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COMPILATION OF THE HOLY QURAN.
AL-QURAN is the word of Allah, revealed to Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) though Angel Jubril, in Arabic Language, transmitted to us in continuity, written in Mashaf, whose recitation serves as worship. Its standardized compilation starts with Suratul-Fatiah and ends with Surat un-Nass. It was also regarded as a private information from The Supreme One (ALLAH) to the Chosen One (Prophet Muhammad), after this process He (the Holy Prophet) would then convey it to His companions. It then took a long period with gradual process of civilization before it takes the form it is today. With this, we can hereby classify the compilation process into different stages.
The Compilation of the Holy Quran took place in Three Stages as follows:-
1. During the life time of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.)
2. During the Caliphate of Seyyidina Abu Bakr & Seyyidina Umar (r.a)
3. During the caliphate of Seyyidina Uthman bin Afan (r.a)
ITS COMPILATION DURING THE LIFE TIME OF THE HOLY PROPHET.
There are clear evidences showing that the entire Quran was written down and carefully memorized by some companions during the Prophet’s lifetime. Anytime the Prophet (S.A.W) receives revelation, He immediately dictates the verses orally to His Sahaaba and instructs them to record the revelation in the best way they could then like writing it on parchments of paper, pieces of leather or on smooth flat animal bones. He would also indicate in which surah each ayah was to be place. The Sahaaba would then read their writings back to Him, The Companions never interfered in the arrangement of the Ayahs and Surahs which are as the same as the present day Quran available now.
Zaid bn Thaabit was one of the most prominent of the Sahaaba and has reported that he, along with other companions would compile The Holy Quran in the presences of The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.). During this time, the names of the Surahs were also known. Angel Jubril would also come to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) every Ramadan to listen to him reciting The Holy Book and he listed it to The Nobel Prophet accordingly, twice in the year of His demise.
DURINNG THE FIRST CALIPHATE [SEYYIDINA ABU BAKRI (r.a)] AND THE SECOND CALIPHATE [UMAR (r.a)]
A detailed account of this is contained in an account given by Zaid bn Thabit in Saheeh Bukhari that; after the demise of The Holy Prophet (s.a.w), an imposter called Musailamah announced falsely his own Prophethood. Abu Bakri sent a Muslim expedition against him where a tough battle took place in 632 A.D/ 11 A.H at the place called Yamaamah during which hundreds of Hufaaz were martyred.
Umar bin Khattab became concerned at the heavy loss of casualties, fearing that a large part of the Quran could be lost if the rate of martyrdom increases. He expressed these fears to Khalifah Abu-Bakr and asked him to compile the Quran into a permanent book form. Abu Bakr was firstly shocked at the request; he replied that he could not do what The Nobel Prophet had never done. However, Umar continued to persuade him until Abu Bakr said his heart was opened by Allah and he agreed to the suggestion.
Abu Bakr called upon Zaid bn Thaabit to collect and compile the Quran in one volume. Zaid was also astonished at this request and declared it would have been easier for him to shift a mountain than to do such a task. He too questioned how could they do something that The Holy Prophet (s.a.w) had never done in his lifetime. Abu Bakr then replied him that it is a good act he then persuaded him until Allah also opened his heart.
Zaid bn Thabit set about completing the task, he collected all the written parts of the Quran from data leaves , parchment and pieces of leather and also listened to many of the hafiz who recites verses from their mind. After having carefully compared and had crosschecked each ayah, he compiled the written Quran in one single volume and this process was done in four stages as follows;-
Umar bn Khattab verified each verse all companions had memorized in the entire Quran.
The verified writings were also collected from the companions selected by the Prophet himself during his Glorious Lifetime.
Two reliable witnesses had to testify that the verse had been written in the presence of The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w).
Abu Bakr become its official custodian during his reign. It was later passed to Umar bn Khattab during his Caliphate, then it was later passed to the custody of his daughter, the wife of the Holy Prophet, Seyyidah Hafsah (r.a) after the demise of Umar.
DURING THE THIRD CALIPHATE [SEYYIDINA UTHMAN BIN AFFAN (r.a)]
As the Islamic empire increases and the stream of Islam now flows beyond the Arabian Peninsula, many converts were not Arabs, they could not speak and understand Arabic. They started reciting The Holy Quran in different ways and pronunciations. Hudaifah bin Yaman witnessed this in Persia, Byzantine, Armenia and Azerbaijan during his tour to the Islamic Settlements. He heard differences in the recitation of The Holy Book by the inhabitants there. He reported to Khalifat Uthman after his return and Khalifah Uthman expressed a deep apprehension at this modern issue. They both feared conflicts could arise, if the issue is not vividly addressed. The Khalifah then requested for the manuscript of The Holy Quran which was with Seyyidah Hafsah, promising to return it to her once other copies were made. She sent it to Him immediately. An Emergency Quranic Standardization Committee was set up by The Khalifah and Zaid bn Thabit was appointed as the head of the committee to make perfect publication of the original copy. The committee also consist Abdullah bn Zubair, Said bn Al-A’as and Abdur Rahman bn Harith. Khalifah Uthman gave them instructions that if any of the three disagree upon any point with Zaid, then the relevant ayah should be written in the language of the Quraysh and that was the point in which the Quran was revealed.
Standardized Copies of The Holy Quran was made and the Original was returned to Seyyidah Hafsoh. The new copies were then distributed to all Muslim provinces with the order that all other copies of The Holy Quran, be it full or partial copies, should be burnt and replaced by this Standerdized one. Since then the holy Quran has remained in its original form till date and would remain as such in the future.
