Doubts about the compilation of the Holy Quran

 1- Compilation of the Qur’an

The objectors have taken the facts of the compilation of the Qur’an as a pretext through which they can infiltrate to undermine the Qur’an and cast doubt on its being a revelation from God Almighty.
In fact, what forced them to infiltrate through this “pretext,” which is the facts of the compilation of the Qur’an, are two main matters:
First: Their attempt to strip confidence from the Qur’an and shake faith in it so that it does not remain the only divine text protected from any change or alteration, addition or subtraction.
Second: Justifying the criticism that the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) have directed at the Holy Book in both its Testaments: the Old (Torah) and the New (Gospels), in order to block the path of critics of the Holy Book from Muslims and non-Muslims.
The areas of doubt they have regarding the facts of the compilation of the Qur’an and the stages it went through are:
The Qur’an was not recorded or written in a Mushaf or Mushafs as is the case now, except after the death of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace. As for during his lifetime, it was not compiled in a Mushaf. And that its collection went through several stages:
The first: During the caliphate of Abu Bakr - may God be pleased with him - and it is an initial collection that is not fully documented as they claim?
The second: During the caliphate of Uthman bin Affan - may God be pleased with him - and the collection in this stage was capable of introducing many additions that were lacking in the writing of the Qur’an later. Because the Qur’an was not punctual or vocalized in them.
The third: The additions that were attached to the Qur’anic text, the most prominent of which are:
* Dotting its letters to distinguish some from others, such as distinguishing kha from jim and ha, and distinguishing jim from kha and ha, and distinguishing ta by placing two dots above it for each of ya, ba, nun and tha.
1- Punctuating its words with damma, fatha, kasra and jazm, such as: “Al-Hamdu li-Lahī Rabbi al-‘Alamīn” This is an incidental matter in the collection of the Qur’an in its two previous stages.
2- Punctuation marks: such as: ج صلى لا قلى م 00 00
3- Placing circles with the numbers of the verses in each surah.
All of these additions did not exist in the era of the Prophet, nor in the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
They mention all of this to illustrate that the suspicion that was noticed in the compilation of the Mushaf containing the Holy Qur’an, plants doubts and suspicions (plural of suspicion) in the unity of the Qur’an, its stability and its freedom from distortion. So why do Muslims insist on accusing the Torah that is in the hands of the Jews now that it does not represent the truth of the Torah that God revealed to Moses, peace be upon him? Or why do they give this description to the collection of “Gospels” that are in the hands of the Christians now?
The response to this suspicion:
Delaying the writing of the Qur’an after the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and its compilation in a Mushaf during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, has absolutely no effect on the unity of the Qur’an and the connection of each word to the divine revelation; because the Qur’an before it was compiled in Mushafs was preserved as God revealed it to the Seal of the Messengers.
The Arabs before Islam, and in the early days of Islam, had a talent for memorization that no people or nation before them or contemporaries had equaled. Those among them who knew how to read and write were few, so they memorized by heart whatever they wanted to memorize of prose and poetry.
The magnificence of the Qur’an’s arrangement, the purity of its words, the sweetness of its tone, and the nobility of its meanings, these characteristics and features surprised the Arabs with what they did not know, so it struck a magical chord with them in its strong effect on the minds and feelings, so their interest in it intensified, especially those who were among the first to believe in it, and they were anticipating everything new that was revealed by the trustworthy revelation, combining memorization with action.
Whenever something of the revelation was revealed to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, he would order the scribes of the revelation to write it down immediately, hearing it from his pure mouth, then he would spread what was revealed of the revelation among the people.
Two things facilitated its memorization:
The first: its revelation (in stages), i.e. scattered over a period of twenty-three years; because it was not revealed all at once as was the case with the revelation to the previous messengers.
The reason for the revelation of the Qur’an in scattered stages is its connection to the upbringing of the nation, and its advancement in the field of education, stage after stage, and addressing the problems of life that were encountered, and keeping pace with the movement of building the call from its first ray to the end.
Second: The characteristics of the Qur’anic system in the purity of its vocabulary, the perfection of its structures, and the vocal rhythm of its performance recited by the tongue, heard by the ears, and what accompanies that of enjoyment and persuasion, all of that has given the verses of the Qur’an the characteristic of attraction to it, and the strong tendency to turn to it, such that it attracts its reader and listener, falling into its captivity, not getting bored from the length of the companionship with it.
The pauses of the verses in the Qur’an play an important role in feeling these characteristics. Let us mention an “example” from the chapters of the Noble Qur’an:
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (And by the charging horses, snorting, And striking sparks of fire, And making raids at dawn, And raising thereby dust, And instigating thereby an army. Indeed, man is ungrateful to his Lord, And indeed, to that, he is a witness. And indeed, he is intense in his love of good. Does he not know when that which is in the graves is scattered, And that which is in the breasts is made known? Indeed, their Lord, that Day, is Acquainted with them) (1).
The number of verses in this Surah [Al-Adiyat] is eleven verses, and they are distributed in terms of the pauses, which are the words that occur at the ends of the verses, over four axes, which are: the first three verses, and each pause in them ends with the letter Ha: Dhabhan Qadhan
Subhan. The fourth and fifth verses, each pause in them ends with the letter Ain: Naqa Jama’.
