Aijazul Qur'an
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Miracle of protection of the Qur’an Shareef to date
The Qur’an Shareef in its unique way, made a
categoric and authoritative proclamation that the Qur’an Shareef is the word
revealed by Allah Ta'ala and it is He who has taken upon Himself the
responsibility for its protection unlike earlier Divine books like the Torah and
the Injeel.
Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an Shareef
“We have without doubt sent down the message and We
will assured-ly guard it (from corruption).”
(15:9)
The purity of the text of the Qur’an Shareef through
fourteen centu-ries is a foretaste of the eternal care with which Allah Ta'ala’s
truth is guarded through ages. All corruptions, inventions, and accre-tions pass
away, but Allah Ta'ala’s pure and holy truth will never suffer eclipse even
though the whole world mocked at it and were bent on destroying it.
Imagine the circumstances in which the Qur’an Shareef
was revealed and what sort of opposition and resistance was offered to it. No
stone was left unturned by its opponents in trying to destroy its very
existence. Under these circumstances to come with such an authoritative and
categoric statement can by no means be a human accomplishment, but only the
Power which has complete command on the universe, not only at that time but also
for all the future times to come, could make such a statement. We, the people of
the I5th century Hijra, clearly witness the truth of this statement which was
revealed fourteen hundred years ago in those trying circum-stances. The Qur’an
Shareef, which is in our hands, has not even suffered the alteration of a single
dot in these fourteen hundred years.
Imam Qurtubi (RA) has quoted an incident narrated by
Hadhrat Yahya Bin Aktham in which he says that Caliph Mamoon Rashid used to call
noted scholars to his palace and used to listen to their scholarly discourses on
various topics. Once a Jew also came to attend such a meeting and from his
appearance he appeared a respectable and dignified personality. At the end when
he started leaving the palace, Mamoom Rashid wanted to put him to test and asked
him if he would embrace Islam, but the Jew refused saying that he would not
leave the religion of his ancestors.
One year later, the same Jew again attended the same
meeting but now he had embraced Islam and he delivered a very eloquent lecture
on Islamic jurisprudence. Mamoom Rashid asked him that he had refused to embrace
Islam the previous year and now what had made him embrace Islam?
In reply to this question of Mamoon he told him that
he had decided to make a comparative study of all the religions, after he left
from the palace the previous year. As he was a fine calligraphist, he wrote a
few Bibles, a few Torahs and few the Qur’ans. In each he made deliberate
alterations, adding something of his own and deleting something at his own will.
Then he went to a Church and sold them these Bibles with his alterations. The
monks of the church were very happy and received these copies happily and kept
them in the Church. Then he went to a Jewish synagogue and sold them the Torahs
with his alterations and they also received them happily and kept them in their
Synagogues. Then he went to the Muslims to sell the Qur’an Shareef he had
written and in which he had made altera-tions. He said to Mamoon that no Muslim
accepted the Qur’an Shareef without first seeing them. Everyone of them first
checked it and compared it with their own copies and when they found the
alterations, they refused to accept it. No Muslim accepted these copies.
From this he concluded that the Qur’an Shareef was
the only guarded book and that it was being protected by Allah Ta'ala, and this
led him to embrace Islam.
Islam witnessed many changes, revolutions and
turmoils during these last fourteen hundred years. Islam started in Makkah and
Madinah and then spread very fast to the neighbouring count-ries till it spread
up to Egypt on one side and India on the other, covering most of the middle
east, central and south Asia. As the number of Muslims grew so grew the number
of its enemies, who tried their level best to destroy its very foundation.
First-ly the enemies of Islam tried to eliminate the Muslims by mili-tary might,
when they failed to do so and saw that Islam was progressing fast instead, they
tried to involve Muslims in Phi-losophical controversies raising queries about
the fundamen-tal beliefs of Islam. This way they succeeded in creating doubts in
the minds of Muslims of weak Iman.
But Allah Ta’ala had already declared in the Qur’an
Shareef:
"This day have I perfected your religion for you
completed my favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion."
