Usool at-Tafseer Part 7 (THE COLLECTION OF THE QUR’AAN THE ERA OF THE PROPHET) by Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
Usool at-Tafseer (The Fundamental Principles of Qur’aanic Interpretation)
Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
“Do not move your tongue to hastily (learn) it. Surely I will collect
and recite it. So, when I recite it, follow its recital.”68
It was very important that the Prophet (r) remember all that was revealed to him,
because he could neither read nor write.
The Prophet (r) passed on all of the Qur’aan to his companions before he
died. He used a number of different ways to make sure that they memorized and
recorded it exactly as he learned it.
1. The Prophet (r) used to recite aloud various parts of the Qur’aan in the
salaahs (congregational prayers). In that way, his followers used to hear
parts of the Qur’aan daily.69
2. Everyone who entered Islaam would be taught parts of the Qur’aan that
they would have to use in their daily prayers. Thus, Muslims were always
learning or teaching various parts of the Qur’aan.
3. The Prophet (r) informed his followers that the best of them were those
who learned and taught the Qur’aan. This encouraged them to make even
greater efforts to memorize the Qur’aan and teach it to others.
4. Those who were able to read and write were told by the Prophet (r) to
write down the various sections of the Qur’aan as they were revealed. The
Prophet (r) would tell them the order in which they should record the
verses. Al-Baraa’ ibn ‘Aazib stated that when the verse, “Those believers
who sit (at home) are not equal with those who strive,” was revealed,
the Prophet (r) said, “Call So-and-so.” He came with an inkpot and a
wooden board or a shoulder blade. The Prophet (r) said, “Write: ‘Those
believers who sit (at home) are not equal with those who strive in the
cause of Allaah...’ ”70
Because there was no paper in Arabia at that time, the Qur’aan was written down
on anything that was available. The companions wrote the verses of the Qur’aan
68 Soorah al-Qiyaamah (75):16-18.
69 Umm Hishaam bint Haarithah reported that she memorized Soorah Qaaf simply from hearing
the Prophet (r) recite it during the khutbah on Fridays. (Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, p. 412, nos. 1893-
4.)
70 Soorah an-Nisaa’ (4):95. The hadeeth was collected by al-Bukhaaree, Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6,
on date palm leaves, flat stones, tree bark, wood, dried animal skins, and even the
shoulder blades of sheep or camels. Thus, the verses of the Qur’aan were
preserved in the hearts of Muslims, as well as written down, during the lifetime of
the Prophet (r). Since people entered Islaam at various points during the
Prophet’s mission, only a few of them heard all of the Qur’aan directly from the
Prophet (r). Some companions were able to memorize better than others. So,
even though all of them memorized portions of the Qur’aan, only a few were able
to memorize all of the Qur’aan during the Prophet’s lifetime.
When the Prophet (r) died in the year 632 CE, the whole of the Qur’aan was
not written down in one complete book. It was recorded on various pieces of
writing material and kept in the possession of different followers of the Prophet
(r). Each had sections, but none of them had all of it. Because of the fact that
the verses of the Qur’aan continued to be revealed up until a few months before
the Prophet’s death, the companions were more concerned with recording and
memorizing than putting it all together in one book. Consequently, the gathering
of the Qur’aan into one text was not done during the lifetime of the Prophet (r).
THE ERA OF ABOO BAKR 632-634 CE/11-13 AH
After the death of the Prophet (r), there arose three main groups opposed to
Islaam in the Arabian peninsula:
1. The first group was made up of those who decided that they did not want to
pay the Islaamic tax, zakaah, to anyone other than the Prophet (r). They did
not feel that zakaah was a pillar of Islaam like salaah, sawm and hajj. They
instead looked at zakaah as a tribute; a kind of tax paid to the one who
conquered them. So, when the Prophet (r) died, they felt that they were no
longer required to pay it. When Aboo Bakr became the leader of the Muslim
state, this group refused to pay the zakaah and sent armies to the capital,
Madeenah, in order to topple the Muslim state. They demanded to be excused
from paying zakaah, or else they would attack and destroy the centers of
Islaam.71
2. The first group was joined by those who had entered Islaam in order to escape
defeat, as well as those who simply wanted to be on the winning side. This
group did not believe in Allaah and His Messenger at all. They wanted to
71 See al-Bidaayah wa an-Nihaayah, vol. 6, p. 380.
destroy Islaam so they could be free to do whatever they wanted to do. Since
the armies of those who refused to pay zakaah appeared strong, many of these
hypocrites joined them.
