Muslims believe that the Qur'an in its entirety is the words of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) over a long period of time, and that the Qur'an was well safeguarded against any form of corruption and alteration.


There are many proofs that the Qur'an is God's Revelation. Here I will summarize the most important evidences.
 
Firstly


Prophet Muhammad distinguished clearly and sharply between his own words and the words of God. At no time did he ascribe the Qur'an to himself, although it would have been an honor to be able to claim the authorship of such a unique Book.

Secondly

the Prophet was keen to write down the text of the Qur'an immediately after he received it from God. To ensure the distinction between his own words and the word of God, he warned people not to write down his own prophetic utterances so that they would not be mixed in with God's words. Muhammad even commanded people to erase anything they had written of his own sayings that was not part of the Qur'an.

Thirdly

his reception of the Qur'an from God was accompanied by psychological and physical changes in himself: his face flushed and his body trembled and sweated. This was observed by those present.

But, in contrast, when he spoke of his own accord, no such things happened. If he were an ordinary author, there would not have been this contrast in the effect on his mind and body according to what he was writing. A man could change from writing prose to writing poetry without such visible effects. And if we look back at the Prophet's life before he was given the Revelations, he did not experience any such changes.

In this context, I should like to say that some who have been interested in analyzing these changes in the Prophet diagnosed him as an epileptic. They forgot that the Prophet was fully aware of what he was saying, and could recall the whole experience afterwards. We do not need to dwell on their theory, since it is now wholly discountenanced.

Fourthly

God's speech is distinctive and does not resemble Muhammad's own words, if we compare the two. Even when Muhammad's words reach the zenith of human rhetoric, they do not compare with words of the Qur'an. The Qur'an compared with them is like the sun compared with the stars.

Fifthly

the Qur'an is miraculous, unlike Muhammad's own sayings.

All people, and even demons, were challenged to produce anything equal to the Qur'an (1) but nobody was challenged to equal Muhammad's hadith.

From the very beginning, Muslims were fully aware of the distinction between God's words and Muhammad's words.

They introduce God's words with, "God says..." and Muhammad's hadiths with "The Prophet says..."

Sixthly

Muslims distinguish between the words of God and the words of the Prophet when they read them out. They use a different tone for the word of God.

The Prophet described some of his Companions as "sweet-voiced" when they read the Qur'an. And he himself often asked them to read to him from it.

Once he was passing by Abu Musa al-Asrf ari's house and heard him reading the Qur'an. He stopped to listen. The Prophet was attracted by his voice. During Morning Prayer when they met, the Prophet told him he had listened to his recitation the previous night. The man said, "If I had known that you were listening I could have read even more beautifully for you." (2) The man's voice was naturally sweet.

Once, the Prophet asked Ibn Mas'ud to read the Qur'an for him. The latter said to the Prophet, "Should I read it to you when it was revealed to you?"

The Prophet replied, "/ love to hear it from the lips of others."

Ibn Mas'ud read the chapter concerning women for the Prophet.

When he read the following verse:

{ How then shall it be, when we bring forward from every nation a witness, and bring thee (O Muhammad) to witness against those? }

(Qur'an 4: 41)

The Prophet asked him to stop saying, "That is enough." Then the reciter looked at the Prophet's face and saw that his eyes were full of tears. (3)

This clearly demonstrates not only the distinction between the Qur'an and the hadith of the Prophet, but also the exactness of Muslims' learning of

the Qur'an.

The transmission and authenticity of the Qur'an

Western man, despite being brought up in the orthodoxies of Christianity, is nevertheless wholly unaware of the Qur'an.

There have been several translations of the Qur'an into European languages, a fact which exhibits and proves Western intellectual interest in the Qur'an. The first Latin translation appeared circa 1143, after which several others followed. (4) However, even the quickest glance at these translations reveals that the Qur'an has been misunderstood and what is more misrepresented. With these texts as his only source of reference, it is not surprising that the Western man has an inadequate and misguided view of the Qur'an, and perhaps of Islam itself. I must add that this is in no way a challenge to his sources of reference.

On the question of translation it is interesting to note that within the Muslim Community the Qur'an is read predominantly in its original Arabic. This despite the fact that by no means all Muslims speak Arabic as their mother tongue. Indeed, the language of the Qur'an, as revealed to Prophet Muhammad, can be regarded as untranslatable. There has always been, amongst Muslims, a drive to understand the Qur'an in its original, to understand as nearly as possible its message and teachings as they were revealed to the Prophet. In this context I would like to note in passing that the notion of translation is generally vexed, but it is clear that the change from one language to another, in almost any form of text, involves subtle, hidden or at worst mistaken changes in meaning.