(5:3)
On one hand Allah Ta'ala sealed the prophethood for
all time to come at the hands of Rasulullah (SAW) and completed his revelations
needed for the guidance of mankind in the form of the Qur’an Shareef, but at the
same time one has to accept that life is always dynamic, changes and revolutions
in all spheres of life. The culture, customs, living habits and standards,
geographical conditions, educational, commercial and scientific developments are
always taking place from time to time. For this changing world, it was just
humanly impossible to bring forward such a versatile and complete system which
could fit in all these innumerable changing times of immense magnitudes. It is
the beauty of the Qur’an Shareef and a clear miracle of the Qur’an Shareef that
it has been able to guide the mankind with whatever changes that have brought
about and has been able to answer all the queries raised by tremendous advances
made by man in science and other related subjects.
During their march forward medical and other sciences
tried to refute the eternal Divine truths revealed in the Qur’an Shareef but it
always so happened that the Qur’an Shareef emerged triumphant and its opponents
had to retreat.
Science believed for a long time that the earth was
stationary and later on they believed that that sun was stationary. Now both
these scientific myths have been exploded by their own research, as against the
Qur’an Shareef which has made categoric and firm statements that they are all
moving. This example is just a drop from the ocean, but here our topic is
different, here we are discussing what great measures Allah Ta'ala has taken all
along in these last fourteen centuries to safeguard the Qur’an Shareef and to
prove the truth of His statements, viz:
“We have without doubt sent down the message and We
will assured-ly guard it (from corruption).”
(15:9)
Divine measures for the protection of the Qur’an
Shareef by the Adoption of Arabic of the Quraish by all countries of the Arab
world
Allah Ta’ala had decided to reveal the Qur’an Shareef
in Arabic similar to that spoken by the Quraish, for this reason Allah Ta’ala
made it possible for the Quraish dialect of Arabic to dominate over all other
dialects of Arabic spoken in various parts of the Arabian penin-sula, well
before the revelation of the Qur’an Shareef started. Arabs were living in
different tribes and each tribe had its own dialect of Arabic. Famous amongst
them were the Quraish, Tameem and Hudhail etc. But the political, religious and
economic conditions were such that the dialect of the Quraish overshadowed all
other dialects and was jointly accepted by all these tribes.
There were many reasons for the same. Even before the
Qur’an Shareef was revealed, the people used to visit the Khana Ka’aba every
year regularly. There used to much intermingling of people of different tribes,
races and languages.
The Quraish were the custodians of the Khana Ka’aba,
hence were always respected. The Quraish used to listen to the different
linguistic patterns and words of different tribes and used to speak to them in
this dialect that among themselves and in this way the Arabic spoken by the
Quraish became the most eloquent and the best type of Arabic.
As the people from all parts of Arabia used to visit
Makkah for Haj and used to stay there at least for 50 days, they gradually came
to realize the shortcomings of their own Arabic and the eloquence and beauty of
the Quraish dialect. They gradually adopted the same type of Quraish Arabic and
in this way the language in which the Qur’an Shareef was to be revealed was
adopted by almost all the Arabs well in advance.
Adaption of Arabic as themother tongue by new
countries which came under the flag of Islam
The second Divine measure which was taken for
protection of the Qur’an Shareef and its language was that wherever Muslims went
the people of those places not only embraced Islam by their hearts but also very
delightfully adopted the same language as their own language. There is no
parallel in the world history that the inhabitants of any place have ever
adopted the language of their foreign rulers. Many countries in the world have
been from time to time under foreign rule but they have most of the times not
only rejected the foreign language but have also hated it and have struck to
their own language. It is the miracle of the Qur’an Shareef that it made the
Arabic language so dear to the people which came across it. In this way Allah
Ta’ala not only protected the Qur’an Shareef but also popular-ized its language
amongst the nations. People of many countries adopted Arabic as their mother
language and many far off count-ries like India and Pakistan produced thousands
of great illus-trious scholars of Arabic.
