PMS 2017 Solved Islamiat Past Papers | Compilation and Editing of the Qur’an
The following question of PMS Islamiat 2017 is solved by Miss Ayesha Irfan, the highest scorer in CSS Islamiat. Moreover, the question is attempted using the same pattern taught by Sir Syed Kazim Ali to his students, who have scored the highest marks in compulsory subjects for years. This solved past paper question is uploaded to help aspirants understand how to crack a topic or question, write relevantly, what coherence is, and how to include and connect ideas, opinions, and suggestions to score the maximum.
Question Breakdown
The examiner inquired about the compilation and editing of the Quran. The question is addressed in two parts. The first is an outline, which is broken down into different parts. Moving further, the introduction is given, followed by the compilation and editing of the Qur’an and the conclusion.
Outline
1-Introduction
2- Importance of the compilation of the Qur’an
3- A historical Overview of the compilation and editing of the Qur’an
- Stages of compilation
- ✔ Initial stage (In the life of the Holy Prophet)
- ✔ Processing stage (In the reign of Abu Bakar)
- ✔ Final stage (In The reign of Usman Bin Affan)
5-Conclusion
Answer to the Question
Introduction
None of the earlier holy books have the voyage of the Quran, which started to be revealed to Prophet Muhammad in the month of Ramadan in 610, in its original form to the present. The remarkable individuals who were Prophet Muhammad’s companions contributed significantly to the production of the Quran, leaving behind a fascinating story. Future generations received the Islamic holy text from Prophet Muhammad’s companions. The Quran was collected into a book during the reign of the first caliph, Abu Bakr. Nonetheless, throughout Muhammad’s (PBUH) 23-year prophetic career, the Quran’s words were committed to memory as they were revealed, and roughly forty-two scribes inscribed them on various materials, including leather, cloth, paper, and pieces of bone. However, Abu Bakr’s compilation was one of the most significant moments in the history of the Qur’an’s preservation. In order to create a single authoritative, cohesive compilation, it collected together all of the written pieces that had previously been used to compose the Qur’an throughout the Prophet’s lifetime.
Importance of the compilation of the Qur’an
The Quran emerged as the primary religious text, and the compilation prevented Muslims from being misled and prevented any distortion of the Quran. One of the primary causes of Muslims’ solidarity around the world was the compilation of the Quran. The Qur’an’s collection is significant because it upholds the veracity of God’s message to humanity. Additionally, it aided Muslims in learning the Qur’an and maintaining their unity around it. This was significant since the Qur’an was kept faithful to its initial revelation during the compiling process.
Furthermore, when those who memorized the verses passed away, the compilation kept them alive. Moreover, the collection served to bring Muslims together around the Qur’an. Subsequently, the collection made learning the Qur’an easier for generations to come.
A Historical Overview of the compilation and editing of the Qur’an
About 1400 years ago, Prophet Muhammad received the revelation of the Holy Quran. But by that time, it wasn’t a legitimate book. By then, the current version of the Holy Quran had not been adequately assembled. Regarding remembering the Holy Quran, the Arabs depended on their excellent memory. Many people possessed the Hifz Quran, which they had firmly committed to memory. The three primary phases of the Holy Quran’s composition are listed below.
- In the life of the Holy Prophet
- In the reign of Abu Bakar
- In the reign of Usman Bin Affan
Stages of compilation
- Initial stage (In the life of the Holy Prophet)
During the Holy Prophet’s lifetime, the complete Quran was revealed. It was not only made public during this period, but it was also documented. When Allah revealed a verse, the Holy Prophet would counsel his scribes to record the revelation. The Holy Quran’s passages were inscribed on various materials, including papers, stones, leather pieces, camel shoulder blades, and palm fronds.
The Holy Quran’s verses were revealed by the demands of the day. However, they do not appear in the revelation sequence. Every time a verse was revealed, the appropriate Surah to place it in was also suggested. Thus, Allah even revealed the order in which the verses were placed. The scribes followed instructions and arranged each verse in the same order. One of the most well-known scribes of the Holy Quran was Hazrat Zaid Bin Thabit. The fact that Zayd saw the “final review” (al-ʿarḍa al-akhīra) between the Prophet ﷺ and the Angel Jibrīl (as) is a second qualification that academics frequently cite.
Throughout the month of Ramadan, the Prophet ﷺ would examine the entire Qur’an with Jibrīl every year. In the final year of his life, he did it twice.
According to Al-Baghawī:
It is said that Zayd b. Thābit attended the final review in which it was clarified what was abrogated and what remained. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī said, “Zayd recited the Qur’an twice to the Prophet ﷺ during the year in which he passed away, and this recitation is called the reading (qirāʾa) of Zayd because he transcribed it for the Prophet ﷺ and recited it to him and witnessed al-ʿarḍa al-akhīra, and he taught its recitation to people until he passed away. That is why Abū Bakr and ʿUmar relied upon him in its compilation, and ʿUthmān appointed him in charge of writing the muṣḥafs—may God be pleased with them all.”
- The Battle of Yamamah (a turning point in the compilation)
One of the compilation’s pivotal moments was the Battle of Yamamah. As previously said, the Arabs had an extremely vivid recall. The Holy Quran was collected into a book based on their vivid recollections. The reason for this is that many people had the Hifz Quran. No one ever felt the necessity for the compilation of the Quran because of their excellent recall. However, in 632 A.D. (11 A.H.), a fierce fight was fought at Yamamah. Hundreds of the Holy Prophet’s companions who had Hifz Quran were martyred because of how intense this struggle was. The Holy Quran was in danger of being lost as a result.