The pauses of the sixth, seventh and eighth verses, their pauses end with the letter Dal: Laknood Li Shahid Li Shadid.
As for the ninth, tenth and eleventh verses, their pauses end with the letter Ra: Al-Qubur Al-Sudur Li Khabeer.
Note that the pause letters in this Surah, except for the first three verses, are preceded by the letter “madd” which is “waw” in “Laknood” and “ya” in “Lashid Li Shadid.”
Then the "waw" in: "al-qubur al-sudur" then the "ya" in: "la-khabir" and the long vowels help to "soften" the voice and make it sweet to the ear. Therefore, the long vowels accompanied the words of "al-fasila" in almost the entire Qur'an, and added to them a unique lyrical character (2) that attracted the ear, and stirred the feelings to approach the Qur'an with the intensity of its captivation to them through hearing, so that this would be a means to approach understanding its meanings, then believing in it.
Among the features of the ease of memorization in this surah are two things:
It is a short surah, as its verses did not exceed eleven verses.
The verses are short, some of them are composed of two words, which are the first three verses. Some of them are composed of three words, which are the fourth and fifth verses. Some of them are composed of four words, which are the sixth, seventh and eighth verses. Only two verses have five words, which are the tenth and eleventh. And one verse has seven words, which is the ninth verse.
The system of “the contract of meanings” in the surah is as wonderful as its arrangement. The first three verses are a solemn oath by the horses of the mujahideen in the way of Allah.
The fourth and fifth verses are a digression that completes the meanings of what is sworn by, the intensity of its raids that stir up the dust of the earth, the speed of its running and its surprise of the enemy in its raid.
Then comes the thing sworn by in the sixth verse: “Indeed, man is ungrateful to his Lord”: disobedient to Allah, ungrateful for His blessings upon him.
The seventh verse hints at man’s knowledge that he is disobedient to his Lord and a witness to his ingratitude for His blessings.
The eighth verse denounces man’s disobedience to his Lord and his preference for the worldly goods over gratitude to the Benefactor.
As for the last three verses from (9) to (11), they are a warning to man who is ungrateful for his Lord’s blessings to him.
These characteristics are not all limited to Surat “By the Chargers,” but they are, along with others, general characteristics of the entire Qur’an. Thus, the Qur’an became easy to memorize for whoever tried it and was sincere in his quest and took the right path that leads to it (3).
Memorization was the first relationship between Muslims and the Book of their Lord, and memorization had one necessary means that could be relied upon, which is listening. Thus, the Qur’an reached us, from the beginning of its revelation to its end.
The first listening in memorizing the Qur’an was from Gabriel, peace be upon him, whom God described as the trustworthy.
The first listener was the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, who heard the entire Qur’an many times from Gabriel.
The second listener was him, may God bless him and grant him peace, after hearing the Qur’an from Gabriel.
The second listeners of the Quran are the scribes of the revelation. They heard it from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) immediately after he heard the Quran from Gabriel. This is because when the revelation came down and he finished receiving what Allah had revealed to him, he would call the scribes of the revelation and dictate to them what had been revealed, and they would write it down immediately.
Then, what was revealed of the Quran would be spread among the believers by hearing, not writing, either from the mouth of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or from the mouths of the scribes of the revelation.
Allah the Almighty has facilitated the preservation of the Quran and its continued preservation as He revealed it to Allah, through the most reliable and highest-ranking methods. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would recite it to Gabriel once every year during the holy month of Ramadan. Then, in the year in which he met his Lord, the Quran was presented to Gabriel twice, as an additional confirmation and documentation.
During this period (the Prophet’s life), the readers had no reference other than what was memorized in the Prophet’s chest, peace and blessings be upon him, which was the original to which they would refer in the event of a dispute. As for what was written on scraps of paper, it was not something that people could refer to, despite its authenticity and correctness.
Likewise, during the eras of the two sheikhs, Abu Bakr and Umar, may God be pleased with them, reliance was placed on memorization in the chests rather than writing, because it was scattered and not collected.
The companions’ chances of memorizing the Qur’an varied. Some of them memorized a small amount, some of them memorized a large amount, and some of them memorized the entire Qur’an. They were a large group, and seventy of them who had memorized the Qur’an died in the Battle of Yamamah during the caliphate of Abu Bakr. They were called the memorizers of the Qur’an “the readers.”
This is not detracted from by the fact that some narrations state that the Companions who memorized the entire Qur’an were four or seven. Some of these narrations were mentioned in the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, because what was mentioned in them has a specific meaning, which is that they memorized the entire Qur’an and presented their memorization to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he approved of their memorization. This does not mean that they were the only Companions who memorized the Qur’an (4).
The first collection of the Qur’an
The Qur’an was not collected in a single copy during the life of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor at the beginning of the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. Memorizing it as Allah revealed it in the hearts was the practice.
During this time, the Qur’an was written on scattered pieces of paper. These pieces of paper and others on which the Qur’an was written by dictation from the mouth of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, remained as they were, and no change of any kind occurred to them.
When seventy of its memorizers were killed, there was a need to collect what was written in separate pieces into one copy in the middle of the caliphate of Abu Bakr, at the suggestion of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both.
After the death of Abu Bakr, the Mushaf was handed over to Umar ibn al-Khattab, and after his death, the Mushaf remained in the possession of his daughter, the Mother of the Believers, Hafsa, may God be pleased with her (5).
