{"id":135,"date":"2015-02-25T21:02:39","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T21:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/azmi.co\/cust\/ngba-wp\/?page_id=135"},"modified":"2017-05-16T16:05:46","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T16:05:46","slug":"quran-abrogation-collecting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/?page_id=135","title":{"rendered":"Qur&#8217;an-abrogation &#038; collecting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">In the name of All\u0101h,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">the Beneficent, the Merciful.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">Peace and Blessings of All\u0101h on Mohammad.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">DEDICATED TO<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">All\u0101h\u2013the Glorious and the High,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">Lord of the worlds<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">AND TO<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">Mohammad\u2013who brought the world<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">to our feet and eternity to our arms<br \/>\n<\/span>*<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 14pt;\"><span style=\"color: purple;\">ABROGATION AND COLLECTING OF THE QUR\u2019AN<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">The Prophet is the only person who could decide which verse is to be in the Qur\u2019an. The Prophet never made any such declaration that one verse has been abrogated by another. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">The Qur\u2019an 16:101 and 2:106 is the basis for the supposed ab-rogation in the Qur\u2019an. Qur\u2019an 2:106 which reads: \u201cWhatever message We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or one like it\u201d does not refer to the Qur\u2019anic verses. It refers to the Jewish law, as the context shows. The Jews \u201ccould not accept a new revelation which was not granted to an Israelite,\u201d notes Muhammad Ali <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24.75pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThis is plainly stated in vv. 90 and 91. &#8230;Their objection was: Why was another revelation sent down to Muham-mad, and why was a law containing new commandments promulgated? \u2026The answer is given partly in v. 105, and partly in the verse under discussion. In the former of these they are told that Allah chooses whom He pleases for His revelation. In the latter, that if one law (i.e. the Jewish law) was abrogated, one better than it was given through the Holy Prophet. It should be noted that the new law is here stated to be better than the one abrogated or like it. It is a fact that though the law of the Qur\u2019an is decidedly superior to and more comprehensive than the previous laws in most respects, yet there are many points of likeness in the two. Hence the words <i>one like it<\/i> are added.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24.75pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026the old law had been partly forgotten, and what re-mained was now abrogated to give place to one better and in certain matters one like it. It will thus be seen that the reference here is to the abrogation of the Jewish law, the statement being really an answer to the objection of the Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24.75pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 That some of the Qur\u2019anic verses were abrogated by others, though a generally accepted doctrine, is due to a misconception of the words of this verse. The word <i>ayat<\/i> occurring here has been wrongly understood to mean a verse of the Qur\u2019an. Similar words occur elsewhere: \u201cAnd when We change one message <i>(ayat) <\/i>for another message <i>(ayat)<\/i>, and Allah knows best what He reveals, they say thou art only a forger\u201d (16:101). This is a Makkan reve-lation and it is an undisputed fact, admitted by all uphold-ers of abrogation in the Qur\u2019an, that there was no abro-gation at Makkah, because the details of the law were not revealed there. Therefore the word <i>ayat<\/i>, occurring there twice, could only mean a message or a communication from God, and the first <i>message<\/i> meant the previous scriptures and by the second <i>message<\/i> was meant the Qur\u2019an.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24.75pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 The interpretation adopted by the commentators gene-rally is not based on any saying of the Prophet; it is their own opinion. Nor is there a single report traceable to the Prophet that such and such a verse was abrogated. A companion\u2019s opinion that he considered a certain verse to have been abrogated by another could not carry the least weight. It was the Prophet only on whose authority any verse was accepted as being a part of the Holy Qur\u2019an, and it was he only on whose authority any verse could be considered as having been abrogated. But <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">there is not a single <i>hadith<\/i> of the Prophet speaking of abrogation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24.75pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 Another consideration which shows the erroneousness of the doctrine that any verse of the Qur\u2019an was abrogated by another is the hopeless disagreement of the upholders of this view. In the first place there is no agreement as to the number of the verses which are alleged to have been abrogated; while some accept no more than five verses to be abrogated, others carry the number to hundreds. This shows that the view is based simply on conjecture. Secondly, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">if one commentator holds a certain verse to be abrogated, another calls this an erroneous view.