Preservation and Authenticity of the Holy Quran

salam03

with reference to http://www.islam101.com/quran/preservedQ.htm

Question:

There were many versions of the Qur抋n all of which were burnt by Usman (r.a.) except for one. Therefore is it not true that the present Qur抋n is the one compiled by Usman (r.a.) and not the original revelation of God?

Answer:

One of the most common myths about the Qur抋n, is that Usman (r.a.), the third Caliph of Islam authenticated and compiled one Qur抋n, from a large set of mutually contradicting copies. The Qur抋n, revered as the Word of Allah (swt) by Muslims the world over, is the same Qur抋n as the one revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It was authenticated and written under his personal supervision. We will examine the roots of the myth which says that Usman (r.a.) had the Qur抋n authenticated.

salam03

1. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself supervised and authenticated the written texts of the Qur抋n


Whenever the Prophet received a revelation, he would first memorize it himself and later declare the revelation and instruct his Companions (R.A.

salam03

2. Order and sequence of Qur抋n divinely inspired


The complete Qur抋n was revealed over a period of 22

salam03

3. Qur抋n copied on one common material


The complete Qur抋n, along with the correct sequence of the verses, was present during the time of the Prophet (pbuh). The verses however, were written on separate pieces, scrapes of leather, thin flat stones, leaflets, palm branches, shoulder blades, etc. After the demise of the prophet, Abu Bakr (r.a.), the first caliph of Islam ordered that the Qur抋n be copied from the various different materials on to a common material and place, which was in the shape of sheets. These were tied with strings so that nothing of the compilation was lost.

salam03

4. Usman (r.a.) made copies of the Qur抋n from the original manuscript


Many Companions of the Prophet used to write down the revelation of the Qur抋n on their own whenever they heard it from the lips of the Prophet. However what they wrote was not personally verified by the Prophet and thus could contain mistakes. All the verses revealed to the Prophet may not have been heard personally by all the Companions. There were high possibilities of different portions of the Qur抋n being missed by different Companions. This gave rise to disputes among Muslims regarding the different contents of the Qur抋n during the period of the third Caliph Usman (r.a.).

Usman (r.a.) borrowed the original manuscript of the Qur抋n, which was authorized by the beloved Prophet (pbuh), from Hafsha (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet抯 wife. Usman (r.a.) ordered four Companions who were among the scribes who wrote the Qur抋n when the Prophet dictated it, led by Zaid bin Thabit (r.a.) to rewrite the script in several perfect copies. These were sent by Usman (r.a.) to the main centres of Muslims.

There were other personal collections of the portions of the Qur抋n that people had with them. These might have been incomplete and with mistakes. Usman (r.a.) only appealed to the people to destroy all these copies which did not match the original manuscript of the Qur抋n in order to preserve the original text of the Qur抋n. Two such copies of the copied text of the original Qur抋n authenticated by the Prophet are present to this day, one at the museum in Tashkent in erstwhile Soviet Union and the other at the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, Turkey

salam03

5. Diacritical marks were added for non-Arabs


The original manuscript of the Qur抋n does not have the signs indicating the vowels in Arabic script. These vowels are known as tashkil, zabar, zair, paish in Urdu and as fatah, damma and qasra in Arabic. The Arabs did not require the vowel signs and diacritical marks for correct pronunciation of the Qur抋n since it was their mother tongue. For Muslims of non-Arab origin, however, it was difficult to recite the Qur抋n correctly without the vowels. These marks were introduced into the Quranic script during the time of the fifth 慤mayyad

salam03

. Allah Himself has promised to guard the Qur抋n


Allah has promised in the Qur抋n :

"We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly Guard it (from corruption). [Al-Qur抋n 15:9]

Debmey

here's teh catch.

muslims claim that the Bible was lost and corrupted.
in other words, muslims are saying that allah could not protect his word.

thats the inconsistency and contradiction in islamic teaching.

Sephiroth

ALL this nicely written statements will not change some simple facts :

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself supervised and authenticated the written texts of the Qur抋n

This is false. Al Quran is not written down till AFTER Muhammad's death. So how can he have supervised anything?

2. Order and sequence of Qur抋n divinely inspired  

Here's the funny part ... they (Muslims) claimed that Angel Gabriel is the one who confirm all this. Funny thing was, Gabriel didn't have the ability to tell Muhammad to compile the book during his own lifetime so Gabriel AND Muhammad could double confirm it.

