Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
THE PROCESS OF COMPILATION
1. EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
Soon after the commencement of the Revelation, the Holy Prophet (ṣallallahu ta`ala `alayhi wa sallam) made definite arrangements for the preservation of the revealed Messages in writing.[1] Among those who were entrusted with this task, and whose numbers increased as the numbers of the adherents of Islam increased, —the first one was Abu Bakr, the Companion par excellence, the wise and the truthful (alSiddiq), the first adult man to embrace Islam—and that soon after the coming of the first revelation, and one of the respected elders of Makka. Besides him we find the names of several other personalities mentioned in the historical records as the Holy Prophet’s Scribes, who served as such at Makka and Madina.
The famous Traditionist, Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, has given a list of thirty-eight in the biography of the Holy Prophet entitled: ‘Uyun al-Athar (vol. 2, pp. 315-316). The author of al-Sirah al-Halabiyyah affirms a list of twenty Scribes, whose names he has selected from variant traditions wherein the number has gone as high as forty-two, this number having been recorded by al-Kattani (al-Tartīb al-Idariyah, vol. 1, pp. 116-124; Moroccan edition). A critical examination of all the records places the number at twenty-eight, the list including the names of the first four caliphs, namely, Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman and Ali, and of Mu’awiyah—the fifth head of the Islamic State after the Holy Prophet’s demise, and of Zubair ibn al-Awam. Abdullah ibn Masud, Ubayy ibn Ka’ab, Zaid ibn Thabit, Khalid ibn Walid (the famous General), ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (later on the governor of Egypt) and Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As.
Thus the task of writing down every revelation as it came was instituted by the Holy Prophet in a very organised and systematic form. Uthman, the third righteous caliph of Islam, and one of the earliest converts to the faith, bears testimony to it in these words: “Whenever some revelation came down on him (i.e., the Prophet), he would call upon some of those who had been appointed to write.” (Tirmizi: Jame‘, vol. 2, p. 134). This fact is corroborated by Imam Bukhari and others. For instance, Bukhari’s Sahih reports: “Zaid ibn Thabit said that the Prophet dictated to him (the verse:) ‘Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the Cause of Allaah …” (vol. 3, p. 761). Or, the more comprehensive information contained in the Hadith recorded by Ibn Abi Daud and reported by Sulaiman, the grandson of Zaid ibn Thabit, on the authority of his father Kharija: “… (Zaid said:) I was a neighbour of God’s Messenger. So, whenever any revelation came (to him), it was his practice to call me, whereat I used to write down the revelation (at his dictation).” (Kitab al-Musahef, p. 3). Darimi’s Sunan (p. 68) projects the fact that it was not always one person but, probably as a rule, several persons who wrote the revelations, singly but in a joint session, as the Holy Prophet dictated to them. In this connection, the Hadith runs like this: “Abdullah ibn ‘Amr said: ‘while we (the party of Scribes) were engaged in writing in the presence of God’s Messenger …’.”
The Holy Prophet did not only dictate the revelations to the Scribes, but also asked them, after they had inscribed, to recite to him what they had written, for correcting any mistake they might have committed. We read in Majma‘ al-Zawa’id (vol. 1, p. 60) that “Zaid ibn Thabit said: ‘… whenever I had finished (writing down the revelation dictated to me), he (i.e., God’s Messenger) asked me to read it out, and accordingly I would recite to him. Then, if there was a mistake, he corrected it. Then he gave it out to the people (for making copies for their use and for memorisation by them)’.” (Cf. Fath alMughīth, p. 250).
