The Quran and the Prophet Muhammad

according to the pronunciation of different dialects: maalik-e-yaumuddin, malik-e-yaumuddin and maleek-eyaumuddin, etc.; with the passing of time and changes in the style of writing, the differences in the manuscript would have become a source of great contention. Therefore, on the advice of Umar, Abu Bakr decided to have an authentic copy of the Quran prepared under state patronage and thus put an end forever to the possibility of phonetic differences obscuring the true meaning of the text. For this purpose Zayd ibn Thabit was the most competent, as he was the katib of the Prophet. Zayd and Ubbay ibn Kaab both had joined in the ‘last recitation’ having heard the Quran directly from the Prophet in the order still extant today. Not only had they memorised the entire Quran, but they also possessed the whole text in written form. The first caliph commanded them to collect all the available parts of the scriptures and to compile them. (Bukhari). After this decision had been taken, Umar made an announcement in the Mosque that whoever had any piece of writing from the Quran should bring it and hand it over to Zayd. During the first caliphate, the Quran not only existed in written form on the bark of date palms, stones, leather, etc, but was also preserved in the memory of the companions. The Quran, when made into a book, was arranged in the order memorized by the companions, and the verses have been preserved in that same order right up to the present day. Zayd ibn Thabit’s work was more a process of collection than of compilation. That is, the scattered bits and pieces of the Quran in written form were collected by him, not just to be assembled and bound in one volume, but to be used to verify the authenticity of the Quran as memorised and passed on in oral tradition by countless individuals. Once this exact correspondence between the oral and written forms of the Quran had been established beyond any reasonable doubt, Zayd proceeded to put the verses of the Quran down on paper in their correct order. Harith Muhasibi writes in his book, Fahm As-Sunan, that the transcription of the Quran was nothing new, because the Prophet himself had arranged for it to be written down. But it was written separately on Riqa‘a, Likhaf, Katf, ‘Asib, etc. All the materials on which the Quran was written were available in the Prophet’s house, but had not been put in any special order. What the collector did was assemble all these parts and then bind them together so that no part was destroyed. (Al- Itqan, v. 1, p. 40) This elaborate arrangement of the Quran was made so that there should not be even the minutest discrepancy vis-a-vis the original revelation. If this extraordinary care had not been taken, differences would have resulted from the slightest lapse in memorising and transcription. For instance, when Umar recited this verse to Zayd ibn Thabit, “As for those who led the way, the first of the muhajirs and the Ansar, those who nobly followed them,” Zayd said, that he remembered this verse with waw, that is, with ‘and’ after Ansar. So the investigation started, and finally the other memorisers of the Quran came and confirmed that the opinion of Zayd was right. So in the volume the verse was written with the addition of ‘and’. It is said that during the caliphate of Umar Faruq there were more than one lakh copies of the Quran in circulation in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, etc. During the caliphate of Uthman there entered the fold of Islam peoples whose mother tongue was not Arabic, and who were not able to speak the language with the proper accent and pronunciation. Even the various Arab tribes themselves had different accents and pronunciation. Hence the variations in the recitation of the Quran. The result was that the Quran, too, began to be written according to varying pronunciations. Ibn Qutayba writes that the Bani Huzayl tribe used to pronounce ‘hatta’ as ‘atta’. Since Ibn Masood belonged to this tribe, its members saw no reason to deviate from this pronunciation. Such differences in recitation came to be “reflected in the transcription of the Quran, this being only one of many such examples. Given this state of affairs, Uthman, as advised by Huzayfa ibn Yaman, had copies made of the volume prepared by Abu Bakr, then sent one copy each to all cities. This task was again entrusted to Zayd ibn Thabit Ansari, who was provided with eleven people to assist him. As per the order of the third caliph, the committee wrote down the Quran in accordance with the spelling of the Quraysh, so that it should conform to the accent (lehja) of the Prophet of Islam. Caliph Uthman subsequently ordered that all other copies of the Quran, which people had written on their own, should be handed over to the government. These were all then burnt by his order. By this method, all the copies of the Quran were made uniform as far as writing was concerned. However, taking natural differences into consideration—since all the people were not able to pronounce the Quran uniformly—permission was given for the Quran to be recited with seven different pronunciations and accents. The collection prepared by Abu Bakr was done one year after the death of the Prophet. The copies ordered by Uthman were produced fifteen years after the Prophet’s death.