During this period, memorizing the Qur’an in people’s hearts was also the practice.
After the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed away to the highest companion, the first-class Tabi’in joined its memorizers from the Companions, and their relationship with the Book of God was memorization, with varying degrees of luck in it, few or many, and memorization of the entire Qur’an. Among those who were famous for memorizing the entire Qur’an was the great Tabi’in al-Hasan al-Basri, may God be pleased with him, and others.
This was the first collection of the Qur’an, and what was done in it was the collection of documents written by the scribes of the revelation in the presence of the Messenger of God, meaning the coordination of the documents of each Surah, arranging its verses according to the order of their revelation. This collection has no meaning other than what we have mentioned, and the description of the Mushaf is purely metaphorical. The purpose of it is for it to be a reliable reference when the memorizers differ.
It should be noted many times that the compilation at this stage did not add or delete anything from those handwritten documents, which were recorded during the life of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as dictated by him to his trustworthy and honest scribes of his revelation.
The second stage of compilation (6)
This stage was during the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan, may God be pleased with him, and he had memorized the entire Qur’an as mentioned in the authentic narrations. The main reason for resorting to this compilation at this stage was the differences of the people and their fanaticism for some readings, to the point of boasting about one reading over another, and the prevalence of some incorrect readings.
This is what prompted Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman to seek help from the Commander of the Faithful, Uthman ibn Affan, and to urge him to seize the nation before it splits around the Qur’an as the Jews and Christians split around their holy books. So, may Allah be pleased with him, he rose up to collect the Qur’an in a “Mushaf” that would unite people around one recitation, including the authority for other correct readings. He appointed for this great task a man from the Ansar (Zaid bin Thabit) and three from the Quraysh: Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr, Saad bin Abi Waqqas, and Abd Al-Rahman bin Al-Harith bin Hisham. This Zaid bin Thabit was the head of the team that Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, appointed for this great task, because he, Zaid bin Thabit, had four qualifications to carry out this responsibility, which are:
He was one of the scribes of the revelation in the Medinan period.
He was a memorizer and expert in the Qur’an, having heard it directly from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah.
He was the only one who attended the final presentation of the Qur’an by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to Gabriel (peace be upon him).
He was the one who collected the Qur’an during the caliphate of Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him).
The method of collection at this stage
The collection at this stage was done according to a very precise and wise method based on two things:
First: The Mushaf that was coordinated during the caliphate of Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him). It was mentioned earlier that the components of this Mushaf are the written documents that the scribes of the revelation recorded in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by hearing them directly from him.
So nothing was accepted in the second stage of collection that was not present in those documents that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him ) approved.
Second: The verse or verses must be memorized in a manner identical to what is in the Mushaf of Abu Bakr by at least two of the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). It is not enough for one man to memorise it, nor is it enough for it to be present in the Mushaf of Abu Bakr. Rather, both things must be present:
1- It must be present in the Mushaf of Abu Bakr.
2- Then hearing it from two memorizers, i.e. two witnesses. Abu Khuzaymah al-Ansari was exempted from this condition, as his memorization was equivalent to that of two men in a single verse that was not found memorized except with Abu Khuzaymah. This is because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made his testimony equal to the testimony of two just men.
This group, according to this precise method, copied the Qur’an, for the first time, into a single mushaf, and all the companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, agreed upon it, and none of them opposed Uthman, even Abdullah ibn Masoud, who had a special mushaf that he wrote for himself. He did not object to the “collective” mushaf that Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, called for writing. Then the nation received this great work with satisfaction and acceptance, in all countries and eras.
Several copies of the Mushaf of Uthman, which was called “the Imam Mushaf”, were made, each of which was sent to a region of Islam, such as Kufa and
Jaz, while the original Mushaf remained in the possession of Uthman, may God be pleased with him. Then Uthman took all the individual Mushafs that differed in the slightest way from the Imam Mushaf, including the Mushaf of the noble companion Ibn Masoud, and ordered them to be burned or removed, because they contained incorrect readings, and some of them included some interpretive phrases in the body of the verses or at their ends.
The difference between the two collections
is superfluous to say, that we repeat what was mentioned previously, that the origin of the two collections that occurred during the caliphates of Abu Bakr and Uthman, may God be pleased with them, was one, namely the handwritten documents that were written in the presence of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, dictating from his pure mouth to the scribes of revelation, then reciting them to him and approving them as these documents were recited to him, without any amendments being made to them, and this is what we see now in the Noble Mushaf circulating among Muslims.
The aim of the first collection during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, was to collect those scattered documents in one place, coordinating the surahs and verses, without transferring them into a real, comprehensive Qur’an. In the language of the era, this collection was a collection project, not a real collection in reality.
That is why one of the scholars expressed it as being most similar to papers that were found scattered in the house of the Prophet and were tied together with a single thread, preventing them from being scattered again.
As for the collection during the caliphate of Uthman, may God be pleased with him, it was a copying and transfer of what was in the handwritten documents, which were written during the life of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he approved them after they were recited to him, and collected them in one Mushaf in one place. If we compare the first documents to scraps of paper with words written on them, the collection during the caliphate of Uthman was the copying of those scattered words in the scraps into one notebook.
