Originally posted by balaclava:
One of the reasons that Uthman consolidated the verse of the Quran was that those who had memorised it were reciting it differently. The other reason was that the written verses were held by several people in different places and some had been lost (his wife Aisha for example spoke of some being eaten by their goat).
As for the story about the goat eating some of the written verses of the Quran, I assume that you are referring to the following report:
Reported 'Aisha (RA): the verse of stoning and of suckling an adult ten times was revealed, and they were (written) on a paper and kept under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) expired and we were occupied by his death, a goat entered and ate away the paper. (Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1944)
This narration has been proven to be weak and of dubious authenticity. I noticed that you use several Ahadith to support your claims. Some of the reports are considered reliable while others are considered forgeries. I wonder what method(s) you use to determine the reliability of each report you cite as evidence.
Originally posted by balaclava:
Why did Uthman then burned all the originals, you might ask?
Read on . . .
The Myth Of Memorisation As A Means Of Preservation
Hadith Volume 6, Book 61, Number 510:
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)
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)
And so, you jumped from claiming that the Quran was not originally written in Arabic to claims of how the preservation of the Quran in memory is a myth. Well, thats ok because you finally provided what I was looking for; evidence to back up your claims. Now we all have something to work with! Unfortunately for you, the evidence that you provided does not back up any of your assertions whatsoever. Once again, your years of study and research have yielded erroneous conclusions. Contrary to your claims that Bukhari (6:61:510) supports your assertion that the memory of Muhammad and his companions were faulty and thus, unreliable, you actually unwittingly furnished evidence of the specific method used to ensure the accuracy of the Quran when the written portions were collected into a single volume that I had mentioned in a previous post. Said bin Thabit was relating his earlier efforts during the collection of the various portions of the Quran that he had gathered together how he noticed that a verse that he remembered that was recited by Muhammad was missing. Therefore, he searched for it until he found it in the possession of Khuzaima. If Zaid had actually forgotten the verse, it would stand to reason that he would not have commenced a search for it.
And as for random reports of various verses being forgotten by either Muhammad or the Companions, all can be demonstrated to be dubiously unreliable. Lets analyze your example, for instance (Muslim 5:2286). The Mizan al-Itidal, which contains a critical inquiry about the narrator of this report as well as other reports, shows that Suwaid, the immediate informer of Muslim, was a Zindeek (i.e. one who conceals unbelief and makes an outward show of belief). Thus, when considered against the collective testimony which establishes the purity of the Quranic text, this report can be considered a fabrication. Reports such as these were in some cases forged by enemies who sought to undermine the authority of the religion of Islam. In other cases, they may have been the mistaken conception of some narrator. Nevertheless, it is necessary to weigh the evidence as to whether or not a certain verse(s) formed part of the Quranic text. It is a fact that every verse of the Quran was, when revealed, written down and made public. It became part of the public prayer and was repeated day and night to be listened to by an audience of hundreds. When the written manuscripts of the Quran were first collected into a single volume in the time of the first caliph, and later on when copies were made from the original in the time of the third caliph, there was the unanimous testimony of all of the Companions that every verse that found a place in that collection was part of the Divine revelation. Such testimony of overwhelming numbers cannot be set aside by the evidence of a relatively few reports claiming otherwise. In fact, all reports cited as affecting the purity of the text ascribe a certain statement to only one man, and not a single case is there a second man to support the assertion. In other words, there is not a single assertion criticizing the purity of the Quranic text for which even one supporting witness can be produced.
And so, none of the evidence that you have produced so far supports any of the assertions that you have made in this thread.
Wassalam,
Karim
