Salaam all…
Just a question i have…
We claim that the miracle of the Quran is that it is not possible that it could be written by man…it is linguistically perfect etc…Non Muslims deny this fact so any help in understanding what makes the Quran a miracle would be helpful…
But even based on this i have a question…The Quran itself was collated by Uthman and his subjects…How can one prove that there are no verses missing…or that none have been added to suit the political reality at the time…
Im not trying to be difficult…Just asking for clarity…so any help would be much appreciated…
I don’t care much for claims of linguistic perfection or some miraculous aspect of the Quranic text (smacks too much of the 19’er claims).
Insofar as authenticity of transmission, it should be understood that the Quran was not in book form but an oral tradition at first. The number of Surahs and the numbers of Ayahs per Surah was definitely known during time of compilation, so it wasn’t a blind mission to gather as much as possible. Even the exact ordering was known, and Hazrat Ayesha was one of the authorities and consultants on that.
This leaves only the actual wording of the Ayahs. Enough Sahaba had memorized it that the possiblity of transmission errors (as per the borken telephone analogy) is reduced minimally. There is evidence of alternate readings, but no accounts support these readings being backed by any of the knowledgable companions, and it was these readings that were most likely created for poitical reasons. If anything, the Uthmani compilation elimnated the variant readings, rather than incorporate any of them.
The possibility of tampering is nigh impossible, as revelation was publically transmitted and not blessed on a select few.
All this leaves to answer is how old is our oldest copy of the Quran, to eliminate the possiblity of tampering after the compilation of the Quran. Two things, one that that would instantly cause a schism, and oh yeah, two:
Quran was put in a book form during the time of Abu Bakr Al siddique ra, during the time of Hadhrat Usman ra the reading was unified that is Qiraat was abolished except one.
even during the time of the Prophet (PBUH), the revelation was written on leather and leaves as well as memorized by hundreds. It was later collected in one place. another fact is that you wont find a quraan in the world that has so much of a word different from other copies.
Even the words of the Prophet's (PBUH) letters sent to different kings, which were discovered centuries later, match exactly the ones reported in hadith.
at the time the script was arranged in a particular manner so as to aviod the speech errors like zair zabar paish .
that is why chacha ghalib letters were reported were exactly the same
as it was firstly memorised and then compiled up. i think there's hardly any doubt of change in it.
you can't.. you can only prove that the contents are the same dating back to the earliest compilation you can get your hands on.. that's it.. there is no other 'proof'.
Quran was written down as it was revealed....
the Prophet (saw) had scribes devoted for this purpose....
when th Prophet (saw) died Quran was available in a written format, just not in one bundled book....
Abu Bakr (ra) took all the pieces and merged them together....
Uthman (ra) united the ummah on one recitation (i.e. one dialect of the arabic language) so tha tnon-arabs who were vastly entering Islam wud not get confused....
hajjaj bin yusuf added the aaraab on the letters to make it easier for non-arabs to read the written text....
It is an impossible task to arrange the Quran chronologically as the verses when they were being revealed were coming haphazardly…Most of the verses were revealed simultaneously with the longer ones starting before and ending later while the shorter ones being revealed later yet finishing earlier…Some verses overlapped each other, some took years and some just a few minutes…
So, it’s an impossible task…The Quran in its current stage is compiled as it was memorized by the hundreds of Huffaz…
As per my understanding, the Quran is not in chronological order in which it was revealed, Muhammad PBUH gave instructions in what order they should be when they were all put together. I think.
99% of the time books are in chronological order, I needed to know the reason for it and got the reply from Lajawab. That reply I understand.
From your post it sounds like it is not systematic and there is nothing strange about it, as if its a common occurance. There is a reason for everything and I am sure you know now from Lajawab post why its not systematic.
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002.106 None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that God Hath power overall things?
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Of course God has power over everything, So He can substitute anything and everything He did not think on the first place. Come on are you trying to say that God had eternity to think about these things and still he was changing mind in the end.
[quote]
016.101 When We substitute one revelation for another,- and God knows best what He reveals (in stages),- they say, "Thou art but a forger": but most of them understand not.
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So even during those days people are asking the questions about the authenticity of the book, the explaination given in this ayat is so simple "just saying most of them understand not."
"When we substitute one revelation for another" - Why substitution? it was God revelation. Why God keep on changing his mind. He had like Hundreds of years between the other books and Quran to think about this book, Why these changes after revealing something else.
[quote]
022.052 Never did We send an apostle or a prophet before thee, but, when he framed a desire, Satan threw some (vanity) into his desire: but God will cancel anything (vain) that Satan throws in, and God will confirm (and establish) His Signs: for God is full of Knowledge and Wisdom:
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If satan is so powerful then what is the garantee something has never been changed, because it is written God will change. So there is something already there which will be changed, when I have no clue? Through whom I have no clue?
Doesn't work that way. The community was not ready for the next step at the time of prior revelation. The command for Jihad is a good example of this...
Correct. Muslims were not commanded to start paying Zakat either from day one. It started out as Charity giving according to your means in the early stages in Makkah. Character is not shaped at once but gradually. Just like we are not born adults but we grow up.