As for the goal of the collection during the caliphate of Uthman, it was for the following reasons:
1- Unifying the collective Mushaf and excluding the individual Mushafs because they were not free from errors. This was done in the best way.
2- Eliminating the incorrect readings, and uniting the people on the correct readings, which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, recited in the last presentation to Gabriel in the year in which he died.
3- Protecting the nation from division over the Book of their Lord. And eliminating fanaticism for the reading of some readers over the reading of others.
In all times, the Qur’an is taken by hearing from memorizers who are skilled and proficient in reciting it, and it is not taken by reading from the Mushaf; because memorization from the Mushaf is subject to many errors, and hearing is the basis for receiving and memorizing the Qur’an. Because the tongue narrates what the ear hears, the Qur’an was revealed spoken to be heard and not printed to be read.
The difference between the two collections is obtained from two aspects:
The first aspect: The collection of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a coordination of the handwritten documents that were written during the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in their original form according to the order of revelation, surahs and verses. The
collection of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was a new transfer of what was written in the handwritten documents into a new book, which he called “the Imam’s Mushaf.”
As for the second aspect, it is in terms of the goal of the collection, which in Abu Bakr’s collection was to preserve the scattered prophetic documents in a single order, joined together, coordinating the surahs and verses as they are in the documents, to be a reference for preserving the verses of the Wise Remembrance.
In the collection of Uthman, the nation collected on the correct readings that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, read in the final presentation to Gabriel, peace be upon him.
As for the texts that were revealed by the trustworthy revelation, they remained in their original form, in which they were written during the life of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.
The Bakri and Uthmanic collections did not introduce any modification, change or alteration to the spelling of the verses or their pronunciation. In all places and eras, the memorization of the Qur’an was accompanied by its writing in the copies of the Qur’an, and listening remained the only means of memorizing the Qur’an throughout the ages until now and until the Day of Judgment.
A quick summary:
The presentation we have given of the recording of the Qur’an reveals the following facts:
1- The recording of the texts of the Qur’an (its texts) took place since the dawn of the first Surah that was revealed, or rather the first verse of the Qur’an. Whenever a part of the Qur’an was revealed, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) dictated it to the scribe of the revelation, who wrote it down after hearing it from him immediately. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not meet his Lord except with the entire Qur’an recorded on scraps of paper and similar recording devices. This is the first collection of the Qur’an, even though it is rarely mentioned in the books of the compilers.
2- This early recording or collection of the Qur’an was and still is the fixed foundation upon which all subsequent copies of the Qur’an were built, up until our present era.
- The prophetic period that preceded the compilation of the Qur’an during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, was not a period of neglect of the Qur’an, as some opponents of the Qur’an from missionaries, orientalists and atheists claim. Rather, the opposite is true. It was a period of great care for the Qur’an (7). They relied on two extremely important pillars:
First: listening to those who have mastered the memorization and recitation of the Qur’an.
Second: memorization in the chests.
Listening and memorization are the oldest means of memorizing and reciting the Noble Book of God. And they will remain so until the Day of Judgment.
- The Qur’an, from the first verse that was revealed until its revelation was completed, did not spend a moment in which it was absent from the Muslims, or the Muslims were absent from it. Rather, it was with them as the soul is with the body.
The history of the Qur’an is very clear and well-known. It did not go through periods of ambiguity or periods of turmoil, as is the case in the eras of the Holy Book (8) the Torah and the Gospel. The situations they were subjected to cannot be measured against the history of the Qur’an. The opponents of the Qur’an have no reasonable or acceptable reason for adopting the stages of compiling the Qur’an as outlets for attacking it, or a justification with which to justify the historical plagues that have befallen their holy book, and the extreme obscurity that accompanied and continues to accompany the realities of the Torah and the Gospels in their origin, writing, and wide-ranging differences in the essence and symptoms that they carried out. What
remains for us from the elements of their doubts about the compilation of the Qur’an and its stages is what was previously mentioned, which are: dots, diacritics, and punctuation marks.
What is meant by diacritics is placing dots above or below letters, such as the dot on the letter nun and the dot on the letter ba.
As for diacritics, it is placing the four vowel marks: damma, fatha, kasra, and sukun above or below letters according to the phonetic pronunciation of the word, as required by the rules of grammar and morphology. As
for diacritics, they are like dots and diacritics, placed above the end of a word that can be stopped on or connected to what comes after it. These three types have two general observations:
First, they do not touch the body of the word from near or far, nor do they change the structure of the Ottoman script of the words, but rather they are an additional addition outside the “texts” (origins) of the words.
Second, they are all tools or signs brought in to serve the Qur’anic text, and to recite it aloud with a perfect recitation, or in other words:
they are agreed upon conventional means of clarification that help the Qur’an reciter to perform it with a perfect vocal performance, and they are not among the elements of revelation, and if the Mushaf were stripped of them, the Word of God would not be diminished at all. The Book of God was the same Book of God before the introduction of these signs, so they are not a change, alteration or distortion introduced into the Book of God that lost its features, as the agitated opponents of the Qur’an claim.
The dots were added to the script of the Mushaf to distinguish between similar letters such as jim, ha, kha, ba, ta, tha, nun, seen, sheen, ta, dha, fa, qaf, ain, ghayn, sad, and dad.