All languages have their own structures and systems of meaning dependent on culturally-based or individually-recognized forces.

Language is to a degree, not directly and purely translatable.

When applied to a holy text, translation also implies the mind of man

operating on the word of God.

By extension one could argue that to translate the word of God means to adapt, by varying degrees, His message.

I would like to illustrate this with reference to the Torah. The Torah was rewritten by Ezra in Babylonian characters which could be understood by the Jews of the time. There were also many Targums or paraphrases of the Torah among the Jews. We have the LXX or Septuagint, which is in Greek and which differs from the Hebrew Torah on very serious matters (5) With regard to Jesus, it is established that as a Jew he spoke Aramaic, and thus he must have received his Gospel in that language. It is evident that he conversed in Aramaic with his followers, only a few expressions of his survived in Aramaic (Mark 5:41, 7:34, 15 = 34 Matt 27:46).

No more of the original Gospel has been preserved in the original language. In this context it should be noted that the speech of the man on the cross in Mt. 15:34 and Mt. 27:46 could not have come from Jesus according to Islam, which makes the surviving Aramaic Fragments even smaller. In some other verses, Jesus' speech conveys isolated Aramaic words like "Corbon" and "Abba".

Having said this I would like to turn my attention to the Qur'an as a text. One of our great authorities on the Qur'an, Abu 'Ubaydah Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna (d. 210 A.H.), in his book The Rhetoric of the Qur'an defines the Qur'an as "the Book of God particularly", and asserts that "no other book can be called the same". He explains that this is so because it gathers together all the Suras (chapters). And he remarks that he derives his definition from the Qur'an itself. That is why the Qur'an cannot be ascribed to any human:

it is the Book of God.(6)

The Qur'an was in no way mediated or filtered by the human mind, which is to say that no human word was added to it. Prophet Muhammad alone received it from Gabriel, who brought it to him from God. The message

was transmitted by word of mouth, not in written form.

The Prophet received the message as the verbatim word of God,

in a process of sequential Revelation. The context of time and place and human need was required as the message was revealed at different time and places according to the plan of God. On the death of Prophet Muhammad, the Revelation was concluded and completed, and the process of transcription ended.

After this, not a book, passage, word or syllable was added to it -the Revelation was then total. It is useful to sharpen the proof of the authenticity of the Qur'an with reference to the death of Prophet Muhammad. In the Pentateuch the death of Moses was interpolated by human hands and represents a corruption of the text; "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 34:5).

Concerning the Qur'an, however, the death of Prophet Muhammad - a most grievous loss to the faithful - was not inserted in the Qur'an. This point helps to illustrate the degree to which the original and unique authenticity of the Qur'an is, and has been, upheld. Furthermore, in contrast to the Pentateuch, and the Old Testament in general, the time and place references of the Qur'an are all of Muhammad's time or before. I say this because in the Pentateuch the variations of time and location, especially with regard to what is "future time", indicate quite clearly an editorial hand or hands. This point helps further to highlight the authenticity of the Qur'an.(7)

It is instructive to note that at a later date some irreligious people tried to invent traditions that were falsely ascribed to Prophet Muhammad.

These falsely innovatory traditions were numerous and they are known to Muslims as Ahadith Mawdu'ah. The Muslim scholars are quite aware of

these false traditions. Yet scholarship has helped to clarify the strict dichotomy between what is genuine and what is false. Now these falsehoods are regarded as insignificant and separate from authentic Muslim orthodoxy.

The inventors of these false hadiths forced Muslim scholarship to develop criteria by which traditions might be evaluated and sifted in terms of their genuineness. This academic activity is representative of the Muslim character of mind in general. To a Muslim, "authenticity" is an extremely important quality and traditions or other so-called religious activity which does not bear its stamp must be rejected (8)

By way of contrast to the criteria of authentication applied to the traditions, it may be said that no such criteria has been developed for the Qur'an itself. This may sound surprising at first, but when one considers the nature of the Qur'an such procedures become irrelevant.

Despite the history of false traditions, there has been no attempt to add to, edit, or in any way alter the original message. Irreligious activity has not been visited upon a text which has always been regarded as sacred and immune from corruption. Furthermore, one might add that with the worldwide distribution of the Qur'an, the nature of Muslim scholarship and the already mentioned regard for authenticity as of supreme importance, any adaptation of the text would have been a spiritual travesty and is a practical impossibility. The impossibility of any additions can be underlined by the fact that from the time of its appearance the Qur'an

was widely memorized - so belonging as it did to the collective memory of Muslims, the opportunity for change was immediately precluded.

The authenticity of the Qur'an rests on two major principles:

firstly

what might be called the superintendence of God Himself.

