History of Preservation
Some of the companions who memorized the Quran were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Ibn Masud, Abu Huraira, Abdullah bin Abbas, Abdullah bin Amr bin al As, Aisha, Hafsa, and Umm Salama. The Prophet had about 15 to 48 scribes at different stages of times who used to write for him .The Quran had been written down in its entirety by the companions, the Quran did not exist in the form of a hardbound book or a single volume like today during the lifetime of the Prophet. However, some scholars differe on this and say that the Quran as a single piece was secured by the Prophet himself.The complete Quran was written down in front of the Prophet by several of his scribes and the companions possess their own copies of the Quran in the Prophet's lifetime. However the written material of the Quran in the Prophet's possession were not bounded between the two covers in the form of a book, because the period of revelation of the Quran continued up until just a few days before the Prophet's death. The task of collecting the Qur'an as a book was therefore undertaken by Abu Bakr, the first successor to the Prophet.
At the battle of Yamama (633 CE), six months after the death of the Prophet, a number of Muslims, who had memorized the Quran were killed. Hence it was feared that unless a written official copy of the Quran were prepared, a large part of revelation might be lost. It was not agreed upon intitially becuase such a task of putting the Quran into a single volume was never done during the lifetime of the Prophet but eventually, it was realized the necessity of this undertaking. So, a committee was formed to under take the task of collecting the written Quranic material in the form of a book. The committee was headed by Zaid bin Thabit, the original scribe of the Prophet, who was also a memorizer of the complete Qurana and had committed the entire Quran to memory. They searched for the fragmentary scripts of the Qur'an and collect it in one Book. I started compiling the Quran by collecting it from the leafless stalks of the date palm tree and from the pieces of leather and hides and from the stones, and from the chests of men . The manuscripts of the Quran remained with Abu Bakr then with Umar and then with Hafsa, his duahgter and wife of the Prophet.
This committee adopted the criteria as:-
1. The material must have been originally written down in the presence of the Prophet. Nothing written down later on the basis of memory alone was to be accepted.
2. The material must be confirmed by two witnesses means by two trustworthy persons testifying that they themselves had heard the Prophet recite the passage in question.
The manuscript on which the Quraan was collected, remained with Abu Bakr and then with Umar and finally it remained with Hafsa, Umar's daughter and wife of the Prophet. When Islam was previling all over and when the people of Sham (Syria) and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azherbijan the differences in the recitation of the Quran were noticed. So Uthman brought the manuscripts of the Quran from Hafsah and ordered Zaid bin Thabit and others to rewrite perfect copies. Uthman said to them that in case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Quran, then write it in Quraishi tongue.
Again a very stringent criteria was set up by this Committee:-
1. The earlier recension (Original copy prepared by Abu Bakr) was to serve as the principal basis of the new one.
2. Any doubt that might be raised as to the phrasing of a particular passage in the written text was to be dispelled by summoning persons known to have learned the passage in question from the Prophet.
3. Uthman himself was to supervise the work of the Council.
On compeletion, Uthman sent a copy of it to each of the major cities of Makka, Damascus, Kufa, Basra and Madina. Among these copies, two still exist, One is in the city of Tashkent, (Uzbekistan) and the second one is in Istanbul (Turkey). The action of Uthman to burn the unauthentic copies was unanimously approved by most of the Companions. Zaid ibn Thabit said that he saw the Companions of Muhammad going about saying, By God, Uthman has done well. Musab ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas said thathe saw the people assemble in large number at Uthman's burning and they were all pleased with his action, not a one spoke out against him. Ali ibn Abu Talib said if he were in command in place of Uthman, he would have done the same.
The factors that contributed to the preservation of the Quran till date are:-
People were always availble who were able to memorize, the sweet and easy rhythm of the Quran helped to memorize it, the recitation of the Quran was made obligatory in 5 times Salat, full Quran being recited in Tarwaeeh every year in mosques, the high status of the Quran and the serious objetions or protest that are shown up by Muslims eveb if a word is chaged by a printer or publisher.
