QUR’AN FROM REVELATION TO COMPILATION

Agenda

• What is Qur’an & its Obligation• Phases of revelation• Collection & Compilation• Script of Usman (R)• Comparison from today’s copies of Qur’an• Later developments• Units of Quran: Surah, Ayah, Ruku• Conspiracy of Orientalists• Rebuttal• Issues caused by others

What is Qur’an

• Word or speech of Allah It is the last Book of Allah sent for the guidance of humanity through the last Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH).

• Preserved till eternity• Protection is guaranteed by Allah• Original Qur'an is in Looh-e-Mahfooz (85: 21-22)• We have a replica of Qur’an

• Ref. in Qur’an:

Kitabin-Muknoon – “The hidden book”(56: 77-78) Ummi al-Kitab - “The Mother of the Book”

Kitabun Mubin – “Manifest Book” (6: 59; 10:61; 11 :6)

Phases of Revelation

ARSH ALA LOOH-E-MAHFOOZ

SEVENTH HEAVEN

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Phase 1:Night of Qadr – 610 C.E

Ref: Surah Qadr

Phase 2:Bit by bit,

Ayah by Ayah, Surah by surah

23 years1st wahi: 610,

1st 5-Verses of S. Alaq Cave Hira (Jabale-Noor)

Collection and Compilation - 1

• Lifetime of Prophet Muhammad (S) – 570 - 632

Hifz – memorizationAs-hab sufa

Scribes – Katib-e-wahiBones, Clay, Papyrus

Not in book form

Ibn 'Abbas says the Prophet said, "Gabriel taught me to read the Qur'an in one dialect, and when I recited it he taught me to recite it in another dialect, and so on until the number of dialects increased to seven."

(Mishkiit, book ii. ch. ii.) 

Collection and Compilation - 2

• Life time of Khalifas

Khalifa Abu Bakar (R)

Khalifa Umar (R)

Khalifa Usman (R)

Battle of Yumamah First Book form w/i 2yrs Copy with Hafsa (R)Death of Huffaz

Agreed upon script Vocalization per Quraish tribe

Tradition to recite Quran in Taraveeh in Jamat

Old Manuscripts of Qur’an

Manuscripts dating to Khalifa Usman

TashkentUNESCO has launched the Memory of the World Program

Some old manuscripts

Use of red dots as vocalization signs

Old Manuscripts

• No vocalization signs• No differentiation between letters• No Surah headings• No Verse numbering • No Ruku divisions• No Juz divisions• No description of Meccan/Medinite surahs

Later developments in manuscripts

• Dots were put as syntactical marks by Abu Al-Aswad Al Doaly, during the time of Mu'awiya Ibn Abu Sufian (661-680 CE). ?

• The letters ( , , kha etc.)were marked with different dotting by Nasr Ibn Asem and Hayy ibn Ya'amor, during the time of Abd Al-Malek Ibn Marawan (685-705 CE).

• A complete system of diacritical marks (damma, fataha, kasra) was invented by Al Khaleel Ibn Ahmad Al Faraheedy (d. 786 CE).

More Later Developments Vocalization signs

Short and long vowels Hamza Aya markings Development of Different scripts: Kufic, Sulus, Naskh ….. Art of Book binding Use of gold in coloring• Most recent developments:

Tajweed quran

Ipod

It is extremely difficult to render the full Qur’an, with all the points, in computer code, such as Unicode. The Internet Sacred Text Archive makes computer files of the Qur’an freely available both as images[92] and in a temporary Unicode version.[93] Various designers and software firms have attempted to develop computer fonts that can adequately render the Qur’an.[94]

Surah

• SURAH IS NOT CHAPTER Story of Adam & Iblis comes in 7 surahs

• Names Either divine or assigned by Prophet• Tasmiah Not part of Surah except S. Fatiha

• Only Surah without Tasmiah S. Taubah• Total # of Surahs: 114 Surahs• First complete Surah reveled: S. Fatiha • Last complete Surah revealed: S. An Nasr• Surah has ayah• Longest Surah: S. Baqrah (286 ayah)• Shortest Surahs: S. Kouser, S. Nasr, S. Asr (3 ayah)• Order of Surahs Does not follow the order of revelation• Makki portion (ya ayyu han nas) 610 – 622 ( 2/3 of whole Quran)• Madani portion 622 – 632 ( 1/3 of Quran)• Surahs in pairs (same theme) S. Falaq & S. Naas

