The Holy Qur’an — Its Historical Authenticity

The Holy Qur’an
— Its Historical Authenticity

Nadir
Aqueel Ansari

The
Holy Qur’an was presented to the people of Arabia by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon him). It was presented in parts over a period of 23 years of his
prophetic life. The book presents itself as the word of God and the Holy Prophet
also presented it as such.

The
Muslims believe that the Holy Qur’an, being the revealed word of God, is the
cornerstone of their faith. They get their philosophy, beliefs and laws from
this book – it is the basic source of the Islamic faith. It is the Word of God
revealed to his Messenger Muhammad Peace be upon him, who read it out before the
world loud and clear. Not only did he recite it to the people of Arabia, he also
made elaborate arrangements to ensure that it’s contents be preserved and his
companions should learn it by heart and should also write it down. The Holy
Prophet’s stress on the supremacy of the Book of Allah, over all other sources
of knowledge, was unequivocal and categorical.

It
is believed by the Muslims that the Holy Prophet actually heard or received the
divine words. The Holy Qur’an was either communicated to him through Wahy (Revelation), or through an angel or spoken by God himself. All
these forms of communication, the Muslims believe, are verbatim in nature, that
is to say, that actual words, revealed by Allah, constitute the Holy Book. It is
not like the writings of the New Testament, where God inspires a scribe to write
down the scripture; the idea and words are those of the scribe while God only
supervises the scribe or the scribe was inspired by God, Who revealed a certain
idea to him. The scribe then wrote it down in his own words. In case of the
Qur’an, the words and ideas are both divine.

The
words and verses of the Holy Qur’an were preserved, through the oral as well
as the written traditions, in the Prophet’s lifetime. A large number of
companions of the Prophet participated in this preservation process and the text
was safely handed over to the next generation.

What
do we mean when we say that the Holy Qur’an in our hands is exactly the one
that was revealed to the Holy Prophet, and that this is an established fact of
history? The meaning and significance of this statement can be explained in the
terms of history where we would like to know when a historical fact is
established beyond any shadow of doubt.

Chains of reports consisting of
individuals

Usually
information about the past has reached us through oral
reports, written reports or archaeological
artifacts. For instance, the plays of Shakespeare have reached us through
documentary evidence (written words). The stories of Achilles originated as oral
reports (words of mouth), which were later recorded by early Greek writers. The
report that Buddha used to meditate in a certain posture, has reached us through
archaeological remains (pieces of art like statues and engravings). These
reports are considered as matters of micro history, which are to be judged in
the light of the authenticity of the narrators
(in case of oral evidence), the scribes
(in case of written evidence) or the artists
that created the pieces of art (in case of archaeological evidence).

Discussions
in micro history hinge on detailed and incisive discussions on individuals (scribes, narrators and artists). The lives of these
individuals are examined to get an idea of the authenticity of the report they
have conveyed us. Their character, capabilities, resources, environment, and
location at a certain place and time are studied. Obviously, the individual
being the king pin in such instances of micro history, must be shown to be
reliable, truthful, intelligent (to confirm his ability to comprehend, retain
and truly express the facts) and unprejudiced.

Once
the individuals are investigated, the historians turn to the question of
continuity. Continuity means that the
individuals involved in collecting and then transmitting the report must be
shown to be in a state of uninterrupted contact and communication. We are
referring to the fact that there should be an immediate proximity in time and
place between the two reporters who form one ring of the chain of transmission.
There should be no time when the report remained with anonymous narrators
because then we cannot investigate the individuals. It should also not suffer
from oblivion because, in that case, any change or corruption in the report,
during the time it remained hidden from us, cannot be ruled out.  If the communication between two consecutive reporters is
smooth, continuous and uninterrupted, the report gathers strength. This evidence
for continuity is however to be produced in respect of each stage of the chain
of reporters to say with a fair degree of confidence that the report is worth
consideration. 

If
the investigation of individuals and continuity of the report leads to positive
conclusions, we have established one chain of the report. Sometimes two or more
such chains of reports, leading to the same event, can be established. For
example, two courtiers of Akbar the Great may narrate the same incident. In such
cases, the supporting narration should be identical or at least similar. If the
individuals and their continuity have been investigated, these corroborating
reports strengthen and reinforce each other and we are able to place more
confidence in the substance brought out by them.