God, as the Revealer of the Qur'an revealed that He Himself would safeguard the purity of His Revelation, and protect it from corruption.

In the Quran 15:9, God says: {It is We Who have sent clown the reminding Qur'an, and certainly We safeguard it (against corruption) } (9)

Secondly

is the infallibility of Prophet Muhammad, the receiver and conveyor of the Qur'an. Given this, the Revelation, its reception and conveyance can all be seen as beyond corruption.

Perhaps one may wonder why such a guarantee is applied to the Qur'an and not other books, which according to the Qur'an are of the same nature and in which Muslims believe. However, take for example the Torah which is itself, or rather was itself, the word of God. As the word of God should it not have remained uncorrupted? But it is quite clear that it has not. The fact that this is so must be regarded as the product of human weakness and disobedience to God's command. This type of corruption, the failure to protect the words of God, in parallel with the failure to protect His prophets - the Israelites killed some of them - is essentially a failure of humanity and not of God.

I emphasize that the Qur'an, as a universal and final Revelation and container of the essential teachings of the previous books, is self-evidently worthy of God's guarantee against corruption.

I would now like to give some more information about how the Qur'an was safeguarded against corruption and still is as pure as it was when revealed.

As evidence for this we may look into the character and life history of Prophet Muhammad. This discussion will also draw upon other facts and elements relevant to the subject. These will be taken from the spheres of

the Qur'an and Sunnah, history and theology.

Concerning Prophet Muhammad, historical evidence witnesses that in the time of Prophet Muhammad there was much tribal conflict and internal dispute within the pre-lslamic Community. Yet, historical evidence also shows that Muhammad was unanimously and irrefutably accepted as trustworthy, even before his appointment as Prophet. He was known simply as as-Sadiq al-Amin, the truthful one and trustworthy one. Despite widespread factional dispute, the judgment of Muhammad came to be accepted by all the tribes, even when such judgment may have been contrary to the worldly or political aspiration of those concerned.(10)

This recognition of Muhammad as true and trustworthy goes beyond the Arab pagans to some Arab Christian priests. Waraqah ibn Nawfal, for example, upon hearing of the Revelation given to Muhammad in the cave of Hira' recognized the Revelation as the authentic word of God.(11)

Moreover, when 'A'ishah, the wife of the Prophet, was asked about her husband's character and conduct, she answered that his conduct was exactly in accordance with the Qur'an.(12) Muhammad's soul was pure and his heart empty of anything except truth. He led a very simple life, free from all worldly temptation and material ambitions, which can weaken the mind and distract one from the straight path. Free from such diversions, the Prophet was able to direct his energy to the task of memorizing and transmitting the Qur'an. The intellectual effort and unceasing motivation to achieve this must, in part, have been a product of his single-minded and simple life style.

He received the Revelation at the age of forty, an age at which the intellect and judgment, tempered by experience, combine to produce wisdom and humanity. At this point I would like to mention that I do not distinguish between Prophet Muhammad and the other Prophets -

I am a Muslim and I believe in all Prophets (13) - nor do I make invidious comparisons between them. I am, however, concerned with the character of Muhammad as a major guarantee of the authenticity of the Qur'an.

Muhammad received the Qur'an and conveyed it five verses at a time, five by five. He immediately called upon his scribes, Muhammad himself being unlettered; thus, the time between the reception of the Revelation and its transcription was very short. The Qur'an was recorded on papyrus, flat stones, palm-leaves, pieces of leather and wooden boards, as well as in the hearts of men. We also have evidence that Prophet Muhammad ordered the Qur'anic passages to be written down immediately - this is according to al-Muhasibi (d. 243 A.H, 853 A.C.).(14) It is also recorded that Muhammad's Companions immediately committed the verses to memory five at a time and continually practiced them. To exemplify how the Qur'an was written during Muhammad's lifetime, I would like to add the following: It is reported that the Prophet said to his cousin, "Ali, the Qur'an is behind my bed written in a scroll silk and sheets. You take it and collect it, and do not destroy it as the Jews destroyed the Torah." Ali went and collected it in a yellow garment and sealed it.(15) This is supported by al-Bukhari, who reported in his Sahih that a man came from Iraq to ask 'A'ishah, the wife of the Prophet, "Show me your Book of the Qur'an." The narrator of this tradition informed us of this saying that she got the Book out and dictated to him the verses concerned (16)

During the time of Ibn ' Abbas, there arose the question of whether the Qur'an could be transcribed for commercial gain.

The latter's disciple wrote hundreds of copies of the Qur'an.(17)

The Qur'an was read in written form shortly after the Revelation.