Dialects Details
The two most popularly known versions are called Hafs and Warsh having minor differences which varies from changes in words, harakas and numbering of ayahs, although no difference in the spirt of the message conveyed. 95% of Muslims adhering to Hafs and 3% of the Muslim world (mostly in North Africa) to Warsh and remaining 2% subscribing to other recitations.
Types
Qirat Naafi Al Madani (Madinah). Imam Malik (RA) and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (RA) recited the Holy Quran in this manner mostly. Qaloon and Warsh are the two Qaris who preserved this recitation.
Qirat Ibn Katheer Al-Makki (Makkah). Qunbul, Al-Buzzi, and Imam Shafi recited the Quran in this way. Al-Buzzi and Qunbul are the two Qaris who preserved this recitation.
Qirat Abu Amr al-Basri (Basra). Ad-Doori and As-Soosi are the two Qaris who preserved this reading manner of the Holy Quran.
Qirat Ibn Aamir ash-Shami (Syria). Ibn Dhakwan and Hisham are the two Qaris who recited and preserved this recitation of the Quran.
Qirat Asim Al-Kufi (Kufa). Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (RA) often recited the Quran in this manner. The two Qaris who preserved this recitation manner are Hafs and Shuba.
Qirat Hamzah al-Kufi (Kufa). The two famous Qaris who preserved this reading manner are Khallad and Khalaf (who also has his own Qirat, i.e., Qirat Khalaf al-Bazzar).
Qirat Al-Kisaa’i (Kufa). Al-Layth and Ad-Doori are the two Qaris who preserved this Quran recitation manner.
For example:-
1. The last word of ayat 2:85 is تَعْمَلُونَ meaning ‘you (people) do’. While in Warsh version this word is يَعْمَلُونَ meaning ‘they do’.
2. In ayat 1: 4, where Hafs version is ‘مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ’ (Owner of the day of judgment) and Warsh version is مَلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ (King of the day of Judgement). The word مَالِك (owner) as مَلِك (king) in verse 2 of Surah Fatihah.
3. يَكْذِبُوْن in its intensive form as يُكَذِّبُوْن in verse 10 of Surah Baqarah and يُوْصي in its passive form in verse 12 of Surah Nisa.
4. The word أَرْجُلَكُمْ (Qur’ān 5:5) can be read both as Arjulakum and Arjulikum.
Reference:-
* To acquire this, Quran, swiftly, O Prophet, do not move your tongue hastily over it. Indeed, upon Us is its collection and qirat. So when We have recited it, follow this qirat of Our. Then upon Us is to explain it, wherever need be. (75:16-19).
* Indeed, We have made this Quran easy in your own language, O Prophet, so with it you may give good news to the righteous and warn those who are contentious. So, O Muhammad, We have only made it, the Quran, easy in your tongue, the Arabic language, that you may give good tidings thereby to the righteous and warn thereby a hostile people (Quran 19:27).
* Indeed, We have made this Quran easy in your own language, O Prophet, so perhaps they will be mindful (Quran 44:58).
* Those to whom We have given the Book read it as it ought to be read. They are the ones who believe in it. And whoever disbelieves in this, it is they who are the losers (Quran 2:121)
* Narrated Zaid bin Thabit, Abu Bakr sent for me after the casualties among the warriors of the battle of Yamama where a great number of Qurra or memorizers of the Quran, were killed. Umar said, the people have suffered heavy casualties, and I am afraid that there will be some casualties among the Qurra at other places, whereby a large part of the Quran may be lost, unless you collect it (in one manuscript, or book). So Abu Bakr said to me, You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you of telling lies or of forgetfulness and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript). So I started locating the Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men who know it by heart. (Bukhari 7191/4986)
* Narrated Anas bin Malik that Hudhaifa bin Al Yaman came to Uthman at the time when the people of Sham (Syria) and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azherbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their differences in the recitation of the Quran, so he said to Uthman, Save this nation before they differ about the Book as Jews and Christians did before. So Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, 'Send us the manuscripts of the Quran so that we may compile the Quranic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you'. Hafsa sent it to Uthman. Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Az Zubair, Said bin Al As and Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. Uthman said to the three Quraishi men taht in case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Quran, then write it in Quraishi tongue'. They did so, and when they had written many copies, Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied and ordered that all the other Quranic materials whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt (Bukhari).