This much about the fact that every revelation was written down as it came, with the utmost care and by several Scribes at a time. Now comes the problem relating to the organisation of the discrete revelations into chapters (suras) as it is to be found in the Qur’an since the Holy Prophet’s time,—only certain chapters having been revealed complete on single occasions. The verdict of history in this respect is that the Holy Prophet himself used to instruct on each occasion concerning the sequence of insertion in a particular chapter of a particular verse or set of verses revealed on a particular occasion; and in case a new chapter was to begin with a particular revelation, the Scribe or Scribes were instructed by him accordingly. Thus, for instance, it has been stated in Imam Tarmizi’s Jame‘ (vol. 2, p. 134): “He (i.e. God’s Messenger) used to instruct (the Scribes) to place such and such verses in the chapter where such and such had been stated.” In this way did all the chapters of the Holy Qur’an—and they are One Hundred and Fourteen in number—came into existence under the Holy Prophet’s instruction and under Divine Guidance as communicated to him continuously. (Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, vol. 7, p.157; Al-Itqan, vol. 1, p. 62. Also refer : Imam Ahmad’s Musnad).
Now, the chapters in themselves are parts of the Qur’an. By putting them together under a certain principle of arrangement, the Holy Qur’an assumed the form of a book. The question is : Who gave the existing arrangement in respect of chapters. Here, again, the verdict of history [2] is that this was done by no one else but the Holy Prophet himself. The recorded evidences in this respect are:
1. Abu Da’ud has recorded the Hadith in which Hudhaifah informs us that “he saw the Prophet (serially) reciting in the prayer at night the chapters al-Baqarah, Al-i-‘ImrÉn, Al-Nisa’, Al-Ma’īdah and al-An‘am.” (Sunan, vol. 1, p. 128). Now, the order of the chapters stated in this Hadith is the same as it has existed in the Qur’an all through; which shows that the arrangement of all the chapters must have been fixed by the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him!) himself, it being inconceivable that he arranged only the above-mentioned five and left out the rest.
2. In Imam Tirmizi’s Jame‘ (vol. 2, pp. 118,119) there is a Hadith which says: “A man enquired: ‘O God’s Messenger! which action is most liked by God?’ He replied: ‘(the action of) him who finishes a journey and goes on a journey’.” Dirimi has added to this Hadith, in his Sunan (p. 41), the following: “It was asked as to what was the meaning of finishing a journey and undertaking another. (To this) he replied: ‘A possessor of the Qur’an recites it from its beginning to its end, and when he finishes, he returns to the beginning (to finish it again), (making it his routine that) whenever he finishes the journey (of reading and studying the Qur’an from beginning to end), he begins the same journey (afresh)’.” Here, the very notions of a beginning and an ending for the reading of the Qur’an as a book imply the existence of the arrangement of chapters.
The Hadith narrated by Imam Tirmizi (Jame‘, vol. 2, p. 118), wherein the enquiry submitted by Abdullah ibn ‘Amr to the Holy Prophet (ṣallallahu ta`ala `alayhi wa sallam) in respect of the number of days that was advisable for him to fix for reading the Qur’an from the beginning to the end is similar to the above as regards the logical conclusion to which it leads.
3. Imam Ahmad has recorded in his Musnad a Hadith which has a direct bearing on the problem of the arrangement of chapters. Therein, Aus ibn Abi Aus Hudhaifa al-Thaqafi reports that he was a member of a delegation of the Banu Thaqif tribe that had come to the Holy Prophet at Madina, and that the Holy Prophet used to visit the delegation every night after the ‘Isha prayer; then, it so happened one night that the Holy Prophet was late in coming to them and, on enquiry as to the cause of the delay, he told them: “I had missed the Hizb (i.e., a definite portion of the Qur’an fixed for recitation) meant for today; and I disliked that I should come out without finishing that (task).” “Then”, Aus adds, “we enquired from the Companions of God’s Messenger in respect of ahzab (plural of hizb) of the Qur’an (namely, in what manner did they recite the Qur’an divided into a number of parts: ahzab). To that they replied that they recited (it according to this division): three chapters, (beginning with chapter: alBaqarah) [3] (on the first day of the week), (the following) five chapters (on the second day), (the following) seven chapters (on the third day), (the following) nine chapters (on the fourth day), (the following) eleven chapters (on the fifth day), (the following) thirteen chapters (on the sixth day), and from the chapter named Qaf (numbering 50 in the Qur’an) to the end of the Qur’an (on the seventh day).” (vol. 4 p. 343). This detail corroborates the arrangement of chapters in the Qur’an as it is today, as Hafiz lbn Hajar al-Asqalani emphasises in Fath alBari, vol. 9, p. 39.
