|
The
Qur'an: A Divine Guidance or a Historical Document
|
By
Dr. Aslam Abdullah
Editor of the
Minaret magazine
|
14/08/2003
|
Some
four years ago the Atlanta Journal published an article challenging
the authenticity of the Qur'an. While Muslim intellectuals and
activists dismissed the attack as naive and inauthentic, the Minaret
and the Muslim Observer published several lengthy articles analyzing
the Atlanta Journal article point by point. The papers concluded
that the attacks on the legitimacy of the Qur'an were part of a
long-term strategy crafted in the politically charged western
academic environment of empirical sciences. Several Muslim
intellectuals scoffed at the hypothesis, arguing that Muslims should
not get involved in this debate.
Since
then, over 50 articles have appeared in American newspapers and
journals describing the Qur'an as a fake religious document. The
latest article in the Newsweek's is one of them. The argument
presented in the article is also advanced in Fables of the
Ancients?; Folklore in the Qur'an and Holy Writ As Oral Lit: The
Bible As Folklore Written by Alan Dundes (Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc.). The argument of the Newsweek's
article, entitled “Challenging
the Qur’an”, revolves around a single premise that promotes
the idea that the Qur'an was a historical document and not a
revealed scripture--as asserted by the Qur'an.
The
Qur’an and other Scriptures
[I]f the idea of the divine origin of the Qur'an is demolished, the whole foundation of Islam is demolished. |
|
The
reason for this argument is simple; if the idea of the divine origin
of the Qur'an is demolished, the whole foundation of Islam is
demolished. Thus, Muslims would become skeptical about their source
of guidance and would no longer revere their holy text as they had
for centuries. In the earlier times, the so-called non-Muslim
scholars of the Qur'an made several arguments challenging its
authenticity. Among the chief accusations were that it was a book
written by Prophet Muhammad, or a scripture copied from the Old and
New Testament as dictated by Khadeeja bint Khawlid, (the wife of the
Prophet), or a document compiled by Muslim scholars over a period of
300 years, or a scripture that was secretly compiled at the Vatican
to be delivered to the Prophet through Christian missionaries in
Arabia, or a book that was compiled at the time of the third Caliph
Uthman.
The
latest attack surpasses all the previous fabrications and
skepticism. The Newsweek in an article argues quoting a German
scholar that the Qur'an was not revealed in Arabic, rather it was
written in a language closer to Aramaic. It is a bizarre argument
that cannot be taken seriously by those who value objectivity and
fairness. There are several reasons for rejecting the point of view
promoted by the Newsweek.
The authenticity of a book depends on its verification by the one that either authored it or narrated it. |
|
The
authenticity of a book depends on its verification by the one that
either authored it or narrated it. For example, some 15 years ago, a
German scholar claimed to have made an earth-shaking discovery when
he published what he called ‘The Diaries of Adolph Hitler’. The
London Times published excerpts of the diary, describing it as the
most sensational story of the century. A few months later, it was
conclusively proven that the diary was fake and was written by
anonymous authors. The major argument advanced to disprove the book
was that no one knew about it, not even the closest of Hitler's
supporters. Above all, he never approved it or delivered it to
anyone.
If
the book or scriptures attributed to an individual--as an author or
a source of narration--is compiled and verified in the lifetime of
that narrator or author, then its authenticity can be taken as
face value. Otherwise, doubt will remain in the minds of
readers regarding the true origin of the book or of the contents of
the book.
Among all the religious books that exist today, the Qur'an is the only one that has the privilege of being compiled and approved by the Prophet who received it. |
|
Among
all the religious books that exist today, the Qur'an is the only one
that has the privilege of being compiled and approved by the Prophet
who received it. Azvesta, the book of Zoroastrian, was compiled
1,500 years after the death of its author. Hindu Vedas were written
hundreds of years after the death of sages who were described as the
authors. The Ramayana was orally transmitted until it was written
down 1,600 hundreds of years after the event. The Bhagvad Gita
was in the memories of people for hundreds of years before it was
committed to writing. The Old Testament was compiled by more than 40
authors. A cursory look at some basic facts suggests that it took a
while for the Bible to appear as a final version of scriptures.
The
Bible contains 66 books, divided among the Old and New Testaments.
However, some Christian denominations believe that it has 73
chapters. Over 40 different authors from all walks of life wrote the
Bible: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen,
priests, philosophers and kings. Prophet Moses reportedly wrote the
first five books of the Bible, referred to as the Pentateuch; the
foundation of the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote 14 books (over half)
of the New Testament. It took almost 1500 years to complete
the scriptures. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years,
from around 1,450 B.C. (the time of Moses) to about 100 A.D. Many
scholars agree that ‘Job’ is the oldest book in the Bible,
written by an unknown Israelite about 1,500 B.C. Others hold that
the ‘Pentateuch’ (the first five books of the Bible) are the
oldest books in the Bible, written between 1,446 and 1,406 B.C. The
book of Malachi, was written in about 400 B.C.
