The Quran – A Multi-Form Text
The Quran is the literal word of God. It was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in sixth-century Arabia and has been preserved to date and will remain preserved as it was promised by God Himself in the Quran.
We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). [Quran 15:9]
The fact that the Quran is preserved is acknowledged by Muslim as well as non-muslim scholars from around the world.
However, what many people, including a lot of Muslims, are unaware of is that Quran was revealed as a multi-form text. The reason for this is most Muslims are only aware of one form of Qirat (mode of recitation); or even if they are aware of more than one Qirat, they believe that the difference between these Qirats is only limited to the way of recitation. This is even exacerbated by some popular Muslim speakers and preachers claiming in their talks that one does not find any difference in any Quran throughout the world, even to the extent of a letter or a vowel.
To add to this, most Muslims are vaguely aware that Usman (RA), the companion of the Prophet (PBUH) and the third caliph of Islam had asked the Muslims, during his caliphate, to burn the copies of the Quran that they had and only use the official copy that he ordered to be sent across the Muslim world. However, they are not aware of the details of this part of history and are not sure as to why Usman (RA) did this.
The problem that this creates is that when these Muslims are exposed to the variant readings of the Quran, by either Christian missionaries or other critics, or are questioned about the reasons behind Usman’s (RA) burning of the copies of the Quran, it creates a crisis of faith for some of them, as they are unaware of this matter. In fact, this is what happened to even a sahabi by the name of Ibn Abi Sarh, who had a crisis of faith when exposed to the variant readings. He, however later accepted Islam again after the conquest of Mecca on learning the reality of this matter.
In contrast to this, the scholars of Islam and the students of knowledge pursuing Islamic studies, especially those involved in studying the Quranic sciences and memorizing more than one Qirat are very well-aware of the differences in the different Qirat of the Quran. These differences are not limited to just the way of recitation but rather also differ in words at certain places.
The ten well-preserved mutawatir Qirat of the Quran has the following types of differences
Pronunciation differences not affecting the form of the word or its meaning.
Pronunciation differences affecting short vowels but not the skeleton
Pronunciation differences affecting long vowels which may be reflected in the spelling that either do not affect or only minimally affect the meaning.
Differences involving the marking of consonants, with no change to the basic form and only a minimal change to the meaning
. Differences involving the change, addition, or omission of one or two consonants to the skeletal text, with only a minimal effect on the meaning.
Some examples of these differences are listed below
malik or maalik (‘king’ / ‘owner’; Quran 1:3)
qaala l-mala’u / wa-qaala l-mala’u (‘The group said / And the group said; Quran 7:75)
yawma naAshuru a’daa’a l-laah / yawma yuAsharu a’daa’a l-laah, (‘on the day when We assemble the enemies of God / on the day when the enemies of God are assembled’; Quran 41:19)
Apart from these differences, there are other differences that are found in what is known as the Shadhdh (irregular or non-normative) readings. These are found both in the hadith literature as well as the preserved manuscripts of the Quran. The differences found in these readings are of the following types
Differences involving the substitution of one word for another, usually with the same meaning
Differences involving the omission or addition of words
Differences involving a change of word order, usually involving the transposition of elements of a phrase or the substitution of one element for another
Differences involving the substitution of a longer phrase, or formula, for another
Examples of Shadh recitation
Ibn Mas’ud’s (RA) reading of wa-l-dhakari wa-l-untha (‘by the male and the female’) instead of wa-maa khalaqa l-dhakara wa-l-untha (‘by what created male and female’; Quran 92:3)
Both Aisha and Hafsa (RA) specified the inclusion of wa-Salati l-asr (‘and the afternoon prayer’) after the phrase haafizuu ‘alaa l-salaawati wa-l-salaati l-wustaa (‘hold to the prayers and the Middle Prayer’) in Quran 2.:238, when having a mushaf copied out. Aisha added: ‘I heard that from the Messenger of God (PBUH).
In order to understand how and why these differences occur, and why these Shadh readings are no longer recited, we need to understand the conditions in which the Quran was revealed, its first target audience, the immediate history after this period, and the issue of the ‘Ahruf’ of the Quran.
The Arabs at the time of the prophet (PBUH) lived in an oral society. Most of them were unlettered, i.e. they did not know how to read and write. Memorization was the only tool they had for remembering something. Also, they were of different ages, some young and some very old. The Quran that was being revealed was to be a source of guidance for them in their everyday life. Therefore in order to facilitate his followers to easily remember the message of the Quran, the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) asked God to reveal the Quran in multiple ‘ahruf’. His prayers were answered and God revealed the Quran in ‘seven ahroof’. This is recorded in a number of narrations.
