Why did Uthman, Prophet Muhammad's third disciple burn the "other books"?
The sections of this article are:
- Why did Uthman burn the "other books"?
- The preservation of the Noble Quran during Muhammad's time.
- After the death of our Prophet peace be upon him.
- Discussion with one of the Christian "Answering Islam" team members.
- Conclusion.
Note: Please visit the following two sites for more information and references. I highly recommend them, because they are rich in contents and they contain references from authentic Islamic resources to all of their claims and points.
Response from the BISMIKA ALLAHUMMA site. Shows evidence of the collection of Noble Quran, and how it all happened. They respond directly to Answering Islam's questions and claims.
Response from the Islamic Awareness site. Elaborates on the Noble Quran during Uthman, and how the Muslims got rid of the "other" books. They also respond directly to Answering Islam's questions and claims.
The Noble Quran was revealed in one language and that is Arabic. It has only one original Arabic copy. Arabic 1400 years ago had 7 dialects. There exists today one original copy of the Noble in Saudi Arabia today. A copy of this original copy also exists in Turkey today as well.
When the Noble Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, it was revealed in Arabic, and in the Quraishi dialect. The Quraishi dialect is the most proper Arabic dialect that properly uses the Arabic words without altering their sound.
The Quraishi dialect was the most popular dialect in the Middle East at that time, and is today the dialect used among Arabs who speak Proper Arabic. The dialect that books teach at schools is also a Quraishi dialect today.
Back in the Middle East 1400 years ago, the Quraishi dialect was not the only one used among Arabs. There existed 6 other dialects along with it, but as I said, it was the most popular.
It is very important in the Islamic faith that when we recite the Noble Quran, we recite it in the Quraishi dialect or what we call today in the proper Arabic. We can't pronounce for instance "th" as "sa" or "za". We can't pronounce "la" as "laman". We can't pronounce "ja" and "ga", etc...
There are no variances or missing parts in the Noble Quran. These are all false and baseless assumptions by some anti-Islamics. The Arabic dialects had problems with each others, and that's why standardizing the Noble Quran with its original Quraishi dialect was essential to keeping it as a perfect Holy Book: For instance, take the letter "j". Did you know that some Arabs don't pronounce the "j"? They always pronounce it as "g" or "ga".
Take "the" as another example. Some Arabs also don't pronounce "the". They pronounce it as "za".
Another example, and this is an important one in my opinion, is that some Arabs used to have a dialect which originated from Yemen, where they would add "an" at the end of a noun. Take for instance the popular word of today "Taliban", as in the Taliban in Afghanistan. "Taliban" is the same as the Arabic word "Talib" which means "Student".
The Afghans today used the old Arabic dialect from Yemen which dates even older than 1400 years ago when the Noble Quran was revealed. Back then in Yemen, as I said, they used to add the word "an" for nouns. So if they for instance wanted to refer to a stone "sakhr (in Arabic)", then they would refer to it as "sakhran", even though it would be written in Arabic as "sakhr".
In Islam, properly reciting the Words of Allah Almighty is the way it must be practiced. Otherwise, it would be considered a sin and disrespect toward Allah Almighty and the individual would be disobeying Allah Almighty and would gain bad deeds that will count against him in the Day of Judgment if he did it intentionally.
The preservation of the Noble Quran during Muhammad's time:
When Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him received the Noble Quran's Revelations in a 10-years span, he had everything documented on paper and saved with his close disciples and immediate family. He also had the entire Noble Quran memorized along with many of his followers. The Noble Quran during the times of our beloved Prophet peace be upon him was carefully preserved and protected from man's corruption. It was documented on paper and it was entirely memorized by many.
When Uthman, the third Caliph in Islam, compiled the Noble Quran, he did not determine the numerical order of the Noble Chapters and the Noble Verses. The entire Noble Quran as I said was already documented and memorized. Chapters from the Noble Quran were recited by our Prophet peace be upon him at least 5 times a day during the Muslims' five-daily prayers. Also, the Noble Quran was all recited during the month of Ramadan, as it is still done today. There are other daily and weekly religious occasions, festivals and holidays where the Noble Quran back then and still today was recited either partially or wholly. The Muslims who perfected the memorization of the Noble Quran back then continuously refreshed their memories through teaching others: Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam.
So, it is beyond the shadow of the doubt that the numbering and the order of the Noble Chapters and Verses was already determined by our Prophet peace be upon him through the inspiration and guidance of Allah Almighty, and not by anyone else.