3. The third group was made up of a number of false prophets and prophetesses
and their followers. In Najd, in the region of Yamaamah, an Arab from the
tribe of Banoo Haneefah named Musaylamah claimed prophethood. In the
southern part of Arabia, another Arab from the tribe of ‘Ans called al-Aswad
claimed prophethood and took over Najraan and Yemen. In northern Arabia a
woman named Sajaah from the Banoo Tameem tribe also claimed prophethood
and rose in arms against the Muslim state.72 These false prophets all invited
people to leave Islaam by claiming that Allaah had revealed new laws to them
making allowable most of the things which were forbidden by Allaah through
Prophet Muhammad (r).
True Muslims under the leadership of Caliph Aboo Bakr were forced to fight
these three groups in order to reestablish Islaam throughout the Arabian
peninsula.
The First Writing
During these wars, known as the Riddah (apostasy), many of those who had
memorized large portions of the Qur’aan were killed.73 Those Muslims who had a
lot of Qur’aan in their hearts knew well the rewards which Allaah has promised
those who fight for Islaam, so they would always be in the front lines of all the
battles.
‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab realized the danger of what was happening and feared
that if something was not done immediately, the Qur’aan would be lost to future
generations of Muslims. He went to Caliph Aboo Bakr and advised him to have
the whole Qur’aan written down in one book in order to preserve it from being
lost. Aboo Bakr at first refused to do so, as the Prophet (r) had not told them to
do it. He was afraid of bringing anything new into the religion, because the
Prophet (r) had warned them about changing the religion. He knew that the
Christians had gone astray before them by changing the religion which Prophet
‘Eesaa had brought after he left them, so Aboo Bakr was very much against
making any changes in the religion as it had been left by Prophet Muhammad (r).
However, after thinking over the situation carefully, he came to realize that
‘Umar’s advice was right and that it was not really a change in the religion. The
72 See al-Bidaayah wa an-Nihaayah, vol. 6, pp. 376-9, 391-3..
73 See Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 477, no. 509.
Prophet (r) had ordered them to write down the various verses and chapters of
the Qur’aan while it was being revealed in order to help preserve it. Compiling
all of what was written into one complete book was then only the completion of
what the Prophet (r) had begun.
Caliph Aboo Bakr asked Zayd ibn Thaabit to be in charge of collecting and
writing down the whole Qur’aan. Zayd refused to do it at first for the same
reasons Aboo Bakr had, but after some time he also came to realize that it was
right.74 Zayd was chosen for this task for the following reasons:
1. He was one of the best reciters of the Qur’aan.75
2. He was one of the few who had memorized the whole Qur’aan during the
lifetime of the Prophet (r).76
3. He was one of those whom the Prophet (r) asked to write down the
Qur’aan.77
4. He was one of the few who were present when the Prophet (r) recited the
whole Qur’aan during the last Ramadaan of his life.78
Zayd began the process by collecting all of the materials on which the
Qur’aan had been written. He then gathered around him all of those who had also
memorized all of the Qur’aan or large portions of it. He then compared what was
written down with what he and the others had memorized. If all agreed, he would
then write it down on pages of leather.79 In this way the whole Qur’aan was
written down during the reign of the first Caliph. On its completion Zayd turned it
over to Caliph Aboo Bakr, who kept it until his death two years after he had
become Caliph.
