260- Preservation of the Holy Qur’an during period of 1st Caliph Abu Bakr R.A. (Series: Inviting Reflections)

It is reiterated that the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, could not compile the Qur’an in one volume during his blessed lifetime. Certainly, it was not in the form what in Arabic is called "??? ?????? ??????????" (A book between two covers), although it was written on scattered sheets which were read before the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, and were duly approved. After the departure of Muhammad, peace be upon him, an instant cause necessitated the preparation of the Canon Version. It so happened that immediately after the demise of the Holy Prophet general apostasy swept around length and breadth of the Arabian Peninsula. Coupled with this, a number of tribes refused to pay Zakat (In Islam, Zakat is obligatory alms--2.5 per cent is paid annually to the poor and needy, on the lunar-year-long savings). Moreover, few eloquent people, both male and female, proclaimed false prophethood. Abu Bakr R.A. declared war against the apostates and false prophets. In this connection during War of Yamama, seventy or more companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, all Huffaz (memorizers) of the Qur'an laid martyr. Please see foe details: Ahmad bin Humbal, Musnad, vol. 1, pp. 455,598  

This was a massive loss to the nascent Islam. Although, Muhammad, peace be upon him, in his lifetime had accomplished a two-fold arrangement for the preservation of the Holy Book. On one hand, the Companions RA used to write it and, on the other hand, most of them used to memorize it as well. Many Ayyam al-Urdaat:  ????? ??????? (the Days of Presentation) are reported in our history when the Prophet listened and testified the Holy Text maintained by the tribesmen. The enthusiasm of the Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to memorize the Qur’an was immense. Testament to the fact is that in early days of the caliphate of ‘Umar R.A, it is reported that he wrote a letter to the governors of all provinces to send him the lists and details of the Huffaz (memorizers of the Qur’an) in their provinces. In response to the letter, Abu Musa al-‘Ash’ari R.A., the governor of a province, sent a list of more than 300 huffaz of the Qur’an from his province. Please see: M. Hamidullah Dr: Khutubat e Bahawalpur, pp. 10-28. But even then, losing 70 esteemed Huffaz companions R.A in one battle rose alarms in the nascent Islamic hierarchy.  

Therefore, after the War of Yamama, ‘Umar b. al-Khattab R.A. recommended the preparation of a Canon Version under official patronage. Initially, the Caliph Abu Bakr R.A. was disinclined but afterwards, he conceded to the recommendation. For the preparation of the Canon Version of the Holy Qur’an under the patronage of the state, Abu Bakr R.A. appointed a Qur'an Commission, under the chairmanship of Zayd b. Thabit R.A. (Al-‘Ayni, ‘Umdah al-Qari, vol. 2, p. 16) who was a great scholar of the Qur’an and had mastery over various dialects of the Arabic language. The Caliph Abu Bakr R.A. advised the Qur’an Commission to take an oath from those who come to the Commission; then, to accept a Qur'anic verse if it was presented with at least two ‘Urdaat:  ????????(written pieces presented to the Prophet, peace be upon him, for approval), or two valid pieces of evidence from the Companions R.A. (Al- A’zami M. Mustafa Dr: A History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation, pp. 81-85); as is required by the Islamic Law of Evidence.  

Zayd ibn Thabit was master in all Arabic dialects. During Quranic compilation, the problem of authentic dialect was also faced. To this effect, the guidelines from the following saying of The Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was sought: ??????? ????????? ?????????? ??????? (The Qur’an has been revealed in seven reading styles). Please see for details: Abu Dawud, Sunun, Hadith # 4603; Al-Sayyuti: Al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an, vol. 1, pp. 45-46; Muhammad Muhsin Khan, (Eng.Translation) Sahih al-Bukhari, Riyadh 1981, pp. 481-82

This aspect is related to the special peculiarity of this Scripture that it was not limited to any specific dialect, but it encompassed all dialects, duly allowed by the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, i.e. Seven Styles of reading the Qur’an. It should also be remembered that the four al-Khulafā?u ar-Rāshidūn (Rightly Guided Caliphs): Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman and ‘Ali R.A. were also exceptionally good memorizers of the Qur’an.

The dialectical variations in vocalizing and pronouncing a word is a natural phenomenon in all-natural languages of the world. The behaviour of the vocal cords, changes with the change in climate, geography, and other conditions of life. Since the audience of Muhammad, peace be upon him, were primarily Bedouins, un-lettered people, women and children from different tribes and clans; he, peace be upon him, allowed them to recite the Qur’an in their local or tribal dialects. It is reported in books of Qur’anic readings that in Surah Al-Fatiha-the opening chapter of the Qur’an, some of the companions used to read the word “iyyaka” as “wiyyaka” and some others as “hiyyaka” since in their tribal dialects “alif” was changed with “waw” or with “ha”. (Please see for details: Chaudhary M. Akram: “Orientalism on Variant Readings of the Qur’an---The Case of Arthur Jeffery, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (AJISS), 12:2, 1995, pp. 173-178). It is also interesting to note that the complete Surah al-Fatiha was revealed in the early days of the prophethood in Makkah. Now, an Australian-American orientalist Arthur Jeffery d. 1959 CE, though declares it to be the ‘Cento of the Qur’an’, and tries to prove it to be a counterpart to the Lord’s Prayer of Christianity and claims: “It is possible, of course, that as a prayer it was constructed by the Prophet himself, but its use and its position in our present Qur’an are due to the compilers, who placed it there, perhaps on the fly-leaf of the Standard Codex”. However, Arthur Jeffery does not support these contentions by any reference or historical proof (Ibid, pp. 173-175). There was a growing interest among the companions R.A. to read the Qur’an as the Holy Prophet used to read it in Medina. Nevertheless, all seven reading styles were considered valid since these reading styles were allowed by the Prophet, peace be upon him. Therefore, the first Canon/Official version of the Qur’an encompassed all these admissible readings/ dialects.  

Additionally, the prepared Canon was placed in the Mosque of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the companions R.A. were asked to recite it for six months; and the history did not record even a single objection about the compilation of the Holy Book; or, any redaction or interpolation of any verse of the Qur’an. No Companion of the Prophet, peace be upon him, ever objected absence of any verse neither they objected that we never heard such and such verse from the Prophet, peace be upon him, and it has been included in the Canon Version.

As far as the orthography and the script of the Canon Version is concerned, the first Canon Version was written in Hiri script which ultimately became the basis for the development of Kufi script in which the ?Uthmānic Recension was presented.

The most salient feature of the Holy Qur’an, during the last millennium and a half, as known in the Qur’anic exegesis:  "?????????? ???????? ????????????" that it has been rendered to us through continuous transmission by one generation to next and so on. Since inception, there were millions of memorizers of this book, who transmitted it to the next generation. Even it had not been put into writing, it would have been safe from adulteration and corruption. This promised preservation is such a merit of this last message of Allah: al-Qur’an al-Karim, which other revealed scriptures do not share. The promised preservation of the text of the Holy Qur’an encompasses all times to come till the Day of Judgement. The Qur’anic verse reads: 

 "?????? ?????? ?????????? ????????? ?? ?????? ???? ????????????" (We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We (Allah) will assuredly guard it (from corruption). Surah Al-Hijr, Verse: 9