* Sir William Muir said about Quran that there is probably no other work (book) in the world which has remained twelve centuries (now fourteen) with so pure a text (Sir Williams Muir, Life of Mohamet, vol.1, Introduction)
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Versions of Quran
HAFS Quran read by 95% of Muslims. WARSH Quran read by 3% of Muslims. The Qur'an on the left is now the most commonly used Qur'an. It is the 1924 Egyptian standard edition based on the transmitted version of Imam Hafs. The Qur'an on the right is according to Imam Warsh's transmitted version and is mainly used in North Africa. The Hafs text is more common and used in most Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Warsh is used mainly in West and North-West Africa as well as by the Zaydiya in Yemen. Some variants are considered authentic but other variants are rejected. No close asahba differed on number of ayata of qruan.
Qirat and Aharuf are two different things. Prophet never taught 7 aharuf. Aharuf means some difference in letters, words, haraqat, style, pronunciation and ways. It had no big difference and the meaning remained the same. Allah gave these 7 styles. When people used it or used a mixture of them, it was called Qirat. Then these Qirat were codified and recorded. Qirat are the various traditional methods of recitation, whereas tajweed refers to a set of rules for the proper pronunciation and recitation of the Quran. This standard form of recitation or pronunciation of words was based on the dialect of the Holy Prophet(sa) or the dialect of the Quresh of Mecca. In Arabic, this is called Qirā’ah and the closest analogy for English speakers to understand the difference between Qirā’āt (plural of Qirā’ah) is to think of the difference between American English and British English in terms of pronunciation. Since a colossal effort had already been made to prepare the maṣḥaf-e-umm, there was no need to keep any other manuscripts of any other shape or form whether they were complete or only had portions of the Quran written on them.. One fear of allowing such manuscripts was that some companions took personal notes on their manuscripts and it could have led to confusion for later peoples as they may have wondered which part is the Quran and which part is a footnote or a side note.
When more and more Muslims of non-Arab origin and also many ignorant Arabs studied the Qur'an, faulty pronunciation and wrong readings began to increase. In the 4th Islamic century, Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Mujahid solved this problem by choosing seven of these qira'at/reading systems as canonical, and in time another three were accepted. Reciting any of the non-canonical qira'at was now forbidden and punishable. However, not all Islamic scholars hold this view. They consider it unreasonable to think that the Qur'an can be recited 10 different ways. They believe there is only one recitation of the Qur'an and that the different qira'at come from the Readers and not God. The Koran was originally recited in one language and one dialect, namely that of the Quraysh. However, as soon as readers from the different tribes began to recite it, a variety of readings emerged, reflecting dialectal differences among the readers. The truth of the matter is that the seven Readings had nothing to do with the Revelation, nothing in the least; and whoever rejects any of them is not for having done so an unbeliever; nor has he sinned or gone astray in his religion. The origin of these Readings is to be found in the diversity of tribal dialects among the early Muslim Arabs, and everyone has the right to dispute them, and to accept and reject them, or parts of them, as seems proper. It is generally believed the recitation of the seven or the ten reciters of the first, second and third century of Islam are valid and the Muslims are allowed to adopt either of these in their reciting Qur'an and it is generally held that the origin of these various recitations go back to the time of the Holy Prophet who approved these varieties but according to the Shia Ithna-Ashari School whose views are based on the teachings of the Holy Imams, the revealed recitation of the Qur'an cannot be but one and as the Imam puts it, "Qur'an is One, came down from the One, the variation in recitation comes from the reciters not from God." It is ridiculous to believe that God gave the Qur'an with thousands of variants; and it is quite reasonable for Islamic scholars to choose the best reading from among them. The doctrines of the seven ahruf and the ten authentic qira'at are simply an attempt to harmonize and justify the many variants. There may be some limited historical basis for these doctrines but in practice they do not work and Islamic scholars choose the best reading. In practice, Islamic scholars treat the different qira'at/readings as the first stage of interpreting the basic arabic text of the Qur'an. If we assume that the hadith about the seven ahruf is authentic, then we can conclude that it would be possible for a qira'ah/reading of a ahruf to be passed on as a complete whole, and for this to be traced back via an isnad to Muhammad. However, the ten accepted qira'at of Uthman's Qur'an are not the same as the qira'ah of a individual ahruf. As we saw earlier, Uthman destroyed most of the differences between the ahruf, and only those readings/qira'at that were compatible with his basic text were able to remain. This means that the ten accepted readings/qira'at based on Uthman's Qur'an are a mixture of qira'at/readings from various ahruf and not a continuous whole reading/qira'ah going back to Muhammad. The only continuous whole readings that exist go back to the establishment of the Uthmanic text. Therefore, the isnads for the Ten Accepted Readers which claim to go back to Muhammad as a whole are false.
