Revelation Of Quran -When-How

HOW WAS THE QUR’AN REVEALED?

The first revelation came to Mohammad when he was 40 years old and was on one among his customary retreats within the cave of Hira’ within the hills outside Makkah. it had been one among the odd nights during the last ten days of the month of Ramadan.

consistent with the reports recorded within the authentic Hadith literature, an angelic presence appeared before the perplexed Mohammad and said to him: “Iqra’” (Read or Recite—the word Iqra’ has an ambiguous meaning).

Mohammad replied that he couldn’t recite or didn’t know what to recite. After the instructions to read or recite were repeated two more times, Mohammad reports that the angelic presence held him and squeezed him so tightly that he felt that his breath was leaving his body. The angelic presence then instructed him to recite with him the words that are now recorded because the fist 5 Ayahs of the 96th Surah Al-Qalam, (The Pen) of the Quran.

Read (or recite) within the name of your Lord who created (and continues to create); Created the humankind from a clot of congealed blood. Read and your Lord is that the Most Generous; Who taught by the pen; taught humankind what it didn’t know.

These are the primary words of the revelation that take Mohammad from an unassuming but generous and trusted member of his city to become Mohammad the Messenger of God, AlRasool Allah. a person with no worldly ambitions, and unknown for eloquence and speech, becomes the most eloquent and protracted critic of his society.

He becomes a fanatical advocate for reform supported the worship of 1 God and insisting on the dignity, equality and Justice for the slaves, the poor and therefore the female. The experience of this first revelation shakes him and stuns him. He hurries to his wife Khadijah and asks her to hide him with a blanket. When he recovers his composure, he relatesn to her the story of his experience. he’s concerned that he could also be hallucinating or loosing his mind.

She assures him that he’s a really balanced person which his experience must have some super natural explanation. She suggested that they are going to go to one her old relatives know for knowledge of previous scriptures. Her relative, Waraqa ibn Naufal, tells Mohammad that his experience resembles that of Moses and therefore the other prophets. He suggests that Mohammad has been chosen as a messenger by Allah .

He warns him that the people would oppose him as they opposed the prophets before him. (More details of this are covered within the lectures on the
Prophet’s life).

RECORDING OF THE QURAN

The revelations were recorded contemporaneously by one among the scribes appointed by the Prophet for this purpose. After every revelation, the Prophet would begin to the general public (unless he was already outside) and recite to the people the new verses.

He would also instruct one of the scribes to write down it down. consistent with authentic Hadith literature, he would tell them where the new revelation was to be positioned in relationship to previous revelations. He would tell the Surah where the new revelation would go and therefore the preceding and succeeding Ayahs. The scribes would write of what ever material was available at the moment.

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Thus the writing medium ranged from a stone, the leaf of a palm , shoulder-bone of a camel, the membrane on the inside of a deer-skin, a parchment or a papyrus. These writings were stored during a corner of the Prophet’s room and later, perhaps, during a separate room or office near the Prophet’s room. It should be mentioned that while Al Qur’an means a recitation, it also calls itself “The Book”.

The root word for book, k-t-b, occurs within the Quran quite 300 times. The word and concept of Surah is additionally within the Qur’an; then is that the word Ayah.
The Makkans, being a merchant society, had an outsized pool of these who could read and write. There were as many as 11 scribes during the first a part of the Madinan period also. The most prominent of those was an elderly gentleman, named Ubayy ibn Ka`b. The Prophet was then introduced to an active teenager named Zayd ibn Thabit.

He was wanting to learn and was placed directly under the Prophet’s supervision. After he had accomplished his initial assignments in record time, the Prophet made him responsible of the Qur’anic record. Zayd became the principal scribe, organizer, and keeper of the record.

Hundreds of people memorized the Qur’an and lots of wrote what they learned. But maintaining with the new revelations and therefore the changing arrangement of the Ayahs within the Surahs wasn’t possible apart from a couple of . to stay up, hundreds regularly reviewed the Quran they knew.

Many did this under the Prophet’s own guidance. Others did it under the supervision of teachers designated by the Prophet. Those from remote areas, who had visited once, or occasionally, may not have maintained . Some, who wrote what that they had learned, might not have inserted the new revelations within the manner prescribed by the Prophet.

The Prophet was meticulous about the integrity of the Quran. He constantly recited, in public, the Surahs as they were arranged at the time. it’s reported that angel Gabriel reviewed entire Quran with the Prophet once a year during the month of Ramadan.

This review was done twice during the last year of the Prophet’s life. And Zayd maintained the records faithfully, kept them properly indexed, and made sure they were complete consistent with Prophet’s instructions.
At the time of the Prophet’s death, Zayd had an entire record of all revelations except the last two Ayahs of Syrah 9, the Al Taubah. The Prophet wont to indicate the completion of a Surah by instructing the sentence, “(I begin) within the name of God, the most Merciful, The Most Compassionate” be written at its beginning.

This wording at the start of every Surah became both a separator from others and a sign that the Surah was now complete. This formulation is missing from the 9th Surah, indicating that nobody wanted to feature anything to the
Qur’an that the Prophet had himself not ordered, even if seemed logical to try to to so. Total Words: 573 .

FORMAL COMPILATION AS A “BOOK”

convenient to store, maintained, and used as a reference. consistent with the Hadith literature, Abu Bakr was reluctant to try to to some thing the Prophet himself had not undertaken. After a couple of days, however, he “became inclined” to the idea and asked Zayd to undertake the task. Zayd says he also hesitated but, after contemplation, also “became inclined” and agreed to undertake the work.

A committee was formed to try to to the work . They compiled a set by checking and double checking each Ayah of the existing record of the Quran with the memories of every member of the committee also as of the opposite prominent experts. This copy was housed with the Prophet’s wife Hafsa. (She was a daughter of `Umar ibn al Khattab).

By the time of the third Caliph, `Uthman ibn `Affan, the Muslim population had cover vast areas out side the core Arab regions and lots of people of other cultures were entering Islam. About 15 years after the first compilation, therefore, it had been suggested that authenticated copies of the Qur’an be made available to major population centers in those areas. Zayd again was instructed to undertake the task.

He again formed a committee. rather than just making copies of the existing text, they decided to seek corroboration of every Ayah within the earlier compilation with at least two other written records within the private copies within the possession of known reputable individuals. it’s reported that this comparison was successful for all Ayahs except one.

For this Ayah, just one comparison might be found. But it had been within the hands of an individual who was considered so reliable by the Prophet himself that his lone testimony was accepted by the Prophet during a case requiring two witnesses. it’s reported that, 7 copies of the gathering were prepared and authenticated. one among these copies was given to the Caliph himself. One became the reference copy for the people of Madinah, one was sent to Makkah, one to Kufah, and one to Damascus. (I was unable to find references to the destination of the opposite copies).