This is clear from the story of the conversion of 'Umar to Islam, when he found his sister Fatimah with her husband reading the beginning of Surat

Taha (Qur'an 20), which they intended to keep secret from ' Umar when he entered the house. There are several traditions which forbid the Muslims to go to enemy countries with a copy of the Qur'an. (18) In the conflict between two Muslim parties, one of the two parties put pages of the Qur'an on their spears. (19) This story indicates that copies of the Qur'an were already numerous.

According to Ibn Hazm there were at least 100,000 copies of the Qur'an produced in the beginning of the reign of 'Uthman, the third Caliph, about 25 years after the death of Muhammad (20) The non-Muslim scholars who have studied the Qur'an unfortunately have started from the wrong position, and have used the wrong methods to criticize the Qur'an. In many cases they are weighing precious stones on scales meant for gravel. For instance, they use techniques developed in Bible criticism to criticize the Qur'an when it is something quite different. They ignore the different background and circumstances of each Book.

Here I can say a little to bring into focus the background and circumstances of the Qur'an as scripture. The Qur'an was revealed over a long period of time, over twenty years. It was put to immediate use among a settled community. The evidence for this is multiple and needs no repeating. The Prophet did not die before Islam had spread through the whole of Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain and that area. Mosques were built, and the Qur'an was widely read and copied, even in every village or Bedouin camp.

The Qur'an was taught in schools as Islam spread. The Muslim children sat and learned in every corner where Islam reached. From the beginning, the Qur'an formed the basis of learning and education.

The situation was such under Abu Bakr, the first Muslim Caliph. The Qur'an was spreading as a written text and in oral form. Even when some

Arabs rebelled against Islam in the time of Abu Bakr, they did not completely renounce Islam, but only refused to obey the command to give alms.

There is no evidence that they refused to obey Muhammad or burned the Qur'an or attacked it. There were only a few of them, and they were soon restored to Islam.

The Qur'an continued to spread and Qur'anic 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 v Abd al-' Aziz. It is reported that in his school for teaching the Qur'an there were 400 disciples to teach in his absence. (21) If there were teachers 400 in just one place, imagine the number of students that they taught, and how many there must have been in all the other cities, towns and villages.

The following hadith helps us greatly to visualize the concern shown by Muslims for the Qur'an: Malik ibn "Awf reported, "While we were sitting with the Prophet, he informed us about how God will take away all our knowledge before the Day of Judgment. Ziyad asked the Prophet, 'How will God take away our knowledge, when the Book of God is with us, and we have taught it to our children and women?'" Here the man is expressing amazement that knowledge can be taken away from them when even the children and women have learned it by heart.

Indeed, there were many women who memorized the Qur'an. The earliest of them, perhaps, was Umm Waraqah, who was permitted by Prophet Muhammad to be the Imam of her family, i.e., to lead her family in Prayer, both men and women.(22) In this context it should be noted that Islam considered memorization of the Qur'an a necessary qualification for the imamate caliphate and other posts.

It becomes absolutely clear that the Qur'an has had an all-pervading influence on the Islamic Community. It gave rise to many phenomenal scholars who memorized the complete text. As we have noted, those who memorized it also memorized secular texts which might appear unrelated. Islamic education draws no line between religious knowledge and practical knowledge.

It is needless to bring to the reader's attention that Islam and the Muslim State were established during the life of Prophet Muhammad himself. With Muhammad as a leader, the state was run strictly according to the Revelation of God. As such the Qur'an became the basis of a state and the supreme criterion of judgment. It manifested itself not only as an authentic text but as the authentic and workable basis of a society. It attained a theological, spiritual and social reality as a coherent and all-embracing truth.

It is interesting to compare the position with the Bible. The Bible is available in 286 different languages. In Japan, less than one percent of the inhabitants are professing Christians, but nevertheless more than 150 million copies of the Japanese Bible have been sold in the last few years. In West Germany the Bible is outsold only by atlases and cookery books. However, it may be estimated that out of every hundred people who possess a Bible, only fifteen actually read it. In the words of Manfred Barthel, "The good book seems rapidly to be achieving the status of piece of bookshelf bric-a-brac, or at best an attractive bookend". The same writer goes on to say that a copy of the Bible can even be bought in supermarkets, or it can be removed and taken away from a drawer in a hotel room without giving rise to any feeling of guilt. In some places one can put a coin in a vending machine and get a pocket Gospel for holiday-makers.