Ayah

• AYAH IS NOT VERSE OR SENTENCE• Some ayah have names i.e. Ayatal Kursi, Ayat al Birr

• Ayat could be letters Ya Seen, Alif Lam Meem

• Ayat could be words Wal Asr

• Number of ayas: 6200 – 6666

• Abrogated verses

• Prostration verses

Comparison of Quran with a worldly book

• Unique style• Deemed either poetry or prose - mixture of both• The Quran is inimitable• Not arranged in order of revelation – pondering• Cannot be compared with a worldly book for

scholarship

Grouping

• Makki and Madani Surahs• 7 Manzil ( present during Prophets time)

S. Fatiha not included

Approximately equal in length

Surahs not broken• 30 Paras (later time ?)

Surahs broken

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 1

• THE CODIFICATION OF THE QUR'AN TEXT, Jam’al Qur’an, John Gilchrist

• “The Samarqand and Topkapi codices are obviously two of the oldest sizeable manuscripts of the Qur'an surviving but their origin cannot be taken back earlier than the second century of Islam. It must be concluded that no such manuscripts of an earlier date have survived. The oldest manuscripts of the Qur'an still in existence date from not earlier than about one hundred years after Muhammad's death”.

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 2

• Other secular scholars, such as Dr. John Wansbrough and his students Michael Cook and Patricia Crone, were less willing to attribute the entire Qur'an to Muhammad, arguing that there is no real proof that the text of the Qur'an was collected under Uthman, since the earliest surviving copies of the complete Qur'an are centuries later than Uthman. (The oldest existing copy of the full text is from the ninth century The Holy Qur'an, bbc.co.uk, retrieved April 02, 2006.) They alleged that Islam was formed slowly, over the centuries after the Muslim conquests, as the Islamic conquerors elaborated their beliefs in response to Jewish and Christian challenges

JW: Born in Peoria (1928 – 2002) - This line of research was investigated in Egypt by Nasr Abu Zayd but he was expelled from Egypt because of his conclusions about the Qur'an.

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 3

• The anti-traditionalist banner dropped by Crone and Cook has been taken up by scholars such as Christoph Luxenberg and Abraham Geiger, both of whom support claims for a late composition of the Qur'an, and trace much of it to sources other than Muhammad. Luxenberg in particular is well-known for his claims that the Qur'an is merely a re-working of an earlier Christian text, a Syriac lectionary.

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 4

• In 1972, during the restoration of the Great Mosque of San'a, in Yemen, laborers stumbled upon a "paper grave" containing tens of thousands of fragments of parchment on which verses of the Qur'an were written. (Qur'ans were and still are disposed thus, so as to avoid the impiety of treating the sacred text like ordinary garbage.) Some of these fragments were believed to be the oldest

Quranic texts yet found.

The European scholar Gerd-R. Puin has studied these fragments and published some preliminary findings. The variations from the received text that he found seemed to match minor variations in sequence reported by some Islamic scholars, in their descriptions of the variant Qur'ans once held by Abdallah Ibn Masud, Ubay Ibn Ka'b, and Ali, and suppressed by Uthman's order.Observations on Early Qur'an Manuscripts in San'a The Qur'an as Text, ed. Wild, Brill, 1996 ISBN 9004103449.

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 5

• According to the Catholic Encyclopedia Koran, by Gabriel Oussani, The Catholic Encyclopedia, retrieved April 13, 2006, the text in the Qu'ran is traced to six sources: 1). The Old Testament canonical and apocryphal and the hybrid Judaism of the late rabbinical schools. During Muhammad's time the Jews were numerous in many parts of Arabia, especially around Medina. Later Judaism and Rabbinism are equally well represented Geiger, "Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthum aufgenommen?", Wiesbaden, 1833; tr. Judaism and Islam, Madras, 1898 What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text, and Commentary, edited and translated by, Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2002, 600 pages, ISBN 157392945X.