Just before his death, Aboo Bakr turned over the Qur’aan to ‘Umar, whom he
had chosen to be the second Caliph. ‘Umar kept his copy of the Qur’aan with him
until his death, ten years later, at the hand of an assassin named Aboo Lu’lu’.80
The Qur’aan was then turned over to his daughter Hafsah, who was one of the
74 See Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 477-8, no. 509.
75 See al-Itqaan, vol. 1, p. 199.
76 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 488, no. 525.
77 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 94-5, nos. 116-7.
78As-Suyootee quotes al-Baghawee’s statement to that effect in Sharh as-Sunnah as well as a
statement by Ibn Seereen that would support that, collected by Ibn Abee Shaybah in Kitaabah al-
Masaahif . See al-Itqaan, vol. 1, p. 142.
79 See Saheeh Sunan at-Tirmithee, vol. 3, p. 59, no. 2479.
80 See al-Bidaayah wa an-Nihaayah, vol. 7, p.166.
Prophet’s widows. Hafsah kept the Qur’aan in her house in Madeenah, but she
made it available to anyone who wanted to make copies from it or check the
accuracy of what they had memorized.81
THE ERA OF ‘UTHMAAN 644-656 CE/23-35 AH
After the death of the second Caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab, a committee
made up of six of the most famous companions of the Prophet (r) chose
‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan to be the third caliph.
During the reign of Caliph ‘Umar (634-644 CE/13-23 AH), the Islaamic state
had expanded beyond the borders of the Arabian peninsula into Egypt, Syria and
‘Iraaq. In the subsequent reign of Caliph ‘Uthmaan, the expansion continued on
into Persia, India, Russia, China, Turkey and across North Africa. Many of the
people of these regions accepted Islaam and learned the recitation of the Qur’aan
from the early Muslims. The Qur’aan was revealed to the Prophet (r) in seven
different Arabian dialects, and the early Muslims taught the Qur’aan in its
different readings.
The Second Writing
In the Muslim provinces, some Arabs began to boast that their dialect was
superior to that of the others. Also, when new Muslims made mistakes in their
recitation of the Qur’aan, it was sometimes difficult to tell whether it was really
an error or whether it was one of the seven reading which had been taught by the
Prophet (r). These problems eventually became a source of confusion in the
Muslim provinces outside of Arabia. One of the sahaabah by the name of
Huthayfah ibn al-Yamaan noticed the confusion while he was in ‘Iraaq, and
feared that it might lead to a breakup of the Muslim nation and the changing of
the Qur’aan. On his return to the capital, he informed Caliph ‘Uthmaan of what he
had heard and seen. Caliph ‘Uthmaan realized the seriousness of the situation and
called the major sahaabah together in order to find a solution to the problem.
They decided to make official copies of the Qur’aan from the one compiled in
Caliph Aboo Bakr’s time and limit the people to its recitation. ‘Uthmaan asked
Hafsah for the original copy of the Qur’aan and called on Zayd ibn Thaabit to
81 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 163-4, no. 201.
head a committee of four Qur’aanic scholars who would take on the task of
making the official copies.82
When the copies were completed, the original was returned to Hafsah. A
total of seven copies were made and one was sent to Makkah, another to Syria,
one to Basrah, one to Koofah, one to Yemen, one to Bahrayn, and one was kept in
the capital, Madeenah.83 Apparently, different copies were written by different
members of the committee.84 Caliph ‘Uthmaan sent an official reciter of the
Qur’aan with each copy in order to clear up any problems which might later
arise.85 He also ordered that all other copies of the Qur’aan be destroyed, as
people had made notes on their personal copies and some copies were
incomplete.86 All new copies were then made from the official copy, called Mushaf
‘Uthmaan. In that way the Qur’aan was saved from any kind of change or
loss. This process was completed in the year 646 CE, two years after ‘Uthmaan
became the new Caliph.
Where are the original Mus-hafs Now?
