Difficulty in Collecting the Qur'anic Verses
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)...
Sahih Bukhari 6:60:201, See Also Sahih Bukhari 9:89:301, Sahih Bukhari 6:61:509
Organization of the Qur'an
"Ibn ’Abbas said to ’Uthman,
‘What made you combine the chapter of the Anfal and the chapter of Tawba
(repentance) without separating them by the verse, "In the name of God
the compassionate, the Merciful"? (And why) did you put them among the
seven long (chapters)?’ ’Uthman said, ‘The chapters used to be bestowed
upon the apostle of God. The chapter of Anfal was among the early ones
which were revealed in Medina and the chapter of Repentance was among
the last revealed. Its story was similar to the early story (of the
Anfal), so I thought that it was part of it. Then the apostle of God
died without showing us that it was part of the (Anfal); thus, I
combined them and did not write between them the verse, "In the name of
God the Compassionate, the Merciful", and it is among the long ones."’[1]
Lost Verses
Verse of Rajam (Stoning)
The present day Qur’an does not
contain the penalty of Rajm (stoning) for adulterers. But Sahih Hadiths
testify that there was a verse in the Qur’an pertaining to the ‘Stoning
Punishment’. Umar, the second Caliph of Islam, confirms the loss of this
verse from the Qur’an:
Abdullah b. 'Abbas reported that
'Umar b. Khattab sat on the pulpit of Allah's Messenger (may peace be
upon him) and said: Verily Allah sent Muhammad (may peace be upon him)
with truth and He sent down the Book upon him, and the verse of stoning
was included in what was sent down to him. We recited it, retained it in
our memory and understood it. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him)
awarded the punishment of stoning to death (to the married adulterer
and adulteress) and, after him, we also awarded the punishment of
stoning, I am afraid that with the lapse of time, the people (may forget
it) and may say: We do not find the punishment of stoning in the Book
of Allah, and thus go astray by abandoning this duty prescribed by
Allah. stoning is a duty laid down in Allah's Book for married men and
women who commit adultery when proof is established, or it there is
pregnancy, or a confession.
It was narrated that 'Aishah said: “The Verse of stoning and
of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, and the paper was
with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah died, we were
preoccupied with his death, and a tame sheep came in and ate it.” (Hasan)
Ibn Majah Vol. 3, Book 9, Hadith 1944
Abd Allah Ibn Sa`d Ibn Abi Sarh and Verse 6:93
And who is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah, or says: It has been revealed to me; while nothing has been revealed to him, and he
who says: I can reveal the like of what Allah has revealed? and if you
had seen when the unjust shall be in the agonies of death and the angels
shall spread forth their hands: Give up your souls; today shall you be
recompensed with an ignominious chastisement because you spoke against
Allah other than the truth and (because) you showed pride against His
communications.
The scribes of Muhammad were 42
in number. `Abdallah Ibn Sarh al-`Amiri was one of them, and he was the
first Quraishite among those who wrote in Mecca before he turned away
from Islam. He started
saying, "I used to direct Muhammad wherever I willed. He would dictate
to me 'Most High, All-Wise', and I would write down 'All-Wise' only.
Then he would say, 'Yes it is all the same'. On a certain occasion he
said, 'Write such and such', but I wrote 'Write' only, and he said,
'Write whatever you like.'" So when this scribe exposed Muhammad, he
wrote in the Qur'an, "And who does greater evil than he who forges
against God a lie, or says, 'To me it has been revealed', when naught
has been revealed to him." So
on the day Muhammad conquered Mecca, he commanded his scribe to be
killed. But the scribe fled to `Uthman Ibn `Affan, because `Uthman was
his foster brother (his mother suckled `Uthman). `Uthman, therefore,
kept him away from Muhammad. After the people calmed down, `Uthman
brought the scribe to Muhammad and sought protection for him. Muhammad
kept silent for a long time, after which he said yes. When `Uthman had
left, Muhammad said "I only kept silent so that you (the people) should
kill him."[2]
Al-Sira by al-'Iraqi
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).
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.[3]
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.