NOW why is that? :hmm:

Simple ... Muhammad was copying the actions of Gautama Buddha. No manuscripts were written of Gautama Buddha during his own lifetime, but upon Gautama Buddha's departure from this World, his students gathered together and form a community which compile all his teachings into manuscripts.

But here is the main difference - to prevent this manuscript from becoming an obstacle in obtaining Nirwana, the students of Gautama Buddha had place Kalama Sutta as main rule to which to follow this manuscript - that each who reads it MUST analyse and question what is written there on their own and NOT take it blindly. Muhammad didn't add such verses here (or maybe his people left it out on purpose) and added whoever questions Muhammad's authencity is damned.

4. Usman (r.a.) made copies of the Qur抋n from the original manuscript
And what happened to that original manuscript?

As far as I remember, there was no written records (complete Al Quran) anywhere to be found till the Caliph compile it. :hmm:

5. Diacritical marks were added for non-Arabs

So that means that it is true that the Al Quran WAS modified to suit non-Arabic people's needs.

That means that their god didn't make the Al Quran as universal as they claim but it still needs a human touch to make it easier to read. Plus, if man can change Al Quran (to make it easier to read), tat means tat their god failed to protect the Al Quran from been corrupted or modified.

sedondon

satu lagi ajaran sesat dari Sepiroth, hanya sekadar teori yg di reka2 sendiri tanpa bukti........

They failed to see the simple logic that the Quran was preserved in its pure form both in written and in memorization, right from the time of its revelation to Prophet Muhammad pbuh till the present day.

Quran is the only book, religious or secular, on the face of this planet that has been completely memorized by millions. These memorizers range from ages 6 and up, both Arabic and non-Arabic speakers, blacks, whites, orientals, poor and wealthy.

Thus the process of memorization was continuous, from Prophet Muhammad's pbuh time to ours with an unbroken chain.

"There is probably no other book in the world which has remained twelve centuries (now fourteen) with so pure a text". Sir William Muir.

There are hundreds of religions flourishing around the world: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Bahaism, Babism, Zoroastrianism, Mormonism, Jehovas Witnesses, Jainism, Confucianism etc. And each of these religions claim that their scripture is preserved from the day it was revealed (written) until our time. A religious belief is as authentic as the authenticity of the scripture it follows. And for any scripture to be labeled as authentically preserved it should follow some concrete and rational criteria.

Imagine this scenario: A professor gives a three hour lecture to his students. Imagine still that none of the students memorized this speech of the professor or wrote it down. Now forty years after that speech, if these same students decided to replicate professor's complete speech word for word, would they be able to do it? Obviously not. Because the only two modes of preservation historically is through writing and memory. Therefore, for any claimants to proclaim that their scripture is preserved in purity, they have to provide concrete evidence that the Scripture was written in its entirety AND memorized in its entirety from the time it was revealed to our time, in a continuous and unbroken chain. If the memorization part doesn't exist parallel to the written part to act as a check and balance for it, then there is a genuine possibility that the written scripture may loose its purity through unintentional and intentional interpolations due to scribal errors, corruption by the enemies, pages getting decomposed etc, and these errors would be concurrently incorporated into subsequent texts, ultimately losing its purity through ages.


Now, of all the religions mentioned above, does any one of them possess their scriptures in its entirety BOTH in writing AND in memory from the day of its revelation until our time. None of them fit this required criteria, except one: This unique scripture is the Qur

rurouni_khairul

The preservation of Quran in written form is commissioned during the reign of Caliph Uthman r.a. who felt that there is a need to preserved the Quran in a written form because lots of prophet's companions who are also a Quran memorizers (Hafeez) were martyred during the Yarmuk war. It has become a necessity at that time.

Before that, muslims depends on Hafeez to hear the Quranic recitals.

Hence, the written Quran is not a corrupted version of a Quran but merely an initiatives by the Caliph to ensure that a standard Quran is always available to all muslims until the end of days.

[ Last edited by  rurouni_khairul at 20-3-2007 05:16 PM ]

salam03

Iman_6,
Good logic argument indeed!
Can't wait to hear from sephiroth reply...is he confidence enough that his holy book preserve in such way! he claim up to 5000 years.....

