Friday 14 October 2011

Books and Articles

 

There are hundreds of religions
flourishing around the world: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism,
Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Bahaism, Babism, Zoroastrianism,
Mormonism, Jehovah 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 or memorized in its entirety from the time it was revealed to
our time, in a continuous and unbroken chain. Otherwise, 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 loosing its purity through ages.

Now, of all the religions mentioned
above, None of them fit the required criteria, except one: This
unique scripture is the Qur'an
- revelation bestowed to Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) 1,400+ years ago, as a guidance for all of humankind.

Lets analyze the claim of the
preservation of the Quran...


Memorization

In the ancient times, when writing
was scarcely used, memory and oral transmission was exercised and
strengthened to a degree now almost unknown. However,
the
Qur'an was preserved by memory and still is. Writing was only a
secondary way of preserving it. Numerous companions (i.e. at least
dozens-upon-dozens) memorized the entire Qur'an, and hundreds
memorized parts of it. The Arabs at the time were an oral society.

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh): The First Memorizer

It was in this 'oral' society that
Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) was born in Mecca in the year 570 C.E. At the age
of 40, he started receiving divine Revelations from the One God,
Allah, through Archangel Gabriel. This process of divine revelations
continued for about 22.5 years just before he passed away.

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) miraculously
memorized each revelation and used to proclaim it to his Companions.
Angel Gabriel used to refresh the Quranic memory of the Prophet each
year.

"The Prophet (Pbuh) was
the most generous person, and he used to become more so (generous)
particularly in the month of Ramadan because Gabriel used to meet him
every night of the month of Ramadan till it elapsed. Allah's Messenger
(Pbuh) use to recite the Qur'an for him. When Gabriel met him, he use
to become more generous than the fast wind in doing good."
(Transmitted by Ibn Abbas, collected in Sahih Al-Bukhari)

"Gabriel used to repeat the
recitation of the Qur'an with the Prophet (Pbuh) once a year, but he
repeated it twice with him in the year he (Prophet) died."
(Transmitted by Abu Hurayrah, collected in Sahih Al-Bukhari, 6.520)

The Prophet himself use to stay up a
greater part of the night in prayers and use to recite Quran from
memory.

Prophet's
Companions: The First Generation Memorizers

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) encouraged his
companions to learn and teach the Quran:

"The most superior among you
(Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it" (Jalal
al-Din Suyuti, 'Al-Itqan fi-ulum al-Quran, Vol. I  p.124)

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.

Abu Bakr, the
first male Muslim to convert to Islam used to recite the Quran
publicly in front of his house in Makka.

The Prophet also listened to the
recitation of the Qur'an by the Companions: 'Allah Apostle said to me
(Abdullah bin Mas'ud): "Recite (of the Quran) to me". I
said: "Shall I recite it to you although it had been revealed to
you?!" He Said: "I like to hear (the Quran) from
others". So I recited Sura-an-Nisa' till I reached: "How
(will it be) then when We bring from each nation a witness and We
bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these people?"'
(4:41) 'Then he said: "Stop!" Behold, his eyes were shedding
tears then'.

Many Quranic memorizers (Qurra) were
present during the lifetime of the Prophet and afterwards through out
the Muslim world.

'At the
battle of Yamama, many memorizers of the Quran were martyred.
'Narrated Zaid bin Thabit al Ansari, who was one of those who use to
write the Divine Revelations: Abu Bakr sent me after the (heavy)
casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great
number of Qurra were killed). Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said:
"Umar has come to me and said, the people have suffered heavy
casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that
there will be some casualties among the Qurra (those who memorized the
entire Quran) at other place..."' (Al-Bukhari, 6.201)

Over the centuries of the Islamic
Era, there have arisen throughout the various regions of the Islamic
world literally thousands of schools devoted specially to the teaching
of the Quran to children for the purpose of memorization. These are
called, in Arabic, katatib (singular: Kuttab). It is said that the
Caliph 'Umar (634-44) first ordered the construction of these schools
in the age of the great expansion.