Before adding dots to the letters, listening was their substitute, because the memorizers of the Qur’an who are proficient and skilled in reciting the Qur’an do not need these marks, because they memorize the Book of their Lord fresh and tender as God revealed it to the Seal of His Messengers. As for those who do not memorize and cannot do without looking at the Qur’an, these dotted, diacritical, and paused marks guide them to the ideal recitation, and provide them with great services in looking at the Qur’an, because as we said before, they are means of clarification for the readers of the Noble Qur’an.
For example, dotting the letters protects against countless mistakes. Let us take one example of this, which is the Almighty’s saying: (Like a garden on a height) (9).
If the word “garden” were left without dots or diacritics, the reader who is not a memorizer would fall into many mistakes, because it can be pronounced in several ways, such as: a living grain, henna, khabbah, garden, piece, tailored, jiyyah, grain, cloak.
But when its letters were dotted and its words were diacritical, the intended meaning became clear and precisely defined, eliminating all unintended possibilities.
The first to dot the letters of the Qur’an were a group of the Tabi’un, the most famous of whom were Abu al-Aswad al-Du’ali, Nasr ibn ‘Asim al-Laythi, Yahya ibn Ya’mur, and al-Khalil ibn Ahmad, all of whom were among the great Tabi’un (10).
In conclusion, dotting the letters of the Qur’anic words and diacritical marks on the words of its verses is not part of the revelation, and it occurred during the era of the great Tabi’un. Adding that to the Qur’an is not a distortion or modification of the words of the Qur’an.
It is one of the good innovations that scholars have permitted because it makes it easier for the readers of the Noble Book of Allah, and helps them to recite it in a perfect and precise manner. It is one of the public interests that the Shariah has been silent about, neither commanding nor forbidding.
Achieving an interest takes the place of commanding it, and the occurrence of harm takes the place of forbidding it.
This is a characteristic of the flexibility of the just and merciful Islamic Shariah. As for the punctuation marks, they play a positive role in guiding the readers of the Qur’an and directing them on how to deal with Qur’anic sentences and structures when they are recited in prayer or outside of prayer.
The reality is that all these additions to the writing of the words of the Mushaf, in addition to being, and Allah knows best, means of clarification as mentioned above, brought in to serve the Qur’anic text, at the same time perform a great service to the meanings of the Qur’anic words and structures. We have previously referred to the functions of dots above or below letters, and the four diacritical marks: fatha, damma, kasra, and sukoon, above or below the writing of words.
We will now give a quick example of the important tasks performed by the punctuation marks, which are placed above the ends of words that are or are not stopped:
The Almighty said: “And if Allah should touch you with harm, there is no remover of it except Him. And if He should touch you with good, then He is over all things competent.” (11)
We see the mark (صلى) above the letter waw in the word “هوا” and it symbolizes that stopping on this word “هوا” is permissible and connecting it to what comes after it, which is “إن يلمسك” is also permissible, except that connecting, which here is reciting the entire verse at once without stopping, is better than stopping.
The reason for the permissibility of stopping and connecting here is that each of the two statements has a complete meaning and it is good to pause on it, and it is also good to connect it to what comes after it because they are two statements between which there is a close connection, and in terms of the syntactic structure, they are the condition of “إن” and the two conditional verbs in them are a present tense verb, and they are one verb that is repeated in the two conditions of the two statements “يلمسك” and the subject is “Allah” in both of them. The first is an apparent noun, and the second is a pronoun referring back to it. As for the connection being more appropriate than stopping, it is because the correspondence between the two statements is stronger than the difference in wording and meaning, noting that the permissibility of stopping allows the reciter of the Qur’an a breath of comfort in silence, then he begins the journey of recitation after it and the Almighty’s saying: Say, “My Lord knows best their number. None knows them except a few. So do not dispute about them except with an apparent dispute.” (12)
The punctuation mark (qala) is placed above the second lam of the word “qalil” and symbolizes the permissibility of connecting and stopping on the word “qalil” and that stopping on it is better than connecting it to what comes after it. In stopping, there is comfort for the reader’s soul, as mentioned above.
The permissibility of stopping to complete the meaning in the first part of the verse.
The permissibility of connecting, because the second part of the speech is branched off and arranged on the first part (13).
As for stopping on the word “little” it is more appropriate in this verse because what precedes it are two declarative sentences, and they are both the subject of the statement, as God Almighty says: (Say, “My Lord…”).
As for the sentence “So do not dispute about them,” it is a performative sentence (14) in which there is a prohibition against arguing about the people of the cave, how many they were, and the performative speech is different from the declarative speech. Therefore, the two statements are not homogeneous. This is one.
As for the second, “So do not dispute about them except with an apparent dispute, and do not consult any of them about them,” is not included in the subject of the statement that we referred to previously.
These two observations created some distance between the two statements, so stopping was more appropriate, alluding to that contrast between the two statements. The pause is the break between two words by a moment of silence between the end of the first word and the beginning of the second word. It has a great role in the recitation of the Holy Quran, in terms of the words (vocal performance) and in terms of savoring the meanings and serving them. The Almighty said: (And you will see the sun, when it rises, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it sets, passing them by on the left, while they are in an open space. That is among the signs of Allah) (15).
