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Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Textual History of the Qur'an (view source)
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According to orthodox Islamic belief, the Qur'an is the unchanging, eternal word of [[Allah]], pre-existent before all time and space, handed to the [[Muhammad ibn Abdullah|prophet]] through divine revelation. The text of this final word of Allah is thus eternal and unchanging, as opposed to the previous revelations given to [[People of the Book|people of the book]], which were changed and corrupted over the ages. This picture, though, is highly complicated by the fact that the Islamic tradition recognizes 7 historical reading traditions, each with two transmitters featuring different "harakat" or short vowels for the "rasm" or consonantal skeleton of the text. Recent work on the language of the Qur'an, extant manuscripts, and discoveries such as the [[Sana'a Manuscript]] complicate this picture significantly more. From the Sana'a palimpset it is apparent that the received text of the Qur'an at one point had variants which were not preserved in any of the 7 reading traditions, and the reading traditions themselves differ sometimes significantly in grammar and meaning. The Islamic tradition itself also complicates the picture. The below hadith traditions indicate that the complete, pristine text of the Qur'an did not make it out past the first generation of Muslims. According to the tradition, many of the Muslims who had memorized the entirety of the Qur'an were killed in battle before they could put their verses to writing, and some verses were lost with them; the ends and beginning of some of the suwar or chapters were in dispute, and several ahadith state that the entirety of the Qur'an was not passed down. Shi'ites in particular have traditions which claim that up to a quarter of the Qur'an was not passed down to the present day. Some hadith also claim that entire verses were "cancelled" or removed from the text for no apparent reason. All of these traditions were written down in or after the second Islamic century, so they likely reflect the thoughts and feelings of people alive at that time about the textual integrity of the Qur'an, which was by this time well known as the sacred text of the Muslims and their empire. | |||
==Difficulty in Collecting the Qur'anic Verses== | ==Difficulty in Collecting the Qur'anic Verses== | ||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|6|60|201}}|Narrated Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari: who was one of those who used to write the Divine Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra' were killed). 'Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said, 'Umar has come to me and said, The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the Qurra' (those who know the Qur'an by heart) at other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur'an." Abu Bakr added, "I said to 'Umar, 'How can I do something which Allah's Apostle has not done?' 'Umar said (to me), 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing.' So 'Umar kept on pressing, trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as 'Umar." (Zaid bin Thabit added:) Umar was sitting with him (Abu Bakr) and was not speaking. me). "You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness): and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript). | {{Quote|1={{Bukhari|6|60|201}}, See Also {{Bukhari|9|89|301}}, {{Bukhari|6|61|509}}|2=Narrated Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari: who was one of those who used to write the Divine Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra' were killed). 'Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said, 'Umar has come to me and said, The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the Qurra' (those who know the Qur'an by heart) at other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur'an." Abu Bakr added, "I said to 'Umar, 'How can I do something which Allah's Apostle has not done?' 'Umar said (to me), 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing.' So 'Umar kept on pressing, trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as 'Umar." (Zaid bin Thabit added:) Umar was sitting with him (Abu Bakr) and was not speaking. me). "You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness): and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript). " By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur'an. I said to both of them, "How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?" Abu Bakr said, "By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr and Umar. So I started locating Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuzaima two Verses of Surat-at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else, (and they were)...}} | ||
==Organization of the Qur'an== | ==Organization of the Qur'an== | ||