Safety of the Qur’an Shareef despite severe turmoils
through which Islam had to sail through for the last 14 Centuries
Islam spread fast to many parts of the world and
flourished well for quite sometime. Afterwards when Muslims became wealthy and
started living a luxurious type of living, then as per the Divine law, the
Divine axe fell upon them. In order to warn them against their callousness and
misdeeds, firstly Allah Ta’ala subjected the Muslims to minor punishments but
when they did not mend their ways, Allah Ta’ala subjected the Muslims to being
at the hands of differ-ent tyrants in different parts of the Muslim world. Who
can forget the atrocities inflicted on Muslims by Changez Khan and other
Tartars? Then in the crusades also Muslims were subjected to severe forms of
atrocities. Later on many Muslim countries were enslaved by Europeans. Communist
Tzarist Russia tried its best to wipe off all the remnants of Islam from the
central Asian coun-tries.
But we, at the end of 14th Century, are witness to
the fact that even though the Muslims during all those turmoils lost their
lives, houses, properties, freedom, education, wealth and their coun-tries but
the Qur’an Shareef could not be taken away from their hearts despite innumerable
conscious and organised attempts by its enemies. In recent history the example
of communist Russia’s ruthless attempt to wipe off all signs of Islam from its
states for the past Century, then the disintegration of this one time super
power in most surprising circumstances and finally the emergence of many Muslim
states with intact the Qur’an Shareef in their hearts from within this very
communist Russia is indeed a great mira-cle of the Qur’an Shareef and an eye
opener for all its opponents.
Jews and Christians have time and again tried to take
away the Qur’an Shareef from the Muslims or to alter its original shape but
there has always been the Divine unseen Hand which has been safeguarding the
Qur’an Shareef from its enemies.
Reason for the decline of other Religions
Any movement or religion, for its survival and
sustenance, not only needs a complete and perfect spiritual, ethical and legal
system but also needs men of distinction with extraordinary faith, courage,
spiritual power and knowledge in all ages. One of the main reasons for the
decline of other religions has been that they failed to produce such men of
excellence who could rejuvenate the dying principles of their religions so that
it could be passed on to the next generation unadulterated.
If you take the example of Christianity, it has
miserably failed in its long history of two thousand years to produce any men of
excellence who could prove to be the saviour of real Christian-ity. In fact,
soon after the departure of Hadhrat Isa (A.S) from the world scene, the shape
and spirit of true Christianity was so badly deformed and bruised by John Paul
that true Chris-tianity could never see the light of the day again.
A Christian scholar, Eriuest De Bunsen writes in
Islam or true Christianity:-
“The beliefs and the system which we find in the
Bible is that which was never propagated or practised by Jesus Christ. These
days what has become the bone of contention between Christians, Jews and
Muslims, Jesus is not responsible for it but it is all due to this Jew Christian
irreligious Paul. Paul while following Stephen, who was the propagator of
Essinio, attached many customs of Buddhism with Jesus Christ. These days all
those contradictory stories and exaggerations about Christ which are found in
the Bible, are fabrications of Paul. What orthodox Christians are sticking to
for last 18 centuries, is not that what was founded by Christ but is that which
was fabricated by Paul and his follower pri-ests.”
(Tarikh Dawat Azimat)
There was an aborted attempt after 15 hundred years
after Christ by Martin Luther to reform Christianity but this again could not
succeed in presenting Christianity in its original form. Now even the Christian
scholars have no alternative but to admit the fact that Christianity could not
produce any worth-while reformer even after two thousand years.
The same is true about Buddhism and Hinduism. These
religions lost their original forms quite early and none of their follow-ers was
ever able to revive these in their original forms.
For long term survival of a system living
personalities with extra ordinary excellence are needed in every age
personalities who can pres-ent a living model before the people of their age and
can resist any change in the fundamentals of the system. The Qur’an Shareef has
the unique distinction of presenting a perfect system which is applicable to any
age and secondly it has always produced these men of excellence in every age men
who have maintained the purity of the Qur’an Shareef and have defeated all
at-tempts by its enemies introducing any alteration in it.
