Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Qur'an: When Was It Compiled?

Author: Ayatollah al-Udhma MuhammadShirazi

Translated by: Aliibn Adam

First published 2001

Fountain Books

ISBN 1-903323-05-3

www.alhassanain.org/english

Table of Contents

Publisher's Foreword 3

Author's Introduction 4

Part One: On the Compilation of the Holy Qur'an 5

The Hadith of Ibn 'Abbas 5

Who Compiled the Qur'an? 6

The Prophet Compiled the Qur'an 7

Other Evidence 9

1. The 'Opening' Chapter 9

2. The Hadith of the "Two Momentous Things" 9

THE HOLY QUR'AN When was it compiled? 10

3. The Complete Recitation of the Qur'an 10

4. Between the Mihrab and the Pulpit 10

5. Presentation of Qur'an to the Messenger of Allah 10

THE HOLY QUR'AN When was it compiled? 11

6. The Memorisation of the Qur'an 11

7. Concordance with the Book of Allah 11

Related also from the Purified Imams 12

The Integrity of the Qur'an 12

The Qur'an of 'Ali 13

The Different Readings 13

The 'Corruption' of the Qur'an' in the Traditions 13

Part Two: The Qur'an in the Traditions 14

Learning the Qur'an 14

The Magnificence of the Qur'an 15

The Bearers of the Qur'an 21

The Recitation of the Qur'an 22

The Reciters of the Qur'an 26

How to Read the Qur'an 27

The Memorisation of the Qur'an 27

Listening to the Qur'an 28

Abandoning the Qur'an 29

The Qur'an and the People of the Prophet's Household 29

The Intercession of the Qur'an 32

The Qur'an as a Cure 32

The Author 33

1. Aspects of the Political Theory of Imam Muhammad Shirazi 34

2. Islamic System of Government 34

3. If Islam Were To Be Established 34

4. The Family 34

5. Fundamentals of Islam 34

6. War, Peace and Non-violence: An Islamic perspective 35

Notes 36

Publisher's Foreword

{Verily this Qur'an guides to that which is most upright.} 1

The Holy Qur'an is the eternal celestial message revealed by Allah to His prophet Muhammad (Blessings and Peace be upon him and his family) so that he might rescue a confused humanity from the darkness of doubt and ignorance to the light of certainty and knowledge, for the Qur'an delineates the road of guidance and righteousness in both religious and worldly affairs.

The Qur'an represents the foundation stone of Islam, which Allah has promised to keep free from corruption:

{We have sent down the Reminder andWe shall be its protectors.} 2

Therefore the hand of corruption has not touched it like it has the other divine books. The Qur'an remains the eternal divine message that has come for humanity in its entirety. The enemies of Islam despite their efforts to the contrary, have not been able to fault the integrity of the Holy Qur'an after the challenge posed by Allah for them to bring forth even one chapter of its ilk. Human intellect has not been able to meet this challenge.

Allah Almighty says in the Qur'an:

{If you are in doubt as to that which We have sent down upon Our servant, then bring forward a chapter of its ilk and call upon your witnesses other than Allah if you speak the truth.} 3

One of the most important reasons for the preservation of the Qur'an in addition to it being the will of Allah is the fact that the Messenger of Allah concerned himself with collating the Qur'an during his life and insisted upon it. Hence, from then until now, the Qur'an has remained the same without any change.

This book, 'When was the Qur'an Compiled' by the esteemed writer and source of religious knowledge Imam MuhammadShirazi , deals with the subject of the collation of the Qur'an. It provides firm evidence that the Holy Qur'an was compiled at the time of and at the command of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the form in which it exists today dispelling the view of those who imagine that the Qur'an was compiled after the time of the Messenger of Allah.

The writer also tackles the question of the non-corruption of the Qur'an, whichShi'a scholars have stated throughout history refuting the notion that there has been any addition to or subtraction from the verses of the Qur'an. Imam al-Shirazi then touches upon theinauthenticity of the different 'readings'except that which is present in the holy text itself.

