Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4Theentire Quran was however also recorded in writing at the time of revelationfrom the Prophet’s dictation, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him,by some of his literate companions, the most prominent of them being Zaid ibnThabit.[1] Others among his noblescribes were Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Ibn Mas’ud, Mu’awiyah ibn Abi-Sufyan, Khalid ibnWaleed and Zubayr ibn Awwam.[2] Theverses were recorded on leather, parchment, scapulae (shoulder bones ofanimals) and the stalks of date palms.[3]
Thecodification of the Quran (i.e. into a ‘book form’) was done soon after theBattle of Yamamah (11AH/633CE), after the Prophet’s death, during the Caliphateof Abu Bakr. Many companions becamemartyrs at that battle, and it was feared that unless a written copy of theentire revelation was produced, large parts of the Quran might be lost with thedeath of those who had memorized it. Therefore, at the suggestion of Umar to collect the Quran in the form ofwriting, Zaid ibn Thabit was requested by Abu Bakr to head a committee whichwould gather together the scattered recordings of the Quran and prepare amushaf - loose sheets which bore the entire revelation on them.[4] To safeguard the compilation from errors, thecommittee accepted only material which had been written down in the presence ofthe Prophet himself, and which could be verified by at least two reliablewitnesses who had actually heard the Prophet recite the passage inquestion[5]. Once completed andunanimously approved of by the Prophet’s Companions, these sheets were keptwith the Caliph Abu Bakr (d. 13AH/634CE), then passed on to the Caliph Umar(13-23AH/634-644CE), and then Umar’s daughter and the Prophet’s widow, Hafsah[6].
Thethird Caliph Uthman (23AH-35AH/644-656CE) requested Hafsah to send him themanuscript of the Quran which was in her safekeeping, and ordered theproduction of several bounded copies of it (masaahif, sing. mushaf). This task was entrusted to the CompanionsZaid ibn Thabit, Abdullah ibn Az-Zubair, Sa’eed ibn As-’As, and Abdur-Rahmanibn Harith ibn Hisham.[7] Uponcompletion (in 25AH/646CE), Uthman returned the original manuscript to Hafsahand sent the copies to the major Islamic provinces.
Anumber of non-Muslim scholars who have studied the issue of the compilation andpreservation of the Quran also have stated its authenticity. John Burton, at the end of his substantialwork on the Quran’s compilation, states that the Quran as we have it today is:
“…the text which has come down to us inthe form in which it was organized and approved by the Prophet…. What we havetoday in our hands is the mushaf of Muhammad.[8]
KennethCragg describes the transmission of the Quran from the time of revelation totoday as occurring in “an unbroken living sequence of devotion.”[9] Schwally concurs that:
“As far as the various pieces ofrevelation are concerned, we may be confident that their text has beengenerally transmitted exactly as it was found in the Prophet’s legacy.”[10]
Thehistorical credibility of the Quran is further established by the fact that oneof the copies sent out by the Caliph Uthman is still in existence today. It lies in the Museum of the City of Tashkent in Uzbekistan,Central Asia.[11] According to Memory of the World Program,UNESCO, an arm of the United Nations, ‘it is the definitive version, known asthe Mushaf of Uthman.’[12]
This manuscript, held by the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, is the earliestexistent written version of the Quran. It is the definitive version, known as the Mushaf of Othman. Image courtesy of Memory of the WorldRegister, UNESCO.
Afacsimile of the mushaf in Tashkentis available at the Columbia University Library in the US.[13] This copy is proof that the text of the Quranwe have in circulation today is identical with that of the time of the Prophetand his companions. A copy of the mushafsent to Syria (duplicatedbefore a fire in 1310AH/1892CE destroyed the Jaami’ Masjid where it was housed)also exists in the TopkapiMuseum in Istanbul[14],and an early manuscript on gazelle parchment exists in Dar al-Kutubas-Sultaniyyah in Egypt. More ancient manuscripts from all periods ofIslamic history found in the Library of Congress in Washington,the ChesterBeattyMuseum in Dublin(Ireland) and the LondonMuseumhave been compared with those in Tashkent, Turkey and Egypt, with results confirming thatthere have not been any changes in the text from its original time ofwriting.[15]
TheInstitute for Koranforschung, for example, in the Universityof Munich (Germany), collected over 42,000complete or incomplete ancient copies of the Quran. After around fifty years of research, theyreported that there was no variance between the various copies, except theoccasional mistakes of the copyist which could easily be ascertained. This Institute was unfortunately destroyed bybombs during WWII.[16]
Thus,due to the efforts of the early companions, with God’s assistance, the Quran aswe have it today is recited in the same manner as it was revealed. This makes it the only religious scripturethat is still completely retained and understood in its original language. Indeed, as Sir William Muir states, “There isprobably no other book in the world which has remained twelve centuries (nowfourteen) with so pure a text.”[17]
Theevidence above confirms God’s promise in the Quran:
“Verily, We have revealed the Reminder,and verily We shall preserve it.” (Quran 15:9)
TheQuran has been preserved in both oral and written form in a way no other bookhas, and with each form providing a check and balance for the authenticity ofthe other
2-Written preservation of the Qur'an-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_AxL3kD44&list=PLiGRJIBiTsTZc8DVm9afMQnp9Qkgn6A1h
