How was the Quran recorded?

Answer 1

Answer

There are two schools of thought here: the academic school of thought that places the writing of the Qur'an in the late 8th-early 9th Century around Baghdad. Then there is the Sunni Islamic thought that places the compilation of the Qur'an to over 20 years after the death of Muhammad.

From the Islamic traditions we know that many people had memorised short segments of the Qur'an recitations and some verses had been recorded on palm leaves and thigh bones. Muhammad's companions had collected a number of various Qur'ans. There was Ibn Massud's Qur'an that contains many variations to the Qur'an edition of today, that was Ubayy's Quran and many others that contained a number of different surahs (chapters) and ayas (verses) to todays Qur'an.

By the reign of Uthman (or in Shia traditions, Ali) there were many variant Qur'ans causing confusing among the believers. (Note, there was also confusion in the time of Muhammad where followers would physically fight over disagreements on the recitations). Uthman decided to unify these different variant Qur'ans so he collected a number of variant manuscripts and created his own edition based on personal preference. He then burnt most of the variant Qur'ans and forcefully instated his as the Qur'an to be used.

Answer

From the Islamic traditions (composed in the 9th Century):

1. Qur'an collated in 650. (Muhammad died in 632)

2. Canonised in 651

3. 4 copies of 'Uthman's version sent to Medina, Mecca, Kufa and Damascus

So, 4 copies of Uthman's version of the Qur'an were sent to 4 places. To the Muslims, this book would have been the most important book in the world so it would make sense to copy it onto something durable. And we know materials can easily survive - Codex Sinaiticus from the 4th Century is still preserved over 1700 years later.

Why don't we have the Uthmanic rescension (i.e. Uthmans version of the Qur'an) - if it was the most important book in the world and multiple copies were sent to the capitals of the Muslim world at the time?

The oldest Qur'an we have is from 150-160 years after the death of Muhammad. There is also no evidence of Qur'ans having existed before then. All the evidence suggests that the first Qur'an wasn't canonized until the 9th Century.

Some physical evidence that backs up this claim. The Qur'an claims that the direction of Qibla is towards Mecca. However, the Mosques uncovered between 650-705 do not have Qiblas facing Mecca. Wasit Mosque in Iraq faced north and not South West, Frustat Mosque in Egypt pointes North East and not South East towards Mecca. In 705 we have records from eye witnesses claiming that the Egyptian Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem not Mecca. So, the physical evidence and eye witness testimonies demonstrate that in the 7th and even 8th Century - the Qibla was not unified towards Mecca. If the Qur'an was standardized in this time - would it not be safe to assume that the Qibla would be towards Mecca?

Conclusion:

1. No manuscript/codex evidence of Qur'ans existing in Uthmanic period

2. No reliable eye witness testimony as the hadith are a secondary source

3. Evidence regarding the direction of Qibla (both physical and primary eye witness testimony) suggest no unified direction therefore either: no unified Quran or no Qur'an.

Answer

It was conveyed by ArchAngel Gabriel, the same angel who had conveyed God's revelations to his earlier prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Prphet Muhammad received this first revelation at the age of 40 in 610 A.D.

The prophet received the revelations on various matters, ideas, knowledge, elucidation, instructions, advice and guidance over 23 years. Sometimes the Prphet received a single verse, sometimes a few verses together and sometimes an entire chapter. God says: "We have rehearsed the Quran to thee (O Muhammad) in slow, well-arranged stages gradually." (25:32)

Upon receiving some revelations, the Prophet asked any one of his companions who could read and write to record it. This was done by the Prophet reciting the revelation he had received from God and a scribe taking it down. After the scribe had taken down what had been dictated to him (on the writing material of those days), the Prophet asked the scribe to read allowed what he had recorded - to make sure that he had recorded correctly what had been dictated to him.

In this way, the entire Quran, 114 chapters in all, was completed in manuscript form before the Prophet's death. The various chapters in the Quran were arranged by the Prophet himself through divine guidance. (The chapters of the Quran are nto arranged in chronological order but in the order of divine preferance. For instance, the first verses the prophet received, which begun with "Read! In the name of Thy Lord...", are in chapter 96, not in chapter 1).

A standard copy of the Quran was made within 30 years of the death of the prophet when few of his immediate companions, who had heard him recite the Quran and had themselves committed it to memory, were still living. The prophet's successor, Caliph Abu Bakar, requested Zayd Bin Thabit to compile all the chapters into one volume.On receicing this task Zayd B. Thabit saw the task as impossible and exclaimed how he could do something the prophet could not even do. Zayd ws chosen because it was he who had taken down most of the prophet's dictation of the revelation. The volume was then scrutinised by the prophet's companions and kept with Hafsah, the prophet's widow. At the time there were various contradictory Qur'ans containing different Surahs (chapters) and a variety of ayas (veres).

There is no know original Quranic manuscript. Today most Muslims have the standardised Cairo 1924 Edition of the QUr'an which is ONE version of the many Uthmanic versions. When Muslims perform their 5 daily prayers, they recite the Quran in its original language, the Arabic Language, although not knowing what they mean. Many Muslims memorize the Quran by heart at young age. The English, Spanish or French Quranic translations are nothing but interpretation to the meanings of the words of the Quran, and they are only used as a reference for most of the worlds Muslims who don't speak Arabic

This problem, all thanks be to the Almighty (swt), has been completely avoided in the Qur'an, since it has remained from the time of its inspiration to the present day in the same language it was originally revealed in, the Arabic Language. The Arabic Language has remained a living language from that day to this, and the book itself has always been in the hands of the people and not "the elite."

The Qur'an is present in a living language, Arabic. Over 200 million speak the Arabic language however, only 19% of the Arab world is literate. It is therefore very easy to check the contents of the original Arabic of the Qur'an. The Bible was written in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These are all dead languages, meaning their meaning of the text doesn't change over time- eternally preserving the original meaning.

There are thousands of variants between different versions of the Qur'an, however, after the Uthmanic rescension (when the early Muslims formulated their edition of the Qur'an based on personal preference) the amount of variatns declined greatly as other Qur'ans were burnt. However, today, Muslims deny this and provide minimal footnotes in the 1923 Cairo Egyptian of the Qur'an in print today.

The preservation of the scripture of Islam -- the Holy Qur'an -- is unique among world religions. Unlike the Bible which has over 25000 manuscripts of the New Testament alone the Qur'an has few manuscripts - and no early Qur'an is dated before 160 years after the death of Muhammad. Therefore, we cannot confirm when the Qur'an was written nor do we know how poorly it reflects the words of Muhammad.

According to Sunni traditions, the earliest that the Qur'an was compiled together was 23 years after the death of the prophet. However, academics find no evidence of a Qur'an unil 160 years after the supposed death of Muhammad.

Answer:In 610, Muhammad reported that he had begun receiving revelations, which he passed on to others. He began preaching amd winning converts in 612. Most Muslims believe these revelations came from the angel Gabriel and that an entire copy of the Quran existed in heaven since creation.

After Muhammad's death in 632 CE, there was no collection of his revelations. Consequently, many of his followers tried to gather all the known revelations and write them down in codex form. Soon there were codices of several scholars. As Islam spread, there were variants known as the Metropolitan Codices in Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Kufa and Basra. For orthodox Muslims of today, the Quran we have is the one that was established under the third caliph, Uthman (644-656), in the seventh century. Muslim orthodoxy holds that Uthman's Quran contains all of the revelation delivered to the community faithfully preserved without change or variation.