The Madeenan Mus-haf was kept in the Prophet’s Mosque. A reference to it
appears in contemporary accounts of a fire in the Mosque in 654 AH which
caused extensive damage. The mus-haf was, however, saved. Some reports
suggest that it was transferred to Istanbul by the Turks during World War I, but it
is now lost.87
The Syrian mus-haf was kept in the Jaami‘ Masjid in Damascus. Ibn Katheer
(d. 774 AH) mentioned seeing it, as did Ibn Batootah (d. 779 AH) and Ibn Jazaree
(d. 833 CE/1430 AH). It was kept locked up, but was brought out for public
viewing after Jumu‘ah prayers. A fire in 1892 CE/1310 AH destroyed the masjid,
and the mus-haf perished with it. A handwritten copy of it made shortly before its
destruction was also transferred to Istanbul during WWI.88
82 See Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 478-9, no. 510 and Saheeh Sunan at-Tirmithee, vol. 3, pp. 59-
60, no. 2480.
83 Al-Itqaan, vol. 1, p. 172.
84 Ma‘ al-Masaahif, p. 99.
85 Ibid. pp. 97-8.
86 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 478-9, no. 510.
87 Ma‘ al-Masaahif, p. 113.
88 Ma‘ al-Masaahif, p. 113
An early manuscript on gazelle parchment exists in Dar al-Kutub as-
Sultaaneeyah in Egypt. It is written in Kufic script without dots or vowel
markings. It had been previously kept in the oldest mosque in Cairo, Masjid ‘Amr
Ibn al-‘Aas. It was brought there in 347 AH by a man from ‘Iraaq, who claimed it
was the mus-haf that ‘Uthmaan was reading when he was killed. This information
was reported by the historian al-Maqrizee, writing in 378 AH. There was
scepticism about the claim even at that time. There are bloodstains on some of the
pages, but many ancient Qur’aanic manuscripts had blood applied to them to
support the claim that they were the mus-haf of ‘Uthmaan.89
There is a manuscript in Tashkent that seems to be the best candidate for the
claim to be one of the copies com-missioned by ‘Uthmaan. It was purchased
during the late Middle Ages by a Muslim ruler in Central Asia, but eventually fell
into the hands of the Russians when they conquered the country. They took it to
St. Petersburg, but after the Bolshevik revolu-tion, in 1923, it was returned to
Samarqand. In the 1940s it was transferred to Tashkent, which is where it is
today.90 Soviet authorities allowed Muslim scholars to photograph that manuscript.
Hyderabad House in Philadelphia published a copy of it, side by side with
the modern Arabic text with the added dots and vowel markings.
The same principles of analysis that were applied to Bible manuscripts by
Bible scholars, and which exposed its many flaws and changes, have been applied
to Qur’aanic manuscripts gathered from around the world. Ancient manu-scripts
from all periods of Islaamic history found in the Library of Congress in
Washington, the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin, Ireland and at the London
Museum have been compared with those in museums in Tashkent, Turkey and
Egypt. The result of all such studies confirm that there has not been any change in
the text from its original writing. For example, the “Institute fur Koranforschung”
of the University of Munich, Germany, collected and collated over 42,000
complete or incomplete copies of the Qur’aan. After some fifty years of study,
they reported that in terms of differences between the various copies, there were
