Understanding Usul Al-Fiqh by Abu Tariq Hilal - Abu Ismael al-Beirawi

It has been proven by decisive and definite evidence that when the Prophet (saw) died the whole Qur‟an had been written and all of it was preserved in the hearts of the Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them). An verse or verses would be revealed and so he (saw) used to order that they be written down before him at once. He (saw) did not prevent the Muslims from writing the Qur‟an other than what he used to dictate to the scribes who wrote down the revelation.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

“Do not write down anything from me, whosoever writes anything I have said other than the Qur‟an let him erase it.” (Muslim)

What the scribes used to write of the revelation was collected on sheets (Suhuf). He (swt) said: “A Messenger from Allah, reciting purified pages (Suhuf) (of the Qur‟an).” (TMQ Al-Bayyinah: 2)

“Nay, indeed it (verses of the Qur‟an) are an admonition. So whoever wills, let him pay attention to it. (It is) in Records held (greatly) in honour. Exalted (in dignity), purified. In the hands of scribes, Honourable and obedient.” (TMQ Al-Abbasa: 11-16)

He (saw) left written everything that was between the two covers of the Mushaf which had been written down in front of him. 'Abd al-'Aziz b Rufayya' narrated: “Shaddad bin Ma'qil and I entered upon Ibn 'Abbas. Shaddad bin Ma'qil asked him, “Did the Prophet leave anything (besides the Qur‟an)?” He replied: “He did not leave anything except what is Between the two bindings (of the Qur‟an).” Then we visited Muhammad bin Al-Hanafiyya and asked him (the same question). He replied, “The Prophet did not leave except what is between the bindings (of the Qur‟an).” An Ijma' (consensus) has taken place on the fact that all of the verses of the Qur‟an in their respective chapters (Surahs) had been written down directly in front of the Messenger (saw) when the revelation was revealed to him, and that they were written on sheets (Suhuf). The greatest of Messengers died content about the Qur‟an, his greatest miracle which established the proof for the Arabs and the world. He did not fear for the verses of the Qur‟an that they would be lost because Allah (swt) has preserved the Qur‟an with an explicit text:

“Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Zikr (the Qur‟an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).” (TMQ Al-Hajj: 9)

Due to the preservation of the Qur‟an in its written form and in the memory of the Sahabah after the death of the Messenger the Sahabah initially did not feel the need to compile the Qur‟an in one book. This was the case until many of the Huffaz (memorisers of the Qur‟an) had been killed in the Riddah (apostasy) wars. Due to this Umar (ra) feared for the loss of certain sheets and death of the Qurra' (Those who had committed the whole of the Qur‟an to memory), thereby causing some verse to be lost. So he thought about bringing the written sheets together (in one compilation). He presented his idea to Abu Bakr (ra) who eventually accepted this and ordered for the compilation of the Qur‟an.

It has been narrated by 'Ubayd b. al-Sibaq that Zayd b al-Thabit Al-Ansari said: “Abu Bakr sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra' were killed). Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said, “Umar has come to me and said, „The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the Qurra' at other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur‟an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur‟an.‟” Abu Bakr (ra) added, “I said to Umar, 'How can I do something which Allah's Apostle has not done?' Umar said (to me), 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing.' So Umar kept on pressing, trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as Umar.” Zayd b al-Thabit added: “Umar was sitting with him (Abu Bakr) and was not speaking to me. “You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness) and you used to write the revelation (Wahy) for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur‟an and collect it (in one manuscript).” “By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur‟an. I said to both of them, „How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?' Abu Bakr said, 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr and Umar. So I started locating Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuzaima two Verses of Surah Al-Tawbah which I had not found with anybody else (in terms of the written form), (and they were): “Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty.” (TMQ At-Tawbah: 128) until the end of Bara‟ah.” The manuscript of the Quran which was collected, remained with Abu Bakr (ra) until Allah (swt) took him, and then with Umar (ra) during his lifetime, and finally it remained with Hafsa (ra), Umar's daughter. Zayd's (ra) compilation of the Qur‟an did not consist of what he wrote down from the Huffaz. Rather his compilation brought together what he had written himself in front of the Messenger of Allah (saw). He did not place one sheet with another sheet in order to compile them unless two witnesses testified for that sheet that it was written in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (saw). Furthermore, he did not accept a sheet unless it met two conditions. Firstly, that it was present in written form with one of the Sahabah. Secondly, that it has been memorised by one of the Sahabah. When the written and memorised forms concurred with the sheet that was intended to be compiled, he took it, otherwise he did not accept it. That is why he refrained from taking the end of Surah al-Bara'ah until he found it in written form with Abu Khuzayma even though Zayd could himself recall and remember it. It has been narrated via Yahya b 'Abd al-Rahman b. Hatib that he said: “Umar stood up and said; whosoever has received anything of the Qur‟an from the Messenger of Allah (saw), let him bring it forth. They used to write that on sheets, tablets and palm risp.” Ibn Hatib said: “He (Zayd) did not accept anything from anyone until two witnesses had given testimony. This shows that Zayd was not satisfied by merely finding something in a written form until the one who received it testified that he had heard it from the Messenger of Allah (swt), despite the fact that Zayd already had it memorised. He did this due to his extreme caution.” Thus, the process of compilation was nothing other than the bringing together of sheets that had already been written in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (saw) into one book between two covers. The Qur‟an used to be written down on sheets but they were separately kept. So Abu Bakr (ra) assembled them in one place. That is why Abu Bakr's order to compile the Qur‟an was not an order to write it down in one Mushaf, rather it was an order to bring the sheets that had been written in the Messenger's presence together in one place. This was an order to make certain that they are in the same original form by supporting them with the testimonies of two witnesses that they had been written in front of the Messenger of Allah (saw), also that they were in the possession of the Sahabah in written form and they had memorised them. These sheets remained preserved in the possession of Abu Bakr (ra) during his life and then with Umar (ra) during his lifetime and them with Hafsa (ra) the daughter of Umar, the mother of the believers in accordance with Umar's bequest. From this it becomes clear that Abu Bakr's compilation of the Qur‟an constituted only the bringing together of sheets that had been written in the presence of Allah's Messenger and it was not an actual compilation of the Qur‟an.

