The Divine Origin of the Qur'an Shall Ever Remain Unchallenged
Ahmad Wahaj Siddiqui
The
population of Mecca was mostly illiterate. There were no schools, no teaching
institutions. Only few people knew to read and write who recorded the trade
transactions are documents of loan but these were very few.
The
art of writing was introduced in Mecca by some people of Hira (Kufa) in the
time of father of Abu Sufyan. This latter was a contemporary of the Prophet.
See Futuh al-Bu]dan Leyden p.471-472)
Nicholson
in his 'Literary History of the , Cambridge, 1962, p. 125 writes: 'The crown
and seal of the Arabs' way of Life was 2 poetry, and the oldest extant Arabic
poems date from 512 A.D. but it was only two centuries later that these were
committed to writing. There was virtually no prose written before the days of
Islam: The Quran is the oldest Arabic Book in prose.'
H.R.
Gibbs and J.H. Kramer in the 'Short Encyclopedia of Islam' p.370 write: Do
these conditions justify the presumption that as a merchant the Prophet must
have had a certain knowledge of reading and writing.
"Muhammad
was called a driveller, star gazer and maniac-poet, thorns were strewn in his
path, and stones thrown on him. His uncle Abu Jahal and the main body of the
citizens treated him with that contemptuous indifference, which must have been
harder to bear than active persecution," writes R. Bosworth Smith in his
"Muhammad and Muhammadanism", London 1876 p. 185, a Western biographer
of the Prophet. He also adds, "there is no single trait in his character-
up to the time of Hijra which calumny itself could couple with imposture. But
the question is why the Prophet's detractors did not expose his 'pious fraud'
by showing that he could very well read and write while he claimed to be an
unlettered Prophet"?
There
has been no dearth of scholars in the west who have reached the conclusion that
the Prophet did not know how to read and write. "As to the acquired
learning" writes George Sale "he had none at all. See his book 'The
Koran and Preliminary Discourse', (London Fradrick Warne and Co.p.30.) Another
competent scholar Dr. Theodore Noldeke testifies "For though it remains an
open question whether Mohammad was ignorant of 3 reading and writing. It is
certain that he had neither read the Bible nor any other books.
The
same author writes at another place that the Prophet "did not himself
understand the language of writing. (Historians History of the World, London
1908 p. 11 andp.113.)
The
orientialist Jewish and Christian scholars also doubt on the sagacity of the
compilation of the Quran. They say: The compilation of the written Quran
spanned several decades and forms an important part of early Islamic history.
Through-out his life Muhammad continued to have revelations until before his
death in 632 A.D. These scholars disagree that whether the Prophet compiled the
Quran during his life time or this task began with the first caliph Abu Bakar
As-Siddiq during 632-634.
Once
the Quran was compiled with the unanimity of the sources, Muslims agree that
the Quran we see today was canonized by Uthman ibn Affan during 653-656. Upon
the canonization of the Quran Uthman ordered the burning of all personal
copies of the Quran. This order was given as many Muslims had recorded few
verses on various parchments, therefore, after compilation the Quran should exist
as One Book and not in piece meal.
Even
after this order by Uthman of canonization small diacritical variations
remained in the written Quran which could be seen in the early manuscripts of
the Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasties said some non-Muslim scholars. Due to
varying historical documents those who
oppose the divinity of the Quran say the
Uthmanic codex cannot be considered as authentic. Hence non-Muslim traditional
scholars reject this literature in its entirety.
4.
The Divine Origin of the Quran
The
fact is that the Quran was revealed in disjointed verses and chapters, a point
came when it needed to be gathered into a coherent whole text there is
unanimity that Muhammad compiled it before he died. During his life time he
has ordered that whatever he says it should be recorded. There were Anas bin
Malik, Zayd ibn Thabit and Ubayy ibn Kaab who had recorded the verses of the
Quran. During his life time the number of the scribes had become 48.
The
Muslim scholars are unanimous that the Quran was written in its entirety much
before the Prophet's Death. Ibn Abbas describes the way in which the final
version of the Quran was fixed: The Prophet recited the Book before Gabriel
every year in the month of Ramadan, and in the month in which he died he recited
it twice. The term reciting the Quran twice means compiling all the Quranic
revelations into a complete and final version.
In
a report of Muslim, the Prophet of Allah said: I leave among you two things, if
you stick to it you will never get strayed, the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of
your Prophet ….”
Some
scholars argue, that this provides evidence that the Quran had been collected
and written during his life time because it is not correct to call something a 'Book'
when it is merely in the people's memories. The word AI-Kitab signifies a
single and united entity and does not apply to a text which is scattered and
not collected.
5.
Another argument that the Prophet attached so much importance to the Quran
that he had to have its writing during his life time. Zayd ibn Thabit reported,
"We used to record the Quran from parchments in the presence of the
Messenger of God.
The
most authentic evidence is given by the Quran itself; it said: Those who follow
the Messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write whom they find
written with them in the Torah and the Gospel. He enjoins upon them what is
right and forbids them what is wrong. (7/157)
Thus
we see that the Quran itself confirms that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was
unlettered.
The
Quran challenging all those who doubt on the authenticity of this Holy Book
said: And if you (Arab pagans, Jews and Christians) are in doubt concerning
that which We have sent down (i.e. the Quran) to Our slave (Muhammad) then produce
a Surah (Chapter) of the like thereof and call your aides if any beside God
(The Unique) if you are truthful. (2/23)
This
verse is an open challenge to the people in general who held that this Book
which has been sent down to the Prophet is not from God, they are asked to
produce a Surah (Chapter) lengthy are small in support of their claim. Ibn Abbas
explaining 'And call your aides' said: It means call your helpers to whom you
follow (Ibn Jarir). That is you take the assistance of whomsoever you like to
produce a Surah matching the Quran, if you are truthful in your assertion.
6.
God did call them to this challenge on quite some places in His Book: Say if
mankind and Jinn get together to produce the like of this Quran, they care not
produce the like thereof even if they helped one another (17/88)
'Or
do they say: He (Muhammad) has invented it? Say: Bring then a Surah like unto
it, and call upon whomsoever
you can be side Allah, if you are truthful (10/38) It may be noted there are
hundreds of Arabic scholar among the Jews and Christian in Beirut Universities
and in London, they teach Arabic, yet no one could meet this standing challenge
of the Quran.
The
Quran is a great miracle. If mankind and Jinn attempt together to produce a
Surah like Quran, they would end in utter disappointment. The Arabic of the
Quran shall ever remaining matchless in the fluency, eloquence and its rhetoric
style.
The
European scholars win had held that the Prophet hat written this Quran, the
aforesaid facts proved that he was unlettered, he could never read or write,
secondly they objected the compilation of the Quran was not done in his life
time, it is proved above that the compilation had occurred in his life The
Prophet (peace be upon him) had recited before the Hob Ghost Gabriel who had
listened from him twice this Quran ii the month he had died. Thus the
compilation was continuing ant it was completed during his life. It was
canonized later by Uthman.
(Courtesy to MWL Journal Feb, March 2013)
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