أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 49335
العمر : 72
 | | موضوع: The Composition Of The Revealed Text الأربعاء 10 يناير 2018, 9:30 pm | |
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The Composition Of The Revealed Text
Khaled Fahmy
If the text of the Qur’an is remaining rigorously the same as the Prophet had dictated, its aspect has considerably changed. At first, there was nothing that could be called a volume or a compendium. The Qur’an was revealed in fragments whose lengths varied from an entire surah to one verse or even sometimes a part of a verse. Every fragment, inspired to the Prophet, was recited by him, learned by the listeners and diffused among those who did not hear it directly from his mouth. Everybody used to wait for it ardently and desired to take possession of it the instant of its emission.
Yet, the sacred text is not merely a “the Qur’an” or a group of oral recitations, destined to be kept solely in the memories. It is also a “Kitab” that is to say, a book written in ink. These two aspects always corroborate and control each other. And therefore, every fragment, inspired to the Prophet and recited by him, was dictated immediately to the scribers of the revelation to be written down on anything available to them such as paper, wood, pieces of parchment, of leather, flat stone, shoulder blades, etc.... Scholars mention that the number of scribers of the revelation reached twenty-nine.
The most famous among them were the first five successors (Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali, and Mou’aouia). However, Mou’aouia and Zaid Ibn Thabit were the most attached to this function which took its official character in Madinah. Nevertheless, Muslims at Makkah did not fail to reproduce the revealed text in personal manuscripts for their private usage.
It had been noticed at an early time that the Qur’anic emissions were neither destined to remain separated completely from each other nor to follow each other according to the chronological order of their revelation. We saw many groups of passages developing apart from other and constituting gradually independent units by the addition of other verses which were revealed later.
Some verses were added here and others were adjoined with other ones there, in accordance with the Prophet's express indications which he himself had received from the Celestial Spirit. In order to leave the door open to these progressive constructions, it was necessary to wait for the achievement of the work before putting it into one whole unit.
However, this was not a problem for the believers to accurately know the position of every new verse in every surah in all the phases of the revelation. In the Prophet's life, there were hundreds of companions who were called “the porters of the Qur’an” and who specialized in the recitation of the Qur’an and in studying by heart every surah in its temporary or final form.
The Prophet had affirmed that every year, in the month of Ramadan, he used to make a sort of general review in the presence of Gabriel reciting the text that had already been revealed. And in the last year, the divine messenger reviewed the Qur’an with him twice, the thing which made the Prophet predict the approach of his death.
Hardly had a year elapsed after the death of the Prophet, when an urgent need to reassemble those dispersed documents in one collection easy to handle and to consult, was present. This task required that the verses of every surah follow each other according to the order already fixed in the memories.
The idea was suggested by Omar to the first Caliph after the battle of Yamama in which hundreds of Muslims were killed including seventy of “the porters of the Qur’an”. Omar's aim was not only to safeguard the whole of the written the Qur’an against any dangers but also to approve the unified form of that document by the authority of the existing “porters of the Qur’an” and by all the companions who knew to recite each part of it.
This task was entrusted to Zaid ibn Thabit. Abu Bakr said to him: “You are an intelligent man; we do not have any suspicion against your probity and you wrote the revelation under the dictation of the Prophet. Under-take the gathering of the Qur’an”. [1]
Moreover, Zaid had attended the last review with the Prophet. A rule for work was laid down: that nothing written would be admitted unless it was certified by two witnesses that it was written not from the memory but under the dictation of the Prophet himself and that it was part of the revelation in its final state.
After the work was completed in due form with all these precautions, Zaid gave it to Abu Bakr who kept it throughout the period of his Caliphate. Before his death, Abu Bakr confided it to Omar who put it, at the last moment in the safekeeping of his daughter, Hafsa, one of the Prophet's wives.
This first official collection (which is much like a file gathering arranged but not bound papers) was distinguished from the other manuscripts, complete or incomplete existing with the individuals, by a sort of absolute rigorism and by excluding anything that was not a part of the very text of the last collation.
Whatever is the great value of such document and whatever was the care of its assembling and its precious safeguard by the two first Caliphs, it did not acquire its universal authority until the day of its publication. The occasion of that publication presented itself only during the Caliphate of Othman, the third Caliph, after the battles of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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[1] Calling back this document, Leblois wrote: “Whoever did not desire that after the death of Jesus, one of his immediate disciples undertook the task of writing down his teaching.” (Leblois, Le Koran et la Bible Hébraïque, P.47, note 5).
