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The human mind “can operate only
on the basis of perceptions previously experienced by that very
mind, either in their entirety, or in some of their constituent
elements.”1
In other words, we cannot form a clear idea of something that
happens entirely outside the realm of our past experiences; and
therefore, it is natural that we find it difficult to comprehend
the full meaning and relevance of mystical experiences like
revelation.
The
Qur’an makes a clear distinction between the
perceptible world of experience and the unseen world of
transcendental reality. Revelation is a means for God’s
specially chosen
messengers to receive divine messages; we may call it
an exclusive channel of communication accessible to the
prophets. For this reason, by way of an objective investigation,
we can only study the credibility of the person who claims to
have received a revelation, learn the circumstances, and observe
the results.
The Qur’an says what means
[It is not fitting
for a man that God should speak to him except by inspiration, or
from behind a veil, or by sending of a messenger to reveal with
God’s permission what God wills: for He is Most High, Most Wise]
(Ash-Shura 42:51). This means that
God does not hold a face-to-face talk with any human.
The divine message comes to the prophets through the
angel Gabriel. There are other exceptional cases,
such as the Prophet Abraham getting God’s message in a dream or
Moses hearing God speaking to him from behind a burning bush.
But again, these are exceptional cases.
How did the
Prophet Muhammad receive revelation? According to his
wife
`A’ishah, the Prophet used to go in seclusion in the
cave of Hiraa’ outside Makkah, where he used to worship God
continuously for many days.
One day, an angel came to him and
asked him to read. The Prophet, who was illiterate, replied, “I
do not know how to read.” The Prophet related the incident: The
angel caught me forcibly and pressed me so hard that I could not
bear it anymore. He then released me again and asked me to read
and I replied, “I do not know how to read.” Thereupon he caught
me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it
anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, but
again I replied, “I do not know how to read” (or “What shall I
read?”) Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed
me, and then released me and said:
[Read in the name of
your Lord, who created, created man from a clot. Read! And your
Lord is the most bountiful.]2
This happened in the year 610 CE,
when the Prophet was 40 years old. During the 23 years from the
revelation of these first verses, the Qur’an was revealed to the
Prophet in stages. It was not revealed at one time for a number
of reasons: to enable the natural and steady development of the
community of believers by gradually implementing the laws of
God; to meet the requirements of the changing conditions and
needs of that community; and to facilitate easy absorption and
memorization of the Qur’an.
When the revelation progressed,
the Prophet encouraged his
companions to learn as many verses as possible.
Whenever a revelation came, he called for a scribe and dictated
it to him. He was careful to keep the revealed verses safely
recorded. Consequently, the Qur’an was available in written form
during the Prophet’s own time. In the Qur’an, God says what
means: [This is
indeed a Qur’an most honorable, in a book well guarded, which
none shall touch but those who are clean: a revelation from the
Lord of the worlds]
(Al-Waqi`ah 56:77-80).
In his last sermon the Prophet
said, “I have left with you something which if you will hold
fast to, you will never fall into error—a plain indication, the
Book of God, and the
practice of His Prophet.”3
This makes it quite evident that the Qur’an in the written
form—though not necessarily in a single volume—existed during
his time.
There are also three
hadiths in
Sahih Al-Bukhari4
that inform us that Angel Gabriel used to recite the Qur’an with
the Prophet once a year during Ramadan, and that he recited it
with him twice in the year the Prophet died.
The chief scribe who used to
record the revelation dictated by the Prophet was Zayd ibn
Thabit. After the Prophet’s death, in the battle of Yamamah, a
large number of the companions who had memorized the Qur’an
died. As a result, Caliph Abu Bakr appointed Zayd to collect all
the available written versions of the Qur’an and to produce a
master copy.
When Zayd completed this work, he
gave the collection of written materials to Abu Bakr
As-Siddiq, who kept it with
him till his death. After his death,
`Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the second caliph, finally gave it
to his daughter Hafsa—one of the Prophet’s wives—for
safekeeping. It was from this collection of material that Caliph
`Uthman ibn `Affan prepared several copies in the form of
the first books of the entire Qur’an. Some of these copies still
exist today.
After the Qur’an was collected in
a single volume—known as a
mus-haf—Caliph `Uthman sent copies of it to the
different provinces that were ruled by the Muslims. The
succeeding generations of Muslims always included a large number
of people who memorized the Qur’an in its entirety. The extent
to which the Qur’an was preserved is also evident in the fact
that the way in which the Prophet Muhammad used to recite the
Qur’an was also recorded and passed down from generation to
generation.
To this day, the Qur’an is read
and memorized by many Muslims all over the world—many of them
non-Arabic speakers. The Qur’an that a Muslim in Indonesia reads
or memorizes is the exact same scripture as one which a Muslim
in Mauritania reads or memorizes. This is the phenomenon God
mentions in the Qur’an, when He says what means
[We have, without
doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it
(from corruption)]
(Al-Hijr 15:9).
[1] See Muhammad Asad’s Message of
the Qur’an: www.geocities.com/masad02/appendix1 (July 7,
2004)
[2] The verse is from Surat Al-`Alaq
96:1-3. The Prophet’s relation of this incident can be found in
both Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
[3] See Ibn Hisham’s
biography of the Prophet Muhammad.
[4]
Sahih Al-Bukhari is one of
the most accurate and authentic collections of Hadith
(the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). |