no variants, except occasional mistakes of copyists, which could easily be
ascertained. The institute was destroyed by American bombs during the Second
World War.91
89 Ibid., p. 114
90 Ibid., p. 117
91 Muhammad Rasullullah, p. 179.
MEMORIZATION OF THE QUR’AAN
Scholars differ on the total number of sahaabah who had memorized all of
the Qur’aan and read it back to the Prophet (r) before his death. Imaam Al-
Bukhaaree collected in his Saheeh a statement of Anas ibn Maalik that only four
people had gathered the whole Qur’aan in the Prophet’s lifetime: Aboo ad-
Dardaa’, Mu‘aath ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thaabit and Aboo Zayd.92 Scholars agree
that the apparent limitation in Anas’s statement is either not what he intended or,
if he did intend it, that it was not accurate. It seems he made this statement in the
course of a friendly argument between members of the two tribes of the Ansaar
about the virtues of each tribe. The individuals Anas named were all from the
Khazraj tribe to which he belonged, and he meant to say that no one from the Aws
tribe had memorized all of it.93 There are two versions of this statement. The
other version simply states that four people memorized the whole Qur’aan,
without saying they were the only ones, and it mentions Ubayy ibn Ka‘b in place
of Aboo ad-Dardaa’.94
In another report collected by al-Bukhaaree, the Prophet (r) instructed his
companions to learn the Qur’aan from Ibn Mas‘ood, Saalim, the freed slave of
Aboo Huthayfah, Mu‘aath and Ubayy.95 Other authentic evidence indicates that
Aboo Bakr and ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas had memorized all of it.96
However, there are two hadeeths reported by al-Bukhaaree to indicate that the
number was higher than that. In the incident of Bi’r Ma‘oonah, seventy sahaabah,
all of them qurraa’, were ambushed and killed.97 The word qurraa’ is the plural
of qaaree’, which is used for a memorizer of the Qur’aan who is proficient in
reciting it, although the sahaabah seem to have also used the term for one who is
knowledgeable about its meanings. Seventy of the sahaabah who had memorized
the whole Qur’aan, most of them from the Ansaar, died fighting in the battle of
92 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 488-9, no. 526.
93 See Fat-h al-Baaree, vol. 8, pp. 668-9.
94 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 488, no. 525.
95 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 486-7, no. 521.
96Ibn Hajar deduced that Aboo Bakr was a haafith from the fact that the Prophet (r) appointed
him to lead the salaah when he himself was too ill to do so, and he had earlier stated that the
imaam in salaah should be the most proficient in Qur’aan. See Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, pp. 364-
5, no. 646, and Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, p. 326, nos. 1417-20. The Prophet (r) instructed ‘Abdullaah
not to finish reciting the whole Qur’aan in less than seven days. See Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp.
516-7, no. 572.
97 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 5, pp. 287-8, no. 416.
Yamaamah only two years after the death of the Prophet (r).98 If they had not
completed their memorization of it before his death, they must have done so for a
substantial portion of it.
Some people have tried to argue on the basis of Anas’s statement collected by
al-Bukhaaree that the number of people who memorized the Qur’aan during the
lifetime of the Prophet (r) was too small to support the Muslim claim that the
Qur’aan was conveyed to us by tawaatur.99 Even if we accept this report at face
value, its use to support that argument is not strong, because, although the number
of people who had memorized the whole Qur’aan in the Prophet’s lifetime may
have been limited, many others had memorized substantial, overlapping portions.
So during his lifetime the number of memorizers was great for any given portion
of the Qur’aan. Many of these completed their memorization of it after his death.
In fact, with every succeeding generation of Muslims, the numbers of those who
memorized all of the Qur’aan has increased. Today there are literally hundreds of
thousands of Muslims throughout the world who have done so.
There is no other book, religious or otherwise, which has been memorized on
this scale in recorded history. The Qur’aan is about four-fifths the length of the
New Testament of the Christians, yet not a single person in recorded history is
known to have memorized the New Testament completely. In fact, if all of the
books in the world were somehow destroyed, the only book which could be
rewritten, word for word, without a single mistake is the Glorious Qur’aan.
One of the leading orientalists, Kenneth Cragg, said the following regarding
the memorization and preservation of the Qur’aanic text, “This phenomenon of
Qur’anic recital means that the text has traversed the centuries in an unbroken
living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be handled as an antiquarian
thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant past.”100 Another orientalist
scholar, William Graham, wrote: “For countless millions of Muslims over more
than fourteen centuries of Islamic history, ‘scripture’, al-kitab, has been a book
learned, read and passed on by vocal repetition and memorisation. The written
Qur’an may ‘fix’ visibly the authori-tative text of the Divine Word in a way
unknown in history, but the authoritativeness of the Qur’anic book is only realised
98 Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 477-8, no. 509.
