Quran and Its Preservation part 2 - Empowering Ummah · 2020. 8. 18. · 1 Quran and Its Preservation – part 2 QURAN = Verbatim speech of Allah revealed to Prophet through Angel

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Quran and Its Preservation – part 2

QURAN = Verbatim speech of Allah revealed to Prophet through Angel Jibrael.

In the previous khutbah:

• We have seen some of the things the Quran says about Quran.

• We have seen some of the things, the Quran says to Prophet Muhammad

(SAWS). For example: follow the recitation (Surah 75:18), follow the Quran

(Surah 10: 109) and to only convey the message (Surah 6:155).

• Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.

Quran 15:9

In today’s khutbah, we will cover:

• What the Quran says to us (in the context of the topic)

• What our Rasool says to us (in the context of the topic)

• Revelation / Compilation of Quran

Quran to Us:

Say, "Obey Allah and the Messenger." But if they turn away - then indeed, Allah does not like the disbelievers. Quran 3:32

O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result. Quran 4:59

Rasool to Us:

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Narrated Irbad ibn Sariyah: AbdurRahman ibn Amr as-Sulami and Hujr ibn Hujr said: We came to Irbad ibn Sariyah who was among those about whom the following verse was revealed: "Nor (is there blame) on those who come to thee to be provided with mounts, and when thou saidst: "I can find no mounts for you." We greeted him and said: We have come to see you to give healing and obtain benefit from you. Al-Irbad said: One day the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) led us in prayer, then faced us and gave us a lengthy exhortation at which the eyes shed tears and the hearts were afraid. A man said: Messenger of Allah! It seems as if it were a farewell exhortation, so what injunction do you give us? He then said: I enjoin you to fear Allah, and to hear and obey even if it be an Abyssinian slave, for those of you who live after me will see great disagreement.

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You must then follow my sunnah and that of the rightly-guided caliphs. Hold to it and stick fast to it. Avoid novelties, for every novelty is an innovation, and every innovation is an error. Sunan Abu Dawud 4607 NOTE: Most of the commentators on this hadith state that the term "rightly guided successors" is a reference to Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali

الله رض who were the leaders of the Muslim community after the death of the ,عنهمProphet (S). So, we have now established from Quran and Sunnah that:

• We have to obey Allah and His Messenger and those in Authority

• If we disagree over anything, we should refer it to Allah and His Messenger

• We should (specially during times of disagreements) follow the Sunnah of our Prophet (saws) and that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.

• Rightly Guided Caliphs are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (ra).

Revelation / Compilation of the Quran:

First Stage: Compilation that was done during the life time of Prophet

Muhammad (SAWS) himself.

Quran was revealed to him and he recited to his companions and they

memorized it (as most of them were unlettered) and some of them wrote it

down.

Prophet Muhammad had over 20 scribes.

Zaid ibn Thabith being the main one.

So, while the Prophet was still alive, it was preserved in both written and oral /

phonetic form.

Second Stage:

After the Prophet died (11th year after hijra), during that time of Abu Bakr As-

Siddiq (frist Caliph), there was a battle called the battle of Yamamah (12th hijra).

Many huffaaz were killed in this battle. Due to the fear that the Quran might get

lost in future generations, Umar went to Abu Bakr and explained that it is

important to compile the Quran in the form of a book.

During Prophet’s time, it wasn’t compiled in the form of one book. Different

scribes were writing on different materials like leather skins, bones – specially

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shoulder bone of Camel etc. So, the Quran was scattered in its written form.

Where as in terms of memorization, many companions memorized the Quran

from Suratul Fatiha to Suratul Naas i.e. chapter 1 to chapter 114.

So during the time of Abu Bakr, it was compiled into one compilation, one codex

from cover to cover.