The
Book of Revelation is the youngest book of the New Testament,
written about 95 A.D. The Bible was written in three languages:
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. The entire New Testament as we
know it today was accepted in the year 375 A.D. The Old Testament
had previously been accepted as a sacred text long before the advent
of Christ. The oldest almost-complete manuscript of the Bible now in
existence is the Codex Vaticanus, which dates from the first half of
the fourth century. It is located in the library of the Vatican in
Rome. Older fragments of the Bible do exist, however -- a tiny scrap
of the Gospel of John was found in Egypt, dating back to the
beginning of the second century. (It is currently in the Rayland's
Library in Manchester, England.) These facts about the Bible provide
an authentic proof of its written format several hundred years after
the departure of their authors.
The
Qur’an… The History of Documentation
[T]he
Qur'an is the only divine scripture that was compiled during the
lifetime of the Prophet who…received it. |
|
On
the other hand, the Qur'an is the only divine scripture that was
compiled during the lifetime of the Prophet who, according to the
Qur'an, received it. There were only three who knew the message of
the Qur'an before it was pronounced to the people: God, angel
Gabriel and Prophet Muhammad. In the historically accepted Muslim
sources, angel Gabriel was the link between the Divine and the
Prophet. The Prophet would receive the revelation and repeat it back
to the Angel, who would commit it to his memory and then pronounce
it to the people and instruct them to write it down, since he was
unable to read or write himself.
From
the day he received the first revelation until he departed, all
Prophet Muhammad received in revelation was pronounced to the People
who committed it to their memories and also wrote on the available
writing material. By the time the Prophet departed, the Qur'an was
already written in the form of a book from cover to cover. The
Prophet is reported to have approved the Qur'an after listening to
it from men and women who had memorized it and written it. A copy of
this Qur'an was with his wife Hafsa bint Omar. Consequently, this
was used as the master copy when duplications were made during the
time of Caliphs Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman and Ali. (See the chapter on
the Qur'an in Sahih el-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).
Some
Muslim accounts of the history of the compilation as mentioned in Sahih
Bukhari and Sahih Muslim provide the information that the Qur'an
was compiled in the form and format we see today, at the time of
Caliphs Abu Bakr and Uthman. In fact, one such account says that
when Omar asked the first caliph to commission the compilation of
the Qur'an, he refused saying why would he do something that the
Prophet did not do (Sahih el-Bukhari). Similarly,
another account claims that the third Caliph Uthman appointed a
commission of six people to compile the Qur'an as there were
different copies of the Qur'an present in different parts of the
world.
What
is often confused in these narrations [of the Qur’an] is the
difference between ‘compilation’ and ‘copying’. |
|
These
two accounts require closer examination on the basis of several
other narrations that are mentioned in several books of hadith.
First, the two accounts never say that the Prophet didn't compile
the Qur'an. Second, the two accounts do not refer to other
narrations in the books of hadith including the Bukhari and Muslim
that conclusively prove that the entire Qur'an as is present today,
was compiled at the time of the Prophet. What is often confused in
these narrations is the difference between ‘compilation’ and
‘copying’. While the Qur'an was compiled at the time of the
Prophet, the mass scale copying of the Qur'an began officially at
the time of Caliph Abu Bakr. During the lifetime of the Prophet,
several of his companions had complete sets of the Qur'anic verses,
which they had arranged according to their reading schedule with
their own notes. Some were complete and others were not.
However,
it was at the time of Caliph Abu Bakr that an official copy of the
Qur'an was made from the master copy that was with Hafsa bint Omar.
Most books of ‘hadith’ (traditions and sayings of the Prophet)
mention that those who were responsible for copying the Qur'an from
the master returned the original to Hafsa after ensuring the
authenticity of the latest duplicated scriptures. Several early
Muslim historians and writers even tried to count the number of
copies of the Qur'an that were distributed to different parts of the
world where Islam had reached. For instance, according to Ibn Hazm,
a famous Muslim scholar, there were several hundred copies of
the Qur'an circulating in different parts of the world at the time
of second Caliph Umar. It is possible that several people may have
made copies from the copies during that time. Hence when the third
Caliph Uthman asked a group of Qur'an scholars to review the
existing copies of the scriptures, it is not surprising that he may
have found discrepancies. Consequently, he asked people to destroy
the inauthentic copies that were in circulation, and use only
the ones that matched the original Qur'an.
Thus
the Qur'an remains the only scripture that was compiled during the
lifetime of a prophet who had received it directly from the divine
source. It is this fact that many scholars seek to challenge.
Skeptical about the divine origin of the Qur'an, they resist the
premise that God spoke to humanity and sent His trusted angel
to communicate His message to His messengers including the last of
the messengers, Prophet Muhammad.
Suffice
it to say that their [the scholars who argue for deconstructing the
Qur’an] argument is not religious, historical, or academic. |
|
They
don't accept it because this cannot be proved empirically. They
cannot empirically verify the location of God and Angel Gabriel.
Hence they argue that the whole story about the origins Qur'an is
fabricated. But the attack on the Qur'an does not come only from
secularists or empiricists. It also comes from Christian and Jewish
scholars whose religions depend on the notion of the existence of
God and His revealed message to His chosen messengers. While they
acknowledge the divine origin of the Old and New Testaments, they
are not willing to grant the Qur'an the same status. Suffice it to
say that their argument is not religious, historical, or academic.
It can best be described as biased and fabricated.
What
they don't realize is that if the divine origin of the Qur'an and
the authenticity of its message are questioned and refuted, then the
very origins of their own religions are in
question. 
|