Period of the Caliphs
After the completion of revelation of the Qur’an
Shareef and the departure of Rasulullah (SAW) from the world, Mus-lims had to
face many problems. As the problems were of grave magnitude, it needed a man of
iron will with the highest degree of political wisdom and far-sightedness to
overcome these challeng-es.It was appeared as if the lamp lit by Rasulullah
(SAW) was going to be extinguished but Allah Ta’ala had given all the excellence
needed to tackle such a situation to Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA). It was in Abu
Bakr that Allah Ta’ala sent the saviour of the Qur’an Shareef. In addition to
preventing the desertions from Islam, Hadhrat Abu Bakr (RA) noticed that the
Hufaaz (those who remember the Qur’an Shareef by heart) were dying one by one
and he apprehend-ed that if all of them would die then the safety of the Qur’an
Shareef and its onward propagation would be a problem. So he ordered that all
the Qur’anic verses be assembled at one place, in order to scrutinize them and
then to keep them in written form. Till then the Qur’an Shareef was memorized by
the companions of Rasulullah (SAW) by heart and others used to write it on
paper, leaves and other objects but it was not present in written form at one
place. This work was done with great care.
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) narrates this as
follows:-
“Soon after the Battle of Yamamah, Abu Bakr (RA)
called me. When I reached his place, Hadhrat Umar was also there. Hadhrat Abu
Bakr told me, ‘Umar has just now informed me that in the Battle of Yamamah, a
large number of Hufaaz of the Qur’an Shareef have been martyred and if the
Hufaaz go on dying in the same way at different places, I am afraid that a large
portion of the Qur’an Shareef may become nonexistent, so I am of the opinion
that you start the work of compiling the Qur’an Shareef.’ I asked Hadhrat Umar
(RA) as to how could we do that job which was not done by Rasulullah (SAW).
Hadhrat Umar (RA) replied that by Allah Ta'ala there is nothing but only good in
this work and he went on repeating the same till my breast got opened for the
same and my opinion also became the same as that of Hadhrat Umar (RA) Then
Hadhrat Abu Bakr (RA) told me,’You are young and intelligent, we have no
misunderstanding about you, you were acting as the writer of Wahy during the
time of Rasulullah (SAW) so you compile the verses of the Qur’an Shareef after
collect-ing them’”.
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) says while swearing by
Allah Ta'ala that if these people would have ordered him to raze the mountain to
the ground, that would have not been as difficult for him as compilation of the
Qur’an Shareef was for him.
(Fathul- Bari p8,Vol9)
EXTRA ORDINARY CARE TAKEN BY ZAYD BIN THABIT FOR
COMPILING the QUR’AN SHAREEF
Now here it is very important to know as to how much
care and extra precautions were taken by Hadhrat Zayd (RA) in compiling the
Qur’an Shareef. He himself was a Haafiz and there were hundreds of Hufaaz of the
Qur’an Shareef present that time. He could have called a body of Hufaaz and then
would have started writing. The Qur’an Shareef was also in written form present
in the written form with many people which they had writ-ten at the time of
Rasulullah (SAW) but Hadhrat Zayd did not rely on any one of these but utilized
all possible means for this purpose.
Rasulullah (SAW) used to call some of his companions
to write the verses of the Qur’an Shareef soon after they were being revealed to
him (SAW). This job was usually done by Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) but others also
used to do it. The number of Kaatibeen-e-wahy (writers of the Qur’an Shareef
soon after revelation) have been quoted up to 40.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
Alama Ibne Hajar quotes in Fathul-Bari.
“Hadhrat Uthman (RA) narrated that it was routine
with Rasulullah (SAW) to ask the writer of Wahy to place these verses just
revealed at such and such place after such and such verses.
So during the period of Rasulullah (SAW) the Qur’an
Shareef was being written in the presence of Rasulullah (SAW),. As there was a
shortage of paper those days, so mostly the Quranic verses were being written on
plates of stone, leather pieces, branches of date trees and leaves and on bones
of animals etc, in addition to paper”
From this you can understand that the Qur’an Shareef
was written very much in front of Rasulullah (SAW) but that the written form was
not in the form of a single book but was written on all these above mentioned
items.
When Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) directed Hadhrat Zayd (RA)
to compile the Qur’an Shareef at one place, an announcement was made amongst all
the companions of Rasulullah (SAW) that whosoever possessed any verse of the
Qur’an Shareef which was written in presence of Rasulullah (SAW), he should
present that to Zayd Bin Thabit (RA). Whenever anyone would present any verse of
the Qur’an Shareef to Hadhrat Zayd (RA) he would:-
1. ascertain it himself as he was himself a Haafiz of
the Qur-’an Shareef;
2. present it to Hadhrat Umar (RA) as he was also a
Haafiz. He would also ascertain it;
(Fathul-Bari)
3. ask the one who would come with some verses to
produce two witnesses, who would stand witness to the fact that those erses were
writ-ten very much in the presence of Rasulullah (SAW) Sayooti says that those
two witnesses had also to testify that those written verses were presented to
Rasulullah (SAW) in his last year, the year before his departure from the world;
4. compare these verses with those compilations of
the Qur’an Shareef which were with the Sahaabah.
(Al-Itqan)
From this one can understand the meaning of the
statement of Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) in which he says that he found the last verses
of Surah Toaba only with Hadhrat Abu Khuzaima (RA). This does not mean that
these verses were only with Abu Khuzaima and no other Sahaabah was knowing them.
All the Sahaabah including Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) knew these verses but
only Abu Khuzaima could produce these verses in the written form which were
written in the presence of Rasulullah (SAW).
(Al-Burhan-Fi-Uloom-il-Qur’an)
So, it is proved beyond doubt that Hadhrat Abu Bakar
Siddiq (RA) was the first to get the Qur’an Shareef compiled at one place. The
peculiarities of this first compiled copy of the Qur’an Shareef were that Surahs
were not arranged in it, each was written separately and it also contained all
the seven dialects of Arabic in which the Qur’an Shareef was revealed. This copy
of the Qur’an Shareef remained with Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) till his death
and then passed on to Hadhrat Umar (RA). He gave it to his daughter Hadhrat
Hafsa (RA) and it remained in her possession.
Hadhrat Uthman and the compilation of the Qur’an
Shareef
During the Caliphate of Hadhrat Uthman (RA) Islam
spread far beyond Arabia. Countries quite far off like Iran, the central Asian
countries and Rome got included in the Islamic block. Many non-Arabs embracing
Islam who were not knowing Arabic language, the language of the Qur’an Shareef.
Allahu Ta’ala had revealed the Qur’an Shareef in seven Arabic dialects which
were well known to the first addressees of the Qur’an Shareef i.e. Arabs of
Makkah, Madinah and adjoining areas. There people had no confusion and were
reciting the Qur’an Shareef as per the dia-lect which was easy for them and to
which they were used. Rasu-lullah (SAW) had allowed them to recite the Qur’an
Shareef as per any of those seven dialects.
Rasulullah (SAW) said in a Sahih Hadith Shareef:
“Indeed this Qur’an Shareef has been revealed in
seven dialects, so recite from it what is easy to you”
(Bukhari)
As the time passed, people started arguing with one
another, everyone saying that his dialect alone was correct. Alama Ibne Hajar
writes in Fathul-Bari.
