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THE
QUR'AAN WAS PRESERVED FROM THE TIME OF RASULULLAH (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam)
The
Qur’aan-e-Kareem is the speech of Allah Ta’ala. Allah
Ta’ala had taken it upon Himself to preserve the noble
Qur’aan. He says, ‘Most certainly We have revealed the
Qur’aan and most certainly we will preserve it.’ (Surah
Hajar 9)
Allah Ta’ala
first placed the Qur’aan-e-Kareem in the Lawh Mahfoodh. He
says, ‘But this is the Qur’aan, which is in the Lahw
Mahfoodh.’ (Surah Buruj 21)
Allah Ta’ala revealed the Qur’aan two
times from the Lawh Mahfoodh: The first time upon the skies of
the earth, in the Baytul Izzat which is known as Baytul
Ma’moor. This took place on the night of Laylatul Qadr
(night of power). Allah Ta’ala says in the noble Qur’aan,
‘Most certainly we have revealed the Qur’aan in the night
power.’ (Itqaan; Surah Qadr 1)
The second time
was the gradual revelation upon Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) over a period of 23 years. This
revelation commenced when Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) was in the cave of Hira in the night of
power. Rasulullah (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) was 40 years of age at that time.
The commonly
asked question as to why the Qur’aan was revealed gradually
and not at once:
The same question
was posed to Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam), Allah Ta’ala says in the noble
Qur’aan, ‘The disobelievers say, ‘Why has not the
Qur’aan been revealed upon him all at once?’ In this way
(we reveal it) that we may strengthen by it your heart and we
recite it beautifully.’ (Furqaan 32)
In the Tafseer of
this Aayat, Imaam Jassa Razi (RA) mentions a few reasons for
the gradual revelation of the noble Qur’aan:
1) If the entire
Qur’aan was revealed at once, it would be necessary to
practice upon all the commands of Allah Ta’ala immediately.
That would have been difficult.
2) Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) underwent and bore many difficulties from
his people. Jibraaeel (Alayhis
salaam) used to come often to console and strengthen the
heart of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). A gradual revelation was necessary to
achieve that.
3) The Qur’aan
contains verses answering the questions of people. Such verses
could only be revealed when the questions were posed.
In the beginning
stages of Islam, the Qur’aan was preserved by memory.
Memorising was the most trusted form of preserving any
literature as people could not read and write. If the method
of writing was adopted to preserve the Qur’aan, the
Qur’aan would not have spread as it did so by memory.
Allah Ta’ala
had blessed the Arabs with strong memory. A person would be
able to memorise over 1000 verses of poetry. A Bedouin was
able to memorise his family tree, as well as the family tree
of his horses.
However, besides
memorising the Qur’aan, Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) also took special care in the writing of
the Qur’aan. Hadhrat Zayd ibn Thaabit (Radhiallaahu
Anhu)says, ‘I used to write the Wahy for Nabi(Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). Whenever any revelation used to come,
Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi
Wasallam) used to feel very hot, drops of perspiration
like pearls used to fall from the blessed body of Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam). Upon that condition, I used to present
myself with a shoulder bone or any means of writing, Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) used to dictate the Qur’aan and I used
to write. When this used to be completed, I used to feel the
burden of the copying of the Qur’aan as though my legs would
break and I would never be able to walk. Thereafter, Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) used to tell me to read. I used to read
and if there was any mistake, Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam) would rectify it and thereafter it used
to be presented to the people.’ (Itqaan)
There were many
other Sahaaba besides Hadhrat Zayd ibn Thaabit (Radhiallaahu Anhu) who used to write down Wahy. From amongst them
were the Khulafaa-e-Rashideen, Hadhrat Ubayy ibn Ka’b,
Hadhrat Zubayr ibn `Awwaam, Hadhrat Mu’aawiya, Hadhrat
Mugheera ibn Shu’bah, Hadhrat Khalid ibn Waleed, Hadhrat
Thaabit ibn Qays, Hadhrat Aboan ibn Sa’eed (Radhiallaahu
Anhum)
Hadhrat Uthmaan (Radhiallaahu
Anhu) mentions that whenever revelation used to come upon
Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), he used to guide the scribe to place
that Aayat in a particular portion, Surah, etc. of the noble
Qur’aan.
As paper was very
scarce in those times, some Aayaat of the noble Qur’aan were
written on stone, some on leather, some on branches of date
trees, leaves of trees and bones of animals. However,
sometimes it used to be written on paper also.
In this manner,
during the time of Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam), the noble Qur’aan was written and
compiled under the supervision of Nabi (Sallallaahu
Alayhi Wasallam).
Qari Ismail
Abdul-Aziz
Head: Department of Qiraat –
Madrasah In’aamiyyah, Camperdown
An expert in the fields of Qiraat (Seven dialects and ten
dialects of Qiraat)
Last modified:
July 19, 2007
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