Bukhari Hadith 4986

انثا سعد، بن إبراهيم عن إسماعيل، بن موس حد

نثاق، بن عبيد عن شهاب، ابن حد ب الس

ن أ

يدبن ز

ابت ال ـ عنه الله رض ـ ث

رسل ق

أ

بو إلر أ

ل بك

تل مق

هيمامة أ

ا ال

إذاب بن عمر ف

طخه ال

دال عن

بو ق

أ

ر ـ عنه الله رض ـ بك

عمر إن

ان تال أ

ق ف

ل إن

تقد ال

حر ق

يمامة يوم است

اء ال ر

رآن بق

ق ال

وإن ش خ أ

نأ

حر ل يست

تقاء ال ر

ق، بال مواطن

ب بال

هيذر ف ثي

رآن من ك

ق ال

رى وإن أ

نمر أ

أرآن جمع ب ت

ق .ال

تلق

يف لعمر عل ك

فا ت

يئم ش

ل

هعل رسول يف

ال وسلم عليه الله صل الل

ا عمر ق

ذ ه

ر والل ي

م .خ

لعمر يزل ف

ح حن يراجعن

ش ر ي الل

، صد

لك

لذ

يت

ورأ

ف لك

ذي ذ

ى ال

ال .عمر رأ

ق

ريدال ز

بو ق

ر أ

بك

كرجلر إن

اب عاقلر ش

، ل

همك

ت ن

د وق

تنب ك

تكوح ت

لرسول ال

ع وسلم عليه الله صل الل

بتت ف

رآن

قال

اجمعه

ف

والل

و ف

ل

ون فلل ك

قجبا من جبل ن

ما ل ال

انل ك

قث أ

ا عل مم

مرن رآن جمع من أ

ق ال

تلق

يف ك

ون

علفا ت

يئم ش

ل

هعل رسول يف

ال وسلم عليه الله صل الل

و ق

ه

ر والل ي

م خ

لبو يزل ف

ر أ

بك

ح حن يراجعن

ش ر ي الل

صد

ح ذيلل

ش هر ل

ن صد

ر أ

ـ عنهما الله رض ـ وعمر بك

عت ب

تتف

رآن

ق ال

جمعه

عسب من أ

اف ال

خور والل

حن الرجال وصد

ت

وبة سورة آخر وجد

ن مع الت

أ

زيمة

خ

اتمة م { حن خ

يه ما عنت

يزر عل م عز

سك

فنم رسولر من أ

جاءك

دقه }ل ي

حد غ

ا مع أ

هجد

م أ

ي ل صار

ن الأ

،ت براءة

انكحف ف الص

دن عن

ر أ

اه حن بك

وف ت

م الل ث

د حي عمر عن

هم ات

ث

د عن

صة

ت حف

ـ عمر بن

ـ عنه الله رض .

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit: Abu Bakr As-Siddiq sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Musailima). (I went to him) and found `Umar bin Al- Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said (to me), "`Umar has come to me and said: "Casualties were heavy among the Qurra' of the Qur'an (i.e. those who knew the Qur'an by heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected." I said to `Umar, "How can you do something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" `Umar said, "By Allah, that is a good project." `Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my chest for it and I began to realize the good in the idea which `Umar had realized."

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Then Abu Bakr said (to me). 'You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم). So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it in one book." By Allah If they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, "How will you do something which Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not do?" Abu Bakr replied, "By Allah, it is a good project." Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my chest for what He had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and `Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palme stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last Verse of Surat at-Tauba (Repentance) with Abi Khuzaima Al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The Verse is: 'Verily there has come unto you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty..(till the end of Surat-Baraa' (at-Tauba) (9.128-129). Then the complete manuscripts (copy) of the Qur'an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of `Umar.

Third Stage:

This happened during Caliphate of Uthman. When some companions came back

from what is now called Azerbaijan, it was found that Muslims from many parts

of the Caliphate (Kufa, Damascus etc) had variation in their recitations of the

Quran, some were saying … our recitation is better than yours and so on. That is

because the Quran was revealed to Prophet in 7 Ahroof (Harf singlular - can

mean dialect, idiom or mode of expression).

Prophet was from Quraish tribe, but there were other Arabs who had different

ways of expressing themselves. To understand this better, let us take couple of

examples from English language.

As we very well know, different people have different ways of expressing things

even in the English language. For example:

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Daiper (USA) & Nappies (UK) – same thing called by different names in different

places.

What is known as Sneakers in US is known as Trainers in England. But they both

mean exactly the same thing. Similarly, Arabs had different ways of expressing

themselves.