<\/span> In Bukhari especially do we find opposite views cited side by side. What happened really was this that when a commentator could not reconcile one verse with another, he held the verse to be abrogated by the other, but another who, giving deeper thought was able to effect a reconciliation between the two, rejected abrogation.\u00a0\u00a0 This seems to be the basis on which the theory of abrogation of Qur\u2019anic verses rests, and this basis is demolished by the Holy Qur\u2019an when it says: \u201cDo they not then meditate on the Qur\u2019an? And if it were from any other than Allah, they would have found in it many a discrepancy\u201d (4:82). There are no discrepancies in the Qur\u2019an, and it is want of meditation on it that is responsible for the theory of abrogation.\u201d<sup><span style=\"background: yellow;\">1<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe words \u201cor cause to be forgotten\u201d\u2013(2:106), cannot refer to the Qur\u2019an at all because no portion of it could be said to have been forgotten so as to require a new reve-lation in its place. There is no point in supposing that God should first make the prophet forget a verse and then reveal a new one in its place. Why not, if he really had forgotten a verse, remind him of the one forgotten? \u2026.That the Prophet never forgot what was recited to him by the Holy Spirit is plainly stated in the Qur\u2019an: <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u201cWe shall make thee recite, so thou shalt not forget\u201d\u2013(87:6)<\/span>\u2026It was a miracle indeed that he never forgot any portion of the Qur\u2019an, though other things he might forget, and it is to his forget-fulness in other things that the words <i>except what Allah pleases<\/i>, in the next verse (87:7), refer<span style=\"background: yellow;\">*<\/span>. On the other hand, it is a fact that parts of the older revelations had been utterly lost and forgotten, and thus the Qur\u2019an was needed to take the place of that which was abrogated, and that which had been forgotten by the world.\u201d<sup><span style=\"background: yellow;\">2<\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 72pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"background: yellow;\">*<\/span>(The Prophet\u2019s forgetfulness in daily matters is not without its benefit. Two occasions of the Prophet\u2019s forgetfulness that proved beneficial to Muslims, (1) Upon given the night in Ramadan when the first Revelation of the Qur\u2019an came\u2013known as the night of <i>Qadr<\/i>, and which Muslims observe as the 27<sup>th<\/sup> night\u2013the Prophet came out to inform his followers but found two of them quarreling. Because of this the Prophet forgot the date and told the Muslims to search for this night in one of the odd night in the last ten days of Ramadan. This is a blessing in that Muslims instead of observing one night observes at least five [or the full ten]. (2) It was once pointed out to the Prophet that he offered one less <i>rakah <\/i>[sequence] in his prayer. To rectify this mistake the Prophet made two <i>sijdahs<\/i> [prostrations] and the usual two salaams [recitals to the right and left shoulders, respectively]. This is a blessing to Muslims. But for the Prophet\u2019s forgetfulness, Muslims making similar mistakes would have been at a loss as to how to correct their error of forgetfulness. Perhaps these instances of the Prophet\u2019s forgetfulness are of Divine artistry for the benefit of Muslims).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 The Qur\u2019an speaking about abrogation and changing of mess-age refers to the replacing of laws\/messages of Scriptures pre-vious to the Qur\u2019an. The following are some of the Biblical laws that the Qur\u2019an has abrogated: <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">(<strong><i>Apostasy<\/i><\/strong>): Those who \u201csecretly\u201d entice another to follow an unknown God are to be stoned to death\u2013(Deuteronomy 13:5-16; 17:2-5).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">A \u201cstubborn and rebellious son\u201d is to be stoned to death\u2013(Deut. 21:18-21).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">(<strong><i>Honor killings<\/i><\/strong>): Married damsel without the \u201ctoken of virginity\u201d is to be stoned to death: <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u201cBut if this thing be true, and the<i> tokens of virginity <\/i>be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father\u2019s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father\u2019s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you\u201d\u2013(Deut. 22:20-21). <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">A virginal damsel who lies with a man other than her \u201cbetrothed,\u201d both are to be stoned to death\u2013(Deut. 22:23-24).