Wasomi wa Kiislamu wametofautiana kuhusu idadi jumla ya Maswahaba ambao walikuwa wamehifadhi Qur-aan yote na kuisoma mbele ya Nabii (ﷺ) kabla ya kifo chake. Imaam Al-Bukhaaree alikusanya katika Saheeh yake kauli ya Anas ibn Maalik kwamba watu wanne pekee ndio walikuwa wameikusanya Qur-aan yote wakati wa uhai wa Nabii: Abu Ad-Dardaa', Mu‘aath ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thaabit na Abu Zayd.92 Wasomi wanakubaliana kwamba kikomo kinachoonekana katika kauli ya Anas si alichokusudia, au, ikiwa alikusudia, basi hakikuwa sahihi. Inaonekana alitoa kauli hii katika mjadala wa kirafiki kati ya wanachama wa makabila mawili ya Answaar kuhusu fadhila za kila kabila. Watu aliowataja Anas wote walitoka kabila la Khazraj ambalo yeye mwenyewe alikuwa wa kabila hilo, na alikusudia kusema kwamba hakuna mtu kutoka kabila la Aws aliyekuwa amehifadhi Qur-aan yote.93 Kuna matoleo mawili ya kauli hii. Toleo jingine linasema tu kwamba watu wanne walihifadhi Qur-aan yote, bila kusema kwamba ndio pekee, na linamtaja Ubayy ibn Ka‘b badala ya Abu Ad-Dardaa'.94

Scholars differ on the total number of sahaabah who had memorized all of the Qur’aan and read it back to the Prophet (ﷺ) before his death. Imaam AlBukhaaree collected in his Saheeh a statement of Anas ibn Maalik that only four people had gathered the whole Qur’aan in the Prophet’s lifetime: Aboo adDardaa’, Mu‘aath ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thaabit and Aboo Zayd.92 Scholars agree that the apparent limitation in Anas’s statement is either not what he intended or, if he did intend it, that it was not accurate. It seems he made this statement in the course of a friendly argument between members of the two tribes of the Ansaar about the virtues of each tribe. The individuals Anas named were all from the Khazraj tribe to which he belonged, and he meant to say that no one from the Aws tribe had memorized all of it.93 There are two versions of this statement. The other version simply states that four people memorized the whole Qur’aan, without saying they were the only ones, and it mentions Ubayy ibn Ka‘b in place of Aboo ad-Dardaa’.94

Katika riwaya nyingine iliyokusanywa na al-Bukhaaree, Mtume (r) aliwaagiza Maswahaba wajifunze Qur-aan kutoka kwa Ibn Mas‘ood, Saalim aliyekuwa mtumwa aliyeachiwa huru wa Abuu Huthayfah, Mu‘aath na Ubayy. 95 Ushahidi mwingine sahihi unaonyesha kwamba Abuu Bakr na ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas walikuwa wamekariri Qur-aan yote.96 Hata hivyo, kuna hadithi mbili zilizopokewa na al-Bukhaaree zinazoonyesha kwamba idadi hiyo ilikuwa kubwa zaidi ya hapo. Katika tukio la Bi’r Ma‘oonah, Maswahaba sabini, wote wakiwa ni qurraa’, walivamiwa kwa kuvizia na kuuawa.97 Neno qurraa’ ni wingi wa qaaree’, ambalo hutumiwa kumaanisha mtu anayekariri Qur-aan na aliye mahiri katika kuisoma, ingawa inaonekana Maswahaba pia walilitumia neno hilo kwa mtu aliye na ujuzi wa maana zake. Maswahaba sabini waliokariri Qur-aan yote, wengi wao kutoka kwa Answaar, waliuawa katika vita vya Yamaamah miaka miwili tu baada ya kifo cha Mtume (r).98 Kama hawakuwa wamemaliza kuikariri kabla ya kufa kwake, basi lazima walikuwa wameikariri sehemu kubwa yake.

In another report collected by al-Bukhaaree, the Prophet (r) instructed his companions to learn the Qur’aan from Ibn Mas‘ood, Saalim, the freed slave of Aboo Huthayfah, Mu‘aath and Ubayy. 95 Other authentic evidence indicates that Aboo Bakr and ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas had memorized all of it.96 However, there are two hadeeths reported by al-Bukhaaree to indicate that the number was higher than that. In the incident of Bi’r Ma‘oonah, seventy sahaabah, all of them qurraa’, were ambushed and killed.97 The word qurraa’ is the plural of qaaree’, which is used for a memorizer of the Qur’aan who is proficient in reciting it, although the sahaabah seem to have also used the term for one who is knowledgeable about its meanings. Seventy of the sahaabah who had memorized the whole Qur’aan, most of them from the Ansaar, died fighting in the battle of Yamaamah only two years after the death of the Prophet (r).98 If they had not completed their memorization of it before his death, they must have done so for a substantial portion of it.

Baadhi ya watu wamejaribu kubishana kwa msingi wa kauli ya Anas aliyoipokea al-Bukhaaree kwamba idadi ya watu waliokihifadhi Qur-aan wakati wa uhai wa Mtume ﷺ ilikuwa ndogo mno kuweza kuunga mkono dai la Waislamu kwamba Qur-aan imetufikia kwa tawaatur.99 Hata tukikubali riwaya hii kama ilivyo, matumizi yake kuunga mkono hoja hiyo si imara, kwa sababu, ingawa idadi ya watu waliokihifadhi Qur-aan yote wakati wa uhai wa Mtume ﷺ huenda ilikuwa ndogo, wengi wengine walikuwa wamekihifadhi sehemu kubwa, zinazoingiliana. Kwa hiyo wakati wa uhai wake idadi ya wahifadhi kwa kila sehemu fulani ya Qur-aan ilikuwa kubwa. Wengi wa hao walikamilisha kuihifadhi baada ya kifo chake ﷺ.

