Notes on Islam Part 2 - Preservation

 Notes on Islam Part 2 - Preservation

“It is certainly We Who have revealed the Reminder, and it is certainly We Who will preserve it.” (15:9)

    The Quran has been preserved in its multi-formic nature. How well is the Quran attested in manuscripts that are dated to the first century Hijri, or after the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina? Textual scholars look to three main things to date a manuscript: paleography, orthography, and radiocarbon dating. Paleography looks at letter shapes, or how words are written. Orthography looks at spelling conventions. Radiocarbon dating gives age estimates for carbon-based materials. The first Islamic century corresponds roughly from the years 622-722 CE or the 7th century CE. There are over two dozen confirmed first-century Hijri/7th century CE manuscripts of the Quran extant, or surviving today and this number is only increasing. The most famous of these is Ms. Mingana 1572a or famously known as the Birmingham Manuscript which was dated no later than 645 CE or, 13 years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, around the time when his companion, Uthman, became the 3rd caliph, with 95.4% accuracy. Furthermore, manuscript 328C was identified from the same codex as the Birmingham Manuscript. The website, Islamic Awareness, has listed all Quranic manuscripts that are dated within the first Islamic century, and according to the researchers that run the site, these manuscripts constitute the entire Quran we have today. No other religion has extant manuscripts from the time of the religion’s founding, therefore the Quran that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad is the Quran we have today despite the primary mode of preservation of the Quran was not through manuscripts but through oral recitation. 

    There are seven Ahruf, or recitational variations that are all traced back to the Prophet Muhammad which exist for two reasons, theological and practical. Qira’at, are the canonical reading traditions. In Sahih-Bukhari, a book of Hadith or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, “From Ibn Abbas: ‘Gabriel read the Quran to me in one harf (singular Ahruf) for ; and I continued to ask him for increase until it reached seven Ahruf’”. What exactly are the Ahruf? There are three main opinions: they are seven dialects of Arabic, they are seven potential variations to any one word in the Quran, and they are seven categories of recitational variance in the Quran. There are harf of nominal variation: 1:3, “All praise belongs to God, Owner (Mālik) of the Day of Judgement”, “All praise belongs to God, the King (Malik) of the Day of Judgement”. These two Ahruf confirm the theology of God being both the king and owner of the Day of Judgement. The Prophet Muhammad recited it in both ways. This verse is recited a minimum of 17 times in the mandatory five daily prayers which the Prophet lead and his disciples followed for 23 years or over 5000 days, how could there be doubt that his companions heard it incorrectly? Besides nominal variation, there is also inflectional variation: 5:6, “Wipe your heads and wash your feet”, “Wipe your heads and wipe your feet”. This is regarding ablution or the washing that occurs before prayer. Generally, we wash our feet but there are circumstances where we can wipe our feet as well and this inflectional variation confirms it. There are also Ahruf for dialectical variation, 112:4, “And there is none unto Him comparable (kufuwan, kuf’an, kufu’an).” Arabic is the language of the Quran and therefore the Arab was the first standard bearer of the religion, allowing the different Arab dialects in the recitation of the Quran facilitated it for them. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad, there was widespread memorization of the Quran, scribal recordings of the Quran, and an annual review of the Quran every Ramadan. When the companions traveled the world spreading the Quran, at some point Muslims come into contact with other textual traditions that they did not know about. The caliph, Uthman was informed of this so he forms a codex committee in Medina around 650 CE and collected almost all the various manuscripts in these various provinces because he attempted to standardize the text based upon the dominant readings of the Quran in Medina, or the most dominant readings of the companions. He was also going to write the skeleton of the text using the traditional Qureshi, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad, dialect of Arabic. The manuscripts that were collected were checked against each other and checked against the memories of the companions and the readings that were widespread and popular were recorded in the codex of Uthman that was then sent to the various Muslim provinces and this is the Quran we have today.