Author:
Laila Nasheeba
[ Edit | View ]
|
Date Posted: 08:06:35 03/04/02 Mon
Author Host/IP: dhcp024-209-065-114.woh.rr.com/24.209.65.114
As Salaamu Alaikoum,
Praise be to Allah.
Just because the Prophet(saw) could not read or write this did not mean that no one else could either. Whenever the Prophet(saw) would receive a revelation he would have it recorded and written down by scribes one of whom was Zaid. Many of the Sahabah also memorized the Quran. The Holy
Prophet kept all the piece of leather, date stones and other materials on which the verses of the Holy Quran were recorded in his custody.
The reason the Prophet(saw) did not resort to putting the Quran into book formation was because there was no need for it also remember the revelation did not end till he died.
After he died, the revelation process ended and it was during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr that the Muslims decided to perserve to book form the Quran. Abu Bakr called upon Zaid who had been the personal scribe of the prophet and summoned him to gather all of the written documents of the Quran and put them into book format. Zaid did and thus that is when the Quran entered book format. Many of the Sahabah including Abu Bakr had memorized the Quran by heart so based on this, the compilation of the Quran to writting by Zaid was throughly checked and verified to be accurate.
The Mushaf was kept in the custody of Aisha and later was kept by Hafsa the daughter of Umar.
It wasnt until the Caliphate of Uthman that Revision of the Quran was done. The order of the aayahs in their soorahs came about because this is how it was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and there is no dispute among the Muslims with regard to this matter.
The report narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi, al-
Nisaa'i, Ibn Hibbaan and al-Haakim from Ibn 'Abbaas, who
said: "I said to 'Uthmaan, 'What made you put al-Anfaal
which is one of the Mathaani, next to Baraa'ah [al-Tawbah],
which is one of the Mi'een? Why did you not put the line
Bismillaah ir-Rahmaan ir-Raheem in between them when you
put it at the beginning of the rest of al-Sab' al-Tiwaal
[the long seven soorahs]?" 'Uthmaan said: "The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to
receive revelation of soorahs with many aayahs. When they
were revealed, he would call his scribes and tell
them, 'Put these aayahs in the soorah where such-and-such
is mentioned.' Al-Anfaal was one of the first soorahs to be
revealed in Madeenah, and Baraa'ah (al-Tawbah) was one of
the last parts of the Qur'aan to be revealed. Its stories
were similar to the stories mentioned in al-Anfaal, so it
was thought that it was part of it. The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was
taken [i.e., died] without explaining whether it was indeed
part of it, so they were put next to one another, and the
line Bismillaahi ir'Rahmaan ir'Raheem was not written
between them, and it [al-Tawbah] was put among the Sab' al-
Tiwaal [seven long soorahs]." (Al-Haakim said: its isnaad
is saheeh, and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. Al-Mustadrak,
2/330)
Ahmad narrated in al-Musnad (4/218) with a hasan isnaad
from 'Uthmaan ibn Abi'l-'Aas that he said: "I was sitting
with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) when he fixed his gaze on something,
then lowered his gaze until he was almost looking at the
ground, then he gazed at something. He said, 'Jibreel
(peace be upon him) came to me and told me to put this
aayah in this place in this soorah:
"Verily, Allâh enjoins Al-'Adl (i.e. justice and
worshipping none but Allâh Alone - Islâmic Monotheism) and
Al-Ihsân [i.e. to be patient in performing your duties to
Allâh, totally for Allâh's sake and in accordance with the
Sunnah (legal ways) of the Prophet in a perfect manner],
and giving (help) to kith and kin (i.e. all that Allâh has
ordered you to give them, e.g., wealth, visiting, looking
after them, or any other kind of help), and forbids Al-
Fahshâ' (i.e. all evil deeds, e.g. illegal sexual acts,
disobedience of parents, polytheism, to tell lies, to give
false witness, to kill a life without right), and Al-Munkar
(i.e. all that is prohibited by Islâmic law: polytheism of
every kind, disbelief and every kind of evil deeds), and Al-
Baghy (i.e. all kinds of oppression). He admonishes you,
that you may take heed." [al-Nahl 16:90 - interpretation of
the meaning].'"