The spoken word of the Bible is also widely available on record and cassette. Cereal boxes are decorated with extracts from the Bible in America. Having said this, Manfred Barthel continues, "All this does not change the essential fact that though virtually no other book has been as widely disseminated as the Bible it remains a book that comparatively few readers seem willing to open - in short, a best-seller that no one reads." (23)

The Qur'an, unlike other sacred books, was commonly read by all Muslims without discrimination or restriction, rich or poor, men, women or children, are commanded to read and memorize it, for God will reward them for every single letter they memorize. The Qur'an was not forbidden to anyone to hold, read, memorize or quote (except for temporary bans during periods of uncleanness, such as for women during menstruation and up to forty days following childbirth, and for all after sexual intercourse). This even applied to non-Muslim Arabs, and many non-Muslims have learnt passages by heart. Muslim children memorize the Qur'an in a very early stage of their life.

No Muslim authority can claim to be the sole possessor of the Qur'an. It does not belong to a group of priests, as the Torah did in Judaism where the rabbi would unroll the scroll and read from it, and then the people would disperse. The Torah and the other Jewish books were kept by the higher Aramaid priests in the temple in Jerusalem, and the public were forbidden to own copies or even to read it. It was solely the business of the priest. The priest himself did not memorize the text but read it. We have already said something about the vulnerability of the Temple and the Torah to attack and destruction by enemies.(24) Hava Lazarus refers to Ibn Hazm who used this evidence against the authenticity of the Pentateuch and says, "He was skillfully using a rather absent ancient Jewish Tradition."

According to Ibn Hazm only one copy of the Pentateuch was usually kept by the High Aaronid priests in the Temple in Jerusalem; where the people could go only three times a year, most of them never entering it. This went on for four hundred years, during which time the corrupted Levite Priests might have easily altered the text of the holy scriptures. In paranthesis Hava expresses wonder, if not shock, at the claim made by Ibn Hazm and some Christian critics, as to the honesty and reliability of the High Aaronid priests. As to the possibility of introducing corruption into the Pentateuth.

She emphasized that according to Ibn Hazm's citation of Deutoronomy 31:22 which states that Moses wrote down only one copy for all of the Israelites and taught it to them. Hava Lazarus thinks that Ibn Hazm partly based his argument on a "negative version of the Rabbinic Tradition," that one authoritative copy of the Pentateuch was deposited by Moses in the Ark, as a standard copy to be referred to in time of dispute, so as to secure it against any forgeries or interpolations (25)

In order to support her argument Hava sought refuge in some Midrashic sources, according to which Moses wrote on the last day of his life thirteen scrolls of the Torah in his own hand, and gave one copy to each of the twelve tribes and one which deposited in the Ark to be used as the prototype copy.

Hava's argument goes back to Maivronedes the Andalusian Jewish Philosopher poet and exponent of the Torah and Jewish Tradition. In his introduction to the Mishreb Torah, Maimonedes used the Midrashic legend mentioned above to defend the genuineness of the Hebrew scriptures against Ibn Hazm's criticism of the Pentateuch.

One wonders how a mortal man could have written thirteen copies of the life books of the Torah, in a single day, and in the last of his life.

And he was a very old man; was lived the last years of his life struggling against the super power of Pharaoh and the strong-leaders of the Israelites; as witnessed by the Torah if not by the Qur'an and Christian scriptures. There is still room for us to wonder, how in the absence of stability and security.

How Moses could have had the material resources to turn out such volume and industry of writing. And here we must stop to wonder in puzzle and amazement how Moses, according to Jewish Tradition, could have written in one day what was revealed to him in forty days!

If we look at the gospels, we find that many appeared about a century after Jesus. It was not until 367 A.C. that Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria clamped down on the flexibility of sacred Christian books, canonizing twenty-seven of them into an accepted body of texts.(26) We have no exact information about the date, provenance and writers of the four canonical gospels. Many other gospels were banned and destroyed. Add to this the fact that these officially accepted gospels were not in any event widely read or known to the public.

It is interesting to note that the passages of the Bible cited in the early writings of the Church Fathers are not always accurately quoted. The Old Testament is referred to about nine hundred times in the New Testament, including about 250 direct quotations. These quotations are usually inaccurate.(27)

The Qur'an is read as part of Muslim daily Prayers, and also as part of the long night Prayers of the pious, (Tahajjud). No Prayer is accepted without reading from the Qur'an. In fact, the word "prayer" means more or less reading from the Qur'an. The reading from the Qur'an in worship must be in Arabic, and according to the Qur'an's order, in chapter and verse, unless the person praying is ignorant or unable to use Arabic.

In that case it is permissible to use any language until Arabic is learned. In Muslim worship there are no hymns, songs, or music of any kind. This is to enable the worshiper to concentrate his attention on the Qur'an. This is in itself helps to preserve the text against change or alteration through forgetfuiness or destruction. It also helps develop the skill of recitation among the professional reciters who have become a phenomenon in our human history.