Second Generation
Memorizers:

"...Quranic schools were set up
everywhere. As an example to illustrate this I may refer to a great
Muslim scholar, of the second Muslim generation, Ibn 'Amir, who was
the judge of Damascus under the Caliph Umar Ibn 'Abd Al-Aziz. It is
reported that in his school for teaching the Quran there were 400
disciples to teach in his absence." ((Ibn al Jazari, Kitab
al-Nash fi al-Qir'at al-Ashr, (Cairo al-Halabi, n.d._ vol. 2, p. 254,
also Ahmad Makki al-Ansari, al-Difa' An al-Qur'an. (Cairo, Dar al-Ma'arif,
1973 C.E.), part I, p.120)

Memorizers in
Subsequent Generations:

The Number of Katatib and similar
schools in Cairo (Egypt) alone at one time exceeded two thousand. (Labib
as-Said, the Recited Koran, Translated by Bernard Weiss, M.A.Rauf, and
Morroe Berger, The Darwon Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1975, pg.59)

Currently both in the Muslim and
non-Muslim countries thousands of schools with each instructing tens
of hundreds of students the art of memorizing the entire Quran. In the
city of Chicago itself, there are close to 40+ Mosques, with many of
them holding class for children instructing them the art of Quranic
memorization.

Further Points of
Consideration:

* Muslims recite Quran from their
memory in all of their five daily prayers.

* Once a year, during the
month of Fasting (Ramadan), Muslims listen to the complete recitation
of the Quran by a Hafiz (Memorizer of the entire Quran).

* We could get together a handful of Hafeezs of Qur'an today and they
could produce the whole Qur'an from collective memory without flaw.

* It's a
tradition among Muslims that before any speech or presentation,
marriages, sermons, Quran is recited.

Conclusion:

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.

"The method of transmitting the
Quran from one generation to the next by having the young memorize the
oral recitation of their elders had mitigated somewhat from the
beginning the worst perils of relying solely on written
records..." (John Burton, An Introduction to the Hadith, p.27.
Edinburgh University Press: 1994)

"This phenomenon of Quranic
recital means that the text has traversed the centuries in an unbroken
living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be handled as an
antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant past.
The fact of hifz (Quranic Memorization) has made the Qur'an a present
possession through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it a human
currency in every generation never allowing its relegation to a bare
authority for reference alone" (Kenneth Cragg, The Mind of the
Qur'an, p.26. George Allah & Unwin: 1973)

Written Text of the
Quran

Prophet's Time:

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) was very
vigilant in preserving the Quran in the written form from the very
beginning up until the last revelation. The Prophet himself was
unlettered, did not knew how to read and write, therefore he called
upon his numerous scribes to write the revelation for him. Complete
Quran thus existed in written form in the lifetime of the Prophet.

Whenever a new revelation use to
come to him, the Prophet would immediately call one of his scribes to
write it down.

'Some people visited Zaid Ibn Thabit
(one of the scribes of the Prophet) and asked him to tell them some
stories about Allah's Messenger. He replied: "I was his
(Prophet's) neighbor, and when the inspiration descended on him he
sent for me and I went to him and wrote it down for him..." (Tirmidhi,
Mishkat al-Masabih, No. 5823)

Narrated by al-Bara': There was
revealed 'Not equal are those believers who sit (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 ink pot and scapula
bone.' Then he (Prophet) said: 'Write: Not equal are those
believers...' (Bukhari, 6.512)


Zaid is reported to have said: 'We use to compile the Qur'an from
small scraps in the presence of the Apostle' (Suyuti, Itqan, I, p.99)

'The Prophet, while in Madinah, had
about 48 scribes who use to write for him' (M.M.Azami, Kuttab al-Nabi,Beirut,
1974)

Abdullah Ibn 'Umar relates:... 'The
Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) said: "Do not take the Qur'an on a journey
with you, for I am afraid lest it should fall into the hands of the
enemy"' (Muslim, III, NO. 4606, also 4607, 4608; Bukhari, 4.233)


During the Prophet's last pilgrimage, he gave a sermon in which he
said: 'I have left with you something which if you will hold fast it
you will never fall into error - a plain indication, the Book of God
(Quran) and the practice of his Prophet...' (Ibn Hisham, Sira al-nabi,
p.651)

'Besides the official
manuscripts of the Quran kept with the Prophet, many of his companions
use to possess their own written copies of the revelation'. (Suyuti,
Itqan, I, p.62)

'A list of Companions of whom it is
related that they had their own written collections included the
following: Ibn Mas'ud, Ubay bin Ka'b, Ali, Ibn Abbas, Abu Musa, Hafsa,
Anas bin Malik, Umar, Zaid bin Thabit, Ibn Al-Zubair, Abdullah ibn Amr,
Aisha, Salim, Umm Salama, Ubaid bin Umar'. (Ibn Abi Dawud: Masahif,
p.14)

'The best known among these
(Prophet's Scribes) are: Ibn Masud, Ubay bin Kab and Zaid bin Thabit'
(Bayard Dodge: The fihrist of al-Nadim: A Tenth Century Survey of
Muslim Culture, New York, 1970, pp.53-63)

'Aisha and Hafsa, the wives of the
Prophet had their own scripts written after the Prophet had died' (Muwatta
Imam Malik, Lahore, 1980, no.307, 308, translation by M. Rahimuddin)

Conclusion:

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 Qur'an 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.

