Collection of the Qur’an - 1
Submitted by Ibn Kammuna on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 05:50
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Introductory Notes
Because the Qur’an is considered of vital importance to Muslims, I will be discussing its collection events in many articles. I do feel that I need to mention that the Qur’an itself, I believe, will end up as a book that has no real utility or value. So, I am embarking on a journey aimed at showing that we, in all honesty, have no clue which parts of the Qur’an are Muhammad’s and which are some “additions” or “changes” that took place sometime during early Islam’s history. Some changes took place during Muhammad’s life. Salomon Reinach writes:
"….the Koran has little merit. Declamation, repetition, puerility, a lack of logic and coherence strike the unprepared reader at every turn."1
So, from a literary point of view, the Qur’an is worthless. It is awfully boring to read, lacks logical sequencing in its verses. It is also full of historical and grammatical errors as pointed out by many researchers who contribute to this site (i.e. Ali Sina, Mumin Salih).
Tradition tells us that the Qur’an was “revealed” to Muhammad (PBUH) over many years. It is not clear how much of the Qur’an was written down during Muhammad’s (PBUH) time. Ibn Warraq writes:
"…it seems probable that there was no single manuscript in which the Prophet himself had collected all the revelations. Nonetheless, there are traditions which describe how the Prophet dictated this or that portion of the Koran to his secretaries."2
So, right to the time of Muhammad’s death, we actually have many reasons to believe that the Qur’an that was claimed to have been revealed to the Prophet may not have been recorded as accurately as one might think. Let me list some of those reasons:
1. The Qur’an was not recorded as a full unit by the scribes from Muhammad himself.
2. The scandal of “Satanic verses” that Muhammad went through with the Quraysh tribe at one time in his life, sheds some doubt on which of the Qur’an was “revealed” by Allah, and which was of “Satanic” origin. Those Satanic verses were assumed to have come from Allah at first. Muhammad worshiped the pagan deities with the Qurayshites on this account. Then, a while later, Muhammad said that those verses were put into him as revelation by Satan (Shaytan).
3. Some of the scribes suggested changes to the Qur’an, and Muhammad rubber-stamped the change. Ali Dashti writes about Abdollah Bin Sa’d Bin Abi Sarh, who was one of the scribes of Muhammad in Medina:
"...had been one of the scribes employed at Medina to write down the revelations. On a number of occasions he had, with the Prophet’s consent, changed the closing words of verses. For example, when the Prophet had said "And God is mighty and wise" (aziz, hakim), Abdollah b. Abi Sarh suggested writing down 'knowing and wise' (alim, hakim), and the prophet answered that there was no objection. Having observed a succession of changes of this type, Abdollah renounced Islam on the ground that the revelations, if from God, could not be changed at the prompting of a scribe such as himself. After his apostasy, he went to Mecca and joined the Qorayshites."3
Muhammad actually ordered killing this scribe when he took over Mecca. He, the scribe, was saved, through his foster brother, Uthman, who begged the Prophet for Abdollah’s life. In any case, this story shows that even Muhammad himself was not keen on preserving the Qur’an as it was exactly (i.e. word by word, and letter by letter) “revealed” to him by the angel Gabriel. One can easily assume that Muhammad (PBUH) accepted other suggested changes to the Qur’an by some of the other scribes too.
Collection of the Qur’an after Muhammad
There are confusing facts on when and how the Qur’an was collected. One of the traditions tells us that the Qur’an was collected during Abu Bakr’s time (632-634), the first Caliph who took over after Muhammad (PBUH) died. After the Yamama battle, during Abu Bakr’s time, Omar got worried about losing parts of the Qur’an. The reason for that is that many of those who memorized the Qur’an or major parts of it died in that battle. Abu Bakr, then, asked Zaid Ibn Thabit, a former secretary of the Prophet, to take on this task of collecting the Qur’an. Zaid collected the Qur’anic verses which were written on many different kinds of materials used for writing at the time (papyrus, flat stones, palm leaves, ribs of animals,..). Then this version of the Qur’an was handed over to Abu Bakr, who passed it to Umar on his death bed. Umar did the same and gave this version of the Qur’an to his daughter Hafsa.