Finally he presents a number of traditions regarding many aspects of the Holy Qur'an. This is seen as further evidence that the Holy Qur'an was compiled in the form we have it today, and 'in use' by the Muslims during the lifetime of the holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad peace be upon him and his infallible descendants.

Author's Introduction

Here are a number of traditions to be found in the 'Shi'a Guide to the Shari'a'4 and other books regarding the importance of the Qur'an and its etiquettes and disciplines which we have mentioned hoping to bring benefit to many. We have preceded this with information about the collation of the Qur'an and its textual non-corruption and that not one word or letter has been added nor subtracted.

It is the same Qur'an today that was sent down to the Messenger of Allah and was compiled by him in the same structure of verses and chapters at the command of Allah during his life.

Part One: On the Compilation of the Holy Qur'an

TheHadith ofIbn 'Abbas

In 'al-Manaqib ' it is related thatIbn 'Abbas said: 'When Allah's words:{You are mortal and they are mortals.} 5 were revealed, Allah's Messenger (S)6 said: 'If only I knew when this (my death) would be.'This, when the Prophet (S) knew 'the unseen' with the permission and inspiration of Allah. Then the 110th chapter of the Qur'an named al-Nasr (Succour ) was revealed, after which the Prophet (S) remained silent between the 'takbir'7 and the 'reading' then he used to say: 'Praise be to Allah, I seek the forgiveness of Allah and turn towards Him in repentance.' He was asked about this and said: 'It is that my soul has foretold me of my impending death.' Then he began to weep intensely. He was then asked: 'Oh Messenger of Allah, do you weep over death when Allah has forgiven all your sins both past and future?' The Prophet (S) said: 'But what of the terror of the questioning and what of the confines of the grave and the darkness of the tomb, and the resurrection and the other fearsome things?' (Here the Prophet means to draw attention to these fearsome things rather than say that he will be tried by them as is clear.) ThenIbn 'Abbas said: 'The Prophet (S) lived for a further year after the revelation of this chapter.'8 Thenceforth, verse after verse was revealed until only seven days remained of the Prophet's life. Then the following verse was revealed:

{And fear ye a day in which you will be returned to Allah and every soul will be given what it has earned and they will not be dealt with unjustly.} 9

This verse - according to certain transmissions - was the last verse of the Holy Qur'an to be revealed to the Messenger of Allah by the Archangel Gabriel who said to him:

'Place this verse at the head of the 280th verse of the second chapter.'10

The first verse revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (S) by the Archangel Gabriel was Allah's words:{In the Name of AllahThe Beneficent The Merciful, Read! In the name of your Lord Who has created . .}11

The first verse of the Qur'an to be revealed coincided with the first day of the noble prophetic mission and the last verse of the Qur'an to be revealed took place during the last days of the Messenger of Allah. The time between these two verses was when the rest of the Qur'an was revealed and this was over a period of 23 years.

Who Compiled the Qur'an?

In the previoushadith , what draw our attention are the words of the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet at the time of the revelation of the finalQur'anic verse:

'Place them at the head of the 280th verse of the second chapter.'

It is then clear that Allah (through the Angel Gabriel) commanded the Prophet (S) to compile the Qur'an and toorganise its structure in a precise manner even as far as the numbering of the verses. This the Prophet indeed did during his life as Allah had ordered and it was not for the Prophet (S) to leave the Qur'an disparate so that someone after him should compile it.

It is not possible that the Prophet (S) with his great concern andendeavour in preserving the Qur'an should neglect the task of compiling and structuring it and leave the Qur'an scattered amongst the Muslims and delegate the task of compiling it to them. This especially so after revelation had informed him:{You are mortal and they are mortals.} 12

It is not possible that the Prophet (S) could be deeply concerned with the Qur'an on the one hand so that he would order that it should bememorised and paid attention to, and encourage its recital and the practice of its tenets particularly in his final days. He would say repeatedly:

'I leave behind me two momentous things - the book of Allah and my kin, the people of my household. As long as you adhere to them both you will never go astray after me ever.'13

It is not right that he would do this and at the same time fail to compile the Qur'an and by doing so leave it scattered.