Debmey

but the truth is, there is no evidence to support this claim that the quran have been preserved.
the oldest qurans date back only to the ninth or tenth century while parallel independent historical records showed no evidence of the quran until the tenth century.

WLIO

Originally posted by Iman_6 at 20-3-2007 05:01 PM
They failed to see the simple logic that the Quran was preserved in its pure form both in written and in memorization, right from the time of its revelation to Prophet Muhammad pbuh till the pres ...

Debmey

so where is the evidence of what you muslims claim?

tinangol_csm

[quote]Namun laporan ini ternyata berseberangan dengan beberapa laporan yang mengindikasikan bahwa nabi SAW telah mengumpulkan satu quran selama hidupnya. Kemungkinan terbesar adalah saat tahun-tahun awalnya di Madina.

Sumber :

WLIO

Originally posted by tinangol_csm at 21-3-2007 01:03 AM


sebagai perkongsian.

memang tak ada

kharrrr   kharrr   kharrrr

Sephiroth

by sedondon
  
satu lagi ajaran sesat dari Sepiroth, hanya sekadar teori yg di reka2 sendiri tanpa bukti........  

Bukan aku yg perlu menbuktikan kesahihan buku cerita kamu lah, BODOH. Agama kamu, kamulah yg perlu buktikan kesahihannya. Setakat ini, tak ada satu bukti pun yg mengatakan Al Quran (yg kononnya dibawa oleh Jibrail) adalah sama dgn Al Quran sekarang.

Tetapi banyak bukti mengatakan Khalifah2 selepas Muhammad bertangguhjawab ke atas Al Quran yg ada sekarang.

Ada juga bukti mengatakan yg banyak yg mengingati ayat2 Al Quran sudah mati tetapi Muhammad sendiri tak pernah terfikir utk menbuat buku drnya. Itu memang sesuatu yg menghairankan, kecuali kalau Si Muhammad itu meniru orang lain yg buat perkara yg sama (spt Gautama Buddha) semata2 utk meninggikan martabat diri sendiri.


by Iman_6

Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Bahaism, Babism, Zoroastrianism, Mormonism, Jehovas Witnesses, Jainism, Confucianism etc. And each of these religions claim that their scripture is preserved from the day it was revealed (written) until our time.

Jangan nak berlagak pandai, boleh tak?

Saya tak tahulah mengenai agama2 lain; dlm Gita - sudah ditetapkan yg semua "kebenaran" yg diikuti oleh Manusia akan menjadi kabur dan sudah diikuti dlm peredaran masa. Sebab itulah Tuhan akan hantar Avatar utk memastikan Kebenaran yg baru diperkenalkan pada permulaan setiap Zaman (yuga).

Gita TIDAK pernah kata ianya yg terbaik ataupun akan kekal dlm keadaan sempurna. Kerana walaupun buku tersebut dijaga dgn baik, kalau si pembaca dia tak pernah baca buku tersebut, tak berguna juga.

Betul apa yg kamu cakap tentang Professor yg bagi ucapan sebanyak 3 jam itu. Tetapi kenapa bodoh sangat sampai nak pergi ke 40 tahun?

Kalau murid2 dlm kelas itu jenis pemalas, tak menumpukan perhatian dan malas berfikir, Professor macam mana pun tak akan dpt buat mereka jadi pandai. Tetapi kalau ajaran dia itu bernas, penuh dgn contoh2 yg baik serta menpunyai murid2 yg rajin mengulang-kaji pelajaran, berfikir serta mendebat dgn kawan2 lain ... apatah 40 tahun, 400 tahun pun apa yg diajar oleh Professor itu boleh dicatatkan kembali.

Itulah perbezaan antara Orang yg bertuhan dgn Orang yg tak bertuhan. Itulah bezaanya antara kamu dan kami. ;)

Tak payah banyak cakap ... saya tanya soalan yg mudah je - kamu (serta MANA2 MUSLIMS DI FORUM INI) menjadi Muslims sekurangnya 20 tahun, BETUL?

BOLEHKAH KAMU MENULIS KEMBALI SEMULA AL QURAN KAMU ITU TANPA MENGUNAKAN SEBARANG REFERENCE?

sedondon

Agama Hindu hanyalah utk penduduk2 di sepanjang sungai Hindus, penduduk2 sepanjang sungai klang, sg langat, sungai rejang, sg. nil, sg. gombak tak perlu.....