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When the armies coming from Syria and Iraq reassembled for these battles, they noticed some difference in their recitations. The Syrians followed the reading of their fellow citizen, Obaï; whereas the Iraqis followed that of their fellow citizen, Ibn Mas’oud. They said to one another: “Our reading is better than yours”.
Scared by this spectacle, Huzayfa Ibn el-Yaman hastened to Othman and asked him to put an end to such disputes which might lead to divisions similar to those of the Jews and Christians concerning their books. Thus, Othman appointed a committee of four copyists; Zaïd himself - from Medina - and three from Makkah: Abdullah Ibn-Ezzobair, Sa'id Ibn El-'As and Abd-Errahman Ibn El-Harith Ibn Hishâm.
They were charged to make several copies of the original of Hafsa equal to the number[1] of the principal cities in the Muslim Empire. In this way, the work was completed in a perfect conformity to the original which was returned to Hafsa. While the other copies were bound and distributed as immutable types treating as a nullity all that which may present any deviation from it.
Certain Shi’ites suspected Othman of altering the text of the Qur’an, or more precisely, of omitting from it something related to Ali. If that fact had been true, the “porters of the Qur’an” who were numerous at the time of its publication, would have verified it and compared it with what they had known by heart.
Even Ibn Mas’oud himself had acknowledged the exactitude of the work in spite of his dissatisfaction with the politics for many reasons. Due to the zeal of the first Muslims who were even more ardent than their successors towards God’s Words, it is impossible for us to attribute the fact that Othman’s copy of the Qur’an was accepted by all Muslims without any dispute to a shallow spirit of conformity.
Noeldeke concluded that this is the strongest evidence that the Qur’anic text is “as complete and accurate as it may be expected”.[2]
This edition has been the only one in force in the Muslim world, including the Shi’ites, for more than thirteen centuries. The following is a declaration of the Imamians (the most important Sect of Shi’ism), mentioned in the work of Abu Ja’far al-Omm: “We believe that the quantity of the Qur’an, which God had revealed to his Prophet Muhammad, consists of what is preserved now between its two covers and used by people and nothing more.
The number of the surahs known by the generality of Muslims is 114, but in our opinion, the surahs XCIII and XCIV form one surah and so do surahs CV and CVI as well as surahs VIII and IX. Thus, those who attribute to us the belief that the Qur’an is more than this are liars”. [3]
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[1] With the exception of Othman’s personal copy, the majority of the Traditionalists agree that there were five manuscripts intended for the following five cities,: Makkah, Medina, Basra, Koufa and Damascus. However, Abu Hatim Es-Sidjestani mentions two other copies for the two provinces of Yemen and Bahrein (cf. lbn Abi Dawood, Kitab-el-Massahif, P.74).
[2] Noeldeke, Geschichte des Korans, 2nd part, P.93.
[3] This formal difference does not exist but theoretically, because their copies do not differ in anything from those of the Sounnites. In concern to the “apocrypha piece [“the two lights”] which Garcin de Tassy had published under the title of “An unknown chapter of the Qur’an”, Mirza Alexander Kazim had studied the case, and proved that this pretended surah not only had had no trace in the Shi’ites Qur’an, but also had not been mentioned in their works of traditional polemics. Moreover, the title of the “Two lights” applied to Muhammad and Ali, appeared for the first time in the Shi’ites books in the 7th century of Hejira according to Toussi. Enough that you should read this piece, which is not but a mediocre compilation of words and expressions robbed from the Qur’an, that you notice the shocking contrast which it presents with the elegance and harmony of the Qur’anic style. See also Noeldeke II, PP. 107-112.
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Accordingly, Leblois affirmed: “Today, the Qur’an is the only Sacred Book which does not contain any notable variations.[1] W. Muir had proclaimed before him: “Othman’s compilation of the Qur’an had arrived from hand to hand until it reached us without any alteration. It was so scrupulously preserved that there are no important variations and we can even say that there is no variation because of the numerous copies of the Qur’an which are circulating in the vast lands of Islam. There has never been but one the Qur’an; and this unanimous usage of the same text accepted by all up to today is a proof of the sincerity of the text which we possess and which goes back to the unfortunate Caliph Othman[2] (who was assassinated).
However, we disagree with Muir in two issues.
First, he attributed the Qur’anic text to Othman; whereas - as we have seen - Othman did nothing but publishing the manuscript compiled under Abu Bakr. Which was nothing but the integral reproduction, following the order of the last collation of the text registered under the dictation of the Prophet himself (This order should not be confused with the chronological order of the revelation).