4. We learn from Bukhari’s Sahih (vol. 3, p. 141) that a rehearsal of the entire up-to-date Qur’an was done by the Holy Prophet in collaboration with angel Jibril, every year during the month of Ramadan, it having taken place twice in the Ramadan immediately preceding the Holy Prophet’s demise. It is evident that any such thing was impossible to happen if the Qur’an had been un-arranged at any stage; which means that even the arrangement of its chapters in their serial order was taking place under the Holy Prophet’s guidance from the very beginning according to the Divine Plan.
5. The greatest proof of the fact that the arrangement of the chapters, even as that of the verses, took place under the instruction of the Holy Prophet, who as a result bequeathed the Qur’an to humanity is exactly in its present form and contents, consists of the following truths:
(a) the Qur’an is not only a Book of Guidance but also a book for recital for all Muslims. As such, one of the fondest pursuit of the Holy Prophet’s Companions was its recital to their utmost capacity. It was obligatory for every Muslim to recite it in the daily prayers; but every Muslim’s devotion to it was of such magnitude that he or she tried to go as far beyond the obligatory recitation as possible. All that would have been impossible, however, if the Qur’an had not existed from the very beginning as a book thoroughly arranged and perfectly organised internally.
(b) If the Qur’an had not been perfected in every aspect before the Holy Prophet’s demise, variations at least in respect of the arrangement of its chapters would have unavoidably taken place. But no such thing has happened.
(c) Muslim scholars have differed among themselves on different issues, the differences even assuming sometimes what may be termed as ‘sectarian dimensions’ and the races and peoples who have been joining the fold of Islam during the past fourteen centuries came with different backgrounds. But the Qur’an has remained what it always was since its completion in the Holy Prophet’s time. It means that all Muslims have accepted from the very beginning, and always, that not only its meaning-structure but also its word-structure, and that not only its contents but also its form—which consists of the arrangement of its verses and chapters, is divinely-ordained and exists as perfected and completed under the direct instruction of the Holy Prophet (God’s choicest Blessings be with him!).
Says Ibn Hazm, the versatile Islamic scholar of the fifth century of the Hijri era: “He who says that the arrangement of the verses and the chapters (of the Qur’an) is not Divine through His Prophet, he is ignorant and a fabricator … Had the people arranged (the verses and the chapters) themselves, they could not have avoided one of the (following) three methods (of arrangement): (1) either according to the order of revelation; (2) or, they would have given priority to the longer chapters, placing the shorter ones after them: (3) or, vice versa (i.e., from shorter to longer chapters). But because that is not the case, it (the present arrangement) is certainly through the Prophet’s own instruction which could not have clashed with the Divine Order. (In fact) no alternative remains except this.” (Kitab al-Fasl, vol. 4, p. 221).
[1] It may be emphasised here that quite a number of those who joined the lslamic fraternity at Makka and Madina were educated persons who knew the art of reading and writing. Moreover, the Holy Prophet gave such importance to the formal education of his followers that even many Muslim ladies received it (Abu Da’ud Sunan, vol. 2, p. 186; etc.), and men like Zaid ibn Thabit acquired, under the Holy Prophet’s orders, languages other than Arabic. e.g., Hebrew and Syriac. (Al-Isabah, p. 561; Al-Tārīkh al-Saghīr, p.53; Kitāb al-Musāhef. p. 3).
[2] See in this connection, among others: Al-Zarakshi: Kitab al-Burhan; Suyūti: Al-Itqan; Shaikh Abdul Haq Muhaddith: Ash‘at al-Luma‘at.
[3] The first chapter, named Al-FÉtiÍah, has not been taken into account, because, it being the most basic Qur’Énic prayer, no devotional action is complete without it. Hence, its recitation has to be repeated every day in connection with that day’s Íizb—and that in its own right. That seems to be the reason why it has not been mentioned as a part of the first day’s Íizb.
to be continued . . . . .
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