We
can summarize our discussion by saying that in micro history, the following
components are vital:

• Individuals

• Continuity of the
  report

• Corroboration (if
  any)

If
an event or a substance is supported by this investigation it becomes worth
considering for a historian. However, it can never establish a fact beyond any
shadow of doubt. The primary reason is that in such examinations, the
historicity of the report ultimately depends on one or two individuals. If our
investigation about even one of the individuals in the chain of reporters is
faulty, the entire chain is shaken. These individuals may be widely known as men
of reasonably good character, fairly reliable memory, sound understanding
and relatively free of prejudices. However, they cannot be assumed to be of infallibly
good character, unfailing memory, perfect understanding and absolutely free of
prejudices. 

Similarly,
our investigation (and finally our judgment) about them can be extremely
cautious, scientific and objective, yet it cannot be infallible and indubitable.
We were told that an individual was known to be honest, truthful and reliable,
but we know that individual behavior is not predictable. One may be honest and
truthful most of the times and yet stumble at a particular instance. One may
have a sound memory yet he may forget something. Moreover, how are we going to
collect evidence about reporters themselves? Obviously, we would establish more
chains of reporters to learn about a certain historical character. These sources
would suffer from the same limitations, thereby compounding our problem. 

Before proceeding
ahead let us summarize our discussion. The chains of reports consisting of
individuals, may lead us to a fair degree of plausibility of an event, yet they
cannot lead us to the knowledge of the event that is beyond any shadow of doubt
because of the following reasons:

• The reliability of
  the report hinges on one or two individuals

• These individuals
  are not infallible.

• Our investigation
  and judgment about these individuals can also be incorrect.

The
Scholars of Hadith of early Muslim History were alive to the above
weaknesses in the information [regarding historical facts] provided by
individuals. It is because of this reason that they termed an
“Individual-to-Individual” report as “Khabr-e-Wahid” (or an Individual’s Report). Almost the entire Hadith
literature consists of Akhbar-e-Ahad
(Individual Reports).

Chains of reports consisting of
Generations

On
the other hand in macro history we deal with facts, incidents and reports
transmitted, not by one or two individuals to another individual, but by one generation that witnessed these facts and incidents to another
generation. For example, the fact that the World War I did take place in the
beginning of the twentieth century, is a fact transmitted by a generation to
another. The generation that actually fought and witnessed the war conveyed this
knowledge to the next generation and so on till it reached us. This
communication to succeeding generations can be through any means – oral, written
or through any mode of art.

Here
we should note, that the unit of the chain of transmission of such information
is not individuals, but generations. This singular difference changes the very
character of such a report. An important aspect of
“Generation-to-Generation” Transfer is that it does not deal with opinions
and ideas of individuals but the hard facts which were witnessed, seen and/or
heard by the first Generation.[i]
This condition eliminates the possibility of including mythologies and opinions
in the “Generation-to-generation” Transmission.

The
essential differences between Individual-to-individual
Transmission and Generation-to-generation Transmission
are:

1. The
   reliability of the report from generation-to-generation does not hinge upon
   one or two individuals. It rather depends on the hundreds and thousands of
   people that lived together in a known place and time.

2. It
   is no more necessary to investigate the character, understanding, memory or
   impartiality of individuals. The entire generations can neither be
   investigated nor is it necessary. When such a large number of people convey
   a fact, it is impossible that all of them could have wrongly reported it,
   forgotten it or could have developed a consensus on telling lies.

3. There
   is no need to establish the continuity of reporting system because one
   generation is so perfectly enmeshed into another and the contact and
   proximity with the next generation is so tremendous and obvious that
   conducting an inquiry to prove it is not required.

4. When
   hundreds and thousands of people are conveying a fact to the next
   generation, we do not need any corroborating evidence. Agreement of the
   entire generation is so overwhelmingly strong that it renders further
   corroboration redundant.

Terminology of the Muslim
Historiography

In
the Historiography (`Ilm-e-Hadeeth)
developed by the Muslims, the “Individual-to-individual” Report is termed as
Khabr-e-Wahid (an Individual’s Report) whereas the
“Generation-to-generation” Report is called Khabr-e-Mutawatir,
and the process of Generation-to-generation Transmission is known as Tawatur.
We would now use the term Tawatur for the process of
Generation-to-generation Transmission of a fact.