The pause mark (ج) is placed above the “ه” at the end of the word “منه” and symbolizes the permissibility of pausing on “منه” and the permissibility of connecting it to what comes after it “That is among the signs of Allah.” This permissibility is at the level of both sides, pausing is not preferred to connecting, nor connecting to pausing. This goes back to the meaning indicated by the two parts of the speech, the part after “منه” and the part before it.
This is because what comes before “منه” is declarative speech, not performative, and so is what comes after it “That is among the signs of Allah…” So they are therefore homogeneous.
The pause is very appropriate for the length of the speech before the word "from it" and in the pause there is rest for the soul, and rest helps to perfect the recitation.
And the connection is very appropriate in terms of meaning; because the Almighty's saying: "That is from the signs of Allah" is a construction that takes the place of "the news" about what Allah the Almighty mentioned about the conditions of the people of the cave in the rising and setting of the sun for them.
And the Almighty's saying: (Those whom the angels take in death while they are good, they do not say, "Peace be upon you, enter Paradise...") (16).
The pause mark (لا) is placed on the "ن" at the end of the word "طيبين" to symbolize that the pause on "طيبين" is forbidden.
The reason for this prohibition is that the phrase "they say" which follows the word "طيبين" is a state of "the angels" and they are the subject of "تَتَوَفُهم".
As for "Tayyibeen", it is a state of the accusative pronoun as the object of the verb "you take them", which is the absent plural pronoun "they". If it were permissible to stop at "Tayyibeen", a time interval would have occurred between the state clause "they say" and the subject of the state "the angels", and no rhetorical necessity called for this action.
Therefore, stopping at "Tayyibeen" was forbidden so as not to lead to cutting off the "state", which is a description, from its subject "the angels", which is the described. This is not permissible for the sake of rhetoric; the reason for preventing stopping here was to fulfill the meaning, and the occurrence of the state here is a verbal sentence with a present tense verb that indicates the occurrence of the event in the present and future, taking into account the requirements of the situation; because the angels say this speech to those righteous people they take in death at all times, because death has not and will not stop.
And the Almighty said: “God is only one God. Exalted is He above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is God as Disposer of affairs.” (17)
The punctuation mark (m) is placed on the letter dal in the word "ولد" to indicate the necessity of stopping on this word "ولد" and the impossibility of connecting it to what comes after it, which is: "To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth."
The pause here is necessary because this pause will result in the correctness of the meaning and to prevent the illusion of incorrectness. As for connecting it to what comes after it, it will result in the illusion of a corrupt meaning.
The explanation for that is that if the connection had occurred, it would have suggested that the Almighty's statement: "To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth" is a description of the negated "son", meaning that God has no son, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. This does not prevent God Almighty from having a son, but does He not have whatever is in the heavens and the earth?! This is absolutely false.
When the reader stops at the word “Born” and then resumes the recitation from “To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth,” it is impossible for this description to be for the negated son, and it must be for God Almighty. This is the result of stopping the recitation at “Born,” i.e. by the time interval between the recitation of what is before the stop mark “La” and what comes after it until the end of the verse.
So you see that the stop here performs a great service to the intended meaning of the noble verse. And similar to it is the saying of God Almighty: “Those to whom We gave the Scripture know him as they know their sons. Those who have lost themselves - so they do not believe” (18).
The stop mark (m) is placed above the m in the word “humm” to indicate the necessity of stopping on it, and the impossibility of connecting it to what comes after it, which is “those who have lost themselves.” The secret
of this necessity is; The connection suggests a corrupt and unintended meaning, because it would result in the Almighty’s saying: “those who have lost themselves” being a description of “their sons,” and this is not intended. Rather, what is intended is something more general than “their sons,” and they are those who have lost themselves in every time and place. It is a general rule for those who have lost themselves, and is not specific to the sons of those to whom Allah has given the Book.
These are the signs of stopping, and those are examples of the wise meanings that they convey, or came to symbolize, and they remain an important fact that must be pointed out.
The opponents of the Qur’an consider the signs of stopping to be an amendment that was introduced to the Qur’an after the era of revelation and the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
This is a great delusion that they have fallen into, because these signs and others are not what created the meanings that we have indicated examples of. These are the meanings that the stopping indicates, whether it is permissible for both parties, or stopping is more appropriate than connecting, or connecting is more appropriate than stopping, or stopping is necessary or stopping is prohibited. These meanings are facts of revelation and were observed since the Qur’an was revealed, and the memorizers of the Qur’an and its reciters from the companions of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, applied them in their recitation of the Qur’an, before
the Qur’an was written down in the “Mushaf.” This is the truth that should be known to everyone. As for the placement of these signs in the era of the Tabi’een, they came as an aid to those who were not familiar with the etiquette of reciting the Qur’an, without being in their form part of the revelation (19).
The arrangement of the Qur’an:
We mean by the arrangement of the Qur’an “the separators between its surahs with: “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” and the numbering of the verses of each surah within circles separating the verses, and placing vertical lines under the places of prostration in the verses of the Qur’an, then the titles that were given to specific amounts of verses such as:
a quarter, a party, a juz’.Because these actions are purely human procedures, some of which are attached to the lines of the Qur’an, such as the numbering of the verses, and some of which are placed under them, such as the signs of prostration during recitation.
As for other than these two, they are rational, hypothetical procedures, indicated by expressions placed outside the framework or walls of the verses.