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Some apologists claim that Abi Sarh returned to Islam under his own free will without pressure by citing al-Tabari's tafsir on 6:93, which says that Abi Sarh returned to Islam before the conquest of Mecca. However, Tabari's History and hadiths in Sunan Abu Dawud say that he returned to Islam on the same day that Mecca was taken (i.e. under pressure, when he was presented to Muhammad by his foster brother, `Uthman). | Some apologists claim that Abi Sarh returned to Islam under his own free will without pressure by citing al-Tabari's tafsir on 6:93, which says that Abi Sarh returned to Islam before the conquest of Mecca. However, Tabari's History and hadiths in Sunan Abu Dawud say that he returned to Islam on the same day that Mecca was taken (i.e. under pressure, when he was presented to Muhammad by his foster brother, `Uthman). | ||
{{ quote |{{Tabari| | {{quote |{{citation|title=The History of al-Tabari|trans_title=Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk|volume=vol. IX|ISBN=0-88706-691-7|year=1990|publisher=SUNY Press|author=al-Tabari (d. 923)|editor=Ismail K. Poonawala|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryAlTabari40Vol/History_Al-Tabari_10_Vol/page/n2267/mode/2up|page=148}}<br>{{citation|title=تاريخ الرسل والملوك|author=أبو جعفر الطبري|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9783|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol. 11|page=540}}|'Abdallah b. Sa'd b. Abi Sarh used to write for him. He apostatized from Islam and later returned to Islam on the day of the conquest of Mecca. }} | ||
{{ quote | {{Abudawud|14|2677}} | Narrated Sa'd: On the day when Mecca was conquered, the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) gave protection to the People except four men and two women and he named them. Ibn AbuSarh was one of them. He then narrated the tradition. He said: Ibn AbuSarh hid himself with Uthman ibn Affan. When the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) called the people to take the oath of allegiance, he brought him and made him stand before the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He said: Apostle of Allah, receive the oath of allegiance from him. He raised his head and looked at him thrice, denying him every time. After the third time he received his oath. He then turned to his Companions and said: Is not there any intelligent man among you who would stand to this (man) when he saw me desisting from receiving the oath of allegiance, and kill him? They replied: We do not know, Apostle of Allah, what lies in your heart; did you not give us an hint with your eye? He said: It is not proper for a Prophet to have a treacherous eye.}} | {{quote | {{Abudawud|14|2677}} | Narrated Sa'd: On the day when Mecca was conquered, the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) gave protection to the People except four men and two women and he named them. Ibn AbuSarh was one of them. He then narrated the tradition. He said: Ibn AbuSarh hid himself with Uthman ibn Affan. When the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) called the people to take the oath of allegiance, he brought him and made him stand before the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He said: Apostle of Allah, receive the oath of allegiance from him. He raised his head and looked at him thrice, denying him every time. After the third time he received his oath. He then turned to his Companions and said: Is not there any intelligent man among you who would stand to this (man) when he saw me desisting from receiving the oath of allegiance, and kill him? They replied: We do not know, Apostle of Allah, what lies in your heart; did you not give us an hint with your eye? He said: It is not proper for a Prophet to have a treacherous eye.}} | ||
{{Quote||"'To me it has been revealed', when naught has been revealed to him" refers to `Abdallah Ibn Sa`d Ibn Abi Sarh, who used to write for God's messenger. The verse (23:12) that says, "We created man of an extraction of clay" was revealed, and when Muhammad reached the part that says, "... thereafter We produced him as another creature (23:14), `Abdallah said, "So blessed be God the fairest of creators!" in amazement at the details of man's creation. The prophet said, "Write it down; for thus it has been revealed." `Abdallah doubted and said, "If Muhammad is truthful then I receive the revelation as much as he does, and if he is a liar, what I said is a good as what he said."<ref>Tafsir Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil by `Abdallah Ibn `Umar al-Baidawi</ref>}} | {{Quote||"'To me it has been revealed', when naught has been revealed to him" refers to `Abdallah Ibn Sa`d Ibn Abi Sarh, who used to write for God's messenger. The verse (23:12) that says, "We created man of an extraction of clay" was revealed, and when Muhammad reached the part that says, "... thereafter We produced him as another creature (23:14), `Abdallah said, "So blessed be God the fairest of creators!" in amazement at the details of man's creation. The prophet said, "Write it down; for thus it has been revealed." `Abdallah doubted and said, "If Muhammad is truthful then I receive the revelation as much as he does, and if he is a liar, what I said is a good as what he said."<ref>Tafsir Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil by `Abdallah Ibn `Umar al-Baidawi</ref>}} | ||
