TAG: Arabic
Authenticity Of Quran
One of the most common myths about the Qur’an is that Usman (r.a.), the third Caliph of Islam authenticated and compiled one Qur’an, from a large set of mutually contradicting copies. The Qur’an, revered as the Word of Allah (swt) by Muslims the world over, is the same Qur’an as the one revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It was authenticated and written under his personal supervision. We will examine the roots of the myth which says that Usman (r.a.) had the Qur’an authenticated.
1. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself supervised and authenticated the written texts of the Qur’an
Whenever the Prophet received a revelation, he would first memorize it himself and later declare the revelation and instruct his Companions (R.A. ‘Radhi Allahu Taala Anhu’) May Allah be pleased with him who would also memorize it. The Prophet would immediately ask the scribes to write down the revelation he had received, and he would reconfirm and recheck it himself. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was an Ummi who could not read and write. Therefore, after receiving each revelation, he would repeat it to his Companions. They would write down the revelation, and he would recheck by asking them to read what they had written. If there was any mistake, the Prophet would immediately point it out and have it corrected and rechecked. Similarly, he would even recheck and authenticate the portions of the Qur’an memorized by the Companions. In this way, the complete Qur’an was written down under the personal supervision of the prophet (PBUH).
2. Order and sequence of Qur’an divinely-inspired
The complete Qur’an was revealed over a period of 22½ years portion by portion, as and when it was required. The Qur’an was not compiled by the Prophet in the chronological order of revelation. The order and sequence of the Qur’an too was Divinely inspired and was instructed to the Prophet by Allah (SWT) through archangel Jibraeel. Whenever a revelation was conveyed to his companions, the Prophet would also mention in which surah (chapter) and after which ayat (verse) this new revelation should fit.
Every Ramadhaan all the portions of the Qur’an that had been revealed, including the order of the verses, were revised and reconfirmed by the Prophet with archangel Jibraeel. During the last Ramadhaan, before the demise of the Prophet, the Qur’an was rechecked and reconfirmed twice.
It is therefore clearly evident that the Qur’an was compiled and authenticated by the Prophet himself during his lifetime, both in the written form as well as in the memory of several of his Companions.
3. Qur’an copied on one common material
The complete Qur’an, along with the correct sequence of the verses, was present during the time of the Prophet (PBUH). The verses, however, were written on separate pieces, scrapes of leather, thin flat stones, leaflets, palm branches, shoulder blades, etc. After the demise of the prophet, Abu Bakr (r.a.), the first caliph of Islam ordered that the Qur’an be copied from the various different materials onto a common material and place, which was in the shape of sheets. These were tied with strings so that nothing of the compilation was lost.
4. Usman (r.a.) made copies of the Qur’an from the original manuscript
Many Companions of the Prophet used to write down the revelation of the Qur’an on their own whenever they heard it from the lips of the Prophet. However, what they wrote was not personally verified by the Prophet and thus could contain mistakes. All the verses revealed to the Prophet may not have been heard personally by all the Companions. There were high possibilities of different portions of the Qur’an being missed by different Companions. This gave rise to disputes among Muslims regarding the different contents of the Qur’an during the period of the third Caliph Usman (r.a.).
Usman (r.a.) borrowed the original manuscript of the Qur’an, which was authorized by the beloved Prophet (PBUH), from Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet’s wife. Usman (r.a.) ordered four Companions who were among the scribes who wrote the Qur’an when the Prophet dictated it, led by Zaid bin Thabit (r.a.) to rewrite the script in several perfect copies. These were sent by Usman (r.a.) to the main centers of Muslims.
There were other personal collections of the portions of the Qur’an that people had with them. These might have been incomplete and with mistakes. Usman (r.a.) only appealed to the people to destroy all these copies which did not match the original manuscript of the Qur’an in order to preserve the original text of the Qur’an. Two such copies of the copied text of the original Qur’an authenticated by the Prophet are present to this day, one at the museum in Tashkent in and the other at the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.
5. Diacritical marks were added for non-Arabs
The original manuscript of the Qur’an does not have the signs indicating the vowels in the Arabic script. These vowels are known as tashkil, zabar, zair, paish in Urdu and as Fatah, damma and qasra in Arabic. The Arabs did not require the vowel signs and diacritical marks for correct pronunciation of the Qur’an since it was their mother tongue. For Muslims of non-Arab origin, however, it was difficult to recite the Qur’an correctly without the vowels. These marks were introduced into the Quranic script during the time of the fifth ‘Umayyad’ Caliph, Malik-ar-Marwan (66-86 Hijri/685-705 C.E.) and during the governorship of Al-Hajaj in Iraq.
Some people argue that the present copy of the Qur’an that we have along with the vowels and the diacritical marks is not the same original Qur’an that was present at the Prophet’s time. But they fail to realize that the word “Qur’an” means a recitation. Therefore, the preservation of the recitation of the Qur’an is important, irrespective of whether the script is different or whether it contains vowels. If the pronunciation and Arabic is the same, naturally, the meaning remains the same too.
6. Allah Himself has promised to guard the Qur’an
Allah has promised in the Qur’an :
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly Guard it (from corruption).”
[Al-Qur’an 15:9]
May Allah guide us true path…Aameen
Quran KA Paigham
A Living Language
The Qur’an was able to hold the Arabic language in thrall from the moment it was revealed. Indeed its haunting rhythms rocked the whole Arabia from Sudan to Syria and from Morocco to Oman.
While the Qur’an continues to occupy the pedestal as an abiding model for literary Arabic, the languages of other scriptures had all become dead.