So likewise, the Quran was revealed to Prophet in different Arabic dialects /

modes so that the people from different Arab tribes will not have difficulty in

the Quran.

Bukhari Hadith 4991

يل، عن ي عق

ن ثال حد

، ق

يث

ي الل

ن ثال حد

، ق

ي بن عف

ا سعيد

نث بن حد

الل

ي عبيد

ن ثال حد

ابن شهاب، ق

اس ـ رض الله عنه ابن عبن، أ

ال عبد الل

صلى الله عليه وسلم ق

رسول الل

ن أهثما ـ حد يل "

ي جي ن رأقأ

ه وي يد سي

ل أ

زم أ

ل، ف

هراجعت

حرف ف

حرف على

سبعة أ

إل

ه

تي حن ان

ن يد ."ز

Narrated `Abdullah bin `Abbas: Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "Gabriel recited the Qur'an to me in one way. Then I requested him (to read it in another way), and continued asking him to recite it in other ways, and he recited it in several ways till he ultimately recited it in seven different ways."

Bukhari Hadith 4992

ي ن ثال حد

يل، عن ابن شهاب، ق

ي عق

ن ثال حد

، ق

يث

ي الل

ن ثال حد

، ق

ي بن عف

ا سعيد

نث، حد

بي بن الزعروة

حمن بن الر

، وعبد

رمة

مسور بن مخ

الن أ

ول سمعت

اب، يق

طخهما، سمعا عمر بن ال

ناه أ

ث، حد ي ار

قعبد ال

لقراءته معت

است

صلى الله عليه وسلم ف

ي حياة رسول الل

ان ف رقف ال سورة

رأام بن حكيم، يق

و هش

ا ه

إذ ف

حروف

علىرأ حن يق

ت صي

تة ف

لا ي الص

ره ف ساو أت

كد

صلى الله عليه وسلم ف

نيها رسول الل

ئ ر م يق

ة ل ثي

ك

رأق تكي سمعت

ن الورة ذه الس

ه

كرأق من أ

ت

لقائه ف

د بر

هبت بلم ف

نيها رسو .سل

رأقال أ

صلى الله عليه ق

ل الل

به .وسلمت

قلطان، ف

ترأ ما ق

ي غ

نيها على

رأق أد صلى الله عليه وسلم ق

رسول الل

إن فبت

ذ كت

لقه ف

ودق أ

بسو رأا يق

ذ ه

ي سمعت

إن تلق صلى الله عليه وسلم ف

رسول الل

نيهاإل

ئ ر قم ت

حروف ل

ان على

رقف .رة ال

صلى الله عليه وسلم

ال رسول اللقام "ف

يا هش

رأ اقهرسل

."أ

رأ يق

هي سمعت

ن القراءة

يه ال

عل

رأقال .ف

قف

صلى الله عليه وسلم

" رسول الللك

ذ ك

ت

ل ز نال ." أ

م ق

يا عمر "ث

رأال ."اق

ق، ف ي

ن رأقي أ ن القراءة

ال

ترأقف

صلى الله عليه وسلم

" رسول الل يسرءوا ما ت

اقحرف ف

سبعة أ

ل على ز

ن أرآن

قا ال

ذ ه، إن

ت

ل ز ن ألك

ذ ك

همن

". Narrated `Umar bin Al-Khattab: I heard Hisham bin Hakim reciting Surat Al-Furqan during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and I listened to his recitation and noticed that he recited in several different ways which Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had not taught me.

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I was about to jump over him during his prayer, but I controlled my temper, and when he had completed his prayer, I put his upper garment around his neck and seized him by it and said, "Who taught you this Sura which I heard you reciting?" He replied, "Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught it to me." I said, "You have told a lie, for Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has taught it to me in a different way from yours." So I dragged him to Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and said (to Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم)), "I heard this person reciting Surat Al-Furqan in a way which you haven't taught me!" On that Allah's Apostle said, "Release him, (O `Umar!) Recite, O Hisham!" Then he recited in the same way as I heard him reciting. Then Allah's Messenger said, "It was revealed in this way," and added, "Recite, O `Umar!" I recited it (صلى الله عليه وسلم)as he had taught me. Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) then said, "It was revealed in this way. This Qur'an has been revealed to be recited in seven different ways, so recite of it whichever (way) is easier for you (or read as much of it as may be easy for you). NOTE: Same incident is also mentioned in hadith 2419. NOTE: There are many more hadeeths on this subject. I don’t know all of them and from the ones I

know, I am referring to some that would be sufficient for today biidhnillah.