"'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."[4]
Surah of Repentance Lost 157 Verses
"Malik says that several verses
from chapter 9 (Sura of Repentance) have been dropped from the
beginning. Among them is, ‘In the name of God the compassionate, the
Merciful’ because it was proven that the length of Sura of Repentance
was equal to the length of the Sura of the Cow."[5]
Miscellaneous
Narrated Ibn Abbas: Umar said,
"Our best Qur'an reciter is Ubai and our best judge is 'Ali; and in
spite of this, we leave some of the statements of Ubai because Ubai
says, 'I do not leave anything that I have heard from Allah's Apostle
while Allah:
"Whatever verse (Revelations) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We bring a better one or similar to it." (2.106)
"Whatever verse (Revelations) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We bring a better one or similar to it." (2.106)
’Ibn Umar al–Khattab: "Let no one
of you say that he has acquired the entire Qur’an for how does he know
that it is all? Much of the Qur’an has been lost, thus let him say, ‘I
have acquired of it what is available"’[6]
A’isha: "During the time of the
prophet, the chapter of the Parties used to be two hundred verses when
read. When Uthman edited the copies of the Qur’an, only the current
(verses) were recorded"[7]
Ubay ibn Ka’b: "This famous
companion asked one of the Muslims, ‘How many verses in the chapter of
the Parties?’ He said, ‘Seventy-two or seventy-three verses.’ He (Ubay)
told him, ‘It used to be almost equal to the chapter of the Cow (about
286 verses) and included the verse of the stoning.’ The man asked, ‘What
is the verse of the stoning?’ He said, ‘If an old man or woman
committed adultery, stone them to death."’[8]
Ibn Hazm: "’Ali Ibn Abi Talib said this has a reliable chain of authority (The Sweetest [Al Mohalla] vol. 8.)."[9]
"During the collection of the
Qur’an, people used to come to Zayd Ibn Thabit (with the verses they
memorized). He shunned recording any verse unless two witnesses attested
to it. The last verse of chapter of Repentance was found only with
Khuzayma Ibn Thabit. Zayd said, ‘Record it because the apostle of God
made the testimony of Khuzayma equal to the testimony of two men.’ ’Umar
came with the verse of the stoning but it was not recorded because he
was the only witness to it."[10]
A’isha: "Among the (verses) which
were sent down, (the verse) of the ten breast feedings was abrogated by
(a verse which calls for five breast feedings. The apostle of God died
and this verse was still read as part of the Qur’an. This was related by
Abu Bakr and ’Umar" [11]
Ibn Hazm: "The verses of stoning
and breast feeding were in the possession of A’isha in a (Qur’anic)
copy. When Muhammad died and people became busy in the burial
preparations, a domesticated animal entered in and ate it."[12]
"Hamida, the daughter of Abi
Yunis, said, ‘When my father was eighty years old, he read in the copy
of A’isha, "God and His angels bless (literally pray for) the prophet Oh
ye who believe, bless him and those who pray in the first rows." Then
she said, "That was before ’Uthman changed the Qur’anic copies.""’[13]
"Umar said to ’Abdul-Rahman Ibn
’Oaf, ‘Didn’t you find among the verses that we received one saying,
"Strive as you strove at the first?" We do not locate it (any more).’
’Abdul-Rahman Ibn ’Oaf told him, ‘This verse has been removed among
those others which were removed from the Qur’an."’[14]
"Maslama al-Ansar said to the
companions of Muhammad, ‘Tell me about two verses which have not been
recorded in the Qur’an which ’Uthman collected.’ They failed to do so.
Maslama said, ‘Oh, ye who believed and immigrated and fought for the
cause of God by (sacrificing) your properties and yourselves, you
received the glad tidings, for you are prosperous. Also, those who
sheltered them, aided them and defended them, against whom God
(revealed) His wrath, no soul knows what is awaiting them as a reward
for what they did."’[15]
Ibn Kathir: "’Uthman burned the
rest of the copies which were in the hands of the people because they
disagreed on the (correct) reading and they fought among themselves.
When they came to take ibn Mas’ud’s copy to bum it, he told them, ‘I
know more than Zayd ibn Thabit (whom ’Uthman ordered to collect the
copies of the Qur’an).’ ’Uthman wrote to ibn Mas’ud asking him to submit
his copy for burning."[16]
Cancelled Verses
There is evidence to the
cancellation of some verses from the Qur’an even though they were
revealed to the prophet and the people of his time had memorized them.