2). The New Testament (canonical and apocryphal). On his journeys between Syria, Hijaz, and Yemen, Muhammad had opportunity to come in close touch with Yemenite, Abyssinian, Ghassanite, and Syrian Christians, especially heretic. (See Muir, op. cit. infra, 66-239; Tisdall, "The Original Sources of the Qur'an", London, 1905, 55-211)

3). Sabaism, a combination of Judaism, Manicheism, and Babylonian polytheism. 4). Zoroastrianism. One suggestion of Zoroastrianism's influence on Islam is based on the conclusion by the Jewish orientalist, Ignaz Goldziher, in his book "Islamisme et Parsisme" I. Goldziher, "Islamisme et Parsisme", Revue De L'Histoire Des Religions, 1901, Volume XLIII, pp. 1-29., that the incident of Isra and Mai'raj in Islam (Muhammad's ascension to the heavens) finds resemblance to the Iranian "Divina Commedia" called Arda Wiraz Namag. Ibn Warraq quoted the Christian missionary, Tisdall, on this, claiming that the book Arda Wiraz Namag was composed 400 years before Muhammad.:However, the scholars of Persian studies believe that Arda Wiraz Namag was redacted finally in 9th-10th centuries CE, at least a century after the advent of Islam Arda Wiraz Namag (Iranian "Divina Commedia") And The Prophet's Night Journey, by M S M

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 6

• In 1972, during the restoration of the Great Mosque of San'a, in Yemen, laborers stumbled upon a "paper grave" containing tens of thousands of fragments of parchment on which verses of the Qur'an were written. Gerd Puin was the head of a restoration project commissioned by the Yemeni government who spent a significant amount of time examining the ancient Qur'anic manuscripts discovered in Yemen in 1972.

Puin's research supports the conclusions of John Wansbrough and his pupils that the Qu'ran as we know it does not date from the time of Mohammad. Puin is said to be working on a book on the Sana'a manuscripts, which may clarify the seeming gap between his statements to the Atlantic Monthly and his published academic scholarship

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 7

• Having studied early Quran manuscripts John Gilchrist states: "The oldest manuscripts of the Quran still in existence date from not earlier than about one hundred years after Muhammad's death." ("Jam' Al-Qur'an", page 153) He comes to this conclusion because two of the oldest manuscripts, the Samarqand and Topkapi codices are both written in the Kufic script. It "can generally be dated from the late eight century depending on the extent of development in the character of the script in each case." (Ibid. page 146)

Rebuttal that Qur’ans from the 1st century are available

1. There has been a polemic going on that the Qur'an does not have manuscripts from the first century of hijra. However, this is not true. Many fragments of early Qur'anic manuscripts were shown by Orientalists notably Nabia Abbott in her work The Rise of the North Arabic script and its Kur'anic development, with a full description of the Kur'an manuscripts in the Oriental Institute (1939, University of Chicago Press). There she discusses some of the Quranic manuscripts, dated from second half of the first century hijra onwards, at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. The aim of this page is to highlight some of the early Qur'anic manuscripts to refute the claim that the Qur'an lacks manuscripts from the first century of hijra.

2. The UNESCO, an arm of the United Nations, had compiled a CD containing some of the dated San`a' manuscripts as a part of "Memory of the World" programme. In this CD there are more than 40 Qur'anic manuscripts which are dated from 1st century of hijra, one of them belonging to early 1st century. More than 45 manuscripts have been dated from the period 1st / 2nd century of hijra. We will be showing only a few examples below.

3.   In the last century, an Institute of Munich University in Germany collected FORTY-TWO THOUSAND copies of the Holy Qur'an including manuscripts and printed texts produced in each period in the various parts of the Islamic World. Research work was carried out on these texts for half a century, at the end of which the researchers concluded that apart from copying mistakes, there was no discrepancy in the text of these forty-two thousand copies, even though they belonged to the period between the 1st Century Hijra to 14th Century Hijra and had been procured from all parts of the world. This Institute, alas! perished in the bombing attacks on Germany during World War II, but the findings of its research project survived

Orientalist conspiracy against Qur’an - 8

• Versions Of The Qur'an? M S M Saifullah

• © Islamic Awareness, All Rights Reserved.Last Updated: 15th January 2002

• Jochen Katz wrote:1) How many 'versions' of the holy Quran is there today?