This above tradition of how the Qur’an was collected, is suspect to many criticisms. First, this Qur’an was not treated as an official codex, but as a private property of Hafsa, thus no authority is given to Abu Bakr’s Qur’an. Second, some believe that the whole story of collecting the Quran during Abu Bakr’s time was fabricated to give credit to Abu Bakr, and take the credit away from Uthman, the third Caliph. Some even suggested that this whole story was invented later to take the collection of the Qur’an as back as possible to the time of Muhammad’s death.
A more realistic tradition about the collection of the Qur’an, in my view, is that it was collected during Uthman’s time. One of Uthman’s generals asked him to collect an “official” Qur’an. Why? Because some serious disputes have broken out regarding the correct readings of the Qur’an by people who came from different provinces in the Arabian peninsula. Zaid Ibn Thabit was given this task. Zaid compared what he had and known with the leaves from Hafsa’s Qur’an. Three people from noble Meccan families helped Zaid in this task. When there was a difficulty in the reading of verses, Zaid followed the Quraysh dialect to resolve the issue. The new version of the Qur’an was completed between the years 650 to 656. Copies of the new Qur’an were then sent to Kufa, Basra, Damascus, and Mecca. One copy was kept in Medina.
The above tradition that I just mentioned is also open to many criticisms. The Arabic language is not a dialect. It is a written language. This leaves us with the puzzle of how Zaid solved the issue of different wordings of the same verse in the Qur’an. Also, tradition tells us that other versions of the Qur’an were destroyed. Can we be really sure that Zaid made all the right decisions to give us the “original” Qur’an as it was “revealed” to Muhammad (PBUH)? It is evident that believing that demands putting human intellect on the side line and taking a huge step of irrational belief. There is really no conclusive evidence that can convince us that what Zaid came up with was any better than those versions of the Qur’an that were ordered to be destroyed by Uthman. One of the issues that come to my mind here is this: If Hafsa, supposedly, had the “right” Qur’an, why did Uthman have to do it again? Why did Zaid have to reconcile what Hafsa had, with other Qur’ans laying around in multiplicity of places?
Another matter that I think is important for us is the fallibility of human memory. How many times did I think I put my red socks in my chest drawer, only to discover that they were in the trunk of my car since last summer! In fact, the fact that there were multiple Quran’s floating around testifies to this fact. Arabs, like other human beings, remember things as individuals. Everyone remembers things not exactly in the same manner or wording. This is why there were multiple Qur’ans floating around during that period. Also, there is human intentions that may have contributed to multiplicity of Qur’ans during the early time of Islam. Not all Arabs appreciate the Qur’an equally. We know of some people who wrote “Suras” to compete with Muhammad’s “revelations”. Off course, such people were called liars by the Muslims. Some were even killed. Musailimah is just one name that comes to mind. I know there were others, even including at least one woman. So, it is not unrealistic to believe that some people “Wrote “ verses or Suras and attributed them to Muhammad. We have no way of knowing for sure since this was done in the far past, humanly speaking.
1. S. Reinach, Orpheus: A History of Religion, (New York, 1932), p.176
2. Ibn Warraq, The origins of the Koran, (New York, 1998), p.10
3. Ali Dashti, Twenty Three Years, (California, 1994), p.98
Muslims are violent,
Muslims are violent, terrorist, and extremist!
This is the biggest misconception in Islam, no doubt resulting from the constant stereotyping and bashing the media gives Islam. When a gunman attacks a mosque in the name of Judaism, a Catholic IRA guerrilla sets off a bomb in an urban area, or Serbian Orthodox militiamen rape and kill innocent Muslim civilians, these acts are not used to stereotype an entire faith. Never are these acts attributed to the religion of the perpetrators. Yet how many times have we heard the words 'Islamic, Muslim fundamentalist. etc.' linked with violence.
Politics in so called “Muslim countries" may or may not have any Islamic basis. Often dictators and politicians will use the name of Islam for their own purposes. One should remember to go to the source of Islam and separate what the true religion of Islam says from what is portrayed in the media. Islam literally means 'submission to God' and is derived from a root word meaning 'peace'.
Islam may seem exotic or even extreme in the modern world. Perhaps this is because religion doesn’t dominate everyday life in the West, whereas Islam is considered a 'way of life' for Muslims and they make no division between secular and sacred in their lives. Like Christianity, Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion, or on the part of those who have been expelled forcibly from their homes. It lays down strict rules of combat which include prohibitions against harming civilians and against destroying crops, trees and livestock.