Written Quran in
First Generation:

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.

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit al-Ansari,
one of the scribes of the Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the
casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great
number of Qurra (memorizers of the Quran, were killed). Umar was
present with Abu Bakr who said: "Umar has come to me and said,
the people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle)
of Yamama, 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 (Zaid bin Thabit): 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 6.201)

Now, 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 Quran.

'...Zaid bin Thabit had committed
the entire Quran to memory...' (Labib as-Said, The Recited Koran,
translated by Bernard Weiss, et al. 1975, p.21.)

The compilers in this committee, in
examining written material submitted to them, insisted on very
stringent criteria as a safeguard against any errors.

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. (Ibn
Hajar, Fath, Vol. IX, p.10)

2. The material must be confirmed by two witnesses, that is to
say, by two trustworthy persons testifying that they themselves had
heard the Prophet recite the passage in question. (ibid., p.11)


They could have done it from memory, but just to be safe, they
collected all of the parts of the written Qur'an just to be doubly
sure.

'The manuscript on which the Qur'an
was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him,
and then with Umar (the second successor), till Allah took him unto
Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, 'Umar's daughter (and wife of
the Prophet)' (Bukhari, 6.201)

This copy of the Quran, prepared by
the committee of competent companions of the Prophet (which included
Memorizers of the Quran) was unanimous approved by the whole Muslim
world. If they committee would have made an error even of a single
alphabet in transcribing the Quran, the Qurra (memorizers of the
Quran) which totaled in the tens of hundreds would have caught it
right away and correct it. This is exactly where the neat check and
balance system of preservation of the Quran comes into play, but which
is lacking for any other scripture besides the Quran.

Official written copy by Uthman

The Quran was originally revealed in
Quraishi dialect of Arabic. But to facilitate the people who speak
other dialects, in their understanding and comprehension, Allah
revealed the Quran finally in seven dialects of Arabic.

After Prophet Muhammad's
demise, Islam spread beyond Arabia. During the caliphate of Othman,
some 15 years after the Prophet's death, the Caliph learnt that, due
to regional and geographical factors, non-arabs in the other
territories were reading and reciting the Quran, which is in Arabic,
with different accent and pronunciation. Taking present day
differences in pronunciation as an example, we see Australians
pronouce certain English words differently from the English people
("day", for instance, is pronounced as "dai".)
Caliph Othman therefore acted swiftly to prevent the differences in
pronunciation and accent from getting wider. After consultation with
leading authorities, he formed a committee comprising the former
scribes of the Quran to produce a standard copy
in the Quraishi dialect, the dialect in which
the Quran was revealed to the Prophet and was memorized by his
companions,
to
use it by other races or dialect groups so that when they read the
Quran, the accent and intonation would be the same as that made by the
man who received it - Prophet Muhammad. This was done by inserting
"accent" marks so that a muslim of any race, from any
country and of any educational level would be able to read the Quran
with the correct accent even though he may not understand the Arabic
language. This standard copy of the Quran was then used as a prototype
in making copies of the Quran for distribution to other principle
cities.
Thus this compilation by Uthman's Committee is not a
different version of the Quran (like the Biblical versions) but the
same original revelation given to the Prophet by One God, Allah.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: 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, 'O chief of the Believers! Save
this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) 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, 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit
on any point in the Quran, then write it in their (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, 6.510)

Again a very
stringent criteria was set up by this Committee to prevent any
alteration of the Revelation.

1. The earlier recension (Original
copy prepared by Abu Bakr) was to serve as the principal basis of the
new one. (Ibn Hajar, Bath, IX, p. 15)

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. (Suyuti, Itqan, Vol.I, p.59)

3. Uthman himself was to supervise the work of the
Council. (ibid., p.59)

When the final recension was
completed, Uthman sent a copy of it to each of the major cities of
Makka, Damascus, Kufa, Basra and Madina.

The action of Uthman to burn the
other copies besides the final recension, though obviously drastic,
was for the betterment and harmony of the whole community and was
unanimously approved by the Companions of the Prophet.

