Preservation of the Quran P1

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The Quran was first revealed in 610 CE when Prophet Muhammed (sal) was 40 years old. It was not revealed all at once rather it continued coming to him for a period of 23 years both in Makkah and Madina.
We can divide the subject i.e. Preservation of the Quran into 3 parts.

1. During the life time of the Prophet (sal)
2. During the life time of the 1st Caliph Abu Bakr As- Siddiq (R) - 1st writing
3. During the life time of the 4th Caliph Uthman ibn Affan (R) - 2nd writing

In Sha Allah in this series we will look at it in the chronological order.

1. During the life time of the Prophet (sal)

In the beginning when Jibreel (A)  recited the Quran , the prophet tried to repeat word for word in fear that he may forget and in his eagerness  to memorize it fast. But then later he was commanded not to do so. As mentioned in Surah Al-Qiyamah (75: 16- 18)

16. Move not your tongue with it, [O Muhammad], to hasten with recitation of the Qur'an.

17. Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your heart] and [to make possible] its recitation.
18.So when We have recited it [through Gabriel], then follow its recitation.
Instead he was asked to listen carefully and was ensured that  Allah will make it easy for him to remember effortlessly although he was  unable to read or write.
Prophet (Sal) used various techniques to ensure that the Quran was preserved even during his lifetime. For an example:

• Anyone who entered into the fold of Islam was taught parts of Quran that was to be used in daily prayers.
• The prophet (sal) used to recite various parts of the Quran during congregational prayers, thus muslims used to hear different parts of the Quran daily.
• The prophet (sal) always encouraged the people to memorize and teach the Quran. Eg: He informed that the best of the people were those who learnt the Quran and taught it.
• The Prophet(sal) used to make people who knew to read and write to write down the various sections of the Quran , while he personally supervised them.

In this way the Quran was constantly being learnt and taught. Also, since paper was not available in Arabia at that time, the Quran was written on various materials such as date palm leaves, flat stones , tree barks , wood , dry animal skin , shoulder blades of sheep/camels and so on.

Thus during the lifetime of the Prophet (sal) the Quran was preseved in hearts of the Muslims and was available in various written formats which was owned by different muslims. However, only some companions were able to listen the entire the Quran directly from the prophet since people were accepting Islam at different points.Further, only few had memorized the entire Quran during the lifetime of the prophet  although portions of Quran were memorized by all. 

In addition to this the  Quranic verses were being revealed until a few months before prophet's death. And the companions at that time were more focused more on recording and memorizing it than compiling it in one book. Thus ,the entire Quran was not available as a compiled  book during the life time of prophet(sal).

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