At least two, probably more (I am pretty sure about the third

one, but can't prove it yet, so I am not going to say where and

what just yet), but it is common knowledge that the Hafs text and

the Warsh text (mainly used in Northwest Africa) are different not

only in the vowels but also in some consonants. The differences are

small, but they are there. And both of them are for sale and in use today.

Hafs is the much more common one. The third version I have heard

about has by far more substantial differences in comparison to the

other two. For the Warsh and Hafs differences see a few examples

at: http://answering-Islam.org/Quran/Text/warsh.html

Br. Saifullah’s response

• Saifullah: It has become a standard method of deception by Christian missionaries like Jochen Katz to superficially project issues that have been exhaustively addressed by both Muslims and Orientialsts, as we will see soon, inshallah. These missionaries are well aware of the difference between a transmission and a text (to be discussed in detail below). Yet, they intentionally replace one with the other in order to give the false impression to lay readers that the Qur'an exists in different texts. Thus, in order to address the questions of Hafs and Warsh, we would like to sincerely thank brother Moustafa Mounir Elqabbany from Canada and brother Muhammad Ghoniem from France, for providing valuable references. May Allah reward them profusely for their kind help.

Conclusions: In light of the above discussion, it is clear that Hafs and Warsh Qirâ'ât are notthe different 'versions' or 'texts' of the Qur'an as fantasized by missionary Katz. The “mutawatir”follows directly to the Companions of the Prophet(P) who took the Qur'an from the Prophet(P) himself. Thus, the suggestion that a “mutawatir” reading was a later invention by the Muslimsis to be dismissed as complete fiction.

This is a well knownAnd Common mushâfof the Qur'an printedin the Saudi Arabia. They have adopted the Hafs Qirâ'a. Hafs is the most common type of Qirâ'a used in the Muslim world.

This is a mushâf From Algeria with the riwaya of Warsh. It is important to notethat all the masahif are written in rasm al-'Uthmani. Also notice the Qaf written with one dot on top in Maghribi script!

Yet another mushâf in the riwaya of Warsh. This is printed in Morocco.

The riwaya Qâlûnfrom Nâfîc. This mushâf is published inTunisia by ad-Dâr at-Tunissia Lilnashr.

The Qur'an in the riwaya of ad-Dûrî from Abî cAmrû. This mushâf is from Sudan.

Issues caused by Muslim scholars -1

• Mu'tazilite Philosophy• Eternal or created in time• Abbasid caliph, al-Ma'mun, raised Mu'tazilah doctrine to the

status of the state creed. On one occasion the eminent Sunni scholar and founder of one of the four orthodox jurisprudential schools, Ahmad b. Hanbal (d.855), was subjected to flogging and imprisonment for his refusal to subscribe to the Mu'tazilite doctrine that the Qur'an was created in time. The issue of whether the Qur'an is eternal or created was one of the crucial controversies among early Muslim theologians. Mu'tazilis believe it is created while the most widespread varieties of Muslim theologians consider the Qur'an to be eternal and uncreated.

Issues caused by Muslim scholars -2

• The Sheeahs (Shi'ahs) of later times, indeed, pretend that Othman left out certain Suras or passages which favoured Ali. But this is incredible. He could not possibly have done so without it being observed at the time; and

• Surah of Wilaya and Nurayn

• Some early Islamic histories recount that as Muhammad was reciting Sūra Al-Najm (Q.53), as revealed to him by the angel Gabriel, Satan tempted him to utter the following lines after verses 19 and 20 :"Have you thought of Allāt and al-'Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other; These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for." The Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt were three goddesses worshiped by the Meccans. These histories then say that these 'Satanic Verses' were repudiated

shortly afterward by Muhammad at the behest of Gabriel.[25]

Issues caused by Muslim scholars-3

• Satanic verses, a group of alleged Qur'anic verses that allowed for prayers of intercession to be made to three pagan goddesses: Allat, Uzza, and Manat.

Reported by well known muslim historians (Tabari).

• Salman Rushdies book (88)