original article

Authenticity of the Qur'an

Muslims believe that humanity has received Divine guidance only through two channels: firstly the word of God (through the Qur'an) and secondly through the Prophets who were chosen by God to communicate His will to human beings. We believe that neglecting one of the two, or both, results in being led astray.

As a matter of fact, the main scriptures revealed before the Qur'an, i.e., the Old Testament and the Gospel, came into book-form long after the days of their Prophets. This was because the followers of Moses and Jesus made no considerable effort to preserve these Revelations during the life of their Prophets. Rather, they were written long after their death. Thus, what we now have in the form of the Bible (the Old as well as the New Testament) is translations of individuals' accounts of the original revelations which contain additions, deletions, and modifications made by followers. The Qur'an, in contrast, exists in its original form. We believe that God Himself guaranteed its preservation, but there is abundant objective historical evidence that the Qur'an of today is the same as it was when it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 1400 years ago.

Originally, the Qur'an was written during the Prophet's lifetime on separate pieces of palm leaves, parchments, bones etc.. Moreover, there were thousands of companions of the Prophet who memorized the whole Qur'an. (It is worth pointing out that texts were often orally preserved through memorization in semiliterate cultures). Muhammad (PBUH) was the first to commit the Revelation to memory after Jibreel (as) had conveyed it to him. The Messenger then declared the revelation and instructed the companions to memorize it. According to Imam Sayuti (Al-Itqan ) 20 companions memorised the revelation including the Khulafa Rashideen.

However, the Qur'an was not only transmitted orally. It was also written down during the life time of the Messenger (PBUH). Once Umar ibn Khattab (ra) heard his sister reading beautiful verses, and saw that she was reading text written on leaves. In a hadith, Ibn Umar narrated that Muhammad (PBUH) said : "Do not take the Qur'an on a journey with you, for I am afraid lest it should fall into the hands of the enemy." (Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol. 4 No. 233). This indicates that the Qur'an was a written document during the lifetime of the Prophet.

The order and arrangement of the Qur'an was well known to the Muslims due to daily recitation of the Qur'an in their prayers.

There are 3 ahadith (pl. of hadith) in Bukhari indicating that the angel Jibreel (as) used to recite the whole Qur'an with the Messenger (PBUH) once a year in Ramadan, but recited it twice in the year he died ( Vol. 6 No. 518, 519, 520.)

Thus, The Revelation after the Messenger (PBUH) was available both orally and written down on various materials. Its internal order was known to the Muslims and strictly observed by them.

At the battle of Yamama, in the time of Abu Bakr (ra), a number of Muslims who had memorized the Qur'an were killed. Fearing corruption of the sacred text, Abu Bakr (ra), the first Caliph of Islam, instructed Zaid bin Thabit to collect the Qur'an that was written and also from those who had memorised it. It is worth pointing out that while the writing down of other religious texts did not begin until many years after they were revealed, the Qur'an was already written down by the time of the Prophet's death in 632, and the process of compilation began during Abu Bakr's (ra) caliphate, which lasted from 632 to 634. The Qur'an was collected by mutawatir (continuous) transmission.

The compiled Qur'an was kept by Abu Bakr (ra) until he died, then by Umar bin Khattab (ra), then to Umar's daughter Hafsa (ra). Various Companions such as Abdullah ibn Masud, Ubay bin Ka'b and Ibn Abbas (ra) also had their own Masahif (collected pages).

During the Khilafah of Uthman (ra) differences in reading the Qur'an became obvious and after consultation with the companions, Uthman had a standard copy prepared by Zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Zubair, Said bin Al Asn and Abdur-Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham. Painstaking care was taken to include only those verses which were assuredly Qur'anic and not sayings of the Prophet. The first copy of the Qur'an was checked 75 times, front to back, to guard against corruption. From this original copy, more copies were made and distributed. Two of these copies today can be found in the Topkapi museum in Istanbul and Tashkent.

The Qur'an was so meticulously preserved because it was to be the book of guidance for humanity for all times to come. That is why it does not address the Arabs alone in whose language it was revealed. It speaks to man as a human being:

"O Man! what has seduced you from your Lord."

The practicability of the Qur'anic teachings is established by the examples of Muhammad (PBUH) in the sunnah, and good Muslims throughout the ages. The distinctive approach of the Qur'an is that its instructions are aimed at the general welfare of man and are based on the possibilities within his reach. In all dimensions the Qur'anic wisdom is conclusive. It neither condemns nor tortures the flesh nor does it neglect the soul. It does not humanize God nor does it deify man. Everything is carefully places where it belongs in the total scheme of creation. It is a complete book.

Those who contend that Muhammad (PBUH) was the author of the Qur'an claim something which not only highly unreasonable, but humanly impossible. First, could any person of the sixth century CE utter such scientific truths as the Qur'an contains? for example, could he describe the evolution of the embryo inside the uterus so accurately as we find it in modern science?

Secondly, is it logical to believe that Muhammad (PBUH), by all accounts an illiterate man, all of a sudden began the authorship of a book matchless in literary merit and the equivalent of which the whole legion of the Arab poets and orators of the highest caliber could not produce? And lastly, is it justified to say Muhammad (PBUH) who was known as AL-AMEEN (the trustworthy) in his society and who is still admired by the non-Muslim scholars for his honesty and integrity, came forth with a false claim and on that falsehood could train thousands of men of character, integrity and honesty, who were able to establish the best human society on the surface of the earth?

Surely, any sincere and unbiased searcher of truth will come to believe that the Qur'an was not authored by any human.