The Qur'an is the eternal constitution of Islam and its inimitable miracle surviving throughout theaeons and ages until the day of resurrection. It is not therefore logical to assume that the Prophet would leave the Qur'an scattered, without compiling it.

How is it conceivable that Allah should permit His Prophet (S) not to compile that Qur'an despite having said in the Qur'an:{It is our duty to compile it and recite it.} 14

Allah also says:{We have sent down the Reminder and We shall be its protectors.} 15

It is therefore the duty of the Prophet (S) to deliver the Qur'an as a structured whole to all people as compiled and structured by Allah.

The Prophet Compiled the Qur'an

Therefore, the Qur'an that we have possession of today with all its structure and compilation, the numbering of its verses, and the structure of its chapters and sections is the very same Qur'an that the Prophet Muhammad (S) gathered, collated, compiled and structured for Muslims during his life at the instigation of Allah. It has not been subject to any change or corruption, substitution or modification, addition or subtraction.

Support for this comes from a report in the exegesis of 'AliIbn Ibrahim16 from Imam al-Saadiq (a)17 that the Messenger of Allah (S) ordered 'Aliibn Abi Talib (a) to collect the Qur'an saying:

'Oh 'Ali. The Qur'an is behind my bed, in scrolls, silk and papers. Take it and collate it and do not lose it as the Jews have lost the Torah.' Thereupon Imam 'Ali (a) took it and gathered it in a yellow garment and sealed it up.18

This report indicates that the Prophet (S) ordered that the Qur'an be collected and that Imam 'Ali (a) was the one who collected it on the direct orders of the Prophet (S) during his lifetime.

Similarly, allShi'a jurists agree on this point. In theQur'anic exegesisMajma ' al-Bayan , al-Sayyid al-Murtada is quoted as saying that the Qur'an was compiled during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (S) in the form that we are in possession of today. The evidence for this is that the Qur'an was studied and learnt by heart at that time as a whole so that a group of companions were chosen tomemorise it. It was also shown to the Prophet (S) and recited in front of him. A group of the companions like 'Abdullahibn Mas'oud andUbayy ibn Ka'b and others recited the Qur'an from beginning to end in front of the Prophet (S) a number of times all of which indicates that it was in a gathered and structured form and not disparate and scattered. The same was said by Sheikh al-Mufid , Sheikh al-Sadouq and otherShi'a

scholars before the time of al-Murtada , and others after him like al-Tusi and the greatQur'anic exegete al-Tabari who died in 548 A.H. as well as all of our other great scholars up to the present day.

Zaid ibn Thabit is reported as having said: 'We used to collect the fragments of the verses of the Qur'an and put them in their appropriate places at the instruction of the Messenger of Allah (S). Despite this, the verses were still fragmented so the Prophet (S) ordered 'Ali (a) to gather them in one place and warned us against losing them.'

It is reported that al-Sha'bi said: 'The Qur'an was collected during the time of the Prophet of Allah (S) by six men of theAnsar .'

In al-Sirat al-Mustaqim ,Anas says: 'Four men collected the Qur'an during the life of the Prophet (S) those being my father,Mu'adh ,Zaid (Ibn Thabit ), and Abu Zaid.'19

Qatada is reported as having said: 'I askedAnas about who compiled the Qur'an during the lifetime of the prophet (S). He saidFour men of theAnsar , then mentioned their names.'