99 Tawaatur is the transmission of a report by such a large number of narrators that they couldn’t
have gotten together to fabricate a lie nor could they all agree upon an errror.
100 The Mind of the Qur’an, p. 26.
in its fullness and perfection when it is correctly recited.”101 Yet another, John
Burton, stated: “The method of transmitting the Qur’an from one generation to the
next by having the young memorise the oral tradition of their elders had mitigated
somewhat from the beginning the worst perils of relying solely on written
records...”102 At the end of a voluminous work on the Qur’aan’s collection,
Burton stated that the text of the Qur’aan available today is “the text which has
come down to us in the form in which it was organised and approved by the
Prophet....What we have today in our hands is the mus-haf103 of Muhammad.”104
Significance of the Qur’aan’s Preservation
Allaah promised in the Qur’aan that He would take on the responsibility of
protecting His final word from loss. He said,
“Verily I have revealed the Reminder (Qur’aan), and verily I shall
preserve it.”105
Thus, the Qur’aan has been preserved in both the oral as well as written form in a
way no other religious book in history has.
Why did Allaah preserve the Qur’aan and allow His earlier books of divine
revelation to be changed or lost? The answer to that question lies in the following
three facts:
1. The earlier prophets and their books were sent to a particular people in
particular periods of history. Once the period ended, a new prophet was sent
with a new book to replace the previous book. So, it was not necessary that
these books be preserved by Allaah. The preservation of the earlier books was
left up to the people as a test for them. Thus, when the people went astray,
they changed what was written in the books which their prophets brought in
101 Beyond the Written Word, p. 80.
102 An Introduction to the Hadith, p. 27.
103 The Arabic term used to refer to the text of the Qur’aan.
104 The Collection of the Qur’an, p. 239-40.
105 Soorah al-Hijr (15):9.
order to make allowable the things which were forbidden to them. In that way,
all of the earlier books of revelation became either changed or lost.
2. Prophet Muhammad (r) was the last prophet whom Allaah sent, and he was
not sent to a particular people or a particular time. He was sent to all of
mankind until the end of the world. Allaah said in the Qur’aan,
“I have only sent you (Muhammad) as a giver of glad tidings and a
warner to all mankind, but most men do not understand.”106
Thus, his book of revelation, the Qur’aan, had to be specially preserved from any
form of change or loss so that it would be available to all the generations of man
until the last day of the world.
3. The Qur’aan was the main miracle given to Prophet Muhammad (r) to prove
that he was a true prophet of Allaah and not an imposter. So, the Qur’aan had
to be saved to prove to the later generations that Muhammad (r) was really the
last prophet of Allaah. All of the false prophets who came after Prophet
Muhammad (r) brought books which they claimed to be revealed from Allaah,
but none of them have the miraculous ability to be memorized by thousands,
nor have they improved on the message of the Qur’aan.
The significance of the Qur’aan’s preservation is that Islaam has been kept in
its original purity because of it. Humanity can always return to the sources of
Islaam no matter what people may have added or forgotten in time. All of the
essential principles of Islaam are to be found in the Qur’aan. Consequently, the
preservation of the Qur’aan meant the preservation of Islaam in its final form. The
loss of the Gospel of Jesus means that Christians can never return to the true
teachings of Prophet Jesus except by accepting Islaam.107 Similarly, the original
Torah was lost when Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the
106 Soorah Saba’ (34):28.
107 See The Five Gospels, pp. 2-16.
Babylonians.108 Thus, the Jews cannot return to the pure teachings of Prophet
Moses except by following Islaam.
It is only in Islaam that the pure teachings of the prophets have been
preserved without any change. That is why Allaah said in the Qur’aan,
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“Verily, the only acceptable religion to Allaah is Islaam.”109
108 See The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 14, p. 757.
109 Soorah Aal ‘Imraan (3):19.
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