Historically, almost every Muslim scholar had the entire Noble Quran memorized by heart. If you live among Muslims or know well how the Muslims deal with the Noble Quran, then you would know that tampering with the Noble Quran is impossible among the Muslims. If someone recites the Noble Quran to the public (in the Mosque for instance) and makes a mistake, then he would find many who would correct him because they would have the entire Noble Quran memorized by heart.
The memorization of the entire Noble Quran is something sacred in Islam. It helped the Noble Quran remain error-free from man's false documentation. Today in the Middle East they have programs and rewards for those who have the entire Noble Quran memorized. I once saw on TV a biography about a 4-years old little boy in Iran who had the entire Noble Quran memorized! He received a big reward and was enlisted in the "gifted kids" program.
We must know that according to Islam Allah Almighty Himself is protecting the Noble Quran until the Day of Judgment from man's corruption: "We [Allah] have, without doubt, sent down the Message [The Noble Quran]; and We will assuredly Guard it (from corruption). (The Noble Quran, 15:9)"
Please visit: The preservation of the Noble Quran.
After the death of our beloved Prophet peace be upon him:
When Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him died, Islam was still small geographically. The Muslims mostly existed in the two cities of Mecca and Madina. Comparing those two cities' size to the Middle East region's size, they would not even be 0.0001% in comparison.
After the death of our beloved Prophet, Islam started to expand in the Middle East region. Not only the People of the entire region didn't have the same dialect, but also they had different languages. The languages that were spoken in the region at that time were Arabic (with its 7 dialects), Persian, Assyrian, Hebrew and some Greek. All of these languages are quite different from each others. You would need a translator to translate almost 100% of the conversation if you were to pick two languages and have two people converse with them, each person with one language.
As the Muslims expanded through the entire region, which is thousands of squared miles in area, the Noble Quran was documented at different places with sometimes different languages and Arabic dialects as well.
Islam mostly spread throughout the region during the first two Caliphs (our Prophet's disciples); may Allah Almighty be pleased with them, Abu-Baker Al-Siddeeq, and Omar bin Al-Khattab. They were mostly concerned with spreading Islam to the people of the entire region and never had the time, nor the rulership (since Islam wasn't quite spread throughout the entire region until toward the end of the second disciple's time) to unify the Noble Quran or the teaching of the Noble Quran with one dialect in recitation and spelling.
When Uthman bin Aaffan (the third disciple) came, Islam was pretty stable in the region, and he had rulership to implement the Quraishi dialect among all the Arabic speaking people in the entire region, and to teach them the Noble Quran through that dialect only.
Important Note: If the Noble Quran is recited in a different dialect than the Quraishi one, and if one tries to write down what he is reciting, he could and would end up with different words in spelling and in some cases in meaning as well than the original copy of the Noble Quran.
When Uthman got hold of all of the Qurans that were written in different dialects, and in some cases were altered to sound exactly like the other dialects, he ordered for them to get burnt because they did not use the proper Arabic that was revealed unto our beloved Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and in some cases their words were different because of this dialect difference. He then compiled all of the Noble Surahs (Chapters) of the Noble Quran that were already written during the time of Prophet Muhammad in the city of Madina and formed what we call today the one true copy of the "Noble Quran".
Important Note: As I mentioned above, when Uthman, the third Caliph in Islam, compiled the Noble Quran, he did not determine the numerical order of the Noble Chapters and the Noble Verses. The entire Noble Quran as I said was already documented and memorized. Chapters from the Noble Quran were recited by our Prophet peace be upon him at least 5 times a day during the Muslims' five-daily prayers. Also, the Noble Quran was all recited during the month of Ramadan, as it is still done today. There are other daily and weekly religious occasions, festivals and holidays where the Noble Quran back then and still today was recited either partially or wholly. The Muslims who perfected the memorization of the Noble Quran back then continuously refreshed their memories through teaching others: Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam.
So, it is beyond the shadow of the doubt that the numbering and the order of the Noble Chapters and Verses was already determined by our Prophet peace be upon him through the inspiration and guidance of Allah Almighty, and not by anyone else.
Ever since then and till today, the Arabic Noble Quran is taught with one Arabic dialect, and that is the Quraishi dialect. Also, the proper Arabic language as I mentioned above that is taught in schools and books today is also in the Quraishi dialect.
