Quranic Studies CourseCentury Welfare Association

Belall MaudarbuxWeek:3

Stage 2: Transmission (Oral)- Muhammad began to read the Qur’an to his wife and his closest friends and relatives.- Allah ordered him to ‘psalmodise’ *chant+ the Qur’an (73:4 wa rattilil qur’āna tartīlā)

- Impact on the QurayshAddictive melody: Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahl and al Akhnas went to eavesdrop on Muhammad’s recital at night. When they ran into each other at dawn they rebuked one another and promised to never come back but they came again for 3 nights.

- They then swore a pledge to stop. When al Akhnas asked Abu Sufyan’s opinion, he replied: ‘I heard things whose meaning I do not fathom nor do I grasp what intended.Abu Jahl’ s reply: We and the Abd Manaf have been rivals in honour. They feed the poor, so de we. They share the burden of others, so do we. They are generous, so are we. Now they claim to have a prophet who receives divine words! How are we to rival this? By God we shall never believe in him.

Muhammad’s Prophetic Role *A’zami p.52]2:129: Abraham’s prayer: ‘Our Lord, send amongst them a Messenger of their own who shall ‘chant’ (yatlū) your verses to them, teach them the Book and wisdom and chastens (yuzakkīhim) them’ see 2:151 & 3:64- Angel Jibrīl visited Prophet and recited whole revealed Qur’an during the 30 nights of Ramadan every year.- Prophet memorised all revealed portions and recited them often in 5 daily prayers.Teaching method at Mecca [610-622 AD]:i- Prophet taught the qur’an to his wife (Khadija), his closest relatives ‘(Ali) and friends (Abu Bakr)ii- Anyone who enquired about Islam had the chance to listen to the Qur’aniii- Quraysh opponents *‘Utba] who came to him to negotiate were replied to in Quranic verses.

iv- 20 Ethiopian Christian delegates were taught the Qur’an when they visited Meccav- Delegates from Madina were also taught the Qur’anEarliest Teachers of Qur’an at Mecca: Ibn Mas’ud; Khabbab; Mus’ab b. ‘Umayr (sent to Madina to teach)

Quranic Teaching at MedinaTeaching at Madina [622-632 AD]- Setting up of the ‘Suffa’ school in the mosque where some 400-900 persons have learnt Qur’an and writing skills.- Teachers of writing skills: Abdulla b. Sa’id; Ubāda b. Sāmit; Ubayy b. Ka’b- Regular recitations in congregational prayers by Prophet as well as dedicated teaching time to women- Teaching Qur’an in several dialects of different tribes

The Huffāz: Memorisers of the Qur’an- The outcome of Prophetic efforts produced a class of companions who eventually memorised the Qur’an entirely.- Several were killed in expeditions (B’ir Ma’una) and during the battle of Yamama. - The most famous one are: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Abu Huarayra, Ibn Mas’ud, Ibn Abbas, Ubayy b. Ka’b, Zayd b. Thabit.- Women huffāz: Aisha, Umm Salama, Hafsa Umm Warqa bint Abdallah- Written materials: parchment, Scapula bones, wooden planks, slates, palm leaves.

Stage 3: Preservation (Written)- Qur’an refers to itself as ‘kitāb, alluding to a written version of the word.- Written copies were available at Mecca: Story of Umar’sconversion.When Umar went to her sister’s house and fought with her over her conversion, he asked to be shown the ‘parchment’ from which they were studying sura Tāhā.In Madina:- 65 persons acted as the Prophet’s scribe at one point or another, namely:- Abu Bakr, Ubayy b Ka’b, Khalid b walid, ‘Uthman, Amr b al As, Mu’az b. Jabal- Upon receiving revelation, Prophet would call a scribe and dictate revelation to him

- Zaid b. Thabit narrated: when the verse of ‘Jihad’ were revealed, the Prophet called him and asked for an inkpot and dictated the verse to him.- Care not to mix Qur’an with Hadith- Prophet prohibited the writing of anything but the Qur’an and said: ‘Whoever wrote anything from me other than the Qur’an should erase it’ (Shahih Muslim)- On the basis of the great number of scribes, we can safely assume that the all verses of the Qur’an existed in written form during Prophet’s lifetime (Azami:69)

Arrangement of ‘Āyāts’ within Sūras-Numerous reports indicate: Soon after revelation, Prophet used to instruct the scribes to put the newly revealed ‘verses’ in such and such suras.Arrangement of Suras [4 views]- Each sura is an independent unit. Their order in learning, teaching has no religious value.View 1: All suras arranged by ProphetView2: All suras arranged by Prophet except sura 9 (Tawba): this was done by UthmanView 3: Arranged by Zaid b. Thabit and his team under decree by Uthman [al Baqillani]View 4: Some arranged by Prophet and others by the companions [Ibn ‘Atiyya]

Compilation [2 steps]; Azami p.77- 86- Step 1: Era of Abu Bakr (632-634)- Rebellion of several tribes against the authority of Medina- Main Rebels: Musaylama; Aswad al ‘Ansi; Sajah- Causes: Refusal of Zakat; Coveting Power; Rejecting allegiance to Abu Bakr- Death of many ‘huffaz’ in battle of Yamama- Umar’s suggestion to Abu Bakr to ‘collect’ (jam’) before it disappears- Abu Bakr’s commission to Zaid and his agreement.- Zaid’s credentials: was a Hafiz; closest scribe of the Prophet, experience of recoding wahy; His integrity and character; attended full recitation of Qur’an by prophet.

Method: Abu Bakr’s Instruction to Umar & Zayd- ‘Sit at the entrance of the mosque. Record only from those who bring an ‘ayat’ along with two testimonies’.- Oral recitations were not accepted at face value. - 2 supporting testimonies required:

i- i.e. memory supported by written evidenceii- or, 2 concurrent witness that a particular verse was written as such in the presence of the Prophet.- Hence only primary copies materials were accepted and writing done in Prophet’s mosque.- Bilal went around Medina requesting anyone who has written material to attend the collection process

- After a long and tedious process of collection, cross checking and verification, all the verses were compiled –in Madinan script- on sheets.- Written materials for the 2 final verses of sura 9 were difficult to find. - Zayd’s remark: ‘I found the last 2 verses of sura Bara’a with Abu Khuzayma al Ansari’- Ibn Hajar noted: Zayd’s own memory was deemed insufficient. Following Abu Bakr’s instruction to record only was already written during Prophet’s lifetime, zayd –initially- could not find any written record of the 2 verses until at the final stage of the collection process.- Final copy kept under custody of the Caliph. After his death, it was kept with Hafsa (his daughter)

Umar’s Era: 634-644- Huge conquests: Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine & Egypt- Yazid b. Abi Sufyan complaint: severe lack of Quranic teachers for the masses in Syria- Umar sent Mu’az (Palestine), Ubada (Hims) and Abu Darda (Damascus)- Umar appointed 3 teachers for Medina to teach children and gave a stipend of 15 dirhams per month for every child- Murder of Umar by Abu Lu’lu’ FirozUniformity: Umar rebuked Ibn Mas’ud (Kufa) for teaching in dialect of Hudhail and instructed him to teach in the dialect of Quraysh (since all dialects will be of

equal difficulty to a foreigner)