- Processing stage (In the reign of Abu Bakar)
Very few people still had the Hifz Quran after the Battle of Yamamah. Hazrat Umer Bin Khattab grew concerned that a significant amount of the Holy Quran would be lost if things stayed the same or worsened. He told the then-Caliph, Hazrat Abou Bakar, about his concerns and requested that he gather the Holy Quran into a legitimate book. He was initially disagreed with by Abu Bakar. Since the Holy Prophet did not collect the Quran during his lifetime, he claimed he was unable to do anything of that nature. Nevertheless, he consented after being convinced by Umer Bin Khattab, who gave him instructions to gather the Quran into a book.
According to the well-known story by Zayd b. Thabit (RA), which is reported in Ṣaḥiḥ Bukhari, about his participation in Abu Bakr’s compilation, Abu Bakr was doing a task that had never been done before in the Prophet’s lifetime. “How can you do something that the Messenger of Allah did not do?” Abu Bakr asks when the notion is presented to him in this narrative. Abu Bakr’s inquiry would be illogical if other companions had already attempted such a compilation during the Prophet’s lifetime.
Therefore, Hazrat Zaid Bin Thabit took over as the compilation’s manager. He was instructed to gather the Quran and put it all together in one volume. He was initially reluctant to perform something that the Holy Prophet had never done. However, he was prepared to do it after being informed of the entire circumstance. The compilation procedure then started. He gathered all of the written verses from the materials on which they were written. He also paid attention to those who had the Hifz Quran.
Additionally, everyone was asked to provide their own verses. Only the verses that at least two people attested to were included. This eliminated the possibility of inadvertently omitting any verse.
The Quran was assembled into a single book in this manner. Umer Bin Khattab officially held the assembled version. After his death, the Quran’s volume was given to his daughter Hazrat Hafsah. This marked the conclusion of the second stage of the Quran’s composition.
Abu Bakr’s goal was to gather the Qur’an with all of its aḥruf and how it was revealed, which are based on the dialect of [the Meccan tribe of] Quraysh and others, according to the hadith scholar Badr al-Din al-ʿAyni (d. 855/1451). But ʿUthman wanted to separate the Qurayshite vernacular from those other interpretations.
- Final stage (In the reign of Usman Bin Affan)
The Islamic federation had a broad distribution till the reign of Hazrat Usman. It also covered regions that weren’t even Arabic. Those individuals did not speak Arabic as their first language. The issue of dialects became widespread when Islam spread to areas where no local speakers lived. Because various people pronounced words differently, people began to argue by accusing one another of mispronouncing words. Hazrat Usman was concerned that the disputes would worsen and split the Muslims when he learned about the recitation disputes.
He acted right away and requested the authentic Quranic volume from Hazrat Hafsah. Thabit (RA) was also a key figure in the compilations of Uthman and Abu Bakr. “The Qur’an was not yet gathered, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) died,” Zayd stated. It was inscribed on palm leaves, stalks, trunks, and branches. There is proof in other narratives that the Prophet ordered the verses in each chapter to be compiled. “We compiled the Qur’an from parchment with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),” Hazrat Zayd stated. Moreover, Al-Bayhaqi said, “It appears that he intended this to be a compilation of what was revealed from the book, the verses scattered in its chapters, and gathering them together based on instruction from the Prophet”
According to Gregor Schoeler, “the traditional reports about the state of the Qurʾan at the time of the Prophet’s death are not unbelievable if one assumes that part of it—perhaps the greater part of it—had already been written down on sheets of the same format and material, while another, and possibly smaller, part had not yet been committed to writing in this form. This latter part, perhaps consisting of the more recent revelations, may have been written on disparate materials and not yet been transferred to sheets of the same format.” Therefore, the committee in charge of transcribing the Quran in a particular dialect was headed by Hazrat Zaid Bin Sabit. Lastly, Muslims worldwide were instructed to speak with a Quraish accent. This is because the Quraish accent was used when the Holy Quran was revealed. The original copy of the Quran was returned to Hazrat Hafsah after the duplicates were created. All of the Islamic states’ provinces received these copies. All other copies of the Quran were to be destroyed or replaced with the updated version. This prevented the Muslim community from becoming split among groups.
Ibn al-Tin and others have said: The difference between Abu Bakr’s compilation and ʿUthman’s is that Abu Bakr compiled the Qur’an out of fear that parts of it might be lost with the loss of those who had memorized it, as it was not collected in one place. So, he gathered it into parchments, arranging the verses of its surahs as the Prophet PBUH had directed.
Conclusion
Since the day of its revelation, not a single word in the Holy Quran has changed. Every safety measure was used in the compilation of the Holy Quran without making any changes to it. But by 1400 years ago, the Holy Quran’s current edition was incorrectly assembled. To assist them in remembering the Holy Quran, the Arabs depended on their exceptional memory. Many people had the Hifz Quran and were committed to memorising it. The primary phases of the Holy Quran’s compilation occurred during the Holy Prophet’s lifetime, Abu Bakr’s rule, and Usman Bin Affan’s.
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