Al-Bukhaari narrated in al-Saheeh (no. 4536) that Ibn Abi
Maleekah said: "Ibn al-Zubayr said: 'I said
to 'Uthmaan, "This aayah that is in al-Baqarah
(interpretation of the meaning), 'And those of you who die
and leave wives behind them . And those of you who die and
leave behind wives should bequeath for their wives a year's
maintenance and residence without turning them out' [al-
Baqarah 2:234-240] has been abrogated by the other, so why
are you writing it down it down?" He said, "Leave it as it
is, my nephew, I will not change anything from its place."'"
Muslim narrated (no. 1617) that 'Umar said: "I did not ask
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
about anything more than I asked him about al-Kalaalah
[those who die leaving neither ascendants nor descendents
as heirs], until he poked me in the chest with his finger
and said, "Is not aayat al-sayf [?] at the end of Soorat al-
Nisa' enough for you?"
There are also the ahaadeeth about the aayahs at the end of
Soorat al-Baqarah.
Muslim narrated (no. 809) from Abu al-Darda' that whoever
memorizes the first ten aayahs of Soorat al-Kahf will be
protected from the Dajjaal; according to another version,
whoever recites the last ten verses will be protected.
The Prophet's recitation of various soorahs in the presence
of his companions indicates that the order of their aayahs
is something that was instituted and commanded by him, and
that the Sahaabah did not put the aayahs in a different
order from that in which the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) used to recite them. The reports to
that effect reach the level of Mutawaatir.
Al-Qaadi Abu Bakr said in al-Intisaar: "The order of the
aayahs is something that is obligatory and binding. Jibreel
used to say (to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him)), 'Put such and such an aayah in such and such
a place.'"
He also said: "What we think is that all of the Qur'aan
which Allaah revealed and commanded that it should be
written down, and which was not abrogated after being
revealed, is that which is contained between the covers of
the Mus-haf of 'Uthmaan, and that there is nothing lacking
or added to it. Its order is the same as that commanded by
Allaah, may He be exalted, and instituted by the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Nobody has
moved any aayah backwards or forwards. The Ummah learned
from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) the order of the aayahs of each soorah properly, just
as they learned from him the correct pronunciation and
recitation."
Al-Baghawi said in Sharh al-Sunnah: "The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to
instruct his companions and teach them what was revealed to
him of the Qur'aan in the order in which it appears in our
Mus-hafs now, the order which Jibreel taught him. When each
aayah was revealed, Jibreel would tell him, this aayah is
to be written after such and such an aayah in Soorah such
and such. Thus it is clear that the efforts of the Sahaabah
were limited solely to gathering the Qur'aan in one place,
not to arranging its order. The Qur'aan is written on al-
Lawh al-Mahfooz in this order, then Allaah sent it down in
its entirety to the first heaven, whence it was revealed in
stages as it was needed, and the order in which it was
revealed is not the order in which it is recited."
With regard to the order of Soorahs, was this also
instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him), or was this the ijtihaad of the Sahaabah?
With regard to this question, there were differences among
the scholars. The majority of scholars, including Maalik
and al-Qaadi Abu Bakr, according to one of his two
opinions, favoured the second opinion.