There is no objection to this for the objector; because we say, as we said in its counterparts before, that they are means of clarification and guidance for the readers of the Holy Qur’an placed outside the words of revelation, not in its texts, and they provide a great service to the sacred text, whether read or recited.
No Muslim claims that they have the sanctity of the divine text, or that they came down from heaven through the trustworthy revelation.
The Orientalists who participate with the missionaries (20) in hunting down accusations against the Qur’an, follow this “coordinating” approach in their scientific and intellectual works, especially in the verification of texts, so they place footnotes, appendices and technical indexes for all
the texts of heritage that they verify. They have a great skill in this field, and we have not seen one of them attribute these additional works to the author of the text himself, nor have we seen one of them consider these additions to be an amendment, distortion or change to the text that he verified and served.
Rather, he considers these additional works to be means of clarification for the verified text and important facilitations for the readers.
This is the case with the work of the Salaf (may Allah be pleased with them) in arranging the Noble Qur’an, an arrangement that does not affect the “sanctity of the verses” because they were placed in the Qur’an in the form in which they were drawn in the hands of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him).
The History of the Qur’an (21)
This is the history of the Qur’an, from the time the first Surah was revealed to the last verse revealed. It was a book preserved in the hearts, recited by tongues, written on scraps of paper, then collected in Qur’ans. It was not subject to factors of erasure or borrowing, nor to the plagues of loss. The nation placed it in its “eyes” since it was revealed, so it did not stray from it or disappear, and it did not stray from it or disappear. It knows its sources and resources, throughout its long life, it knows it as it knows its children, without deviation or confusion.
This is the history of the Qur’an, we have presented it in a brief manner, but it is comprehensive in its journey’s features, revealing its secrets. We have put it to say to the opponents of the Qur’an and Islam:
Is there anything in the history of the Qur’an that calls for doubting it or distrusting it?
Have its decisive verses been affected by any defect or disorder?
Have you seen it disappear from the nation for a moment, or the nation disappear from it for a moment?
Have you seen in it ignorance of its source, origin, and the development of the stages of its collection and writing? Or have you seen any change or alteration in its verses?
These are our goods that we have offered in the market of supply and demand, not fearing that fraud or poor quality will appear in it, or that it will be ruined or stagnant due to a competitor who is hostile to it.
This is what we have. So what do you have of the history of the Holy Book in its two testaments (22)?
The Old (the Torah) that is in the hands of the Jews now, and the New (the Gospels) that are in the hands of the Christians now.
What did the Holy Book encounter in its early history corresponding to the period of the history of the Qur’an, which we have finished presenting?
Come with us as we examine that period of the history of the Holy Book in its early journey:
the birth of the Torah and its development:
The People of the Book in general, and the Jews in particular, are widely disturbed about the history of the Torah (its birth and development) and differ about it in a way that goes from one extreme to the other. For this reason, they have presented the history of the Qur’an with criticism and slander so that it and the Torah are equal in their lack of confidence in them, or at least to embarrass the Muslims by saying that they do not possess a Qur’an that is protected from everything that affects its sanctity and its safety from distortion and alteration. We have previously presented the history of the Qur’an, and here we are presenting the history of the Torah as it appears in the writings of the People of the Book themselves, comparing it with the previous facts of the history of the trustworthy Qur’an.
The Holy Bible, with its two Testaments: the Old and the New, is concerned with two deadly plagues since its existence, and up to the present moment in which we live:
a plague related to its history: when it was born, by whom it was born, and how it was born. Then, what is the content of the Holy Book? Is it the word of God, or the word of others? (23).
The important thing in the subject is that this ambiguity in the history of the Holy Book was not raised by Muslims, but was announced by the People of the Book themselves, Jews or Christians, who were characterized by courage, freedom of opinion, and a sincere recognition of the difficulty of the problems that surrounded the Holy Book, while pointing out their intractability, while Judaism and Christianity remained as they are. The meaning of the covenant for the People of the Book is “the covenant,” and the Old Testament for them is a covenant that God took from the Jews in the era of Moses, peace be upon him, and the New Testament is a covenant that He took in the era of Jesus, peace be upon him (24).
The two problems that surrounded the Holy Book can be summarized as follows:
- The problem or crisis of verifying the sacred texts, which represent the truth of the two covenants.
- The problem or crisis of the content, i.e. the meanings and purposes contained in the books (i.e. the books) of the two covenants, and their chapters, which they call “chapters.”
What enters into the elements of this study is the first problem or crisis; because it is related to the history of the Holy Book, not the second.
When? And by whose hand was the Torah born:
This question is the key that leads us to summarize what was said in the answer.
It is a difficult question, and its results are very dangerous, and it has been repeated for a long time. And it continues to be repeated, and urgently, without obtaining an answer that would be good to remain silent about.
Among those who raised this question in the modern era was Will Durant, an American by nationality and a Christian by faith. He said:
“How were these books (meaning the Torah) written and when were they written? That is an innocent question with no harm in it, but it is a question about which fifty thousand volumes have been written, and we must finish it here in one paragraph, and then leave it without an answer?!” (25).
Many researchers have concluded that Moses’ exodus from Egypt was in about 1210 BC, and that his disciple Joshua bin Nun, who succeeded him among the Children of Israel (the Jews), died in 1130 BC. From this date, the Torah that God revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, remained unknown until the year 444 BC, that is, about seven centuries (700 years) in this year. (444) Only did the Jews know that they had a book called the Torah?