The Prophet ﷺ was given permission to teach the Qur’an in 7 of the main dialects in the region, allowing the message to be understood more widely. Uthman wanted the problem to be corrected. So Zaid used his version, comparing it with Hafsa’s version and added the necessary punctuations and vowels. In case there were differences, Uthman ordered Zaid to just use the version that the Quraysh tribe used. Caliph ‘Uthman decided that the original Quraishi dialect would become the official reading of the Qur’an. He appointed a committee of 12 companions to essentially repeat the process of Zaid ibn Thabit, gathering all of the primary sources, rectifying any differences, and confirming them with those who had memorised the text orally. Once this had been completed, he sent for the original suhuf, which was held by Hafsa, and compared the two collections for any differences. Once completed, this final copy was read out to ‘Uthman and the companions, who all agreed upon its accuracy, and decided to burn the original sources in order to avoid any future divergence with the text.It’s considered to be exactly the same as the Qur’an we read today, with only one pretty big difference. It didn’t include any skeletal or diacritical marks, which are essential in differentiating different words which otherwise look exactly the same. This was the way the Mushaf was written. Now whilst these diacritical marks weren’t invented until 30 years after the death of Uthman, these markings, what are called skeletal dots, were known to the Arabs at the time of ‘Uthman, but he must have intentionally decided not to include them in his original Mushaf. Whilst we don’t really know why, one possible reason was that he wanted to ensure that the Qur’an would always be taught and preserved through both written and oral methods. And that’s where these official teachers that were sent out with the Suhuf came into play.Over time however, the usefulness of this approach began to diminish, and within the caliphate of ‘Uthman, these skeletal dots began to be used in new copies of the Mushaf, and this quickly became the standard for all personal copies of the Qur’an.
We have now considered four types of differences between these two Qur'ans: extra words, differences in letters, diacritical dots and vowels, but how many of these differences are there between these two Qur'ans? There are Islamic reference books that answer this question. The title page below is from a book entitled, "The Readings and Rhythm of the Uthman (Qur'anic) Manuscript". In this book the author displays the text of the Hafs version of the Qur'an but underlines any word where there is a difference among the Readers. This difference is then shown in the margin. The author has used a colour coded system to show which Reader is different. If the variant word in the margin is red this indicates that the Reader was Imam Warsh. Please study the page below and identify the underlined words and then the corresponding colour coded words in the margin. When the red coded differences are counted there are found to be 1354 accepted differences between the Hafs and Warsh versions.