Because the Qur'an is read frequently, regularly and widely, and because the reading is itself an act of worship, it preserves its integrity. It would be thus absurd to attempt to cast doubt on its authenticity on the assumption that the Qur'an was not mentioned by historians at the time of its origins.(28) Especially since there were no Arabian historians contemporary to its Revelation. Such an argument would be like saying that the Himalayas were not there because early writers do not mention them, or that Egypt is only known to have existed because Herodotus mentions it.

To sum up, one might say that Islam means Qur'an, and Qur'an means Isla m.

The Quran: Orientation of and influence on the Muslim mind

Memorization of the Qur'an by thousands of Muslims helps sharpen their intellect and their power of memorizing. They achieve great feats of memorizing even before the age of nine years, learning not only sacred texts but also secular texts. There are records of many Muslim scholars who knew Aristotle's texts by heart, and the medical text of Galen, and other such books.

It is nothing short of staggering to realize that the Muslim scholar al-Anbari even memorized the figures in the accounts of the state treasury.

The story goes that a certain small sum was once unaccounted for in the treasury. This scholar was able to tell them from memory where the amount had been entered, and his statement was confirmed as true by investigating the written records. (29)

Another scholar, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Abdari (d. 626 A.H.) memorized all the theories of Euclid including the figures illustrating them. (30)

Ibn Khaldun, a very well known scholar and pioneer of sociology, tells us that he memorized the Qur'an, the hadiths, the sayings of ancient Arab men of letters, the two long poems about the Qur'an written by ash-Shatibi, and other books of jurisprudence, logic and morality (31)

Ibn al-Anbari (d. 328 A.H.), called the "Sheikh" of men of letters, used to dictate texts from memory, quoting all the sources as he did so. Adh-Dhahabi described him as "unique in all times in his ability to memorize, and in what he memorized. Moreover, he was truthful, religious and devoted."(32)

Abu Ali al-Qali states that Ibn al-Anbari memorized 300,000 verses of Arabic poetry, useful for interpretation of the language of the Qur'an. People noticed that he never dictated from a written source, only from memory. Once he was asked how many books he had memorized. He replied, "Thirteen large boxes full." (33)

Finally, we would like to say that memorizing the Qur'an sharpens the intellect and safeguards the text, preventing slackness and abuse.

More examples can be given here of how the Qur'an works to shape Muslim Society, and how Muslims have been greatly concerned with what the Qur'an says. Ibn vAbbas memorized all the Muhkam verses when he was 10 years old, during the lifetime of the Prophet. (34 )

ASh-Shafi'i memorized it at the age of seven, or as some say, nine.

He memorized the book of Malik in Hadith when he was 10 years old. Ash-Shafi'i himself realized that he had an extraordinary memorizing ability. When he was at school and heard the teacher telling another student a verse he memorized it before the other one did.(35)

Qatadah (61-118 A.H.) memorized the Qur'an and the Hadith, and again he himself realized that this was an exceptional achievement. He said of himself, "I have never had to ask any one talking to me to say the same thing twice. And my ears never heard anything without my heart storing itup. .(36)

Ad-Dani (d. 440 A.H.) was one of the most distinguished scholars of the Qur'an and Qur'anic interpretation and Arabic grammar. He says much the same about himself, "I never saw anything without writing it down, and I never wrote anything down without memorizing it. I never memorized anything without learning it forever." (37)

As-Suri (died 410 A.H.), who in his own time was the most learned man in Muslim tradition, was often occupied in writing the Hadith according to al-Baji. As-Suri wrote al-Bukhari's Sahih on seven rolls of paper from Baghdad, and he had only one eye. People said of him that he had told them, "Give me any hadith and you read the text, I will give you the authority, or vice versa".(38)

In other words he had complete knowledge of the Hadith. We have a similar story recorded about al-Bukhari. Ibn Zuhr, known in the West as Avenzoor, the distinguished physician of the Middle Ages, who died in 1162 A. C. had memorized al-Bukhari's Sahih, its text and authorities, Abu Hanifa's book about plants, and Galen's books about medicine and anatomy. It should be noted that Ibn Zuhr's book about medicine called At-Taysir was translated into Latin in 1280 A.C. and later into several

European languages, and remained a medical reference book for a long time.

Moreover Ibn Zuhr was the first to discover stomach cancer(39)' On record we have many other examples.