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">A witch is to be put to death\u2013(Exodus 22:18).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">Who curses his father or mother is to be put to death \u2013(Leviticus 20:9).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">Punishment for adultery is death\u2013(Lev. 20:10-12; Deut. 22:22).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">Homosexuals are to be put to death\u2013(Lev. 20:13).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">A man who takes a \u201cwife and her mother,\u201d both shall be burnt with fire\u2013(Lev. 20:14).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">Who commits bestiality are to be put to death\u2013(Lev. 20:15-16).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><i>(Blasphemy):<\/i><\/strong>\u201cAnd the Israelitish woman\u2019s son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed\u2026.And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying\u2026let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.\u2026And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cAnd Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses\u201d\u2013(Lev. 24:11-16, 23).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">The adulteress is to be stoned\u2013(John 8:3-5).<br \/>\n<\/span>(Jesus may have said to <i>turn the other cheek<\/i>\u2013(Luke 6:29), and that the one who is without sin to <i>cast a stone<\/i> at the adulteress\u2013(John 8:3-7). These sayings of Jesus do not abrogate the Mo-saic teachings of <i>an eye for an eye<\/i>\u2013(Exod. 21:24), and to <i>stone <\/i>those guilty of adultery\u2013(Lev. 20:10\/John 8:5). To turn the \u201cother cheek\u201d is not applicable to infractions against cardinal laws. Jesus not only says that he came to fulfill the law\u2013(Matt. 5:17-18), but he explicitly in-structed his followers to \u201cobserve and do\u201d what-ever the \u201cscribes and Pharisees\u201d bid them to do because they sit in Moses\u2019 seat\u2013(Matt. 23:2-3). And the Mosaic teachings are to take <i>an eye for an eye<\/i>, and to <i>stone<\/i> the adulterer\/adulteress. Jesus could not be said to have abrogated these Mosaic laws and yet tell his followers to ob-serve them. It would be a contradiction. To say that the law of stoning was abrogated because no man is without sin and therefore no one would be able to \u201ccast a stone,\u201d it would have been pointless for God to have given such a law that man could not have carried out. It would have been interesting to note Jesus\u2019 response if the Jews had said to him, since he, Jesus, was with-out sin, and as an upholder of the Judaic law, for him to first cast a stone at the woman. Notably, the woman did not deny the charge of adultery).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 The claim that earlier Makkan \u201ctolerance\u201d was \u201cabrogated by later Madinan \u201cintolerance\u201d\u201d is baseless. Later Madinan revelations of \u201cretribution\u201d did not abrogate earlier Makkan revelations of \u201ccompassion.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 In the human sphere, a nation that is perceived as evil is first requested by the World body\u2013the UN\u2013to change its policy on its own. Failing to comply, the nation is subjected to the second step of sanctions. And followed, if need be, by the third stage of military action against it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 All\u0101h is Just; He does not punish a people for its evil without first sending a messenger, to admonish them to reform to goodness: \u00a0\u201cAnd We destroyed no town but it had (its) warners\u2013To remind. And We are never unjust\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 26:208-209. Also 28:59).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;\">At Makkah the Idolaters not only rejected Prophet Moham-mad\u2019s \u201ccompassion\u201d with persecution but pursued him to Madi-nah to annihilate him. Hence, they entered the second phase of their war against peace\u2013to be threatened with punishment. Yet, they were heedless. Therefore, the third phase\u2013that of force\u2013became necessary. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 Makkan \u201ccompassion\u201d did not change to Madinan \u201cretribution\u201d: the method of approach changed to suit the prevailing atmosphere. The Qur\u2019anic message is both \u201ccompassion\u201d and \u201cretribution\u201d\u2013<i>compassion<\/i> to those who refrain from transgression and <i>retribution <\/i>against transgressors. Parent\u2019s have both \u201csoftness\u201d and \u201chardness\u201d of hearts: exercising one or the other depending upon the child\u2019s behavior\u2013whether the child is obedient or delinquent. One does not abrogate the other.