Compilation of the Quran

Many Muslims are under the impression that the Prophet Muhammad died without compiling the Quran in the form of a book and left it written on shoulder blades of animals, tree trunks, etc (according to the books of ahadith), and later his companions gathered all these verses and compiled them in a book form.

We will examine this claim in two sections: one, we will see the evidence from the Quran that the Prophet Muhammad compiled the Quran; and two we will examine some of the stories associated with the compilation of the Quran from the hadith books and see if these stories attest to the authenticity of the Word of God or do they try to cast doubt about the Word of Allah

I will, inshaAllah, comment on both these topics.

1. First of all, the claim that the Quran was written down later just like the hadith is incorrect. The Messenger of Allah, himself had written down the Quran during his lifetime. The Quran refers to itself in so many places as the BOOK (Kitab), which comes from the root word "KaTaBa", meaning 'written record'.
For example:

Ta Sin! These are the verses of the Quran, the Book <Kitaab> that makes (things) clear (27:1)

A Book <Kitaab> of which the verses are made plain, an Arabic Quran for a people who know. (41:3)

Or have We given them a book before it so that they hold fast to it? (43:21)

The reference to the word "kitaab" makes it clear that Allah is talking about a written record, and not an oral record. We are further told in the Quran:

A messenger from Allah, reading purified pages<Suhufan Mutaharatun>. (98:2)

Here reference is made to "suhufan" - pages  from which the Messenger was reading Allah's ayaat.

In addition, Allah tells us that the Messenger was not able to write a book before the Quran, when He says:

And you did not recite before it any book, nor did you transcribe one with your right hand, for then could those who say untrue things have doubted. (29:48)

Therefore, we see that the Quran provides evidence that the Prophet had the Quran written <kataba> on pages <suhafan> and he used to read them. In addition to the Quranic evidence, commonsense also does not accept the fact that Allah's Messenger, whose job was to deliver the Message of the Quran, did not preserve the Quran during his lifetime and left it for ordinary human beings to do.

Now, if you read the alleged stories about the collection of the Quran in the books of hadith you will notice that these are stories made up by the enemies of Allah who wanted to create doubt in the minds of the believers about the authenticity of the Quran. Here I will mention a few examples that will show what kind of rubbish do the books of hadith contain about the Quran:

(a) Alleged verses that are not in the Quran:

Muslim: Book 8, Number 3421:
Narrated Aisha: It had been revealed in the Quran that ten clear sucklings make the marriage unlawful, then it was abrogated (and substituted) by five sucklings and Allah's Apostle (peace_be_upon_him) died and it was before that time (found) in the Qu'an (and recited by the Muslims).

Muslim: Book 8, Number 3427:
Narrated Aisha: Umm Salamah said to Aisha: A young boy who is at the threshold of puberty comes to you. I, however, do not like that he should come to me, whereupon Aisha said: Don't you see in Allah's Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) a model for you?
She also said: The wife of Abu Hudhayfah said: Messenger of Allah, Salim comes to me and now he is a (grown-up) person, and there is something that (rankles) in the mind of AbuHudhayfah about him, whereupon Allah's Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said: Suckle him (so that he may become your foster-child), and thus he may be able to come to you (freely).

According to these ahadith, in the beginning the Quran talked about 10 sucklings, which then was "abrogated" and changed to five sucklings, which remained in the Quran and was recited by people after the death of the Messenger. Where are these verses today? Were they lost after the death of the Messenger?

Malik’s Muwatta: Book 41, Number 41.1.8:
Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Utba ibn Masud that Abdullah ibn Abbas said, "I heard Umar ibn al-Khattab say, 'Stoning is in the Book of Allah for those who commit adultery, men or women when they are muhsan and when there is clear proof of pregnancy or a confession.'"

Malik’s Muwatta: Book 41, Number 41.1.10:
Malik related to me that Yahya ibn Said heard Said ibn al-Musayyab say, "When Umar ibn al-Khattab came from Mina, he made his camel kneel at al-Abtah, and then he gathered a pile of small stones and cast his cloak over them and dropped to the ground. Then he raised his hands to the sky and said, 'O Allah! I have become old and my strength has weakened. My flock is scattered. Take me to You with nothing missed out and without having neglected anything.' Then he went to Medina and addressed the people. He said, 'People! Sunan have been laid down for you. Obligations have been placed upon you. You have been left with a clear way unless you lead people astray right and left.' He struck one of his hands on the other and then said, 'Take care lest you destroy the ayat of stoning so that one will say, "We do not find two hadds in the Book of Allah." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stoned, so we have stoned. By He in Whose Hand my self is, had it not been that people would say that Umar ibn al-Khattab has added to the Book of Allah ta-ala, we would have written it, "The full-grown man and the full-grown woman, stone them absolutely." We have certainly recited that.'"
Malik said, "Yahya ibn Said said Said ibn al-Musayyab said, 'Dhu'l-Hijja had not passed before Umar was murdered, may Allah have mercy on him.' "
Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "As for his words 'The full-grown man and the full-grown woman' he meant, 'The man and the woman who have been married, stone them absolutely.' "

So these verses were part of the Quran (the same hadith in a much longer version is also recorded in Bukhari), but are NOT there any more. And Umar, who was supposed to be such a strong ruler, was AFRAID of the people instead of Allah and knowingly did not put these verses in the Quran?

However, another well-respected muhadith had another easier explanation:

(Burhan al Din al Baji, "Jawab", MS Dar al Kutub, Taimur "majami`", no. 207, f. 14)
`Ali reported that the stoning verse had been revealed but those who bore it together with other verses in their memories perished in the Yemama.

So part of the Quran was simply lost after the Prophet due to the death of the people who remembered it?

(Jalal al Din `Abdul Rahman b. abi Bakr al Suyuti, "al Itqan fi `ulum al Qur'an", Halabi, Cairo, 1935/1354, pt 1, p. 60):
ibn `Abbas asked `Uthman what possessed him to place surat al Anfal, one of the mathani, with Bara'a, one of the mi'in, join them with no bismillah between them and place them among the seven lengthy suras. `Uthman replied that often the Prophet received quite long revelations. He would call for one of the scribes and say, 'Put these verses in the sura in which so-and-so occurs.' Anfal was among the first of the Medina revelations and Bara'a among the last. Since its contents resembled those of Anfal, `Uthman took it to belong with it, for the Prophet had died without explaining that it was part of it.

So, the reason why we do not have a "bismillah" at the beginning of chapter nine (known as "al-Bara'a", or "al-tauba")
is NOT because Allah revealed it in such a way - but it was due to a MISUNDERSTANDING of Uthman??

But wait - that is not the only explanation provided by the books of hadith for this missing bismillah:

(Jalal al Din `Abdul Rahman b. abi Bakr al Suyuti, "al Itqan fi `ulum al Qur'an", Halabi, Cairo, 1935/1354, pt 1, p. 65)
Malik had a shorter explanation for the absence of this bismillah. The beginning of Bara'a fell out and its bismillah fell out with it.

This is the kind of rubbish that the books of ahadith contain regarding the Quranic records - with missing verses, and misunderstandings and lost verses. Is this the same Book that Allah promised He would protect?

wasalaam,
Naveed