The Holy Qur’an has reached us
through Tawatur

The
Holy Qur’an has reached us through the process of tawatur
– historical continuity and perpetuation achieved through transfer from
generation-to-generation. When we say that the Qur’an has reached us through tawatur,
we imply that so many people in every generation conveyed it to the next and so
on that there can be no doubt about its authenticity. It was not transmitted by
a few persons in one generation to a few persons in the next. It was handed over
by the entire generation to the next generation. The Generation of the
Companions witnessed the revelation and compilation of the Holy Qur’an during
the life of the Holy Prophet and then handed it over to the next generation and
so on.

Its
certainty has far exceeded the need for any debate. In the presence of
established history, we would not accept any individual reports and rumors to
the contrary. For instances a report in one of the history books that claims
that Akbar the Great never ruled in India, would not be considered by us. The
fact that Akbar the Great ruled over India for half a century is so established,
that any odd report to the contrary would be simply ignored. So is the case of
the Holy Qur’an. Since it has achieved the status of Tawatur, no odd
report would affect its credibility. When generations and generations of people
without interruption hold the Qur’an as the one and only version of the divine
guidance received from the Holy Prophet, such reports would not infringe upon
its authenticity. The evidence for the Qur’an is so overwhelming, involving
millions of people, that it would simply override any odd reports that may be
found anywhere. 

The
History of the compilation of the Holy Qur’an found in the books of history
and exegesis confirms that the transmission of the Holy Qur’an from one
generation to the other has been Mutawatir.

During the Holy Prophet’s Life

During
the first thirteen years of his ministry at Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad used to
read out the revealed passages to the small group of his followers and
non-believers.  His followers used
to commit the revelation to their hearts. There is evidence that the revealed
verses or chapters were also written down on whatever writing material was
available. It is reported that when Umar, learnt that his sister and her husband
had converted to Islam, he hurried to her sister’s house in anger. When he
arrived at her house, she hid the part of Qur’an she was reading. When Umar
expressed his eagerness to see what they were reading, his sister told her to
wash before touching the scripture.[ii]
This shows that as early as the sixth year of the Prophet’s ministry, the
Qur’an was being written down, in addition to being learnt by heart.

When
the Prophet migrated to Medina and established a state, he made elaborate
arrangements under the state machinery, for the preservation and large scale
dissemination of the Qur’an. He constituted a committee of about forty of his
literate companions who were assigned the task of 
recording the Holy Book.[iii]
Hadhrat Zaid was the full time
Secretary of the Committee of the Scribes. On receiving a verse or verses from
Allah, the Holy Prophet used to call one of the members of the committee and get
it dictated. Then the written passage was read out to the Prophet and was
corrected and approved by him. It was then issued for all. People used to copy
it and memorize it. Given the swelling number of his followers after Migration,
the Qur’an was learnt and recorded by a large number of his followers.[iv]

The
Qur’an was being revealed in accordance with the needs of the different stages
of the prophetic mission. It was however not compiled in the chronological order
of its revelation. While compiling and arranging it, the Qur’an was given a
new order, which was to have a meaningful coherence for the readers in future.
Whenever the Prophet dictated a newly revealed passage of the Qur’an to the
Scribes, he used to direct them regarding the placement of that passage in the
Qur’an as well. This means that not only was the Qur’an being recorded and
memorized as it was being revealed piecemeal, it was also being compiled and
given a new order under the personal supervision of the Prophet. The Prophet in
turn was being instructed by Allah about the placement of passages in the
desired order.[v]

Thus
the entire Qur’an was systematically recorded and arranged on written material
during the lifetime of the Prophet. However the Qur’an was recorded not in one
volume but on tanned hides, stone tablets, wooden tablets, pieces of cloth 
etc. One complete set of the Qur’an was with the State authorities,
i.e. with the Holy Prophet. It was placed in the Mosque of the Prophet (Masjid-e-Nabavi)
from where any one was free to make a copy for himself or to refer to it in case
he wished to memorize it. It however appears that apart from this centrally
placed copy, a number of other copies also existed. A few of them must have been
complete copies whereas in case of others, portions of the Qur’an were in
possession of a number of Companions of the Prophet. [vi]

It
appears that the Official Copy, although complete, checked, and approved by the
Prophet was available in the life of the Holy Prophet, yet it was not bound in
one volume (bain al lawhayn). The
entire Qur’an was memorized by the Prophet himself and numerous other
companions. It is reported that when the revelation of the Holy Qur’an was
completed, the Angel Gabriel heard the final recitation of the Holy Qur’an
from the Holy Prophet.