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 12pt; color: #800080;\">There are no \u201cdiscrepancies\u201d in the Qur\u2019an, only a lack of meditating on it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 14pt; background-color: #ffff00;\"><i><span style=\"color: purple;\">Collecting of the Qur\u2019an<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">If the Qur\u2019an had no \u201cdefinitive text\u201d till \u201cthe ninth century,\u201d then, seeing that Muslims lived in different countries, there should be more than one version of the Qur\u2019an. How then can one account for the universality of the one Qur\u2019an? <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 27pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">(Muhammad Ali in his preliminary notes to his translation of the Qur\u2019an has refuted all the objections against the authenticity of the Qur\u2019an; including the \u201cgreat disco-very\u201d of \u201cDr. Mingana\u2019s Leaves\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 24.75pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">Muhammad Ali has not only proved the authenticity of the Qur\u2019an, but also the collecting of it; and that the arrangement and sequence of the chapters as they appeared in the Qur\u2019an was established by the noble Messenger himself. The material on this matter is voluminous. I enter a few excerpts sufficient to establish the authenticity of the Qur\u2019an, and an \u201cArabian origin for Islam\u201d):<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThe Qur\u2019an was revealed piece-meal (25:32) during a period of 23 years. \u2026 The practice was, as will be shown later on, that when a chapter was revealed in parts, the Holy Prophet specified, under Divine guidance, the place of the verse revealed, and thus the arrangement of verses in each chapter was entirely his work. Similarly, later on when a considerable portion had been revealed, the arrangement of the chapters was also the work of the Holy Prophet himself. It is in one of the earliest revelations that the Holy Qur\u2019an speaks of its collection as well as its revelation as being a part of the Divine scheme: \u201cOn Us rests the collecting of it and the recitation of it\u201d (75:17). The collection of the Holy Qur\u2019an \u2013which means the arrangement of its verses and chapters\u2013 was, therefore, a work which was performed by the Holy Prophet himself under Divine guidance, and it is a mistake to think that either Abu Bakr or \u2018Uthman was the collector of the Qur\u2019an, though both of them did important work in connection with the dissemination of the written copies of the sacred text. Abu Bakr made the first complete written copy, by arranging the manuscripts written in the time of the Holy Prophet, in the order of the oral recitation of the Prophet\u2019s time. \u2018Uth-man\u2019s work, on the other hand, was only the ordering of copies to be made from the written manuscript of Abu Bakr\u2019s time and the placing of these copies in the various centres of Islamic learning, so that those who wrote the Holy Qur\u2019an might be able to follow the standard copy. The text of the Holy Qur\u2019an has thus been safeguarded from all alterations or corruptions in accordance with the Divine promise contained in one of the earliest revelations: <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u201cSurely We have revealed the Reminder and We are surely its Guardian\u201d (15:9).<\/span> The subject of the purity of the text of the Holy Qur\u2019an has been fully discussed further on.\u201d (p. ii) <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThere are numerous anecdotes showing that when the Holy Prophet received a revelation, it was immediately reduced to writing. The general practice is thus described, by no less a personage than \u2018Uthman, the third Caliph\u2026. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u201cIt was customary with the Messenger of Allah that when portions of different chapters were revealed to him, and when any verse was revealed, he called one of those persons who used to write the Holy Qur\u2019an and said to him, Write these verses in the chapter where such and such verses occur\u201d (AD. 2:123).<\/span> This report mentions, not what the Holy Prophet did on one occasion, but what he always used to do whenever any verse of the Holy Qur\u2019an was revealed to him. Thus we have the clearest testimony that every verse of the Divine revelation was put into writing by the order and in the presence of the Holy Prophet, while additional care was taken by him to point out the place and chapter of a verse, when there were two or more unfinished chapters, so that the scribes might not confuse the verses of one chapter with those of another.\u201d (p. xxvi-xxvii).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cOther reports of the highest authority support the evidence of \u2018Uthman. Thus Bukhari narrates under the heading <i>The Amanuenses of the Prophet<\/i>: \u201cWhen the verse\u2026.(4:95) was revealed, the Prophet (peace and the blessing of Allah be upon him!) said, <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u2018Bring Zaid to me, and let him bring the tablet and the inkstand\u2019. Then he said to him (Zaid), \u2018Write\u2026.(the verse revealed)\u201d (B. 66:4).