*** *** ***

So, coming back to the concern expressed by the companions who came back

from Azerbaijan…

They reported to Uthman (ra) that they feared some contention and that

Muslims might differ over our book as people of other scriptures differed over

their text and suggested to the Khalifah to standardize the Quran.

So the companions came together, Zaid ibn Thabith (Scribe of Prophet and

memoriser of Quran and who was given the responsibility of bringing the Quran

together by Abu Bakr) and three other companions who were known to be the

scribes of Prophet also were brought together and the Quran was standardized

under the guidance of Uthman (ra) who was also a scribe of Prophet.

This is the Quran we find today. Some called it as Uthmani quran – not because

Uthman wrote it but because he standardized on one Harf (the Harf of

Quraysh). Let us not forget that our Prophet (SAWS) was a Qurayshi.

Scholars of Islam differed in the past over what Ahroof entails because we don’t

actually have the knowledge of what existed before standardization. One

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opinion is that some Scholars said that some Arabs preferred to speak in

singular terms while others preferred to speak in plural terms.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should not hurt his neighbor and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should serve his guest generously and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should speak what is good or keep silent." Sahih al-Bukhari 6136

If the same part is translated as… those who believe in Allah and the last day

should speak what is good or keep silent.

So, by saying Who, Whoever, Those – does that change the meaning? No, it

doesn’t.

Some people prefer one way and other people prefer other way. Similarly, the

Arabs had different ways of expressing themselves and Allah (SWT) revealed the

Quran to the Prophet in 7 different ways.

This is one opinion and it is sufficient for us Muslims to get an idea about what

we are talking about.

What we can confidently say is that the Quran that was revealed to Prophet

(SAWS) was the Quran that Uthman (ra) compiled. There wasn’t anything in the

Quran that Uthman compiled that was not revealed to Prophet.

All the companions agreed on the standard Quran which was during the life

time of Uthman which was ONLY 20 years after the lifetime of Prophet.

Five (or seven) copies were made and distributed to different centres

(Damascus, Kufa etc) of the Muslim Caliphate.

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Mushafs were sent with Recitors (Which Recitors? Recitors who took the

recitation directly from the Prophet, who took from Gibrael and Gibrael took

from Allah).

Then Uthman (ra) told the rest of the Muslims who may have had their own

copies of the Quran which they began to write down themselves (and some had

their notes written on them) to get rid of their personal copies so that there

won’t be any contradiction with the standardized version. So, they got rid via

different respectable ways like taking it to the ocean or river so that the ink is

washed away or burned it. So, from that point until today we have one

standard version of the Quran.