NOWHERE DOES ISLAM ENJOIN THE KILLING OF INNOCENTS... The Qur’an says:
"Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors. " (Qur’an 2:190)
"If they seek peace, then seek you peace. And trust in God for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things." (Qur’an 8:61)
War, therefore, is the last resort, and is subject to the rigorous conditions laid down by the sacred law. The term 'jihad' literally means 'struggle'. Muslims believe that there are two kinds of jihad. The other 'jihad' is the inner struggle of the soul which everyone wages against egotistic desires for the sake of attaining inner peace.
Saudi judge sentences
Saudi judge sentences pregnant gang-rape victim to 100 lashes for committing adultery.
This should show how Sharia law can make this world a hell.
Peace-Be-Upon-Him by torturing you.
Raja is a liar. Rape victim
Raja is a liar. Rape victim cannot be punished in Islam. Rather rapists are severely punished in Islam. You are probably talking about adulterer.
"So, from a literary point of
"So, from a literary point of view, the Qur’an is worthless. It is awfully boring to read, lacks logical sequencing in its verses. It is also full of historical and grammatical errors as pointed out by many researchers who contribute to this site (i.e. Ali Sina, Mumin Salih)."
If the Quran was sent down by God, then how can it be filled with historical and grammatical errors? Surely if the Quran is the holy word of God, then there would be no errors at all.
If the Quran is the word of God, then why did Muhammed and Muslim scholars change it? To change the word of God is blasphemy and is considered to be a major sin.
Nice article.
Many of my muslim friend
Many of my muslim friend believed that the quran came down directly from heaven that's why they cannot change or modify any aya (verse) of the quran.
The world before the Final
The world before the Final Prophet
When Almighty Allah sent His last and final Prophet, Muhammad sallallaaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, humankind was immersed in a state of degeneration. The messages of the past prophets had been distorted and ignored, civilization was on the decline and humanity had slumped into an age of darkness, with disbelief, oppression and corruption prevalent everywhere. The condition of the world at that time presented the gloomiest picture ever of human history.
At the time of the birth of Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, there existed two great powers on earth: one in the East and another in the West. In the East there was the Persian Empire, and in the West, the Roman Empire. As it might be expected, these two powers were actively hostile and almost permanently at war with one another. As a result, they were weak and disunited, though appearing to be otherwise. Despite their disunity and weakness, they made no serious effort to eradicate the causes of their instability.
The Arabs were living under no better conditions. They were families and tribes comprising different attitudes and feelings; but they were all similar in one respect: they were slaves of habits and impulses. They used to take pride in invasion and plunder. Moreover, they were so low in their moral affairs that a number of them used to bury their daughters alive.
Religiously speaking, the Arabs of that era were mostly idol worshippers. Some of them used to make their own gods from sweets, and subsequently, they would eat them when they got hungry. They had replaced the monotheism of Ibraaheem (Abraham) with the worship of idols, stars and demons, turning the Ka'bah, which was built for the One and Only Creator, into a pantheon of idols. In addition, tribal rivalries and blood feuds ran among them like the burning desert sands of Arabia.
The people of Makkah used to practice usury on a large scale with very high interest rates -- sometimes a hundred percent. When the debtors were not able to repay -- and that was most often the case -- they were enslaved or obliged to force their wives and daughters to commit certain sins, in order to be able to collect enough money to repay the debt.
Ignorance was not confined to the Arabs alone. On the fringes of Arabia where the desert gives way to hospitable lands, met the ever-changing borders of 'world arrogance', the two superpowers of the age: the Persian and the Roman Empires.
The fire-worshipping Persians, with their strange concept of dualism were further plagued by the still weirder Mazdakite doctrine (i.e. a socio-religious movement that flared up in the Sasanian Kavad (488-531 CE) founded by Mazdak son of Bamdad), that advocated communal ownership and even ruled that women were the common property of all men. Like Mani a few centuries earlier, who had claimed a new religion by combining the teachings of Jesus and Zoroaster, Mazdakite's movement was also a reaction to the corruption of the traditional priestly class. Both creeds died away after the execution of their proponents, who more or less depended on royal patronage. On the other hand, the Sasanian aristocracy aligned with the Zoroastrian clergy was steeped in pleasures, burdening the oppressed masses with heavy taxes and oppression.