There is another type of difference between these two Qur'ans, the Basmalah. The Basmalah is the phrase, "In the Name of Allaah, the Ever-Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy". Both the Hafs and Warsh Qur'ans have the Basmalah at the start of every sura except sura 9. In this way they are identical, however, while including it in their Qur'ans these Imams understood the Basmalah in very different ways. For Imam Hafs, the Basmalah was part of the revelation and part of the first verse as it was recited, while for Imam Warsh, the Basmalah was a du'a (supplication) to introduce each sura; it was written at the start of each sura, like the sura titles, but was not considered part of the revelation. There is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars of the Qur'aan over whether this phrase is to be considered as a verse at the beginning of each soorah, in particular Soorah al-Faatihah, or whether this is merely a phrase said for blessings between the soorahs, and is meant to identify where one soorah ends and the next begins. The scholars are agreed that the basmalah does not form part of Soorah at-Tawbah, and that it is a verse of the Qur'an in 27:30 ... but disagree as to its status at the beginning of the other soorahs. The scholars who claim that the basmalah at the beginning of the soorahs is a verse of the Qur'aan, (include) Imaam ash-Shaafi'ee (d. 204 A.H.) (and) Imaam Ahmad (d. 241) ... However, those that do not hold the basmalah at the beginning of the soorahs to be a part of the Qur'aan (include) Imaam Maalik (d. 179) (and) Aboo Haneefah (d. 150 A.H.). Based on this classic difference of opinion, the qira'aat (the Readers) themselves differ over whether the basmalah was a verse in Soorah al-Faatihah and the other soorahs. Among the Qaarees (the Readers), Ibn Katheer,'Aasim and al-Kisaa'ee were the only ones who considered it to be a verse at the beginning of each soorah, whereas the others did not. (Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi, An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'aan, pp. 157-158.) To summarize the above. The four Imams who founded the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools disagree as to whether the Basmalah is part of the revelation at the start of each sura. Imam ash-Shafi'ee and Imam Ahmad believed that it was, while Imam Maalik and Aboo Haneefah believed it was not. As a result the different Readers who come from these schools have different views too. For Ibn Kathir, al-Kisa'i, and Abu Bakr `Asim (Hafs) the Basmalah was part of the revelation of each sura, but for the majority of the Readers: Nafi` (Warsh), Abu `Amr al-'Ala', Ibn `Amir, Hamzah, Abu Ja`far, Ya`qub al-Hashimi, and Khalaf al-Bazzar, the Basmalah was not part of the revelation. Therefore, while both of the Qur'ans we are examining contain the Basmalah, in the Hafs Qur'an it is considered part of the revelation, while in the Warsh Qur'an it is not considered part of the revelation but du'a. This is a significant difference because the Basmalah appears 113 times at the start of the surahs and has 4 words, which means there are 452 extra words in the Qur'an according to Imam Hafs than the Qur'an of according to Imam Warsh.
Hadith References:
This means, “I suggest that you order the collection of the Quran”. In other words, he was not suggesting the writing down of the Quran. That had already been done. He was suggesting the collection of the Quran into a single, complete volume. Similarly, when Hazrat Abū Bakr(ra) called Hazrat Zaid(ra), he said to him ijma’hu, meaning that he should collect it in one place.
Hazrat Zaid(ra) was himself a Ḥāfiz (one who had memorized the Quran in full) but he still sought other witnesses to each verse both in written form as well as via memorization before adding it to the single volume or masḥaf of the Quran that he was asked to prepare.
Abu Bakr said to Umar and Zaid that whoever comes with the support of two witnesses, write it down. Here, two witnesses refer to two formats, that is, through memorization and in writing. It means that two witnesses should give testimony that it was written down in front of the Prophet. It was their intention that the Quran is written down in the same words that were written down in the presence of the Prophet, and not just based on memory. For every single verse of the Quran, both memory of that verse and a written down format of that verse were asked for before it was included.