Also related fromAnas : 'The Prophet (S) died, four men having collected the Qur'an: AbuDarda ',Mu'adh ibn Jabal ,Zaid ibn Thabit , and Abu Zaid.'20

Finally from 'Aliibn Ribah : 'Aliibn Abi Talib (a) collected the Qur'an along withUbayy ibn Ka'b during the lifetime of the Prophet (S).'

Other Evidence

There are other evidences which point to the fact that the Qur'an we have today is the very same as was gathered and structured during the time of the Messenger of Allah, with no additions or subtractions:

1. The 'Opening' Chapter

The naming of the first chapter of the Qur'an as the 'opening' chapter during the time of the Prophet means that it is the opening chapter of the Qur'an despite the fact thatneither this chapter or even the first verse of it were the first chronologically to be revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. The naming of it as the 'opening' chapter during the Prophet's lifetime shows that the book was collated together as a whole in the form existent today, and that the first chapter then is still the first chapter today.

2. TheHadith of the "Two Momentous Things"

The Prophet (S) used to say in thishadith that is widely related by both Sunnite andShi'a scholars:

'I leave with you the two momentous things - the book of Allah and the people of my household. As long as you adhere to these two you will never go astray after me.'21

The book that the Prophet (S) left behind for his community is the gathered and structured whole and not scattered verses otherwise the name 'book' would not be ascribed to it.22

Allah precedes his Prophet in this regard by referring to the Qur'an again and again and in numerous verses as 'The Book', alluding to the fact that it is gathered and collated with Him on the preserved tablet - as certain commentators have stated, and that He showed the Prophet its compilation and structure and ordered him to compile and structure the Qur'an as it is compiled and structured in the preserved tablet, which the Prophet duly did.

Allah speaks in the Qur'an saying:{This is a blessed book which We have sent down, confirming (the revelation) before it, and to warn the mother of all cities and those around her, and those who believe in the hereafter will believe in it while they are steadfast in their prayers.} 23

He, Almighty is He, also says:{He has the keys to the unseen, none know of them save He and He knows what is in the land and in the sea, not a leaf drops but that He is aware of it nor a seed in the darkness of the earth, nor anything wet or dry but that it is in a clear book.} 24

HeAlmighty is He also says:{O people of the book, Our messenger has come to you to make plain to you much of that which you have been concealing of the book and to forgive much. From Allahhas come to you a light and an elucidating book.} 25

And He Almighty is He has said:{And this is a blessed book which We have sent down so follow ye it and adopt piety so mayye be shown mercy.} 26

And He Almighty is He has said:{A book sent down to you so let there be no shame in your breast to warn with it and as a reminder to those who have faith.} 27

And HeBlessed is He has said:{A book whose verses have been made firm and then explained from the auspices of the wise the knowing.} 28

THE HOLY QUR'ANWhen was it compiled?

And HeThe Almighty has said:{A book which We have sent down to you so you may bring the people out of the darkness and into the light by the permission of their Lord to the way of The All Mighty The All Praised.} 29

3. The Complete Recitation of the Qur'an

It is related that the Prophet (S) ordered that the Qur'an should be recited in its entirety during the month of Ramadan and at other times, and he made known the virtue and reward to be gained from its recitation. This complete recitation would have no meaning if the Qur'an had not been present as a complete structured whole as the meaning of a complete recitation (khatma ) is to begin at the beginning of a book and to end at the end of it.30

The Prophet (S) said: 'Whoever completes a recitation of the Qur'an, it is as if he has reached the station ofprophethood except that he does not receive revelation.'31

The Prophet (S) also said: 'When the believer reads the Qur'an, Allah looks upon him with mercy and for each verse gives him one-thousandHouris and for each letter gives him a light on the path. When he completes a recitation of the Qur'an, Allah rewards him with the reward of three-hundred and thirteen prophets who carried out the message of their Lord, and it is as if he has read every book that Allah has sent down upon His prophets, and Allah forbids his body from the fire and forgives him and his parents their sins.'32

'AbdullahIbn Mas'oud andUbayy Ibn Ka'b and others completed recitations of the Qur'an in front of the Prophet (S) a number of times. If the Qur'an had not been gathered together during his lifetime then this would not have been possible.