At the other end was the Byzantine world, which though claiming to profess a divinely revealed religion, had in fact polluted the monotheist message of Prophet Jesus with the sediments of ancient Greek and Roman pagan thoughts, resulting in the birth of Christianity. In 381 CE, the Greco-Roman Church council rejected the doctrine of Arius of Alexandria, to which most of the eastern provinces of the empire adhered, and in its place the council had coined the belief that God and Jesus are of one substance and therefore co-existent. Arius and his followers had held the belief in the uniqueness and majesty of God, Who Alone, they said has existed since eternity, while Jesus was created in time.
There were colonies of Jews scattered across West Asia and North Africa to whom several Messengers had been sent by Almighty Allaah. However, even these divine favors had failed to reform them. The laws sent to Prophet Moses had been distorted and tampered with.
Further to the east lay the once flourishing cultures of China and India which were groping in darkness. Confucianism had confused the Chinese, robbing their minds of any positive thinking. On the other hand, Hinduism had no universal pretensions whatsoever, and was peculiar to the geographical confines of India or more properly Northern India and its Aryan invaders. Conversion of foreigners was difficult because one had to be born in a particular caste and it was the mystery of 'Karma' that determined one's fate.
In short, wars, bloodshed, slavery, oppression of women and the deprived held sway everywhere, might ruled over right. The world was in dire distress but no one seemed capable of delivering it from darkness. No religion, ideology, creed or cult during those times, could offer any hope to the agonies and frustrations of humankind.
None of the religions in currency had any universal outlook or even pretensions and were limited to insurmountable geographical and psychological barriers, preaching discrimination and the narrow-minded superiority of a particular race.
Thus, it was in such a chaotic state of depression that Almighty Allaah sent His last great Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, with the universal Message of Islam to save humankind from disbelief, oppression, corruption, ignorance and moral decadence that was dragging humanity towards self-annihilation.
I would like to thank
I would like to thank everyone who nominated me to be the Grand Mufti. Thank you.
Now, I find it my duty to issue my first fatwa against Amim. Reason being he does not think and he does not read what the research articles are talking about. Here is the Fatwa:
Alef, Lam, Meem
AMIM
Idiots come in droves
AMIM
You are their Hakeem (means wise one)
AMIM
ALef, Lam, Meem
Sadaq Allahu El Azeem
IK, congratulaions on your
IK, congratulaions on your promotion brother. Keep the fatwas rolling.....
AMIM, tell us why Allah sent
AMIM, tell us why Allah sent an illiterate, pedophile prophet? Here are more questions. a) why Allah's Pakistani army lost three battles with kaffir Indians? b) Why did Mo marry his own daughter-in-law? incest ha ha
c) Do u use odd number of stones to clean ur back like your Arab Prophet? Do u still live in tents? It must be disgusting naah?
d) You are an Indian Muslim; why are you not in Afghanistan or Pakistan fighting for the glory there? Why are you hiding in kaffir India?
Waiting for ur reply
This moronic indian moslem is
This moronic indian moslem is teh product of an arab invader raping a local hindu and so he writes nonsense against his ancestors and stciks his back side up 5 times a day for allah the pimp to service it
This moronic indian moslem is
This moronic indian moslem is teh product of an arab invader raping a local hindu and so he writes nonsense against his ancestors and stciks his back side up 5 times a day for allah the pimp to service it.
Yes u r right,he is an Indian & possibly from Karnataka.Maybe a urdu educated bum using govt welfare.Anyway he will be in for a surprise.We are planing to get Hindi,kannada & possibly a urdu version of FFI.wish us luck.
Great analysis Ibn Kammuna:-)
Great analysis Ibn Kammuna:-) This reminds me of the Gnostics Bible, and numerous other Christian tracks that did not make it into the New Testament. Humans are very fallible, and eyewitness accounts are the least reliable testimony in a court of law.
AMIN, you are mistaken. Rape
AMIN, you are mistaken. Rape victims are often lashed, stoned or murdered by their families. This fact is well documented.