Compilation of the Holy Quran

Since the Holy Quran was not revealed all at once and its

different verses were revealed as and when appropriate,

so it was neither possible nor practicable from the very

beginning to write and preserve it in a book form.

Before one can begin to understand the manner in which

it was preserved, the amazing memories of

the Arab nation must be kept in mind. And of course, the

fact that Allah Himself has said:

“Verily, it is We Who have sent down this Message and it is We Who

shall guard it.” (Surah Hijr; 15:9)

How the Quran was preserved in the time of the Holy Prophet?

 The Quran was revealed to the Holy Prophet through Jibril , who would make—

sure that he s learnt its verses by heart.

 Once the Holy Prophet had memorized the verses, Jibril would tell him that—

these verses should be placed in so and so Surah in so and so order.

 When the Holy Prophet had learnt the verses, he would then teach them to his—

companions who would

 Learn them by heart (these Huffaz were 1000s)—

 The scribes of the Holy Prophet, would write the verses under his instruction—

on paper, stone tablets, bones, palm leaves, wooden boards or animal skins.

(These companions were about 34).

 Ardah—

 Quran was preserved in partial volumes in writing, but primarily in the hearts—

of tens of thousands of his companions.

Preservation and Compilation duringthe caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar

 A large number of Huffaz killed at Yamamah—

 Umar proposed to Abu Bakr: Lets Write it down in a single—

volume

 After some initial hesitation, he Agreed—

 A team of Muqri Sahaba led by Zaid bin Thabit were formed to—

conduct this task

How did Zayd ensure authenticity?

 The contributor must have in writing as well as be a Hafiz—

 He tested its reliability against his own memory and that of—

his team of Huffaz

 Two trustworthy witnesses had testified to the fact that the—

particular verse had been written in the presence of the

Prophet

 The written verses were matched with the collections of—

companions

The Final Volume

 This Task was completed by Umar’s time and stayed with him—

until his martyrdom.

 Then it went in the custody of Hafsah and thus became—

known as Mus’haf-i-Hafsah.

Preservation and Compilation in  the period of Uthman bin 'Affan  Islamic Empire had spread far and wide—

 New people with new tongues, languages, dialects and—

pronunciations had become Muslims

 They began to use these to recite Quran in sometimes odd—

ways.

 Hudhayfa bin Yaman approached the caliph Uthman and told—

him about the possible dangers of this

 Uthman immediately took action—

 Reassembled a team under Zaid bin Thabit—

 Made seven copies of Mushaf e Hafsa—

 Sent these to the provincial capitals—

 Destroyed any deviant/incomplete manuscript—