“Hadhrat Hudhaifa Bin Yamaan (RA) was participating
in Jihad in Armenia and Azerbijan. There he saw that people were having
controversies about different dialects of the Qur’an Shareef. After returning to
Madinah he straight away met the Caliph Hadhrat Uthman (RA) and told him to take
the necessary remedial measures before people would get involved in such
controversies about the Qur’an Shareef as Jews and Christians had got involved
about the Torah and the Injeel. Hadhrat Uthman (RA) asked him as to what was the
matter? He informed him that he had seen in Aremenia and Azerbizan that the
Iraqi people were following the dialect of Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA) and
were refuting the dialect of Hadhrat Ubi-Bin Kaab (RA) whose dialect was
followed by the Syrians and they were labelling one another as infidels for the
same reason”
Hadhrat Uthman (RA) was informed about this problem
by other sources also. He then called the prominent senior Sahaabah (RA) and
asked their opinion about this problem. They asked Hadhrat Uthman (RA) to give
his opinion first. Hadhrat Uthman (RA) told them that he had thought to make all
people to follow one dialect only, so that there remained no controversy. His
opinion was upheld by this committee of Sahaabah. Then Hadhrat Uthman (RA)
requested Hadhrat Hafsa (RA) to hand over the copy of the Qur’an Shareef
compiled by Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) during the time of Hadhrat Abu Bakar
Siddiq (RA), so that they could make many copies of the same and then send those
to different parts of the world and would direct all the people to follow the
same dialect.
For this purpose he framed a committee which included
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Tahbit (RA), Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Zubair (RA), Hadhrat Sayeed
-Bin-Al-Aas, Hadhrat Abdul Rehman Bin Haaris-Bin-Hisham. They were asked to
prepare many copies of the Qur’an Shareef after copying from the copy compiled
by Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) with a difference that they were asked to
arrange the Surahs as well which were not arranged during Abu Bakar Siddiq’s
(RA) time. Out of these four members three belonged to the Qurash clan and the
fourth i.e. Hadhrat Zayd was Ansari. Hadhrat Uthman advised them to follow the
Qureshi dialect in case they differed at any place.
What was done during Hadhrat Uthman’s time?
1. As per Abu Hatam Sajastani seven copies of the
Qur’an Shareef were prepared after copying from that which was compiled during
Abu Bakr Siddiq’s time, and which was kept with Hadhrat Hafsa. These copies were
sent one each to Makkah, Syria, Yamen, Bahrain, Basrah and Kofa. One was kept in
Madinah.
(Fathul-Bari)
2. Surahs were compiled in one copy only and were
arranged whereas they were written separately in Abu Bakr Siddiq’s time and were
not arranged.
3. The Qur’an Shareef was written in such a way so
that it could accommo-date all the dialects and no dots or signs like Zabar, Zer
or Pesh were used.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
The Qur’an Shareef was not only saved on paper but
more so in the hearts of people
We have seen in the previous lines what great care
was taken by the Rasulullah (SAW) himself and his companions to keep the Qur’an
Shareef secure in written form in a fool-proof manner. But for the safety of the
Qur’an Shareef Allah Ta’ala had created an unique and extra ordinary arrangement
which definitely is an unparallel arrangement of which the world has no other
example to cite. This marvellous arrangement is the preservation of the Qur’an
Shareef not on paper only but also in the hearts of people. The Qur’an Shareef
is the only book which is memorized from beginning to end by thousands of people
at any given time all over the world. This is memorized in such a way that not a
line, not to speak of a line, not a single dot or sign is omitted from
recitation. Even more miraculous is that even children of 7 and 8 years of age
have been bestowed upon by such a power by Allah Ta'ala, that they memorize this
whole the Qur’an Shareef even at such a young age. This is a distinct miracle of
the Qur’an Shareef which no one can challenge. Any other book which may be even
one twentieth of the size of the Qur’an Shareef cannot be memorized in such a
way. Allah Ta’ala has made it possible for the Qur’an Shareef only. When the
Qur’an Shareef was being revealed to Rasulullah (SAW) he (SAW) used to repeat
the words quickly lest he (SAW) should forget it. Allah Ta’ala sent down the
following verse:
“Move not your tongue concerning The Qur’an, Oh
Muhammad to make haste here with. It is for Us to collect it and to gave you (O’
Muhammad the ability to recite it. And when We have recited it to You O’ through
Jibrael) then follow its (the Quran’s) recital.”
(78:16-19)
In these verses Rasulullah (SAW) was assured by Allah
Ta’ala in quite clear terms that Allah Ta’ala has taken the responsibility upon
Himself for the safety of the Qur’an Shareef, not only of its safe collection
but its recital also.