In the bookMutashabih al-Qur'an, the author says: It is proven that the Prophet (S) read the Qur'an, compiled it and ordered that it be written down in this form. Every year he would read it for the Angel Gabriel once except the year of his death when he read it for him twice. A group of the companions recited it in its entirety in front of the Prophet among themUbayy Ibn Ka'b . 'AbdullahIbn Mas'oud recited it ten times in front of the Prophet.33

In the book Seas of Lights, the great scholar al-Majlisi says: 'Al-Bukhari , Muslim, and al-Tirmidhi in their authenticated collections ofhadith relate fromAnas : 'The Qur'an was collected during the lifetime of the Prophet by four men of theAnsar :Ubayy Ibn Ka'b ,Mu'adh Ibn Jabal , AbuZaid , andZaid Ibn Thabit.34

4.Between theMihrab and the Pulpit

It is also reported that the entire Qur'an was placed in a written form between themihrab and the pulpit (minbar ) and that Muslims used to copy from it.

5. Presentation of Qur'an to the Messenger of Allah

It is related that Archangel Gabriel (a) used to present the Qur'an to the Prophet (S) once every year, and in the last year of the Prophet's life he presented it to him twice. This would not have been possible had the Qur'an not been already gathered and collated.

Thehadith report that when the Prophet (S) began to feel the effects of the illness, which afflicted him at the end of his life, he took the hand of 'Ali (a) and said: 'The trials have descended like the darkness of night. Gabriel used to present (the Qur'an) to me once every year but this year he presented (the Qur'an) to me twice. It seems to me that my time is near.'35

THE HOLY QUR'ANWhen was it compiled?

The Prophet (S) also said: 'Gabriel used to present to me the Qur'an once per year but this year he presented it to me twice. I believe that my time is near.'36

6. TheMemorisation of the Qur'an

It is related that a group of the Companions of the Prophet hadmemorised the entire Qur'an by heart during the time of the Prophet.37

This is clear to anyone who refers to the commentary on the Qur'an by al-Balaghi . Also in one of the issues of the periodical 'Answers to Religious Questions'38 there is an article by (the author's father) al-Sayyid Mirza Mahdi al-Shirazi published in the holy city of Karbala.

7. Concordance with the Book of Allah

Another fact which shows that the Qur'an we have today is the same Qur'an revealed to the Messenger of Allah without literary corruption, or addition or subtraction are the traditions which order that anyhadith related from the Messenger of Allah or his household should be compared with the Holy Qur'an in order that the wheat be separated from the chaff. These traditions say: 'All (hadith ) that is in concordance with the Book of Allah was said by the Messenger of Allah or his household. Anything that goes against the book of Allah is vain and false and was not said by them.

These traditions refer us to the Qur'an which we have with us today in order to tell the truth from the falsehood, which points to it being free from any addition or subtraction, substitution or corruption, as a corrupted book is not fit to be the source of knowledge of the true from the false.

Related fromJa'far al-Saadiq (a) is that the Prophet (S) said: 'For every truth there is a reality and for every correct practice there is a

guiding light, so whatever is in concord with the book of Allah then go by it and whatever contradicts the book of Allah then leave it.'39

Related also from the Purified Imams

(a ). 'If you come across ahadith related from us then compare it with the book of Allah. Whatever is in agreement with the book of Allah then take it and whatever contradicts the book of Allah then reject it or refer it to us.'40

(b). 'If you come across twohadiths related from us then compare them with the book of Allah, what is in concord then take it and what is in disagreement then reject it.'41

(c). 'Whatever comes to you related from us then compare it with the book of Allah, whatever is in concord with it then accept it and what contradicts it then reject it.'42

Furthermore, there are numerousQur'anic verses and traditions which point out that the Qur'an was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah (S) in two ways: once it was sent down in its entirety upon the heart of the Messenger of Allah as in theQur'anic verse:{Verily we sent down revelation on the night ofQadr .} 43 , and once more ininstalments over the space of twenty-three years according to the appropriate occasions and issues. The Prophet's heart contained the Qur'an, which was revealed to him firstly in its entirety,then he collated and structured the Qur'an that was revealed to him secondly bit by bit according to the structure of the first revelation of the Qur'an. This is the very same Qur'an as that which exists with us today.