Bukhari Hadith 4987

انثا موس، حد

نثا إبراهيم، حد

نث شهاب، ابن حد

نس أ

ن مالك، بن أ

هث حد

ن أ

ةيفيمان بن حذ

دم ال

ق

عل

مان

عث

اناز ي وك

ل يغ

هم أ

أ الش

ح ف ت ف

إرمينية

ربيجان

ذل مع وأ

هعراق أ

ال

زعفأ ف

ةيفهم حذ

فتلا

اخ

ف

قراءة ال ال

ق ف

ةيف حذ

مان

يا لعث مي

مني أ

مؤ

ال

ر ك

د أ

ذه ه

ة مبل الأ

ق

نوا أ

لفت يخ

اب ف كتف ال

تلا

اخ

يهود صارى ال

رسل والن

أ ف

مان

عث

إل

صة

حف

نرسل أ

ا أ

ينحف إل ها بالص

سخ

ن ن

مصاحف ف م ال

ث

اهرديك ن

إل

ترسل

أ بها ف

صة

حف

ع إل

مان

مر ث

أ ف

يدابت بن ز

ث

وعبد

بن الل

بي الز

عاص بن وسعيد

ال

حمن وعبد

ث بن الر حار ام بن ال

ا هش

وه

سخ

ن ف

مصاحف ف ال ال

وق

مان

ط عث

ه رشيي للر

قة ال

ثلاا الث

إذ

م تفلت اخ

نم أ ت

يدابت بن وز

ث

ء ف رآن من س

قبوه ال

تاكريش بلسان ف

ما ق

إنزل ف

وا بلسانهم ن

علفحن ف

اوا إذ

سخ

حف ن الص

مصاحف ف ال

رد

مان

حف عث الص

إل

صة

رسل حف

وأ

ل إلق ك

فا حف بمص أ مم

يحرق

نو مصحف أ

ة أل صحيف

ك

رآن ف قمر بما سواه من ال

وا وأ

سخ

ن

Narrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to `Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to `Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an) as Jews and the Christians did before." So `Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to `Uthman. `Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, `Abdullah bin AzZubair, Sa`id bin Al-As and `AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. `Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid

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bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, `Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. `Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.

QIRAAT: Within the qira'at, there are two categories:

Mutawatir: a transmission which has independent chains of authorities so wide as to rule out the possibility of any error and on which there is consensus.

Mashhur: these are slightly less wide in their transmission, but still so wide as to make error is highly unlikely.

There are 7 mutawatir qira'at and 3 mashhur ones. The majority of the Muslims today are accustomed to hearing the qirat called Hafs which is of course mutawatir.

There are slight differences in these variant readings of Quran and as we know the Prophet (SAWS) himself said that the Quran was revealed to him in 7 Ahroof (Harf singlular). So, when taken in this context, everything will be clear biidhnillah.

CONCLUSION:

• Uthman (RA) sent with every Mushaf a recitor who taught the people the

Quran. The qari / recitor who was sent with the Mushaf taught the Quran

the way it was taken from Prophet (SAWS).

• The Mushaf we have with us today is the only Quran, there is no other

Quran.

• We Muslims should never forget that, it is Allah who promised to guard /

preserve the Quran.

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Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian. Quran 15:9 And His promise is TRUE.

• Do we then need to fall in to the trap of some of these Academics from

the “prestigious western universities” or in to the trap of whoever, who

want to deconstruct everything in Islam and then reconstruct it etc etc.

• For those who are well grounded in the Quran, they will take care of

themselves Insha Allah. For those of us who are not well grounded, it

should be enough for us, as we find in the Quran:

جل ى أ

م إلركخم ويؤ

وبك

نم من ذ

كفر ل

م ليغ

عوك

رض يد

ماوات والأ اطر الس

ف ك

ش

الل

ف هم أ

رسل

تال ق

بي ان م

طا بسل

ونتأا فن آباؤ

يعبد

انا ك ا عم

ونصد

ن ت

أون

يد ر

ا تنلر مث

بش م إل

نت أوا إن

السم ق – م

Quran 14:10

Their messengers said, "Can there be doubt about Allah, Creator of the

heavens and earth? He invites you that He may forgive you of your sins, and

He delays your death for a specified term." They said, "You are not but men

like us who wish to avert us from what our fathers were worshipping. So bring

us a clear authority.

• We should concentrate on reading, reciting, memorizing, understanding

and above all, trying to implement it’s teachings as much as possible –

implementing is what is missing in the Muslim Ummah today.

• Lastly, please note that there is lots more information on this subject

which the true Scholars of Islam (experts in the area) can use to answer or

smash or demolish every doubt or argument put forward by Orientalists,

Missionaries or whoever.

I ask Allah (SWT) to make this khutbah beneficial to everyone present here and beyond. Ameen.

SOURCES:

• Quran and books of Hadeeth

12

• DeenShow interview with Dr. Tahir Wyatt

• TRUTH OF QURAN HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED AS GOD'S WORD – debate Samuel Green Vs Brother Imran

• The Preserved Book (22 short episodes) by Ustadh Abdulrahman Hassan

• The Seven Qira'at of the Qur'an by Aisha Bewley