In fact, Arabic has defied the usual norms of the evolution of languages through history. The French scholar Ernest Renan (1823-1894), who had carried out extensive research on Semitic languages, had this to say about the Arabic language:
The Arabic language is the most astonishing event of human history. Unknown during the classical period, it suddenly emerged as a complete language. After this, it did not undergo any noticeable changes, so one cannot define for it an early or a late stage. It is just the same today as it was when it first appeared (quoted by Khan).
In acknowledging this “astonishing event of human history” this French Orientalist, was in fact acknowledging the miraculous nature of the Qur’an. It was the Qur’an’s phenomenal literary style which preserved the Arabic language from alteration, such as other languages have undergone.
A Challenging, Transformational Book
There is no other book in human history that has molded, and is continuing to mold, the life of generations of people as the Qur’an.
Every verse of the Qur’an has become the unalterable source of a code of laws that govern every aspect of the life of Muslims.
This was a book that reformed and refined the lives of thousands of Bedouins who could not think of anything beyond the confines of their clans before; a book that transformed the camel-herds of Arabia into Caliphs and learned judges; a book that brought into being the renowned universities and centers of learning that awakened a new enlightenment in the world, such as no other civilization of the past could match.
Muslims consider it a brilliant and lasting miracle of God because Prophet Muhammad’s only source of inspiration for the revolution he brought about was the Qur’an.
With the Qur’an in his hand, Prophet Muhammad gave shape to the nucleus of a universal society in the Arabia of those days, out of those scattered and cantankerous desert tribes, who had little by way of scientific knowledge or material resources.
Their initiation into a stable Islamic cultural order was effected independent of all the socio-political systems or powers existing in the world at that time.
The Qur’an was at the center of this unique spiritual revolution. All the factors required for forging unity among tribes, races and social classes, for the liberation of thought patterns and the ennobling of knowledge. Indeed all the criteria for social transformation were derived from the very text of the Qur’an and from the culture that emerged from the Qur’an.
Even aggressors who ravaged Islamic lands and triumphed over the Muslims owing to their military superiority, lost their dominance in the end when they were confronted with the spiritual power of Islam; and eventually, many of them adopted the religion of the people they had conquered.
How Do You Know That The Quran Is Really From God?
Muslims have something that offers the clearest proof of all – The Holy Quran. There is no other book like it anywhere on Earth. It is absolutely perfect in the Arabic language. It has no mistakes in grammar, meaning, or context. The scientific evidences are well known around the entire world, even amongst non-Muslim scholars. Predictions in the Quran have come true; and its teachings are clear for all people, all places, and all times. No one has been able to produce a book like it, nor ten chapters like it, nor even one chapter like it. It was memorized by thousands of people during the lifetime of Muhammad, peace be upon him, and then this memorization was passed down from teacher to student for generation after generation, from mouth to ear and from one nation to another. Today every single Muslim has memorized some part of the Quran in the original Arabic language that it was revealed over 1,400 years ago, even though most of them are not Arabs. There are over nine million (9,000,000) Muslims living on the earth today who have totally memorized the entire Quran, word for word, and can recite the entire Quran, in Arabic just as Muhammad, peace be upon him, did 14 centuries ago.
Five Things About The Holy Qur’an
1. The original usage of the word “Qur’an” itself, where it occurs about 70 times assuming various meanings. It is a verbal noun of the Arabic verb “Qara’a”, meaning “he heard” or “he recited”. Its liturgical context is seen in several passages, for example: “So that when Al Qur’an is recited, listen to it & keep silent“. The term also has closely related synonyms which are employed throughout the Qur’an. Each of the synonyms possesses its distinct meaning. Such terms include “kitab” (book); “ayah” (sign); & “surah” (chapter). Other related words are: “dhikr”, meaning “remembrance”, & “hikma” meaning “wisdom”.
2. The Qur’an consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths; each known as surah. Each chapter has a title: usually, a word is mentioned within the chapter itself. In general, the longer chapters appear earlier in the Qur’an, while the shorter ones appear later. As such, the arrangement is not connected to the sequence of revelation. Each chapter commences with “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim”, an Arabic phrase meaning “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”, with the exception of the ninth chapter.
3. Scribes wrote down the Qur’an, according to the order of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), on pieces of cloth, leather, bones, & stones. Its verses were ordered & arranged according to Allah’s inspiration. In the beginning, it was not gathered in one book. Some of the Prophet’s companions wrote parts & Surahs especially for themselves after they had memorized it from the Prophet. Zaid Ibn Thabit gathered the Qur’an in one book. He was tasked to do this by Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, according to advice from Umar Ibn Khattab. Its resource was the parts written by the scribes; so he gathered all of it in one book, The Holy Qur’an.
4. Dots were put as syntactical marks by Abu Al-Aswad Al-Doaly, during the time of Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufyan (661-680 CE). The letters were marked with different dotting by Nasr Ibn Asem & Hayy Ibn Ya’amor, during the time of Abd Al- Malik Ibn Marwan (685-705 CE). A complete system of diacritical marks (damma, fataha, kasra) was invented by Al-Khaleel Ibn Ahmad Al-Faraheedy (d. 786 CE).
5. With the necessity to record the Holy Qur’an in the clear and readable text; the Arabic scripts developed into what is now considered the two most important classical styles of calligraphy: Kufic and Naskh. Kufic and Naskh are broad generic terms covering a plethora of magnificent styles in Arabic calligraphy, and are not, of course entirely inclusive of the numerous variations and nuances of the different styles of script, some of which were of key importance in the establishment of the classical trends and styles in the noble art of Arabic calligraphy.