So, Rasulullah (SAW) was ad-vised not to be worried
about the safety of the Qur’an Shareef. Then onwards Rasulullah (SAW) used to
listen to the revelation quietly and after the revelation used to be over, he
would find the revealed matter safe in his memory, then this never vanished. In
this way the blessed chest of Rasulullah (SAW) was made the first safe fort for
the Qur’an Shareef. For further satis-faction Rasulullah (SAW) used to recite
the whole the Qur’an Shareef in front of Hadhrat Jibraeel (AS) every year in
Ramad-han and used to listen to it also from him every year, making sure that
every bit of that what had been revealed so far, was safe in his memory. In the
last year of his life, Rasulullah (SAW) recited to Jibraeel (A.S) twice instead
of once as narrated in Sahih Bukahri.
Memory power of the Sahaabah
Fourteen hundred years ago, when the Qur’an Shareef
was revealed, there were no printing presses in the world, and even paper was
quite scarce. Under these circumstances what Divine measures were taken for the
safe preservation of the Qur’an Shareef? Allah Ta’ala had bestowed upon a Arabs
the tremendous memory power. When some part of the Qur’an Shareef was being
revealed, Rasulullah (SAW) used to call the Sahaabah(RA) and ask someone amongst
them to write these revealed verses. Some Sahaabah (RA) would write these verses
but most of the Sahaabah were learning these verses by heart. Learning of the
Qur’an Shareef was most dear to the Sahaabah (RA). They dedi-cated their
lives.Even women were asking their hus-bands that they did not want any dowry
from them except that they should be taught the Qur’an Shareef. In this way in a
very short span of time a large number of Sahaabah (RA) became the
Haafiz-ul-Qur’an (those who memorized whole Qur’an Shareef). The names of some
of them have been mentioned in Al-Itiqan by Allama Sayooti viz,
Hadhrat Abu Bakar, Hadhrat Umar, H.Uthman , H. Ali,
H. Abdul-lah Bin Masood, H. Hudhaifa Bin Yamaan , H. Salam Maula Abi Hud-haifa,
H. Abu Hurrariah, H. Abdullah Bin Umar, H. Abdullah Bin Abbas, H. Umar Ibne Aas,
H. Abdullah Bin Umru , H. Muaawiya, H. Abdullah Bin Zubair, H. Aisha, H.
Abdullah Bin Saib, H. Hafsa, H. Ummi-Salma, H. Ummi Varqa, H. Ubi Bin Ka’b, H.
Muaadh Bin Jabal, H. Zayd Bin Thabit, H. An as Bin Maalik, H. Abu Musa Asha’ri
an d man y others (RA).
Seventy Hufaaz martyred in the battle of Bir-Ma’unah
It has been narrated by Mughirah Ibn Abdul Rahman ,
Abdullah Ibn Abu Bakr Ibn Muhammad Ibn Amr Ibn Hazm an d a group of scholars:
Once Abu Bara Amir Ibn Maalik, the man who used to
play with lances, came to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) at Madinah.