The
Holy Qur’an constituted the life blood of the early Muslim community during
the life of Holy Prophet. It was recited five times a day, people used to commit
it to their hearts and used to study it with utmost care and concentration.
People were graded and appreciated on the basis of their knowledge and the
extent of the Qur’an that they had memorized. All affairs of the state as well
as the social life of Arabia were governed in the light of the provisions of the
Qur’an. All civil servants, military commanders and judges used to seek
guidance from the Qur’an. During the Prophet’s life time, when he used to
send governors and judges to far off places, he used to instruct them that they
have to govern and decide in the light of the Qur’an. These facts show that
Qur’an was alive in that society not because of written manuscripts but as a
necessity of faith and an inevitable source of guidance for social, political
and legal affairs.

It
is therefore incorrect to suggest that the Holy Qur’an was compiled and
written in the days of Caliphs Abubakr or Uthman. It was preserved
under the personal supervision of the Holy Prophet in his lifetime. It is also
natural to believe that he could not neglect the task of its preservation. One
of the primary missions of the Holy Prophet was to deliver the divine message to
mankind. This message consisted of the Holy Qur’an. He could not shift this
responsibility to later generations.

During the Caliphate of Hadhrat
Abu Bakr

As
pointed out earlier, the Original Office Copy of the Holy Prophet was not bound
up in one volume. It consisted of scattered pages or leaves. The entire text was
not recorded in a continuous form in one volume. Although the correct order of
the Qur’an was known and there was no doubt about it, yet, the increasing
number of Huffaz who were embracing death in the battlefield, emerged as a cause
of alarm to Umar ibn e Khattab. It was because of this alarm that he suggested:

• The State – after
  the death of the Holy Prophet – should take over the responsibility of the
  dissemination of the Holy Qur’an 

• The Holy Qur’an
  should be written on pages of even size and bound up in a volume.

Abu
Bakr, the first Caliph therefore
decided to arrange the Qur’an in one volume. He constituted a committee under
the chairmanship of Hadhrat Zaid. All
the companions assisted him and the volume thus compiled was attested by
hundreds of companions. Every companion who had any verse recorded on any
material was called in and was required to produce two witnesses, to testify
that the verse was actually dictated by the Holy Prophet and was placed properly
as desired by the Prophet. [vii]
Witnesses were called in to make the procedure more stringent. This was to
ensure that the Generation of the Companions should collectively compile what it
had heard from the Holy Prophet.

This
achievement of the first Caliph should not be taken as the only arrangement for
the preservation of the Qur’an. It only related to the written and documentary
dissemination of the Holy Book. As we shall show later, written tradition is not
the only way through which the Qur’an was preserved.

Although
the Qur’an had been compiled in the life-time of the Prophet, yet the task of
preparation of a fresh copy in one bound volume could not be left over to one
person. The Companions valued the Holy Book more than anything else. The entire
group of Companions ensured that, while copying verses from the original office
copy, and binding them in one volume, even an iota of difference or error should
not be allowed to occur. Moreover, written and oral evidence should also be
called, not to discover something new, but to further confirm. The bound volume
of the Holy Book was then placed in public where people could make as many
copies of the scripture as they wished.[viii] 

During the Caliphate of Uthman

After
the death of Caliph Abu Bakr, that volume of Holy Book was entrusted to Hadhrat Umar and, after his death, to Hafsa bint Umar
(the wife of the Holy Prophet). During the caliphate of Hadhrat Uthman, a large number of non-Arabs also embraced
Islam. Arabic was not their mother tongue. They used to speak Persian, Syrian
and a number of other languages. Many of them read Arabic in different ways.
Even some Arabs from far flung areas used to recite the Qur’an in different
accents. Such differences in pronunciation had no impact on the long term
preservation of the Qur’an because by now numerous written copies of the
Qur’an were available and thousands of people were there who recited it in the
original accent. Although minor in nature, yet the differences in the
pronunciation were seen with concern by the cautious Caliph who feared they
could develop into different versions with the possibility of different
meanings. It was required that just like a standard text, a standard
pronunciation should also be decided.

It
was however not a difficult decision. Hadhrat Uthman in consultation with
all the companions, decided that the Qur’an will be read in the accent of the
Holy Prophet, i.e. the accent of the Quraysh
of Mecca. Obviously, only the way the Holy Prophet pronounced the divine words
could be accepted as the standard.