Second, the judgement asserts that the copies in use do not contain any variations in reading whereas we know the opposite. Long vowels are always written in the body of Arabic words, while short and medium vowels are never written. In addition, a large group of Arabic letters do not differ one from the other except by points are known as diacritics such as (I = يـ ) may be pronounced (n= ن ) or (t = ت ) or (b = بـ ), if one or two points are added above or under.
Such points were neither in use in the Prophet’s life nor in the period of the first three Caliphs. Most frequently, the pronunciation could not be determined without an oral indication. Nevertheless, Tradition informs us that the Prophet in teaching the Qur’an to Muslims did not follow one unique pronunciation. It was not rare that he gave many good and significant readings for one word (rather for the same radical). For example, the word ملك could be read: Mâlik = proprietor, owner, master, and Malik = king. The same thing for the word فتثبتوا could be read fatabayyanou = فتبينوا “Be informed” and fatathabbatou = “act with caution”. These different readings are in accordance
with the Tradition. Al-Bukhari narrated that one day Omar was very furious against Hishâm Ibn Hakîme Ibn Hizâm’s recitation of surah XXV in a way different from that he learned from the Prophet. At-Tabari said that Obaï Ibn Ka’ab was shocked by a difference in the reading of surah XVI. The Prophet approved later on the two readings and added: “Verily, the Qur’an was revealed in seven readings or variants, therefore recite the Qur’an according to that you find easy”.
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[1] Leblois, Op. cit, p. 54.
[2] W. Muir, the Life of Mahomet. Quoted by B. St. - Hilaire, Mahomet et le Koran, P. 33.
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In our opinion, the publication of the Qur’anic text by the care of Othman had two objectives. First, by legitimizing and protecting the different readings which remained within the limit of the written text and, which have had a commonly recognized Prophetic origin, it prevents impious disputes that may arise concerning these readings. Second, by excluding all that which did not present an absolute accordance with the original, it obstructs a very grave split among Muslims and possible alteration of the text itself by the insertion of some more or less questionable variants or explanations.
This does not mean that the Othmanian edition, or its prototype, contains all the variants which were probably taught by the Prophet under the title of seven letters سبعة أحرف or seven methods of reading. If it preserved the readings that the text, in its definite state, had included, the edition excluded, on the other hand, any form transmitted by individual ways. And this fundamental principle won the agreement of companions present.
We add that the exclusion of variants from the written document does not aim the suppression of the oral usage. The rule left to those who affirmed that they had heard the Prophet reading the Qur’an in a certain manner, the liberty to follow their particular lessons under their moral responsibility, without compelling the whole community of Muslims to follow what they affirmed to have heard. This attitude was asserted by Othman himself: “As for the Qur’an, I prohibited you because I was afraid of a split among you and you can read according to the letter you want.”
Islamic Jurists have always been interested in studying those particular readings to which they always are addressing a certain sacred character. Also, these readings are still utilized by the Sunnites schools, not as a Qur’anic text but as “hadith âhâd” [hadith narrated originally by one person]. They were excluded when the Qur’an was compiled because their authenticity, under their written form, was not sufficiently verified or approved by the Prophet or his representatives. Noting that these unofficial readings do not concern all the surahs of the Qur’an or even the scope of one complete Surah.
The care which appeared to prevail in the constitution of the Qur’anic text by the companions of the Prophet was the strict exactness of every part of the Qur’an with the document first written down under the dictation of the Prophet, then recited in front of him and finally approved by him before his death. It is the absolute objectiveness that remains eternally in their honour.
If the destruction of private manuscripts seems to be excessive, it shows to what extent Othman was foreseeing and realizing the essence of matters [1]. It is to this perceptible act, in fact, that Muslims owe the unity and the stability of their Holy Book. The introduction afterwards of different systems of exterior signs and the existence of this archaic orthography; and of superfluous letters or attached words, in all the actual copies of the Qur’an, and all that exclusively reserved to the Qur’anic writing, are an eloquent testimony of the fidelity with which this holy monument has been transmitted from generation to generation until it reached us. The whole text remains eternally as it was, defying the action of the time.
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[1] In fact, he did not do this from his own will and without consulting the people. His successor, Ali, declared, in one of his speeches, that this rigorous measure was taken unanimously with all the companions present and “If Othman had not done it” added Ali, “I, myself, would have done it” (cf. I.A. Dawood, p. 18-22.)
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