The Islamic Personality by Sheikh Taqīuddīn An-Nabahānī

What is transmitted to us of the Quaran as motawaatir transmission and we know that it is of the Qur’aan; is the hujjah (proof). As for what was transmitted to us by individuals like the mushaf of Ibn Mas’oud and others are not hujjah, that is because the Prophet (SAW) was assigned to recite what was revealed to Him of the Qur’aan onto a group of people a decisive proof would establish for their saying, and those whom the decisive hujjah would establish by their saying it could not be supposed that they agree not to transmit what they heard, so if anything of the Qur’aan exists not transmitted by a group who’s saying would establish a hujjah, but transmitted by individuals; is not considered because it came individually transmitted, contrary to what the Messenger (SAW) was assigned with, and contrary to the way the Qur’aan used to be recited by the Messenger (SAW) to a number of Muslims to memorize it, and they are of whom the proof is established by their saying, beside His order to write It. So it does not apply to this situation that one or a number of people that the decisive proof could not be established by their saying transmitted anything of the Quaran, therefore, what was transmitted of the Quaran by individuals is not a proof at all. It could be said that: the memorizers of the Qur’aan at the time of the Messenger (SAW) did not reach the number of the tawaator for their fewness, and Its gathering was by receiving Its individual verses from individuals, therefore, the masaahif of the Sahabah differ from each other, and if He (SAW) recited It onto a group of people a proof would establish by their saying, it wouldn’t be like that. The answer to that is from a few directions: Firstly: the recital of the Qur’aan onto a number of people whom their saying would establish a proof is not disputed over by anyone of the Sahabah, nor is it disputed over by anyone of the Muslims. Also the Qur’aan is the miracle showing decisively the truthfulness of the Messenger (SAW), and its non-conveyance to the one who did not see it by the mutawaatir; makes it (that which is transmitted individually) not a decisive proof for himself, then it would not be a proof to believe the Prophet (SAW).

Secondly: it is affirmed that when the verse or verses were descended onto Him (SAW), He used to call the revelation writers to write them, and used to recite them onto a number of Muslims a decisive proof would establish for their saying, and He used to recite them onto the Muslims who used to come to Him or attend the prayers with Him, so the practicality of the recital of the Qur’aan is that It was not recited onto one, but onto a mass of Muslims, so those who used to hear It reached the extent of the tawaator, and thus, the reality of Its recital is that It used to be recited onto those which the decisive proof would establish for their saying. Thirdly: the issue is not about memorizing the whole Qur’aan, but about the transmission of the individual verses, so if we suppose that the memorizers of the whole Qur’aan did not reach the extent of the tawaator; it does not mean that the transmission of the individual verses was not by the extent of the tawaator, so the non reaching of the memorizers of the whole Qur’aan at the time of the Prophet (SAW) the extent of the tawaator does not necessitate that the memorizers of Its individual verses are like that, so the memorizers of every verse reached the number of the tawaator, in addition to registering them by writing, and everyone of Its verses was transmitted from the Prophet (SAW) by mutawaatir transmission. Accordingly, it is not valid to say that: the memorizers of the Qur’aan at the time of the Prophet (SAW) did not reach the number of the tawaator. Fourthly: gathering the Qur’aan is different to transmitting It from the Messenger (SAW), because the transmission is the hearing from the Messenger (SAW) verbally, and this is the issue under discussion. As for gathering the verses of the Qur’aan in one mushaf (book); the research was not to prove that they are Qur’aan, but for forwarding or back warding them with regard to the other verses and the research was about their length and shortness. Moreover the gathering of the Qur’aan was not writing what the memorizers memorized, but gathering the pages that were written in the presence of the Messenger (SAW) and placing them after each other in every Surah as the Messenger of Allah (SAW) commanded, and comparing them to what the Qur’aan memorizers had, and placing them in one place. So the issue of the gathering is different to the issue of the transmission and the discussion is about the transmission, and therefore, the issue of gathering the Qur’aan should not be mentioned here. As for the difference between the masaahif (books); whatever in them is of the (aahaad) individually transmitted, that is not of the Qur’aan, and it is not a proof, and whatever is mutawaatir it is from It and it is a proof. So the issue is not related to the mushaf, but it is related to the verses contained in the mushaf, so if the verse is transmitted from the Messenger (SAW) as mutawaatir transmission, i.e. received from Him by a number who reached the extent of the tawaator (frequent transmission), i.e. the decisive proof would establish for their saying, then it is considered to be from the Qur’aan and it is a proof, and what is not like that, it is not considered to be of the Qur’aan, therefore, all the mushaf of Othman is Qur’aan, because all the verses contained in It are mutawaatir transmitted. Those whom the decisive proof is established for their saying transmitted them, whereas the mushaf of Ibn Mas’oud; whatever it contains of verses transmitted by tawaator are considered to be of the Qur’aan, and whatever it contains of verses transmitted individually, like the verse: sequent three fasting so days) is not considered to be of the Qur’aan and is not a proof. Accordingly the objection standing on the Qur’aan memorizers and on the masaahif of the Sahabah is rejected, and affirmed is that the mutawaatir transmitted is the Qur’aan, and what was individually transmitted is not of the Qur’aan. And what we should draw the attention to, is that the Qur’aan was transmitted by sighting from the Messenger (SAW), from the revelation at the time of His descent with it and was registered by writing and by memorizing it. So the Sahabah (RAA) did not narrate the Qur’aan as a narration from the Messenger but transmitted It, i.e. they transmitted the selfsame that was descended, and what the Messenger (SAW) commanded to write, unlike the hadeeth; it was narrated on behalf of the Messenger (SAW) and not written when He said it, nor was it written during its narration but it was written and registered at the time of Taabi’i al- Taabi’een. The Qur’aan got written and registered at the descent of the Wahi with it, and the Sahabah transmitted the selfsame that was descent by the Wahi, and therefore it is said that: the Sahabah transmitted the Qur’aan to us as a transmission.