This and other evidence shows that the Qur'an we have today is the Qur'an that was gathered and collated at the command of Allah and His Messenger (S) during his lifetime without the addition or

subtraction of a single letter, or any change or substitution. For Allah has said:{Falsehood does not approach it (the Qur'an) from before it or from behind.} 44 , and:

{We have sent down the Reminder andWe shall be its protectors.} 45

The Integrity of the Qur'an

In our book 'The Ways to the Messages',46 we mentioned that the Qur'an, as we can show from evidences and from common sense, has not been subject to any additions or subtractions or any changes or alterations from the way in which the Messenger of Allahorganised it during his life even though chronologically some verses were revealed before others. The Qur'an of the time of the Messenger of Allah is exactly the same as that which we have today. The Prophet himself specified the placing of verses and chapters in the way we see now and there are many traditions that testify to this.

It is widely related that the Prophet (S) said: 'Whoever completes a recitation of the Qur'an will receive such and such a reward.'47

Had the Qur'an not been complete then this would not have been possible. The Qur'an was also present at his time in a complete written form in the Prophet's mosque, by the Prophet's pulpit, from which anyone could make a copy.

Also, thousands of Muslims hadmemorised the entire Qur'an as the chronicles of the time report. In this way the integrity, structure andorganisation of the Qur'an remained until this day.

The Qur'an of 'Ali

As for the question of the Qur'an of 'Ali which he presented and was not allowed (by the ruler of the time), what is meant by this are the commentaries and interpretations which he collected and which he himself mentioned in a speech related from him. It is clear that they did not want the commentary or interpretation because it was a special merit of 'Ali's.

Also, what is meant by the gathering of the Qur'an by 'Umar or 'Uthman , if this was the case, is that the scattered incomplete documents of the Qur'an written by the companions of the Prophet were brought together so there would not be one complete Qur'an and several incomplete versions. This is a natural thing, for example when the speeches of a lecturer are gathered by his students, some students will be absent for reasons of illness or travel or the like and hence not have the complete versions of the speeches. Those who had a full attendance record however will have the complete version.

'Umar and 'Uthman destroyed the scattered and different documents but not the complete Qur'an from the time of the Prophet.

I myself have seen copies of the Qur'an written over one thousand years ago in the coffer of the Shrine of Imam al-Hussein; they were absolutely no different to the Qur'an we have today. There are also a number of copies of the Qur'an written in the hand of the Imams in Iran and 'Iraq and Turkey, all of which are the same as the Qur'an existent today with no changes.

The Different Readings

The 'different readings' are a modern phenomenon that arose from the opinions of a particular group. Muslims at the time of the greatreciters and after them did not pay those opinions heed and were not concerned with them so as to change the Qur'an. For this reason, we would consider the prayer of those whopractise these 'readings' to be invalid.

The 'Corruption' of the Qur'an' in the Traditions

Those traditions that attest to the corruption of the Qur'an which are to be found in the books of the Sunnites andShi'a alike are spurious and groundless traditions. Upon further examination we found that 90% of these traditions in the books of theShi'a are related by a man called al-Sayaari who is, by the unanimous opinion of the biographers, a liar, forger ofhadith and mislead. The rest of the traditions have either no valid chain of narration or no proof, as any careful examiner would find out. The Sunnite traditions also show themselves up to be false as is clear to anyone who cares to consult the narrations in the book of al-Bukhari and others.