This was regarding the compilation of Abu Bakr. As for the compilation of Uthman (ra), in the third or some say the second year of his Khilafah, in the year 25 AH, Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman (ra) approached Uthman in Madinah at the time when the people of al-Sham and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azerbijan. Hudhayfa was afraid of the people of al-Sham and Iraq‟s differences in the recitation of the Qur‟an. He saw that the people of al-Sham reading according to the recitation of Ubay b. Ka'b (ra), and they were coming with readings the people of Iraq had not heard of. Also he saw the people of Iraq reading according to the recitation of Abdullah b. Mas'ud (ra) and so they had certain readings that the people of al-Sham had not heard of. Thus, they began to charge each other of Kufr (disbelief). They both disagreed about a verse in Surah al-Baqarah. One read: “And perform properly the hajj and 'Umra for Allah (wa atimmul hajja wal 'umrata lillah).” (TMQ Al-Baqarah: 196)

The other read: “And perform properly the hajj and 'Umra to the House (of Allah) (wa atimmul hajja wal 'umrata lil bayt).” So Hudhayfah became angry and his eyes went red with rage. It has been narrated about Hudhayfah that he said: “The people of Kufah adhere to the recitation of Ibn Mas'ud and the people of Basra adhere to the recitation of Abu Musa. By Allah! If I go to the Leader of the Believers I will order him to make it a single recitation.” So he travelled to Uthman (ra). It has been reported by Ibn Shihab that Anas b. Malik (ra) narrated: Hudhaifa bin al-Yaman came to Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azerbijan. Hudhayfa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur‟an, so he said to Uthman, “O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and the Christians did before.” So Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, “Send us the manuscripts of the Qur‟an so that we may compile the Qur‟anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you.” Hafsa sent it to Uthman. Uthman then ordered Zayd bin Thabit, 'Abd Allah b. al-Zubair, Said b. al-'As and 'Abd al-Rahman b. Harith b. Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, “In case you disagree with Zayd b. al-Thabit on any point in the Qur‟an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur‟an was revealed in their tongue.” They did so, and when they had written many copies, Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur‟anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. The number of copies made was seven. The seven Mushafs were sent to Makkah, al-Sham, Yemen, Bahrayn, Basra, Kufa, and one copy was kept in Madina.

Therefore, Uthman's action was not the compilation of the Qur‟an. Rather it constituted in only the copying and transcription of the same thing transcribed from the Messenger of Allah (saw) as it was. He he did not do anything other than make seven copies from the preserved copy in the possession of Hafsa, mother of the believers and unite the people on this single script and forbade any other script or dictation other than it. The matter became settled on this copy as a script and dictation. It is the same script and dictation in which the sheets were written in the presence of Allah's Messenger (saw) when the revelation was sent down, and it is the same copy which Abu Bakr (ra) had compiled. Then the Muslims began to make copies from this copy and not any other copy. Nothing remained except the Mushaf of Uthman in its script. When printers came about the Mushaf was printed from this copy with the same script and dictation. The difference between the compilation of Abu Bakr and that of Uthman is that the compilation of Abu Bakr took place due to the fear that something would be lost from the Qur‟an if any of its memorisers died out.

As even though it was written on sheets it had not been collected in one place in a single book, thus it was compiled. The compilation of Uthman took place because differences increased regarding aspects of the Qur‟an when they read it due to the expansion of the language. This led some to accuse others of making an error. It was feared that the matter would escalate and become seriously worse. So the original compilation was copied seven times and sent to the different Muslim provinces. The Mushaf that we now have before us is the same Mushaf revealed to the Messenger of Allah (saw). It is the same mushaf that Abu Bakr brought together when the sheets were compiled in one place. And it is the same one from which Uthman transcribed the seven copies and ordered for the rest to be burned. It is the same noble Qur‟an in its verse arrangement in relation to each other and their arrangment in their respectives Surahs, script and dictation.

As for the original copy dictated by the Messenger of Allah (saw) from the revelation, those sheets were compiled together and then copied. It remained protected in the possession of Hafsa, mother of the believers until Marwan became the Wali (governor) of Madinah and he tore it up. Since it was not considered binding because copies of the Mushaf had spread everywhere. Ibn Shihab narrated that Salim b. 'Abdullah b. Umar informed him: That Marwan used to send for Hafsa – i.e. when he was the Amir of Madinah via Mu'awiyya - asking her for the sheets from which the Qur‟an was written. She refused to give him it. Salim said: When Hafsa died, while we were returning from her burial Marwan communicated his firm decision to 'Abdullah b. Umar that he send him that mushaf. So 'Abdullah b. Umar sent it to him. Marwan ordered it to be destroyed. He said: “I did this because I feared that if it remained with people for a long time then people will have doubts regarding these sheets.”