\u201d<\/span><i> (Muhammad Ali gave several more examples, then notes) <\/i>\u201cIn fact as many as forty-two of the Companions are related to have acted as scribes for the Holy Prophet. The importance given to the writing down of the revelation as they came down to the Prophet was so great that in the historic Flight of the Prophet from Makkah to Madinah, pen, inkstand and writing material were among the essential necessities of the journey. \u2026.Not only could men read and write, but even women were taught the art. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">Among the wives of the Holy Prophet, at least \u2018Aishah and Hafsah could read and write, as many reliable reports show.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 38.25pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cEvery portion of the Qur\u2019an was committed to memory as soon as it was revealed. With the Arabs memory was the safest of repositories.\u2026We learn from numerous reports that whenever a passage was revealed, it was recited by the Holy Prophet to those who happened to be present at the time and many of his followers committed it to memory at once, others again learning it from those who heard it from the mouth of the Prophet. (p. xxix).<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 38.25pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cEagerness to commit the Holy Qur\u2019an to memory and recite it frequently was in fact so great that the Prophet had to place a limit as to the number of days in which the whole Qur\u2019an should be recited. &#8230;the minimum limit allowed was seven days<i>. (Muhammad Ali notes several sayings of the Prophet)<\/i> \u2026.<span style=\"color: #800080;\">It is also clear from these reports that the whole of the Qur\u2019an was committed to memory by many of the Companions, otherwise it could not be spoken of as being <i>finished<\/i> in a stated interval of time.\u201d (p. xxxi).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIn fact, <span style=\"color: #800080;\">many persons are mentioned as being able to recite the whole of the Qur\u2019an from memory in the life-time of the Holy Prophet, among these being the four Caliphs, viz., Abu Bakr, \u2018Umar, \u2018Uthman, and \u2018Ali, and such renowned Companions as Talhah, Sa\u2019d, Ibn Mas\u2019-ud, Salim, Abu Hurairah, etc., while three women, viz., \u2018Aishah, Hafsah and Umm Salamah are also named in the same category.\u201d<\/span> <span style=\"color: #800080;\">(p. xxxii).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; text-indent: 4.5pt; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThe entire Qur\u2019an was revealed in the long period of twenty-three years, and if Muslim boys of the age of ten or twelve years can even now commit the whole Qur\u2019an to memory within one or two years, the Arab possessors of wonderfully retentive memories, to whom the importance of the Qur\u2019an was far greater than to any Muslim of a later age, would not find it difficult to memorize it within the long period of twenty three years, especially when it was given to them gradually.\u201d(p. xiii). \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThe assertion that no arrangement was followed in the case of single verses revealed at different times is so absurd on the very face of it that it hardly requires a refutation. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">How was it possible for anybody to commit the Holy Qur\u2019an to memory, if there was no settled order in which the verses were read? (p. xxxvi.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 Regarding the Shia\u2019s and the Qur\u2019an:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIt is sometimes asserted that the Shi\u2019ahs regard the Qur\u2019an as incomplete. The following remarks from Muir\u2019s <i>Life of Muhammad, <\/i>which has raised and answered this question, will be a sufficient answer: \u201cAssuming, then, that we possessed unchanged the text of \u2018Uthman\u2019s recension, it remains to inquire whether the text was an honest reproduction of Zaid\u2019s, with the simple reconcilement of unimportant variations. There is the fullest ground for believing that it was so. No early or trustworthy tradition throws suspicions upon \u2018Uthman of tampering with the Qur\u2019an in order to support his own claims. The Shiahs, indeed, of later times pretend that \u2018Uthman left out certain <i>surahs<\/i> or passages which favoured \u2018Ali. But this is incredible. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">When \u2018Uthman\u2019s edition was prepared, no open breach had taken place between the Omeyyads and the Alyites.<\/span> The unity of Islam was still unthreatened. \u2018Ali\u2019s pretensions were as yet undeveloped. No sufficient object can, therefore, be assigned for the perpetration by \u2018Uthman of an offence which Muslims would have regarded as one of the blackest dye. Again, <span style=\"color: #800080;\">at the time of the recension, there were still multitudes alive who had learnt the Qur\u2019an by heart as they had heard it originally delivered; and copies of any passages favouring \u2018Ali, if any such passages ever existed, must have been in the hands of his numerous adherents, both of which sources would have proved an effectual check upon any attempt at suppression.