HOW THE QURAN WAS COMPILED

HOW THE QURAN WAS COMPILED T HE Quran, according to Muslim belief, is a book of revelations from God. Today, it exists in the form of a book, but all the 114 chapters of the Quran were not revealed at one time. They were sent bit by bit, according to circumstances, over a period of 23 years. The Quran is pivotal to all Muslim activities. Muslims recite the Quran daily, and read from it in their prayers five times a day. Over and above this, they read it out to others for conveying its message. In this way, the Quran has remained at the centre of Muslims’ activities since its revelation. In ancient times information used to be preserved in human memory. The oral tradition in those days functioned as libraries do today. This system made it possible for the revelations of the Quran to be preserved in the memory of a large number of devotees. And to this day despite the printing industry, the institution of memorizing the Quran is still alive all over the Muslim world. But the message of the Quran was not transmitted purely by oral tradition, even during the lifetime of the Prophet. Among his companions were a select group of about half a dozen katib-e-wahy — transcribers of the revelations. A few of these scribes were always present and whenever any part of the Quran was revealed, the Prophet would recite it to them. Thereupon, at the exact moment of revelation, they would not only commit it to memory, but would write it down on any available material, such as paper, bones, leather or skin. In former times, when the accepted way of disseminating the subject matter of a book was to memorise it and then recite it, it was quite exceptional that the Quran should have been both memorized and preserved in writing. The second exceptional point concerns the arrangement of the verses and chapters of the Quran. When the Quran was revealed in parts, at different times according to the demand of circumstances, how did it come to be arranged in its present form? We find the answer in books It was quite exceptional that the Quran should have been both memorized and preserved in writing.