Some critics of Islam raise an objection at this point that Hazrat ‘Abdullāh bin Mas‘ūd(ra) did not consider Sūrah Al-Fatiḥa and the Mu‘awwidhatain (last 2 chapters of the Quran) as part of the original text of the whole Quran, I asked Ubai bin Ka`b, "O Abu AlMundhir! Your brother, Ibn Mas`ud said so-and-so (i.e., the two Mu'awwidh-at do not belong to the Qur'an)." Ubai said, "I asked Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about them, and he said, 'They have been revealed to me, and I have recited them (as a part of the Qur'an)," So Ubai added, "So we say as Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) has said." Sahih al-Bukhari 4977. First, it must be clear from these narrations that Hazrat ‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ūd(ra) is only expressing an opinion about the last 2 chapters of the Quran. Other narrations mention that he thought these were merely prayers revealed to the Holy Prophet. We know that, whereas Ibn Mas’ud omitted two surahs (113 and 114) from his version, Ubay included two extra surahs, al-Hafd (the Haste) and al-Khal’ (the Separation). Before the destruction of the manuscripts, some Muslims preferred the versions other than the Uthman version, for example, those of Ibn Mas’ud, Ubay ibn Ka’b, and Abu Musa. There were further changes made by Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thakafi (died 714 AD). Here we see that the reading/qira'ah of Ubayy ibn Ka'ab has these extra words: "and he is a father of them". This means Ubayy ibn Ka'ab recited sura 33:6 as follows: The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and he is a father of them and his wives are their mothers. ... (Qur'an 33:6).
Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to 'Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and the Christians did before." So 'Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to 'Uthman. 'Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, 'Abdullah bin AzZubair, Said bin Al-As and 'AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. 'Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, 'Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. 'Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. Said bin Thabit added, "A Verse from Surat Ahzab was missed by me when we copied the Qur'an and I used to hear Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari. (That Verse was): 'Among the Believers are men who have been true in their covenant with Allah.' (33.23)
zaid bin Thabit added, “A Verse from Surat Ahzab was missed by me when we copied the Qur’an and I used to hear Allah’s Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari. (That Verse was): ‘Among the Believers are men who have been true in their covenant with Allah.’ (33.23) Sahih Bukhari Vol. 6, Book 61, Hadith 510 (confirmed by Sahih Bukhari Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 307 & Vol. 4, Book 52, Hadith 62.
A'isha reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) listened to the recitation of the Qur'an by a man in the mosque. Thereupon he said:
May Allah have mercy upon him; be reminded me of the verse which I had been made to forget. Sahih Muslim 788b
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Why does anyone of the people say, 'I have forgotten such-and-such Verses (of the Qur'an)?' He, in fact, is caused (by Allah) to forget."Sahih al-Bukhari 5039
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) offered prayer and when he said Taslim (salutation), he was asked, "O Allah's Messenger! Has something new happened to the Salat (prayer)?" He asked, "What is that?" They said, "You have prayed so many and so many (Rak'at)." He [Ibn Mas'ud (RA)] said, "He then bent his legs, faced the Qiblab, and made two prostrations and then said the Taslim (salutations). Then he faced us and said, "If something new is introduced to the Salat (prayer), I shall inform you but I am a human being like you, I forget just as you forget; so if I forget remind me and if any of you is in doubt about his Salat (prayer) he should act upon what he thinks is correct and complete his prayer in that respect and then he should make two prostrations." [Agreed upon].
Narrated Aisha: The Prophet heard a man reciting the Qur'an in the mosque and said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has reminded me of such-and-such verses of such a Surah." (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 6, bk. 61, no. 556; also Sahih Muslim: bk. 4, no. 1720)
Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: ... (Muhammad said) I am only a human being and I forget just as you do; so when I forget, remind me ... (Sunan Abu Dawud: bk. 3, no. 1015; also Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 1, bk. 8, no. 394)
We will make you recite, [O Muhammad], and you will not forget, except what Allah should will ... (Qur'an 87:6-7, Saheed International)
We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it ... (Qur'an 2:106, Saheed International)
Volume 6, Book 61, Number 512 : Narrated by Al-Bara, There was revealed: 'Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and those who strive and fight in the Cause of Allah.' (4.95) The Prophet said, "Call Zaid for me and let him bring the board, the inkpot and the scapula bone (or the scapula bone and the ink pot)."' Then he said, "Write: 'Not equal are those Believers who sit..", and at that time 'Amr bin Um Maktum, the blind man was sitting behind the Prophet . He said, "O Allah's Apostle! What is your order For me (as regards the above Verse) as I am a blind man?" So, instead of the above Verse, the following Verse was revealed: 'Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) except those who are disabled (by injury or are blind or lame etc.) and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah.' (4.95)
Ibn Abbas reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: If there were for the son of Adam a valley full of riches, he would long to possess another one like it. and Ibn Adam does not feel satiated but with dust. And Allah returns to him who returns (to Him). Ibn Abbas said: I do not know whether it is from the Qur'an or not; and in the narration transmitted by Zuhair it was said: I do not know whether it is from the Qur'an, and he made no mention of Ibn Abbas.