Zaid ibn Thabit is reported to have
said: "I saw the Companions of Muhammad (going about) saying, 'By
God, Uthman has done well! By God, Uthman has done well!" (Naysaburi,
al-,Nizam al-Din al-Hasan ibn Muhammad, Ghara'ib al-Quran wa-ragha'ib
al-furqan. 4 vols. To date. Cairo, 1962)

Another esteemed Companion Musab ibn
Sad ibn Abi Waqqas said: "I saw the people assemble in large
number at Uthman's burning of the prescribed copies (of the Quran),
and they were all pleased with his action; not a one spoke out against
him" (Ibn Abi Dawud, p.12)

Ali ibn Abu Talib, the cousin of the
Prophet and the fourth successor to the Prophet commented: "If I
were in command in place of Uthman, I would have done the same" (Zarkashi,
al-, Badr al-Din, Al-Burhan fi-ulum al-Quran, Cairo, 1957, Vol. I, p.
240.)

Manuscript Evidence : Early Qur'anic Manuscripts in our Possession:

Most of the early original Qur'an manuscripts with us now date
from after the 2nd century. There are however a number of odd
fragments of Qur'anic papyri which date from the 1st century as
mentioned in Die Entstehung des Qur'an. There is also
a complete Qur'an in the Egyptian National Library on parchment made
from gazelle skin which has been dated 68AH.

Narrations differ as to how many copies were directly ordered and
sent out by the Caliph 'Uthman, but they range from four to seven.
It seems certain from various Muslim historical sources that several
were lost, through fire amongst other things. There are four copies
that are attributed to Uthman.

1) The Tashkent manuscript.

It seems that the copy in Tashkent also known as the Samarkand
manuscript may be the "Imam" manuscript which Uthman kept
for himself and was killed while reading it. A book has been written
called Tarikh al Mushaf al Uthman fi Tashkent by Makhdun in
which he gives a number of reasons for the authenticity of the
manuscript;


1. The mushaf is written in a script used in the first 50 years of
Hijra.

2. It is written on parchment made from gazelle.

3. There are no diacritical marks which is indicative of early
manuscripts.

4. It does not
have the vowelling marks which were introduced by Du'ali who died
in AH68 suggesting that it is earlier than this.

The Kufic Script

To begin with the quote of a Muslim, al-Kalkashandi, he maintains
(Kitab al-A'sha 3/p.15) that Kufic is said to have been the earliest
script from which the others developed, he writes: "The
Arabic script (khatt) is the one which is now known as Kufic. From
it evolved all the present pens."

The terms that came to be applied to these scripts by early Arabs
themselves could not have the chronological significance that some
later Arabs and most Western writers have put to them. For is it the
case that the name of a thing (e.g. Kufic) necessarily indicates its
ultimate origin? The fact is that the script which later came to be
known as Kufic has its origin far earlier than the founding of the
town of Kufah. Atiq Siddiqui writes: "The Kufic or the
angular variety of the Arabic script, has been traced about a
hundred years before the foundation of the town Kufa, 638CE (AH17)
to which place the style owes its name." [Siddiqui, The
Story of Islamic Calligraphy
, p.9] That is to say, the town
was founded in AH17, and the Kufic style originated 100 years before
that time! This conclusion is
agreed upon by other writers; we read in The Splendour of
Islamic Calligraphy
: "However, Kufic script cannot
have originated in Kufa, since that city was founded in 17/638, and
the Kufic script is known to have existed before that date."
[Sijelmasi and Khatibi, The Splendour of Islamic Calligraphy,
p.97]

Dating of the origins of this
script agree with early coin and rock inscriptions which have been
commented upon by Western writers, some of them being:

31 A. H.

Tombstone of Abdar-Rahman ibn Khair al-Hajari

Nabia Abbott writes: "The earliest Muslim inscription,
the tombstone of Abdar-Rahman ibn Khair al-Hajari, dated 31/652 . .
. It is certainly not Makkan and can safely be considered as poor
Kufic." [Abbott, Rise and Development, p.19]

Pre-93 A. H.

The milestone, dated from the time of the Caliph Abdal-Malik
(reign 685 - 705CE), written in Kufic script. [see Welch, Calligraphy
in the Arts of the Muslim World
, p.44]

107 A. H.

Umayyad coin, minted in Damascus, inscribed in early Kufic
script. The inscription reads: "There is none worthy of
worship but Allah, He is One and has no partner" [British
Museum, Room 34]

108 A. H.

Umayyad coin, minted at Wasit, Iraq, inscribed in early Kufic
script. The inscription reads: "There is none worthy of
worship but Allah, He is One and has no partner" [British
Museum, Room 34]

2) The Topkapi manuscript.