Ibn Faaris said: "There were two aspects to the compilation
of the Qur'aan. One was putting the soorahs in a certain
order, such as putting al-Sab' al-Tiwaal (the seven long
soorahs) first, and following them with the Mi'een, which
is what the Sahaabah did. The second aspect is the
compilation of the aayahs within the soorahs. This was
instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him), who recited them as he was told to by
Jibreel, on the command of his Lord. On this basis the
salaf differed as to the order in which the soorahs should
appear. Some of them put them in order of revelation, which
was the mus-haf of 'Ali, which started with Iqra' (al-
'Alaq), then al-Muddaththir, then Noon (al-Qalam), then al-
Muzzammil, and so on. The Mus-haf of Ibn Mas'ood started
with al-Baqarah, then al-Nisa', then Aal 'Imraan, with
other major differences. The Mus-haf of Ubayy was similar."
Al-Karmaani said in al-Burhaan: the order of the soorahs as
it is now is the same as that in al-Lawh al-Mahfooz which
is with Allaah. This is the order in which the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to review
the soorahs of the Qur'aan he had received so far with
Jibreel each year. In the year in which he died, he
reviewed it with him twice, and the last aayahs to be
revealed were (interpretation of the meaning): 'And be
afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to
Allaah.' [al-Baqarah 2:281]. Jibreel commanded the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to put this
between the aayahs dealing with riba and those dealing with
loans."
Al-Zarkashi said in al-Burhaan: "The difference between the
two views is one of wording. Those who support the second
view say that it was taught to them so that they could
learn the reasons of Revelation and the sequence of the
words. Hence Maalik said that they compiled the Qur'aan
according to what they had heard from the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), as well as saying
that the order of the soorahs was the product of their
ijtihaad. He said that the dispute boils down to one
question which is: was this a verbal instruction of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), or
were they merely referring to what he used to do, which
would give them room for ijtihaad."
Al-Bayhaqi said in al-Madkhil: "At the time of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the soorahs
and aayahs of the Qur'aan were in this order, except for al-
Anfaal and Baraa'ah (al-Tawbah), as we see from the hadeeth
of 'Uthmaan referred to above."
Ibn 'Atiyah said: "The order of many of the soorahs was
known during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), such as the seven long
soorahs, those that begin with Ha'-Meem, and al-Mufassal.
With regard to the others, it may be the case that it was
left for the Ummah to determine their order after he died."
Abu Ja'far said: "The reports support most of what
Ibn 'Atiyah said, and a little is left which is open to
debate, such as the hadeeth, 'Recite the two shining ones,
al-Baqarah and Aal 'Imraan.'" (Reported by Muslim, no. 804).
Al-Bukhaari narrated (no. 4739) that 'Abd-Allaah ibn
Mas'ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "Bani
Israa'eel (al-Israa'), al-Kahf, Maryam, Ta-Ha and al-
Anbiya', these are among the earliest and most beautiful
soorahs and they are my treasures," (meaning, these are
among the earliest I recited).
Abu Ja'far al-Nahhaas al-Mukhtaar said that the soorahs
were compiled in this order from the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) because of the
hadeeth of Waathilah, "In place of the Tawraat I was given
the seven long soorahs." He said: "This hadeeth indicates
that the order of the Qur'aan was taken from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Ibn Hajar said, "the fact that the soorahs , or most of
them, are in a given order does not contradict the idea
that this was instituted by the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). What proves that this was
instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) is the report narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawood
from Aws ibn Hudhayfah, who said: 'We asked the companions
of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) in the morning, "How did you write down the
Qur'aan in chapters?" They said, "We wrote it down in
chapters of six soorahs, five soorahs, seven soorahs, nine
soorahs, eleven soorahs and thirteen soorahs, and the
chapter of al-Mufassal, from Qaaf until the end. This
indicates that the order of the soorahs - as it appears in
the Mus-haf now - existed at the time of the Messenger of
Allaah, or it is possible that what was known in order at
that time was Hizb al-Mufassal specifically, which is not
the case with the rest."
So thus is how the Quran was Compiled and put together. For more on this subject go to the Taped Lectures section of our website and listen to the tape enttitled, "How the Quran was Put together". HTTP://laila.aresworld.net
AND ALLAH KNOWS BEST
|
Feedback: 