Sahih Muslim 1049.
Narrated Alqama: I went to Sham with a group of the companions of `Abdullah (bin Mas`ud). Abu Ad-Darda' heard of our arrival so he came to us and said, "Is there anybody among you who can recite (Qur'an)" We replied in the affirmative. Then he asked, "Who is the best reciter?" They pointed at me. Then he told me to recite, so I recited the verse:-- 'By the night as it envelops 'By the day as it appears in brightness; By (Him Who created) male and the female.' (92.1-3) Abu Ad-Darda' then said to me, "Did you hear it (like this) from the mouth of your friend (`Abdullah bin Mas`ud)?" I said, "Yes." He said, "I too, heard it (like this) from the mouth of the Prophet, but these people do not consider this recitation as the correct one."
Sahih al-Bukhari 4943
We see this again with Ubayy ibn Ka’b. His version of sura 33:6 had the following extra underlined words: The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and he is a father of them and his wives are their mothers. ... (Qur'an 33:6, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation, and Commentary, 4th ed., Brentwood, Md., U.S.A.: Amana Corp., 1989, footnote 3674)
Narrated Ibn Abbas: Umar said, "Ubayy was the best of us in the recitation (of the Qur'an) yet we leave (out) some of what he recites". Ubayy says, "I have taken it from the mouth of Allah's Apostle and will not leave for anything whatever". ... (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 6, bk. 61, no. 527)
Volume 6, Book 61, Number 522 : Narrated by Shaqiq bin Salama, Once 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud delivered a sermon before us and said, "By Allah, I learnt over seventy Suras direct from Allah's Apostle . By Allah, the companions of the Prophet came to know that I am one of those who know Allah's Book best of all of them, yet I am not the best of them." Shaqiq added: I sat in his religious gathering and I did not hear anybody opposing him (in his speech).
We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Sura) Bara’at (sura 9). I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: “If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust” ... (Sahih Muslim: bk. 5, no. 2286)
Allah sent Muhammad (saw) with the Truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was the verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married persons, male and female, who commit adultery) and we did recite this verse and understood and memorized it. Allah’s Apostle (saw) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, "By Allah, we do not find the verse of the Rajam in Allah’s Book", and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 817)
When more and more Muslims of non-Arab origin and also many ignorant Arabs studied the Qur'an, faulty pronunciation and wrong readings began to increase. It is related that at the time of Du'ali (d. 69H/638) someone in Basra read the following aya from the Qur'an in a faulty way, which changed the meaning completely:
That God and his apostle dissolve obligations with the pagans (9:3)
That God dissolves obligations with the pagans and the apostle.
This mistake occurred through wrongly reading rasulihi in place of rasuluhu, which could not be distinguished from the written text, because there were no signs or accents indicating the correct pronunciation. Unless someone had memorised the correct version he could out of ignorance easily commit such a mistake. (Von Denffer, `Ulum Al-Qur'an - An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'an, p. 58)
Narrated Zaid bin Thabit: ... I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palmed stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last verse of Surat At-Tauba (Repentance) with Abi Khuzaima Al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. ... (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 6, bk. 61, no. 509)
Narrated Masruq: ... I heard the Prophet saying, "Take (learn) the Qur'an from four (men): `Abdullah bin Masud, Salim, Mu'adh and Ubai bin Ka'b." (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 6, bk. 61, no. 521)
Volume 6, Book 61, Number 522 : Narrated by Shaqiq bin Salama, Once 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud delivered a sermon before us and said, "By Allah, I learnt over seventy Suras direct from Allah's Apostle . By Allah, the companions of the Prophet came to know that I am one of those who know Allah's Book best of all of them, yet I am not the best of them." Shaqiq added: I sat in his religious gathering and I did not hear anybody opposing him (in his speech).
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