Question
I read your response regarding nature of transmission of Quran. You wrote
The Prophet (pbuh), according to the directives of God, rearranged and read the whole Qur’an in its rearranged form, before his death. This final arrangement and reading of the Qur’an was memorized and written by many of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh). This final arrangement and reading of the Qur’an may not only have been different from the sequence in which it was revealed but may also not have included some of the verses included in the first revelation. Thus, the Qur’an was not only memorized but also put in writing during the times of the Prophet (pbuh)
Forgive my ignorance but I found some ambiguity in your statement regarding the final re-arrangment of Quran. Can you please elaborate it more. I do have following additional queries in this regard.
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Reading your response makes me feel that the primary method authenticating transmission of Quran just after the death of Prophet (pbuh) was primarily written and not oral. Is it true?
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If the answer to first question is ‘yes’, please state some sort of evidence from history. Please do not use Ahadith as their nature of transmission is ambiguous which cannot be presented as an evidence of many early written scripts of Quran.
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If the answer to first question is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ i.e. Quran was transmitted in a written as well as oral method Please elaborate upon the administrative authority and method of people who supervised this transmission in the start because being humans they were prone to error.
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In case of oral transmissions would some parts of Quran would be held more authentic then others as some surahs would be narrated by considerably more people then other.
Wassalam
Answer
I would appreciate if you would be kind enough to point out the ambiguity in my statement, as it would provide me an opportunity not only to reconsider my understanding, but also to clarify it further.
You write:
Reading your response makes me feel that the primary method authenticating transmission of Quran just after the death of Prophet (pbuh) was primarily written and not oral. Is it true?
No.
You write:
If the answer to first question is ‘yes’, please state some sort of evidence from history. Please do not use Ahadith as their nature of transmission is ambiguous which cannot be presented as an evidence of many early written scripts of Quran.
Although, there is no real need for a response to this statement, in view of my answer to your first question, yet it is necessary to clarify that I do not ascribe to your opinion relating to the “ambiguity” in the transmission of Hadith. However, it is true, in my opinion, that Hadith does not provide adequate basis for determining the text of the Qur’an.
You write:
If the answer to first question is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ i.e. Quran was transmitted in a written as well as oral method Please elaborate upon the administrative authority and method of people who supervised this transmission in the start because being humans they were prone to error.
It was the collectivity of the companions – the Banu Ishmael – who, by the express directive of the Qur’an were given the position of Shahaadat `ala al-Naas1. It is this position of the collectivity of the companions, as a whole, on the basis of which we consider their collectivity to be secure from errors in their collective ascription of God’s religion to the Prophet (pbuh), just as the Prophet (pbuh) is secure from errors in ascribing religious teachings to God.
You write:
In case of oral transmissions would some parts of Quran would be held more authentic then others as some surahs would be narrated by considerably more people then other.
After the collectivity of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh), the Qur’an, as a whole, has been transmitted by the verbal perpetuation of the Muslim generations. Thus, no parts of the Qur’an are more or less authentic than others.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
May 15, 2003
- See Al-Baqarah 2: 143, Al-Hajj 22: 78. That is, the Banu Ishmael were given the position of being witnesses God’s religion for the whole of mankind, just as the Prophet (pbuh) was a witness of God’s religion on the Banu Ishmael. [↩]