Ibn Faurrah is reported to have memorized a camel-load of books (40)

In our time this sounds like a fairy tale or exaggeration, but this is something which I know from personal experience. I memorized the Qur'an at an early age, when I was about nine years old. Our readers may imagine that memorizing like this is merely mechanical, with no understanding or creative ability. This would be a wrong reaction. On the contrary, such people were also critical and creative. They pioneered literary criticism and they laid the foundation of later schools of criticism. Their ideas still hold good in our own time and are still regarded as important and as a point of reference to guide us in our modern attempts at criticism.

The books of At-Tabaqat (al-Haffaz), dealing with these exceptional memorizers, usually introduce or comment on each figure by saying, "He memorized with understanding. He has great powers of memorizing, great intellect and great creativity." The leading traditionalists say that memorizing and understanding belong together. Mere mechanical repetition is useless as an authority (41 )

It becomes clear that the Qur'an is the words of God given to Prophet Muhammad via the agency of the Archangel Gabriel, and thus to man through the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Qur'an was well safeguarded against corruption and alteration. The Qur'an was revealed in Arabic, was written down during the life of the Prophet, and is often read in its Arabic original worldwide. The Qur'anic teachings are for all mankind without distinction.

Endnotes


1-See Qur'an, 17:88.

2- This hadith is reported by Abu Musa al-Asrfari and unanimously recorded by the Muhaddthin, the Muslim traditionalists.

3- The hadith is reported by s Abdullah ibn Masvud and is unanimously accepted by all Muslim authorities. For further reading on this point see a!-Ghazali, Ihya' yUlum ad-Din, (Beirut, Dar al-Kitab al-vArabi, n. d.) vol. 3, pp. Ill ff, Ibn Taymiyah, Manjm'at Ar-Rasail Wal Masa'il, ed. by Rashid Rida, (Cairo, Lajnat al-Turath al-'Arabi, n. d.) vol. 3, pp 18 ff and Muhammad Abu Laylah, Al-Qur'an Al-Karim Dustur Al-Muslimin, Al-Muslimun weakly newspaper, (London I 406 A. H, 1986) vol. 2, number 71. p. 8.

4- See Arthur J Arberry's Introduction to the Koran Interpreted (Lond. Oxford University Press, 1969), P.X: also Muhammad Salih al-Bindaq, Al-Qur'an Wa Al-Mustashriqun, (Beirut), p. 106.

5- See Ibn Hazm, Al-Faisal, vol. 2, pp. 23 ff, also R. Pfeiffer, Introduction pp. 68 ff and 12o ff, Frederic Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, (London Eyre and Spottiswood, 1939), pp. 34 f, and N. Rifa't Ibn Hazm on Jews and Judaism, pp. 220 ff.

6- M. Fu'ad Sarkin, Majaz Al-Qur'an, (Cairo, al-Khanji and Dar al-Fikr,

1390 A. H., 1970 A. C.) pp. 1 f.

7- See N. Rifa't, Ibn Hazm on Jews and Judaism, pp. 225 ff.

8- See Muhyi ad-Din Yahya Ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi (621- 676 A. H.), Al-Manhal Ar-Rawi Min Taqrib An-Nawawi, ed. by Mustafa al-Khad (Beirut, Dar al-Mallah, n. d.) pp. 29 f. Abu Amer Ibn al-Salah, (642 A. H, 1244 A.C.) Muqaddima Fi llm Al-Hadith (Beirut, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya 1398 A. H. 1978 A. C), pp. 1 ff., Abu vAmr vUthman Ibn vAbd ar-Rahman ash-Shahrazuri (577-643 A. H.), vUlum al-Hadith, ed. by Nur ad-Din Itr (al-Medina al-Munawara, 1972), and Abu Muhammad vAbd ar-Rahman ar-Razi, (240 - 327), Hal al-Hadith, (Cairo, al-Muthanna, 1343).

9- The phrase "reminding Qur'an" in our translation stands for the Arabic word "Dhikr\ "Qur'an" and "Dhikr" are synonymous. The Qur'an eame to put all humanity into remembrance of the original and pure religion (Fitra) upon which Allah has originated mankind.

10- See Ibn Ishaq, Sirat, p. 86.

11- Al-Bukhari, Sahih (Kitab Bad'Al-Wahy).

12- See al-Ghazali, Ihya\ vol. 8, p. 89, also my forthcoming book Muslim Morality.

13-See Qur'an 2: 85.

14- See Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti, Al-Itqan, vol.1, p. 85: also Badr ad-Din Muhammad Ibn vAbdullah az-Zarkashi, Al-Burhan Fi "Ulum Al-Qur'an, ed. by Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim, (Cairo, al-Halabi, 1972), vol. 1, p. 238: and Abu vAbdullah az-Zinjant, Tarikh Al-Qur'an, (Beirut, 1388 A. H.: 1969 A. C), p. 44.