Hadhrat
Uthman then got prepared copies of the Qur’an. These were written in
accordance with the accent and calligraphic style of the Quraysh,
and these copies were placed in the major cities of the Muslim Caliphate. These
copies served as the master copies for all the Muslims and numerous copies were
prepared and circulated. Two of the master copies prepared by Hadhrat
Uthman are reported to be still available in museums at Tashkent, and
Istanbul. It is known that not only written copies were circulated by the third
Caliph, but he also sent expert Qaris (experts in recitation of the Holy
Book) along with the scriptures. These Qaris were selected from the Quraysh
who could read the Book in accordance with the accent and pronunciation of the
Holy Prophet.

Thus
the contribution of Hadhrat Uthman
is not that he compiled the Qur’an for the first time, as is generally
understood. The Holy Qur’an had already been compiled during the life of the
Holy Prophet. It was bound in a single volume during the caliphate of Hadhrat Abubakr. Hadhrat
Uthman’s valuable contribution lies in his ability to take notice of
the challenge of different accents getting popular among the new converts. He
immediately resolved it with the consultation of the companions of the Holy
Prophet and decided in favor of only one authentic accent – that of the tribe of
the Holy Prophet. He thus united the Ummah (the Muslim community) on one
recitation of the Qur’an.

During the caliphate of Hadhrat
Ali and the rule of Hadhrat Mu’awia

After
the assassination of Hadhrat Uthman,
the Muslim Ummah underwent a division
into two separate camps which fought bloody wars with each other. During such
ages of turmoil, for an ideology that is still young, there is every possibility
that the warring factions start disputing the very basis of the ideology that
stimulated their growth, and may end up with two different sets of sacred
literature. However, in this case, both the groups continued to have
unquestionable belief in the same book. Hadhrat
Ali upheld the book as it was received from the earlier three Caliphs and
so did Hadhrat Mu`awia. Their
view points might have differed on political issues, but they were united on the
text of the Holy Qur’an and continued with the efforts of the Ummah to
protect, respect and propagate the Holy Book. Had Ali compiled a
different version of the Holy Qur’an (as held by a few individual reports) he
would have imposed his version instead of the one that (according to the belief
of a small minority of Shiite scholars) had been unfairly imposed by the earlier
Caliphs. Caliph Ali’s six-year rule is devoid of any such assertion. 

Since then…

After
the age of turmoil, the Muslims had flourishing, stable and long rule of Umayyad
and Abbaside dynasties, who proclaimed the standard version of the Qur’an as
the only accepted, canonized and authentic version of the revealed book. After
the fall of Abbasides, the Uthmani Caliphate of Turkey took over this task and
the state attached priority to the preservation, publication and dissemination
of the Holy Qur’an. Only one text was known and recognized. There never
existed any other versions. Thousands of Muslims continued to recite the entire
Holy Qur’an every year in Taraweeh
Prayers during the holy month of Ramazan,
for the last fourteen centuries. On the introduction of the printing press, the
printed copies spread far and wide in large numbers and the now even the
remotest possibility of any corruption of the text does not exist.

Written and Oral Communication

A
book can be communicated to the next generations through written
(documentary) means or through oral tradition. So far we have discussed
the documentary aspect of its history.

This
history of documentary transmission is very valuable and praiseworthy, but it is
not what the Muslims are proud of. They are proud of the history of transmission
of the Book through memorizing tradition.

Thousands
and millions of Muslims memorized the Holy Qur’an accurately in all
generations. Whenever there is a difference between huffaz,
they always find a third one to consult and verify. The Muslims do not rely on
the written word as much as they do on the oral transmission. In Pakistan, for
instance, when the Holy Qur’an is printed, we require two huffaz to read the text and approve it. Usually a Hafiz
knows the name of his teacher from whom he heard and committed the Book to his
mind, and the name of his teacher’s teacher, a connection that sometimes goes
to the Prophet’s companions.

The
Holy Qur’an was thus received by the first generation of Muslim Ummah
(i.e. the companions of the Holy Prophet) from the Prophet in written and verbal
forms and was then transmitted to the next generation, and so on, till it
reached us. Such a large number of people have participated in this
generation-to-generation transfer of this book that there remains no shadow of
doubt about its authenticity.

©
Copyright October 1999. All Rights Reserved with the Author