History and Importance of Quran Notes

The History and Importance of the Quran - Paper 1. This questions comes as Question 2 Compulsory in the Islamiyat Paper after Major Themes of the Quran Compulsory Question 1. Consists of 2 Questions of 10 And 4 Marks Respectively. This Question Must be Answered.

1. The Revelation of the Qur’an to the Prophet between the years 610 and 632:

• With age and growing understanding, the Holy Prophet became more and more disturbed because of the corrupt society around him during the period of darkness. 
• He often thought of the God of his forefathers, especially Hazrat Ibrahim. 
• A few years before the conferment of Proohethood, he became more and more fond of solitude. 
• He spent days in the cave of Hira and took supplies of dates and water with him. He was 40 years old then.
• One such day, towards the end of Ramzan an angel appeared before him and asked him to read. 
• The Prophet replied that he could not read since he had not received any formal education. 
• The angel then hugged him tightly and asked him again to read. 
• The Prophet again replied that he could not read. 
• The angel again squeezed the Prophet tightly and repeated his demand for the third time. The Prophet finally asked, what should I read? 
• In response, the angel recited the first 4 verses of Surah Alaq:
• Read! in the name of your Lord, who created, 2. Created man out of a clot of congealed blood: 3. Proclaim! And your Lord is most bountiful, 4. He who taught by the pen, 5. Taught man what he did not know.
• These were the first five verses of the Holy Quran and they were imprinted on the Prophet’s mind.
• From this onwards, the Prophet continued to receive revelations throughout the rest of his life, for a period of about 23 years.
• The Holy Quran was not entirely revealed at once but in steps. 
• Because if the revelations had been revealed at once, it would have put a lot of stress on the Prophet and would have over burdened him. 
• Similarly, different verses were revealed to address different situations and solve different problems that were under consideration. 
• The last revelation received by him was in the Plains of Arafat after he had performed the Hajj and delivered the sermon: “…this day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion…”
• The revelations revealed were then compiled to form surahs. 
• The surahs can be divided into 2 types i.e. Makki and Madni surahs. Makki surahs were the ones revealed on Makkah and the Madni surahs were revealed after Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Medina. 
• The Makki surahs were generally brief. 
• They dealt with belief in Allah and other Articles of faith and contained teachings to develop ones moral character. '
• The Madni surahs, on the other hand, dealt with the pillars of Islam and social duties and obligations of Muslims. 
• Makki surahs used a stronger vocabulary and language as compared to Madni Surahs.
• Whenever a revelation came to the Prophet, he experienced different sensations. 
• He heard ringing sounds, he perspired in the cold; he became so heavy that the animal he was riding could feel his weight. 
• After receiving a revelation he would ask his literate companions to write it down as he himself was illiterate. 
• He would then ask the scribe to read it back to ensure that he had written it correctly. 
• This way, the Prophet ensured that the word of Allah was saved in the correct form.
• The revelations were written on pieces of leather, stone tablets, bones of camels and palm tree leaves. 
• Several copies of the Quran existed in this form at that time but it was not complied in the form of a book. 
• The Quranic verses were initially not arranged in any proper order but towards the end of Prophet’s life, he informed the scribes of the real order of the Quranic verses and chapters. 
• These instructions were given to the Prophet by Allah through angel Gabriel.
• The Quran was not compiled in a book form during the life of the Prophet. 
• But he used to recite the entire Quran once in each Ramzan with angel Gabriel so as to maintain accuracy; and did so twice in his last Ramzan.

     2. Account of the Compilation of the Qur’an under the Rightly Guided  Caliphs:                                                 

• At the time of the Prophet’s death, there was no official copy of the Quran and no one possessed a complete written text. 
• However, after the death of many of the memorizers of Quran in the battle of Yamana, Hazrat Umar realized that those who had memorized the Quran would gradually die and this might challenge the preservation of the word of Allah. 
• Therefore, Hazrat Umar suggested to the caliph, Hazrat Abu Bakr that he order a written copy of the Quran to be made. 
• At first Hazrat Abu Bakr hesitated because he did not want to take on a task which the Prophet himself had left undone. 
• However, Hazrat Umar went on insisting him until he finally agreed. 
• Hazrat Abu Bakr then directed Zaid Bin Sabit, Prophet’s chief scribe, to undertake this task. 
• Zain Bin Sabit is reported to have said: “had I been asked to carry a mountain on my head, it would have been a much easy task than to shoulder this responsibility.  
• A commission was appointed, headed by Zaid Bin Sabit. 
• It traced out and collected the chapters of Quran from every person who had it in their possession. 
• Zaid Bin Sabit even collected verses of the Quran written on stones, bones and palm leaves. 
• Yet, he was not content and verified all what they collected from other memorizers of the Quran to ensure that the copy they made was flawless and Allah’s word was preserved in its truest form. 
• The copy which this commission prepared was given to the caliph who then gave it to his predecessor, Hazrat Umar. After Hazrat Umar’s death the copy was given to Hazrat Hafsa, a widow of the Prophet, and likewise it came to be known as Mushaf-e-Hufsa.
• In the Caliphate of Hazrat Usman, Islam expanded rapidly and many new areas were gained as territories. 
• These areas had different pronunciations and dialects. 
• So much so that once, a commander of the Muslim army felt that one of his soldiers was pronouncing Quran in a different dialect, which may have altered the meaning. 
• So he reported this to the caliph, who took serious action. 
• He acquired the Mushaf-e-Hufsa and told Zaid Bin Sabit and 3 other men to make a new copy following the dialect of Quraish, since the Quran was revealed in that dialect. 
• The Quran was read out loudly from the beginning to the end in the Prophet’s mosque from these copies, so that not a shadow of doubt remained in the mind of Muslims regarding the changes introduced. 
• These copies were then dispatched to the capital of each province with instructions that future copies must be based on them. All other copies were then burnt. For this service, Hazrat Usman is often referred to as Jami-al-Quran.

   Questions:

  Q: Why did the Caliphs think it was important to make a compilation of the Quran? /4

  A) After the death of many of the memorizers of Quran in the battle of Yamana, Hazrat Umar realized that those who had memorized the Quran would gradually die and this might challenge the preservation of the word of Allah. Therefore, Hazrat Umar suggested to the caliph, Hazrat Abu Bakr that he order a written copy of the Quran to be made so as to preserve the word of Allah in its truest form so that future generations could benefit from it.

     When Hazrat Usman was told that Quran was being recited in different dialects by different Muslims, he realized that this could result in the loss of original meaning of the Quran and this could also cause disunity amongst Muslims.