Concerning the Topkapi manuscript there is an interesting clause
in the Treaty of Versailles Article 246: "Within six
months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, Germany
will restore to his majesty King of Hijaz, the original Qur'an of
Caliph Uthman."

It seems that the manuscript reached Istanbul but not Medina.
Sheikh Mohammed Shaibanee from the Revival of Islamic Heritage
Society in Kuwait certainly considers it as Uthmanic. Mohammed
Hamidullah also seems to agree but with more caution. Martin Lings,
amongst others, considers it second century. The reason for this
late attribution is the development of the writing style (not
script) and its comparative sophistication suggests a later period
that the first century.

3) The Islamic Museum in Istanbul.

This again does not seem to be an original Uthmanic manuscript,
but the oldest copy from the original. It is written in Makki
script, and is almost certainly before the end of the first century.

4) Hussain mosque in Cairo.

This is the oldest of all the manuscripts, and is either original
or an exact copy from the original with similarity to the Madini
script.

There are also other Qur'ans attributed to Uthman.

Ibn Nadim and Ibn Ain Aba claim that Ali ibn Abi Talib wrote
three Qur'ans of which there is one in Dar al Qutb, Najaf in Iraq
and it has written on it "Ali ibn Abi Talib wrote it in the
year 40H", one in Egypt and one in Iran. It seems almost
impossible that the Iman Riba manuscript in Iran is actually written
by the hand of Ali because the script, although developed at his
time, would not have been learnt by him since the dissentions in his
rule kept him too busy to be able to learn such an art. It is
however possible that he ordered someone else to write it.

The most significant Qur'an attributed to Ali ibn Talib is that
in the Hussain Mosque in Egypt. The writing is early Kufic, it has
many similarities to Madini, which is the form of writing that Ali
would have used. It could well be Ali's own writing.

There is also existing Qur'anic writings attributed to Hassan and
Hussain and Zain al Abideen (sons of Ali ibn Talib). There are also
other copies such as the one attributed to Hajjaj ibn Muwawiya
dated AH49 and Ukba ibn Amir dated AH52 in Turkey. More information
on this topic can be found in Tarikh al Khatim al Arabi of Dr
Salah ud Din al Munjid from where these details have been extracted.

It is also worth mentioning that there is no deviation in these
manuscripts from the Qur'an in our possession today.

The "Institute fur Koranforschung" of the
University of Munich, Germany, had collected and collated some
42,000 complete or incomplete copies of the Qur'an, gathered from
all over the world. After some fifty years of study they reported
that in terms of differences between the various copies there were no
variants
, except occasional mistakes of copyists which could
easily be ascertained. The institute was destroyed by American bombs
during the Second World War.

Conclusion:

It can now be proclaimed, through
the evidences provided above, with full conviction and certainty that
the Prophet memorized the entire Quran, had it written down in front
of him through his scribes, many of his companions memorized the
entire revelation and in turn possess their own private copies for
recitation and contemplation. This process of dual preservation of the
Quran in written and in the memory was carried in each subsequent
generation till our time, without any deletion, interpolation or
corruption of this Divine Book.

Sir Williams Muir states, "There is otherwise every security, internal and external, that we
possess the text which Muhammad himself gave forth and used" (Sir
Williams Muir, Life of Mohamet, Vol.I. Introduction)

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

This divine protection provided to
the Quran, the Last Reveled Guide to Humanity, is proclaimed by One
God in the Quran:

Learn Holy Quran because it will be a proof for us muslim on the Day of Judgment.

This is due to the statement of the Messenger: “And the Quran is a proof for you or against you.” [Muslim] so the deputy of every Muslim is to read quran and learn quran with tajweed so one of two things will occur with this proof, the Book of Allah. And this quran education will be in your favor, a proof for us on the Day when we will need every single good deed and learning quran along with doing quran memorization is one of it and to add more spread the quran teaching and spread the kids quran knowledge and listening to quran online and understand the quran tafseer , it will be something standing against us and follow the guidance of or prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and these good deeds will be a proof against us! Who could be saved from the terrors of that Day if Allah’s own Speech is against him?!?! Think carefully, so reading Arabic Quran and teaching our kids quran qaida with the tafseer of quran  and let the kids memorize quran dear Muslim brother or sister, about your position with the reading Quran! Are you neglecting it, contradicting it, being heedless of its orders and prohibitions, are you thinking deeply over it?! Will it be on your side on the Day of Judgment.? So learn quran recitation! O Allah! We ask you, by Your Glorious Speech and the rest of your beautiful Names and Attributes, to make the Quran a proof for us! So the Quran tutor should let his student know about these facts also,

 

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