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==Cancelled Verses== | ==Cancelled Verses== | ||
There is evidence to the cancellation of some verses from the Qur’an even though they were revealed to | There is evidence to the cancellation of some verses from the Qur’an even though they were revealed to Muhammad and the people of his time had memorized them. | ||
{{Quote| {{Bukhari|4|52|57}}| | {{Quote| {{Bukhari|4|52|57}}| | ||
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Narrated Anas: The people of the tribes of Ril, Dhakwan, 'Usiya and Bani Lihyan came to the Prophet and claimed that they had embraced Islam, and they requested him to support them with some men to fight their own people. The Prophet supported them with seventy men from the Ansar whom we used to call Al-Qurra'(i.e. Scholars) who (out of piety) used to cut wood during the day and pray all the night. So, those people took the (seventy) men till they reached a place called Bi'r-Ma'ana where they betrayed and martyred them. So, the Prophet invoked evil on the tribe of Ril, Dhakwan and Bani Lihyan for one month in the prayer. Narrated Qatada: Anas told us that they (i.e. Muslims) used to recite a Quranic Verse concerning those martyrs which was:-- "O Allah! Let our people be informed on our behalf that we have met our Lord Who has got pleased with us and made us pleased." Then the Verse was cancelled. }} | Narrated Anas: The people of the tribes of Ril, Dhakwan, 'Usiya and Bani Lihyan came to the Prophet and claimed that they had embraced Islam, and they requested him to support them with some men to fight their own people. The Prophet supported them with seventy men from the Ansar whom we used to call Al-Qurra'(i.e. Scholars) who (out of piety) used to cut wood during the day and pray all the night. So, those people took the (seventy) men till they reached a place called Bi'r-Ma'ana where they betrayed and martyred them. So, the Prophet invoked evil on the tribe of Ril, Dhakwan and Bani Lihyan for one month in the prayer. Narrated Qatada: Anas told us that they (i.e. Muslims) used to recite a Quranic Verse concerning those martyrs which was:-- "O Allah! Let our people be informed on our behalf that we have met our Lord Who has got pleased with us and made us pleased." Then the Verse was cancelled. }} | ||
It is not clear who had decided to | It is not clear who had decided to cancel them. | ||
==The Seven Ahruf of the Qur'an== | |||
A number of hadiths narrate that the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad in up to seven "ahruf" (literally "words" or "letters"), which has been variously interpreted by classical scholars to mean dialects, or ways of recitation, among other theories. The concept of [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur'an#Relationship_between_Qira.27at_and_Ahruf|seven ahruf]] is not to be confused with the seven (or ten) canonical qira'at, or readings of the Qur'an. | |||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|41|601}}|Narrated `Umar bin Al-Khattab: | |||
I heard Hisham bin Hakim bin Hizam reciting Surat-al-Furqan in a way different to that of mine. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had taught it to me (in a different way). So, I was about to quarrel with him (during the prayer) but I waited till he finished, then I tied his garment round his neck and seized him by it and brought him to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "I have heard him reciting Surat-al-Furqan in a way different to the way you taught it to me." The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered me to release him and asked Hisham to recite it. When he recited it, Allah s Apostle said, "It was revealed in this way." He then asked me to recite it. When I recited it, he said, "It was revealed in this way. The Qur'an has been revealed in seven different ways, so recite it in the way that is easier for you."}} | |||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|6|61|513}}|Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas: Allah's Apostle 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."|See Also {{Bukhari|4|54|442}}, {{Muslim|4|1785}}, {{Muslim|4|1786}}, {{Muslim|4|1787}}, {{Muslim|4|1788}}}} | {{Quote|{{Bukhari|6|61|513}}|Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas: Allah's Apostle 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."|See Also {{Bukhari|4|54|442}}, {{Muslim|4|1785}}, {{Muslim|4|1786}}, {{Muslim|4|1787}}, {{Muslim|4|1788}}}} | ||
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==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
*[[Textual History of the Qur'an]] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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[[Category:QHS]] | [[Category:QHS]] | ||
[[Category:Qur'an]] | [[Category:Qur'an]] | ||
[[Category:Qur'anic textual history]] | |||
[[Category:Revelation]] | |||