But how did they know it after all these long periods? Will Durant offers two ways to answer this question, one of which contradicts the other.
The first way:
The Jews were shocked by what happened to their people of disbelief, worship of gods other than God, and their turning away from worshipping the God of the Children of Israel, "Yahweh", and that "the priest Khalkiah" informed the King of the Children of Israel, "Josiah", that he found in the files of the temple a huge file in which Moses, peace be upon him, had resolved all the problems. King "Josiah" called the chief priests and read to them the book of "the Law" found in the files, and ordered the people to obey what was stated in this book.
Will Durant comments on the book, saying: "No one knows what this book is? What was written in it? Was it the first birth of the Torah in the life of the Jews?"
The second method:
The Children of Israel, after their return from the Babylonian captivity, felt that they were in dire need of a religious administration that would prepare for them national unity and public order. So the priests began to establish the rules of religious rule based on the sayings of the ancient priests and on the commands of God.
Ezra, one of the chief priests, called the Jewish scholars to a meeting and he and seven priests began to read to them the Book of the Law of Moses. When they finished reading it, the priests, leaders and people swore to obey these laws and adopt them as their constitution for all eternity (26).
This is what Durant mentioned, quoting Jewish sources, and neither of them is a true source for the Torah that God revealed to Moses; because the first account does not provide more than attributing the file that was found “Creatively” to Moses’ sayings and rulings in judging between opponents.
And because the second account explicitly attributes that the system that the priests established, after reading the book, was a mixture of the sayings of their ancient priests and God’s commands?!



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(1) Al-Adiyat: 1-11.
(2) Surah “Al-Adiyat” is one of the short surahs with which revelation began in Mecca, before the migration. Some researchers believe that the Qur’an began with these surahs of a lyrical nature in Mecca, to attract the people of Mecca to it through listening first, and then to contemplate its meanings second.
(3) See the interpretation of Surah “Al-Adiyat” in any of the popular interpretations you wish: Al-Kashaf Ruh Al-Ma’ani Al-Tafsir Al-Wadih by Dr. Hijazi, or in others.
(4) See: Al-Burhan fi Ulum Al-Quran by Imam Al-Zarkashi (1/241) and after.
(5) It is a single, not multiple, Mushaf, so it was not circulated among the Muslims, because memorizing the Qur’an in the chests was the reference.
(6) See: The compilation of the Qur’an during the Caliphate of Uthman in “Al-Burhan fi Ulum Al-Qur’an” and “Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Qur’an” and the first by Imam Al-Zarkashi, and the second by Imam Jalal Al-Din Al-Suyuti
(7) because if the Qur’an had been compiled in a mushaf from the beginning, people would have relied on the written mushaf, and their interest in memorizing it would have decreased.
(8) There will be a detailed discussion of the conditions and extremely dangerous plagues that the Holy Book, both Old and New Testaments, were exposed to.
(9) Al-Baqarah: 265.
(10) Al-Muqni’ by Abu Amr Al-Dani, p. 129, edited by Muhammad Al-Sadiq Qamhawi.
(11) Al-An’am: 17.
(12) Al-Kahf: 22.
(13) Branching out is the generation of one word from another, and the letter “fa” comes as evidence of this branching out as in the noble verse.
(14) All speech is divided into two types: declarative and imperative. Any speech in which you inform someone of something that happened before or after the time of speaking, such as: So-and-so attended yesterday, or will attend tomorrow, is declarative speech. However, if you ask for something that did not happen at the time of speaking, such as: Obey your parents, then it is imperative speech.
(15) Al-Kahf: 17.
(16) An-Nahl: 32.
(17) An-Nisa: 171.
(18) Al-An’am: 20.
(19) They are like the signs of inflection, such as fatha, damma, kasra, and sukoon. They do not have the rules of inflection, but are merely symbols indicating them.
(20) The missionaries are those who want to tempt the general public with what they write about Islam, and they are the teachers of the Orientalists. As for the Orientalists, they aim to tempt the educated and the upper classes, and they portray Islam in a way other than its image, except for a few of them who you will find to be fair to Islam.
(21) By the history of the Qur’an, we mean its journey through its early history, until it was compiled into the Qur’ans, and the symbols and terminology that were added to this compilation to facilitate its recitation in a memorized manner, and to make it easier to comprehend the words and meanings contained in it.
(22) The Jews believe in the Old Testament alone, and disbelieve in the New Testament (the Gospels). As for the Christians, they consider the Old Testament to be part of the Holy Bible, and believe in both Testaments together.
(23) By the history of the Qur’an, we mean its journey through its early history, until it was compiled into the Qur’ans, and the symbols and terminology that were added to this compilation to facilitate its recitation in a memorized manner, and to make it easier to comprehend the words and meanings contained in it.
(24) By the history of the Qur’an, we mean its journey through its early history, until it was compiled into the Qur’ans, and the symbols and terminology that were added to this compilation to facilitate its recitation in a memorized manner, and to make it easier to comprehend the words and meanings contained in it.
(25) The Story of Civilization (Vol. 2, p. 367), translated by Muhammad Badran.
(26) The Story of Civilization (Vol. 2, p. 356).