15- Al-Zinjani, Tarikh Al-Qur'an, p. 44.

16- Al-Bukhari, Sahih, vol. 6, p. 110.

17- Al-Bukhari, Kitab Khalq Afal Al-lbad, In Ali Sami al-Nashshar and 'Ammar at-Talibi, 'Aqa'id as-Salaf, (Cairo, al-Ma'arif, 1971), p. 156.

18-Al-Bukhari, Sahih, (Kitab aj-Jihad)

19- As-Suyuti, Tarikh Al-Khulata, ed. by Muhammad Muhyi ad-Din vAbd al-Hamid, (Baghdad, al-Muthanna, 1383 A. H. 1964 A. C.) p. 174 .

20- Ibn Hazm, Al-Faisal, vol. 2, pp. 81-84: also Ibn Hazm, Ar-Radd 'Ala Ibn an-Nighrila, pp. 77 f.

21- Ibn al-Jazari, Kitab An-Nashr Fi Al-Qira' at Al-'Ashr, (Cairo, al-Halabi, n. d.) vol. 2, p. 254 also Ahmad Makki al-Ansari, Ad-Difa' 'An Al-Qur'an, (Cairo, Dar al-Ma arif, 1393 A. H. I 973 A. C.) part, I, p. 120.

22- As-Suuyuti, Al-Itqan, vol. I, p. 72.

23- M. Bartnel, What Ten Bible Really Says, (England, Souvenir Press Ltd., 1982) pp. llf.

24- Sec As-Samaw'al al-Maghribi, Ifham Al-Yahud, pp. 49 ff. Also Hava Lazarus - Yafah, Intertwined Worlds, Medieval Islam and the Bible Criticism, (New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1992), pp. 43 f, Nurshif Rifavt, Ibn Hazm on Jesus and Judaism, Ph.D. Thesis Exter University, England 1988), chapters 3&4 and Maulana M. Rahmatullah Kairanvi, Izhar Al-Haqq, (England, Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.,1990)

part4p. 76.

25- See Hava Lazarus.

26- See M. Barthel, What Bible Really Says, p. 292, also C. R. Gregory, Canon and Text of the New Testament, (Edinbugh, T. & T . Clark, 1907), pp. 19 ff.

27- J. A. R. "Canon" in T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, Encyclopedia Biblicea, London, Adam and Charles Black, 1899), vol. 1, col, 676.

28- See A. Mingana, The Transmission of the Qur'an, (Woodbrooke Studies, Cambridge, 1928), vol. 2, p. 39.

29-Al-Fakhri, Fi Al-Adab As-Sultaniyyah Na'l Dawla Al^Ialamiyyah, (Akka, n. d.) pp. 244 f.

30- Ibn 'Abd al-Malik, Adh-Dhayl Wal Takmila, ed. by Muhammad Ibn Sharifa ( Beirut, Dar al-Thaqafa, 1963) part, I, vol. I, p. 89.

31- Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, ed. by 'Abd al-Wahid Wafi (Cairo, Dar Nahdat Misr, n. d.) vol. 3, pp. 842 ff.

32-Adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkira Al-Huffaz, (Hxderabad, Dar al-Ma'arif al-'Uthmaniyyah, 1958) vol. 3, pp. 842 ff.

33- Ibid.

34- Al-Bukhari, Fada' il Al-Qur'an.

35- See Ahmad ibn al-Hussayn al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib ash-ShafCi, ed. by Ahmad Saqr, (Cairo, Dar at-Turath, 1391 A. H. 1971) vol. I, pp. 280 f also Yaqut, Irshad Al-Arib, (Beirut, Dar al-Muatashriq, 1922) vol. 17, p. 284.

36- Al-Dhahabi, Mizctn al-Ttidal, ed. by al-Bijjawi, (Cairo, Al-Halabi. 1963) p. 385.

37- See his book At-Taysir Fi Al-Qira'at As-Sab\ (Istanbul, Matba' at al-Dawla, 1930) pp.

dal and ha .

38- Ad-Dhahabi, Tadhkirah, vol. 3, p. 1108.

39- Al-Marrakushi, Dhayt, vol. 6, p. 398.

40-Ibid, vol. 5, p. 488.

41- See e.g. Ibn Abi Hatim ar-Razi, Taqdimat Al-Ma'rifa Li Kitab Al-Juruti. As-Suyuti, Is'af Al-Mubatta' Bi Rijal Al-Muwatta' (Beirut, n. d.) pp. 4 f and Ibn Hazm, An-Nubadh Fi Usul Al-Fiqh Az-Zahiri, ed. by Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari, (Cairo, Maktbat al-Anwar, 1940) p. 21.