. The form of the bound volume consisting of pages of the same size was not prevalent in the Prophet’s time. According to a narration recorded by Bukhari, only four companions Ubayy ibn Kaab, Muadh ibn Jabal, Abu Zayd, and Zayd ibn Thabit had the entire Quran put together during the life of the Prophet. In Kanz al Ummal, referring to Muhammad, Ibn Kab Al-Qurzi gives us the names of five such collectors of the complete Quran. However the status of their collections was that of a personal possession. The official version was produced under the direction of the caliph Abu Bakr, who had it bound after arranging for all the verses to be written on square papers of the same size. Imam Malik has also recorded (citing as his source, Shahab Zuhri, who had learned it from Salim, son of Abdullah ibn Umar) that Zayd ibn Thabit wrote down all the verses of the Quran on al-qaratis (papers of the same size) at the command of Abu Bakr. This volume was called Raba‘a (square). (Itqan, v. 1, pp. 84,85)
The Compilation of the Quran in Later Times
In later times the written Quran became the main source of Islamic learning. But one danger was still lurking. In sacred books even very minor differences can become a source of great controversy. It was feared that if people wrote the Quran on their own, differences in transcribing (kitabat) e.g. writing ‘eether’ for ‘either’ and in recitation would create widespread dissension and there would be no way of putting an end to it. For instance, just one word in the first chapter of the Quran was written in different ways according to the pronunciation of different dialects: maalik-e-yaumuddin, malik-e-yaumuddin and maleek-e-yaumuddin, etc.; with the passing of time and changes in the style of writing, the differences in the manuscript would have become a source of great contention. Therefore, on the advice of Umar, Abu Bakr decided to have an authentic copy of the Quran prepared under state patronage and thus put an end forever to the possibility of phonetic differences obscuring the true meaning of the text.
For this purpose Zayd ibn Thabit was the most competent, as he was the katib of the Prophet. Zayd and Ubbay ibn Kaab both had joined in the ‘last recitation’ having heard the Quran directly from the Prophet in the order still extant today. Not only had they memorised the entire Quran, but they also possessed the whole text in written form. The first caliph commanded them to collect all the available parts of the scriptures and to compile them. (Bukhari). After this decision had been taken, Umar made an announcement in the Mosque that whoever had any piece of writing from the Quran should bring it and hand it over to Zayd.
During the first caliphate, the Quran not only existed in written form on the bark of date palms, stones, leather, etc, but was also preserved in the memory of the companions. The Quran, when made into a book, was arranged in the order memorized by the companions, and the verses have been preserved in that same order right up to the present day.
Zayd ibn Thabit’s work was more a process of collection than of compilation. That is, the scattered bits and pieces of the Quran in written form were collected by him, not just to be assembled and bound in one volume, but to be used to verify the authenticity of the Quran as memorised and passed on in oral tradition by countless individuals. Once this exact correspondence between the oral and written forms of the Quran had been established beyond any reasonable doubt, Zayd proceeded to put the verses of the Quran down on paper in their correct order.
Harith Muhasibi writes in his book, Fahm As-Sunan, that the transcription of the Quran was nothing new, because the Prophet himself had arranged for it to be written down. But it was written separately on Riqa‘a, Likhaf, Katf, ‘Asib, etc. All the materials on which the Quran was written were available in the Prophet’s house, but had not been put in any special order. What the collector did was assemble all these parts and then bind them together so that no part was destroyed. (Al- Itqan, v. 1, p. 40)
This elaborate arrangement of the Quran was made so that there should not be even the minutest discrepancy vis-a-vis the original revelation. If this extraordinary care had not been taken, differences would have resulted from the slightest lapse in memorising and transcription. For instance, when Umar recited this verse to Zayd ibn Thabit, “As for those who led the way, the first of the muhajirs and the Ansar, those who nobly followed them,” Zayd said, that he remembered this verse with waw, that is, with ‘and’ after Ansar. So the investigation started, and finally the other memorisers of the Quran came and confirmed that the opinion of Zayd was right. So in the volume the verse was written with the addition of ‘and’.
It is said that during the caliphate of Umar Faruq there were more than one lakh copies of the Quran in circulation in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, etc.
During the caliphate of Uthman there entered the fold of Islam peoples whose mother tongue was not Arabic, and who were not able to speak the language with the proper accent and pronunciation. Even the various Arab tribes themselves had different accents and pronunciation. Hence the variations in the recitation of the Quran. The result was that the Quran, too, began to be written according to varying pronunciations. Ibn Qutayba writes that the Bani Huzayl tribe used to pronounce ‘hatta’ as ‘atta’. Since Ibn Masood belonged to this tribe, its members saw no reason to deviate from this pronunciation. Such differences in recitation came to be “reflected in the transcription of the Quran, this being only one of many such examples. Given this state of affairs, Uthman, as advised by Huzayfa ibn Yaman, had copies made of the volume prepared by Abu Bakr, then sent one copy each to all cities. This task was again entrusted to Zayd ibn Thabit Ansari, who was provided with eleven people to assist him. As per the order of the third caliph, the committee wrote down the Quran in accordance with the spelling of the Quraysh, so that it should conform to the accent (lehja) of the Prophet of Islam. Caliph Uthman subsequently ordered that all other copies of the Quran, which people had written on their own, should be handed over to the government. These were all then burnt by his order.
By this method, all the copies of the Quran were made uniform as far as writing was concerned. However, taking natural differences into consideration—since all the people were not able to pronounce the Quran uniformly—permission was given for the Quran to be recited with seven different pronunciations and accents. The collection prepared by Abu Bakr was done one year after the death of the Prophet. The copies ordered by Uthman were produced fifteen years after the Prophet’s death.
These copies of the Quran, made with extraordinary care and precision, were passed on from generation to generation until the age of the press dawned. Many printing presses were then established in the Muslim world, where the beautiful calligraphy of the scriptures was reproduced after its content had been certified by memorisers of the Quran. Thus, once again, with the help of the memorised versions and written texts, correct, authentic copies were prepared; then with the publication of these copies on a large scale, the Quran spread all over the world.
It is an irrefutable fact acknowledged by the orientalists, that any copy of the Quran found in any part of the world at any time will be exactly the same as that handed down to the Muslims by the Prophet in his last days, arranged in the form still extant today.
