HISTORY OF QURAN
COMPILATION
1. In addition to its memorization in entirety by many of the Sahabah
(the Prophet's companions), written recording of the Quran began during the
Prophet's lifetime.
As it was recited by him, his scribes wrote down the revelation on pieces
of leather, bone and palm leaves, and its verses were ordered and arranged as
AllAh revealed.
Initially, the Quran was not compiled in one volume, although some of the
sahabah had made personal copies for themselves after memorizing it from the
Prophet (PBUH).
2. Collecting and compiling the Quran followed soon after the Prophet's
death, during the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr siddeeq. Upon the advice of Hazrat
Umar bin al-Khataab, Hazrat Abu Bakr charged Hazrat Zayd bin Thabit to bring
all of the Quran together on written sheets (suhuf). These were checked for
accuracy against what had been memorized by a great number of the sahabah.
After the death of Hazrat Abu Bakr and then Hazrat Umar, the collection
remained with Hazrat Umar's daughter, Hazrat Hafah, who was also the Prophet's
wife.
3. The standardization of one authentic volume (mashaf) took place during
the caliphate of Hazrat Uthman bin Affan. The copy kept by Hazrat Hafsah was obtained
and, upon the order of Hazrat Uthman, it was transcribed with great care by four
of the most knowledgeable scribes: Hazrat Zayd bin Thabit, Hazrat Abdullah bin
az-Zubayr, Hazrat Saeed bin al-Aas and Hazrat Abdur-Rehman bin al-Harith bin
Hishim.
Copies were sent to each of the various Islamic territories to replace
all other collections in circulation. Usman kept a copy in Madinah, and the
original suhuf were returned to Hazrat Hafsah. There is consensus by the sahabah
that what is contained in this standard copy is the true revelation received by
Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) from AllAh, the Exalted.
4. The mashaf of Hazrat Uthman had no dots or vowel marks, as they were
unnecessary for those who knew the pure Arabic tongue. With the spread of Islam
among other peoples, there arose a need to guard against incorrect reading and
misinterpretation of the Quran. At first, scholars were reluctant about these additions,
but it was finally agreed that they did not affect the text itself and it were
merely aids to proper pronunciation and understanding.
They were introduced in
three stages:
1- Short vowel sounds
were first represented by dots positioned above, below and to the left of the letter.
This system was introduced during the caliphate of Hazrat Muawiyah bin Abi
Sufyan by Abul-Aswad ad-Duli after he had heard serious errors in recitation of
the Quran.
2- Similarly written
letters were differentiated by another system of dots above and below them
during the caliphate of AbdulMalik bin Marwan. At the caliph's order, his
governor, al-Hajjaj, appointed two scholars, Nasr bin asim and Hayy bin Yamur, to
implement this improvement.
3- The presently used system of short vowel
symbols was devised by al-Khaleel bin Ahmad al-Faraheedi during the Abbasine period.
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