Discussion with one of the Christian "Answering Islam" team members:
Quennel Gale wrote:
No it doesn't and I present evidence to you from a source more credible than any scholar, the Hadith:
Narrated Umar bin Al-Khattab:
I heard Hisham bin Hakim reciting Surat Al-Furqan during the lifetime of Allah's Apostle
and I listen to his recitation and noticed that he recited in several different ways which
Allah's Apostle had not taught me. I was about to jump over him during his prayer, but I
controlled my temper and when he had completed his prayer, I put his upper garment around
his neck and seized him by it and said, "Who taught you this Surat which I heard you
reciting ?" He replied, "Allah's Apostle taught it to me". I said,
"You have told a lie, for Allah's Apostle taught it to me in a different way from
yours". So I dragged him to Allah's Apostle and said, "I heard this person
reciting Surat Al-Furqan in a way which you haven't taught me!". On that Allah's
Apostle said, "Release him (Umar) recite, O Hisham!" Then he recited in the same
way I heard him reciting. Then Allah's Apostle said, "It was revealed in this
way", and added, "Recite, O Umar", I recited it as he had taught me.
Allah's Apostle then said, "It was revealed in this way. This Qur'an has been
revealed to be recited in seven different ways, so recite of it whichever is easier for
you."
Bukhuri: vol. 4, hadith 682, book 56
Narrated Ibn Mas'ud:
I heard a person reciting a (Quranic) Verse in a certain way, and I had heard the Prophet
reciting the same Verse in a different way. So I took him to the Prophet and informed him
of that but I noticed the sign of disapproval on his face, and then he said, "BOTH OF
YOU ARE CORRECT, so don't differ, for the nations before you differed, so they were
destroyed."
The above hadiths clearly shows that Muhammad allowed some variation regarding the reciting of the Qur'an.
Bukhari: vol. 6, hadith 509, p. 477; book 61
Narrated Zaid-bin-Thabit:
Abu Bakr As-Siddiq sent for me when the people of Yama-ma had been killed (i.e. a number
of the prophets companions who fought against Musailama). (I went to him) and found Umar
bin Al-Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said to me, "Umar has come to me and
said: `Casualties were heavy among the Qurra of the Qur'an (ie those who knew the Qur'an
by heart) on the day of the battle of Yama-ma, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties
may take place among the Qurra on other battle fields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an
may be lost. Therefore I suggest that you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected'.
I said to Umar, `How can you do something Allah's Apostle did not do?' Umar said, `By
Allah, that is a good project'. Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah
opened my chest (persuaded me) for it and I began to realise the good idea which Umar had
realised.
This hadith from Bukhari clearly shows that Muhammad never made a final collection of the Qur'an, for when Abu Bakr was asked to collect the Qur'an into one volume he said, "How can you do something Allah's Apostle did not do?" Since there was no authorised Qur'an there was some confusion amongst the early Muslims as to what was the right way to recite the Qur'an.
"Many (of the passages) of the Qur'an that were sent down were known by those who died on the day of Yamama ... but they were not known (by those who) survived them, nor were they written down, nor had Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman (by that time) collected the Qur'an, nor were they found with even one (person) after them." (Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, p. 23).
According this source, portions of the Quran that had been memorized by those slain in the battle vanished, never to be found again.
The Myth Of Memorization As A Means Of Preservation
Furthermore, the hadith provides evidence for the faulty memories of both Muhammad and his
companions:
Narrated 'Aisha: Allah's Apostle heard a man reciting the Qur'an at night, and said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has reminded me of such-and-such Verses of such-and-such Suras, which I was caused to forget." (Bukhari, Volume 6, Book LXI, Number 558)
Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) offered prayer. The version of the narrator Ibrahim goes: I do not know whether he increased or decreased (the rak'ahs of prayer).
When he gave the salutation, he was asked: Has something new happened in the prayer, Apostle of Allah? He said: What is it? They said: You prayed so many and so many (rak'ahs). He then relented his foot and faced the Qiblah and made two prostrations. He then gave the salutation. When he turned away (finished the prayer), he turned his face to us and said: Had anything new happened in prayer, I would have informed you. I am only a human being and I forget just as you do; so when I forget, remind me, and when any of you is in doubt about his prayer he should aim at what is correct, and complete his prayer in that respect, then give the salutation and afterwards made two prostrations. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 3, Number 1015)
Narrated Abdullah:
I recited before the Prophet 'Fahal-min-Mudhdhakir'. The Prophet said, "It is
Fahal-min Muddakir." (Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 397)
Abu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad reported on the authority of his father that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari sent for the reciters of Basra. They came to him and they were three hundred in number. They recited the Qur'an and he said: You are the best among the inhabitants of Basra, for you are the reciters among them. So continue to recite it. (But bear in mind) that your reciting for a long time may not harden your hearts as were hardened the hearts of those before you. We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bar'at. I have forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: "If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust." And we used so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it: "O people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise: (lxi 2.) and "that is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13) (Sahih Muslim, Book V, Number 2286)
Bukhari: vol. 6, hadith 510, pp. 478-479; book 61
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
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 Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa 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 Zaid bin Thabit, 'Abdullah bin AzZubair, Said bin
Al-As and 'AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies.
'Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin 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. Said bin Thabit added,
"A Verse from Surat Ahzab was missed by me when we copied the Qur'an and I used to
hear Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin
Thabit Al-Ansari. (That Verse was): 'Among the Believers are men who have been true in
their covenant with Allah.' (33.23)
Here we see how the problem of having different versions of the Qur'an was fixed. It was fixed by Uthman standardising one version of the Qur'an and ordering that all others be burnt. Thus even the "seven" variations that Muhammad allowed were removed. It should be noted that the Bible has never had a wholesale burning to standardise its text in the way that the Qur'an has.
My Response to his claims and misunderstandings:
Note: Please visit the following two sites for more information and references. I highly recommend them, because they are rich in contents and they contain references from authentic Islamic resources to all of their claims and points.
Response from the BISMIKA ALLAHUMMA site. Shows evidence of the collection of Noble Quran, and how it all happened. They respond directly to Answering Islam's questions and claims.
Response from the Islamic Awareness site. Elaborates on the Noble Quran during Uthman, and how the Muslims got rid of the "other" books. They also respond directly to Answering Islam's questions and claims.
In the Hadiths (Sayings of Prophet Muhammad) that you presented, notice that our beloved Prophet was present. So this means that he had the opportunity to fix any problem or error with recitation or memorization of the Noble Quran by his followers that would've occurred.
There are no variances or missing parts in the Noble Quran. These are all false and baseless assumptions from some anti-Islamics. The situation in the Hadiths above was not a corruption as it might appear to you. It is a problem with dialects. For instance, take the letter "j". Did you know that some Arabs don't pronounce the "j"? They always pronounce it as "g" or "ga".
Take "the" as another example. Some Arabs also don't pronounce "the". They pronounce it as "za".
Another example, and this is an important one in my opinion, is that some Arabs used to have a dialect which originated from Yemen, where they would add "an" at the end of a noun. Take for instance the popular word of today "Taliban", as in the Taliban in Afghanistan. "Taliban" is the same as the Arabic word "Talib" which means "Student".
The Afghans today used the old Arabic dialect from Yemen which dates even older than 1400 years ago when the Noble Quran was revealed. Back then in Yemen, as I said, they used to add the word "an" for nouns. So if they for instance wanted to refer to a stone "sakhr (in Arabic)", then they would refer to it as "sakhran", even though it would be written in Arabic as "sakhr".
The point is that there were 7 different dialects. The Noble Quran was originally recited with the "Quraishi" dialect, which is the dialect that our beloved Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him spoke.
The other dialects were later prohibited by our Prophet's disciple Uthman to keep the recitation of the Noble Quran consistent. The words were the SAME. But the pronunciation and the reading of them was different for the reasons I explained above and several others, such as the punctuations in Arabic.
When Uthman, the third Caliph in Islam, compiled the Noble Quran, he did not determine the numerical order of the Noble Chapters and the Noble Verses. The entire Noble Quran as I said was already documented and memorized. Chapters from the Noble Quran were recited by our Prophet peace be upon him at least 5 times a day during the Muslims' five-daily prayers. Also, the Noble Quran was all recited during the month of Ramadan, as it is still done today. There are other daily and weekly religious occasions, festivals and holidays where the Noble Quran back then and still today was recited either partially or wholly. The Muslims who perfected the memorization of the Noble Quran back then continuously refreshed their memories through teaching others: Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam.
So, it is beyond the shadow of the doubt that the numbering and the order of the Noble Chapters and Verses was already determined by our Prophet peace be upon him through the inspiration and guidance of Allah Almighty, and not by anyone else.
Conclusion:
The Noble Quran today is One True Perfect Divine Holy Book. It survived man's alterations and corruptions. The Noble Quran was all documented on the spot during Prophet Muhammad's times. The Noble Quran's numerical ordering of the Noble Verses and Chapters were also determined Prophet Muhammad through the inspirations of Allah Almighty. The Noble Quran was memorized and recited over and over again through the Muslims' five-daily prayers, the Holy Month of Ramadan, and other events and occasions where Muslims who perfected the memorization of the Noble Quran continuously refreshed their memories through teaching others.
So, it is beyond the shadow of the doubt that the numbering and the order of the Noble Chapters and Verses was already determined by our Prophet peace be upon him through the inspiration and guidance of Allah Almighty, and not by anyone else.
References/Links:
Responses to the so called "Textual Errors" in the Noble Quran.