Rasulullah(SAW) invited him to accept Islam. Neither he accepte Islam nor did he
disregarded it rather he said, ‘O Muhammad! If you send some of your companions
to the people of Najd an d they preach Islam to them, I hope they would accept
that.’ The messenger of Allah (SAW) said, ‘I fear the people of Najd would harm
them.’ Abu Bara told, ‘I would protect them (therefore send them to call the
people towards your work). The messenger of Allah (SAW) sent Mundhir Ibn Amr,
the ally of Ban u Sa’idah al-Mun’iq, along with the forty selected Companions
among the Muslims including Harith Ibn Simmah, Haram Ibn Mihan , the ally of Ban
i Adi Ibn Najjar, Urwah Ibn Asma Ibn Salt al-Sulami, Nafl Ibn Budail Ibn Warqa
al-Khaza’i and Amir Ibn Fuhairah, the slave of Abu Bakr (RA). They travelled
until they reached Bir Ma’unah, which was located between the land of Banu Amir
and the lava field of Bani Sulaim. When they had encamped there, they sent Haram
Ibn Mihan , along with the letter of the Messenger of Allah (SAW) to Amir Ibn
Tufail. When he reached there, he did not read the letter but rather attacked
him and then killed him. Afterwards, he called Banu Amir to attack the Muslims
but they refused to do so and said, ‘We will not oppose Abu Bara who had brought
them with the promise of protection.’ Then he (i.e., Amir Ibn Tufail) sought
help from the tribes of Bani Sulaim, Usayah, Ri’la and Dhakwan . They
acknowledged his request and marched to the Muslims whom they surrounded while
they were in their tents. When the Muslims saw them, they took out their swords
and fought them valian tly until all of them were martyred. However, Ka’b Ibn
Zayd, the ally of Bani Dinar Ibn Najjar, left by the polytheists (in a serious
condition, who treated him as the dead but he), was having some life. He some
how managed to escape from the dead persons and lived until he was martyred in
the Battle of Khandaq (trench). Two other Muslims Amir Ibn Umayyah al-Damari and
Ansari belonging to Banu Amr Ibn Auf had gone to graze the animals. They noticed
the vultures hovering in the air. They exclaimed, ‘By Allah Ta'ala, these birds
tell the happening of something foul.’ When they returned to the camp they saw
from some distance that their companions were (dead) in a pool of blood. The
murder-ers on their horses were standing around their bodies. The Ansari asked
Amr Ibn Umayyah, ‘What do you think’? He replied, ‘We should go to the Messenger
of Allah (SAW) and inform him about the incident.’ But the Ansari said, ‘I don’t
like to move from the place where Mundhir Ibn Amr has been martyred. I am not
going to inform people about them.’ Then he fought with the unbelievers until he
was martyred. They imprisoned Amr when he told that he belonged to the tribe of
Mundar, he was released by Amr Ibn Tufail. He cut the hair of his forehead and
set him free for the slave which his mother had vowed to set free.
Seventy Sahabah martyred in battle of Yamamah
Imam Qurtubi reports that seventy such Sahaabah (RA)
were martyred in battle of Yamamah who were Haafiz-e-Qur’an.
From these evidences it is clear that a large number
of Sahaabah (RA) had memorized the Qur’an by heart and kept this treas-ure safe
in their Chests.
Hifze-Qur’an has remained a routine in Ummah since
the time of Sahaabah
We have seen that a large number of Sahaabah (RA)
dedicated their lives for memorization of Whole the Qur’an and since then it
became a routine in the Ummah to memorize whole Qur’an. Not a single such period
has passed since the time of Sahaabah (RA) in which there have not been
thousands of Haafiz-e-Qur’an present in Ummat. So this Qur’an has not only
reached us today through paper but has also reached us from breast to breast. If
you take exam-ple of India only, you will see even today (1995) in India there
are hundreds of Darul-ulooms where thousands of young budding students are busy
in memorizing the Qur’an by heart. A farmer in a far-off town, for instance,
like Azamgarh in India recites whole the Qur’an during the day while ploughing
his field. Hadhrat Sheikh-ul-Hadith, Hadhrat Maulana Zakariya (RA) of Saharanpur,
India, writes that the women folk in his house used to recite 15-20 parts of the
Qur’an (out of total 30) during day in Ramadhan while they were working in
Kitchen as all of them were Haafiz)
A tailor, while working on his sewing machine,
delights himself by reciting the Qur’an which he has memorized in his
child-hood.
When such is the attachment of people with the Qur’an
even after fourteen hundred years, what do you think is the cause of this Unique
and Unparallel thing? You will have no alternative but to admit that the Qur’an
is the miracle of Allah Ta’ala and these evi-dences are the manifestations of
Divine protection of the Qur’an.
DARUL ULOOM ILAHIYAH
INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC RESEARCH
ILAHI BAGH, BUCHPORA, SRINAGAR, 190011, KASHMIR, INDIA