<\/span> Further, the party of \u2018Ali, immediately on \u2018Uthman\u2019s death, assumed an independent attitude, and raised him to the Caliphate. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Is it conceivable that, when thus arrived at power, they would have tolerated a mutilated Qur\u2019an, mutilated expressly to destroy their leader\u2019s claim?<\/span> Yet we find that they continued to use the same Qur\u2019an as their opponents and raised no shadow of an objection against it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.25pt; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">To this I would add a few words from a Shi\u2019ah commentator of the Holy Qur\u2019an, Mullah Muhsin, who says in his <i>Tafsir Safi<\/i>: \u201cCertain men from among us and the Hashwiyah masses have reported that the Qur\u2019an has suffered loss and alteration. But the true belief of our friends is against this, and such is the belief of the vast majority. For the Qur\u2019an is a miracle of the Holy Prophet and the source of all knowledge relating to law and all religious injunctions, and the learned Muslims have taken the utmost pains for its protection, so that there is nothing relating to its vowel-points, its recital, its letters and its verses, which they do not know. With such strong measures of protection and such faithful preservation of the Holy Book (by the Muslims) it cannot be supposed that any alteration or loss could take place\u201d (p. 14).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">The learned author goes on to say: \u201cSurely the Qur\u2019an was collected and arranged in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet exactly as it is in our hands. This is inferred from the fact that the Qur\u2019an was even then recited and committed to memory as a whole, and there was a body of the Companions whose duty it was to commit it to memory.\u00a0\u00a0 It was also recited and read out as a whole to the Holy Prophet (by the angel).\u201d\u201d (pp. xlviii, xlix).\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 12pt; color: #800080;\">The verses of the Qur\u2019an were arranged to the requirements of All\u0101h. The Qur\u2019an was rehearsed annually by the Angel Gabriel with the Prophet; and rehearsed twice in the year of the Prophet\u2019s death\u2013(Vol. 1, #5; Vol. 3, #126; Vol. 4, #754, 819). <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">All\u0101h God says that He will guard the Qur\u2019an from corruption\u2013Qur\u2019an 15:9; 56:77-80; 85:21-22; there are millions who know the Qur\u2019an from memory, there cannot be alteration in the Qur\u2019an. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Not only the Qur\u2019an was written and memorized in the lifetime of the Prophet, but also some of his sayings.<\/span> Muhammad Ali has noted in his comprehensive work <i>The Religion of Islam<\/i> that Abu Hurairah says: <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin-left: 36pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cNone of the Companions preserved more traditions than myself, but \u2018Abd Allah ibn \u2018Amr is an exception, for he used to write and I did not\u201d (<i>Bukhari <\/i>3:39). Also, \u201cAbu Hurairah is reported to have said: <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u201cThe Prophet of God came to us while we were writing traditions and said: What is this that you are writing? We said: Sayings which we hear from thee. He said: What! a book other than the Book of God?\u201d<\/span> Now the disapproval in this case clearly shows fear lest his sayings be mixed up with the revealed word of the Qur\u2019an, though there was nothing essentially wrong in writing these down nor did the Prophet ever forbid this being done.\u201d (p. 64) <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: purple;\">For the complete history of the Qur\u2019an see Muhammad Ali\u2019s preliminary notes to his translation of the Qur\u2019an; his translation can be viewed online:\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.muslim.org\/\">www.muslim.org<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 12pt;\">NOTES<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"background: yellow;\">1.<\/span> Muhammad Ali, Qur\u2019anic comm; 152. See also Malik Ghulam Farid\u2019s Qur\u2019anic comm; 132).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"background: yellow; font-family: georgia,palatino;\">2.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\"> Muhammad Ali, <i>The Religion of Islam<\/i>, pp. 38, 39, 40.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the name of All\u0101h, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Peace and Blessings of All\u0101h on Mohammad. DEDICATED TO All\u0101h\u2013the Glorious and the High, Lord of the worlds AND TO Mohammad\u2013who brought the world to our feet and eternity to our arms * ABROGATION AND COLLECTING OF THE QUR\u2019AN The Prophet is the only person who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3025,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions\/3025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}