Narrated Anas: The Prophet sent
seventy men from the tribe of Bani Salim to the tribe of Bani Amir. When
they reached there, my maternal uncle said to them, "I will go ahead of
you, and if they allow me to convey the message of Allah's Apostle (it
will be all right); otherwise you will remain close to me." So he went
ahead of them and the pagans granted him security But while he was
reporting the message of the Prophet , they beckoned to one of their men
who stabbed him to death. My maternal uncle said, "Allah is Greater! By
the Lord of the Kaba, I am successful." After that they attached the
rest of the party and killed them all except a lame man who went up to
the top of the mountain. (Hammam, a sub-narrator said, "I think another
man was saved along with him)." Gabriel informed the Prophet that they
(i.e the martyrs) met their Lord, and He was pleased with them and made
them pleased. We used to recite, "Inform our people that we have met our
Lord, He is pleased with us and He has made us pleased " Later on this
Quranic Verse was cancelled. The Prophet invoked Allah for forty days to
curse the murderers from the tribe of Ral, Dhakwan, Bani Lihyan and Bam
Usaiya who disobeyed Allah and his Apostle
Narrated Anas bin Malik: For
thirty days Allah's Apostle invoked Allah to curse those who had killed
the companions of Bir-Mauna; he invoked evil upon the tribes of Ral,
Dhakwan, and Usaiya who disobeyed Allah and His Apostle. There was
reveled about those who were killed at Bir-Mauna a Quranic Verse we used
to recite, but it was cancelled later on. The Verse was: "Inform our
people that we have met our Lord. He is pleased with us and He has made
us pleased"
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 cancelled them.
The Seven Readings of the Qur'an
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."
Ubayy b. Ka'b reported that the
Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) was near the tank of Banu
Ghifar that Gabriel came to him and said: Allah has commanded you to
recite to your people the Qur'an in one dialect. Upon this he said: I
ask from Allah pardon and forgiveness. My people are not capable of
doing it. He then came for the second time and said: Allah has commanded
you that you should recite the Qur'an to your people in two dialects.
Upon this he (the Holy prophet) again said: I seek pardon and
forgiveness from Allah, my people would not be able to do so. He
(Gabriel) came for the third time and said: Allah has commanded you to
recite the Qur'an to your people in three dialects. Upon this he said: I
ask pardon and forgiveness from Allah. My people would not be able to
do it. He then came to him for the fourth time and said: Allah has
commanded you to recite the Qur'an to your people in seven dialects, and
in whichever dialect they would recite, they would be right.
"A great scholar, that is the
Mawardi, said that Muhammad had permitted the reading (of the Qur’an) on
the basis of any of the Seven Letters as it happened in the episodes of
’Umar. He also allowed replacing a letter with another letter."[17]
"When the lads and their teachers
fought against each other during the era of ’Uthman due to the
difference in reading (the Qur’anic text), he (’Uthman) standardized the
reading and made people recite it accordingly because he was afraid of
riots since the Iraqis and the Damascenes disagreed on the dialect. But
before that, the Qur’anic copies (used to be read) on the basis of the
Seven Letters in which the Qur’an was given."[18]
References
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 1, Pages 172-173
- ↑ Is the Qur'an Infallible? by `Abdallah `Abd al-Fadi,
- ↑ Al-Tabari, "History of al-Tabari Vol. 9 - The Last Years of the Prophet", transl. Ismail K. Poonawala, p.148, Albany: State University of New York Press
- ↑ Tafsir Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil by `Abdallah Ibn `Umar al-Baidawi
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 3, Page 184
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 3, Page 72
- ↑ Suyuti: Itqan, Part 3, Page 72
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 3, Page 72
- ↑ volume 8, Part 11, Pages 234 and 235
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 1, Page 168
- ↑ Suyuti’s qan, part 3, pages 62 and 63
- ↑ Ibn Hazm Volume 8, Part II, Pages 235 and 236
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 3, Page 73
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 3, Page 74
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Part 3, Page 74
- ↑ "The Beginning and the End" Part 7, Page 218
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Paragraph 1, Page 137. Ibid pages 141 and 142
- ↑ "The Itqan" by Suyuti Paragraph 1, Page 170 and 171
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