Some people have tried to argue on the basis of Anas’s statement collected by al-Bukhaaree that the number of people who memorized the Qur’aan during the lifetime of the Prophet (r) was too small to support the Muslim claim that the Qur’aan was conveyed to us by tawaatur.99 Even if we accept this report at face value, its use to support that argument is not strong, because, although the number of people who had memorized the whole Qur’aan in the Prophet’s lifetime may have been limited, many others had memorized substantial, overlapping portions. So during his lifetime the number of memorizers was great for any given portion of the Qur’aan. Many of these completed their memorization of it after his death.

Kwa kweli, kila kizazi kinachofuata cha Waislamu, idadi ya wale wanaohifadhi Qur'aan yote imeongezeka. Leo hii kuna, kihalisi, mamia ya maelfu ya Waislamu duniani kote ambao wamefanya hivyo.

In fact, with every succeeding generation of Muslims, the numbers of those who memorized all of the Qur’aan has increased. Today there are literally hundreds of thousands of Muslims throughout the world who have done so.

Hakuna kitabu kingine, cha kidini wala kisicho cha kidini, ambacho kimekaririwa kwa kiwango hiki katika historia iliyorekodiwa. Qur'ani ni takriban theluthi nne ya urefu wa Agano Jipya la Wakristo, lakini hakuna mtu hata mmoja katika historia iliyorekodiwa anayejulikana kuwa alikariri Agano Jipya lote. Zaidi ya hayo, endapo vitabu vyote duniani vingeharibiwa kwa namna fulani, kitabu pekee ambacho kingeweza kuandikwa upya, neno kwa neno, bila kosa hata moja, ni Qur'ani Tukufu.

There is no other book, religious or otherwise, which has been memorized on this scale in recorded history. The Qur’aan is about four-fifths the length of the New Testament of the Christians, yet not a single person in recorded history is known to have memorized the New Testament completely. In fact, if all of the books in the world were somehow destroyed, the only book which could be rewritten, word for word, without a single mistake is the Glorious Qur’aan.

Mwanaorientalisti mashuhuri, Kenneth Cragg, alisema yafuatayo kuhusu kuhifadhi na kukariri maandiko ya Qur'ani: "Jambo hili la kusomwa na kukaririwa kwa Qur'ani linamaanisha kwamba maandiko hayo yamepitia karne nyingi katika mfululizo hai usiokatika wa ibada. Kwa hiyo, hayawezi kushughulikiwa kama jambo la kale tu, wala kama hati ya kihistoria iliyotoka zamani za mbali."100 Mwanamasomo mwingine wa mambo ya Mashariki, William Graham, aliandika: "Kwa mamilioni ya Waislamu katika zaidi ya karne kumi na nne za historia ya Kiislamu, 'maandiko', al-kitab, yamekuwa kitabu kinachojifunzwa, kinachosomwa na kupitishwa kwa kurudiarudia kwa sauti na kwa kukariri. Qur'ani iliyoandikwa inaweza 'kuthibitisha' kwa uwazi maandishi yenye mamlaka ya Neno la Mwenyezi Mungu kwa namna isiyojulikana katika historia, lakini mamlaka ya kitabu cha Qur'ani yanatimia kikamilifu na kwa ukamilifu wake pale tu kinaposomwa ipasavyo."101 Mwingine, John Burton, alisema: "Njia ya kupitisha Qur'ani kutoka kizazi kimoja hadi kingine kwa vijana kukariri mapokeo ya mdomo ya wazee wao ilipunguza tangu mwanzo baadhi ya hatari kubwa za kutegemea rekodi za maandishi pekee..."102 Mwishoni mwa kazi yake kubwa kuhusu ukusanyaji wa Qur'ani, Burton alisema kwamba maandiko ya Qur'ani yanayopatikana leo ni "maandiko yaliyotufikia katika umbo ambalo yalipangwa na kuidhinishwa na Nabii ﷺ... Kile tulicho nacho leo mikononi mwetu ni Mushafu103 wa Muhammad ﷺ."104

One of the leading orientalists, Kenneth Cragg, said the following regarding the memorization and preservation of the Qur’aanic text, “This phenomenon of Qur’anic recital means that the text has traversed the centuries in an unbroken living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be handled as an antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant past.” 100 Another orientalist scholar, William Graham, wrote: “For countless millions of Muslims over more than fourteen centuries of Islamic history, ‘scripture’, al-kitab, has been a book learned, read and passed on by vocal repetition and memorisation. The written Qur’an may ‘fix’ visibly the authori-tative text of the Divine Word in a way unknown in history, but the authoritativeness of the Qur’anic book is only realised in its fullness and perfection when it is correctly recited.” 101 Yet another, John Burton, stated: “The method of transmitting the Qur’an from one generation to the next by having the young memorise the oral tradition of their elders had mitigated somewhat from the beginning the worst perils of relying solely on written records...” 102 At the end of a voluminous work on the Qur’aan’s collection, Burton stated that the text of the Qur’aan available today is “the text which has come down to us in the form in which it was organised and approved by the Prophet....What we have today in our hands is the mus-haf 103 of Muhammad.”104