Ibn ‘Abbas reported Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) as saying:
Gabriel taught me to recite in one harf. I replied to him and kept asking him to give more, till he reached seven harfs [Sahih Muslim 819a]
Narrated `Umar bin Al-Khattab:
I heard Hisham bin Hakim bin Hizam reciting Surat-al-Furqan in a way different to that of mine. God’s Messenger (PBUH) had taught it to me (in a different way). So, I was about to quarrel with him (during the prayer) but I waited till he finished, then I tied his garment round his neck and seized him by it and brought him to God’s Messenger (PBUH) and said, “I have heard him reciting Surat-al-Furqan in a way different to the way you taught it to me.” The Prophet (PBUH) ordered me to release him and asked Hisham to recite it. When he recited it, Allah s Apostle said, “It was revealed in this way.” He then asked me to recite it. When I recited it, he said, “It was revealed in this way. This Quran was sent down according to seven ahruf, so recite it in the way that is easier for you.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 2419]
This allowed the reciter to recite from any of the seven ahroof that were revealed. This even allowed the reciter to substitute one revealed phrase with another revealed phrase, provided the message of the verse does not change, as has been proven from the following narration
Ubayy said
I disagreed with one of my companions about an aaya and so we went to the Messenger of God (PBUH) about it. He said, ‘Recite, Ubayy’, and I did so. Then he said to the other man, ‘Recite’, and he did so. The Prophet (PBUH) said, ‘Both of you are right and correct .’ I said, ‘We can’t both be right and correct!’ The Prophet (PBUH) pushed me in the chest and said, ‘The Quran was sent down to me and I was asked, ‘According to one harf or two?’ I said, ‘According to two.’ I was then asked, ‘According to two harfs or three?’ I said, ‘According to three.’ This went on until we had reached seven harfs. All of them are acceptable as long as you don’t mix up an aaya of mercy with an aaya of punishment, or an aaya of punishment with an aaya of mercy. If [the verse ends with] ‘azizun hakim (‘Mighty and Wise’) and you say Sami’un ‘alim (‘All-Hearing and All-Knowing’), then Allah is All-Hearing and All-Knowing.’
‘Abd al-Razzaaq, Musannaf, xi. 219–20
In a version related by Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in his Musnad (viii. 25–6), the Hadith ends: ‘If you say ghafuuran rahiman (‘Forgiving and Merciful’) or sami‘an ‘aliman, or ‘aliman sami’an, God is like that—as long as you do not end an aaya of punishment with mercy, or an aaya of mercy with punishment’; and, in a version recorded by Abu Dawood in his Sunan: ‘All of them are acceptable, whether you say sami’an ‘aliman or ‘azizan hakiman, as long as you do not end an aaya of punishment with mercy, or an aaya of mercy with punishment.’
This concession allowed companions of all ages to easily memorize and recite the Quran.
As time passed, after the death of the prophet (PBUH), the teachings of Islam facilitated a society that encouraged learning, and more and more Muslims started to become literate. However, as Isam spread far and wide outside the Arabian peninsula, a new problem began to emerge at the time of the caliphate of Usman (RA).
Muslims in far-off lands, who were not aware of the concept of ahruf, began disputing with each other over the recitation of the Quran. When the news about one such incident reached Usman (RA), he, after consulting other Sahabas, decided to restrict and narrow down this freedom to recite from all the seven ahruf, for the purpose of unity among the Muslims. As each ahruf, contained the full Quran in and out of itself, and the need for the multiple ahruf was no longer required, the unity of the Muslims took greater precedence than the freedom to recite in any of the available ahruf.
Usman (RA), therefore, ordered all the Muslims to burn the mushaf of the Quran that they had in their possession, and sent new official copies to be used for the purpose of making new personal copies. These official copies had restricted differences that would not create differences among the Muslims. Although, some other ahruf continued to be passed down through hadith narrations, their use in the mushaf and their recitation in the salah (prayer) was stopped. This restriction served a dual purpose. It not only did not affect the preservation of the Quran, as the message was not lost but also preserved the unity among the Muslims with regards to the Quran. No Muslim has ever fought over the recitation of the Quran since then.
In conclusion, the revelation of the seven ahruf, allowed the earlier Muslims to easily memorize and implement the Quran in their lives. The later restriction prevented Muslims from disputing among themselves with regards to the Quran. This knowledge of the ahruf of the Quran, helps us understand and respond to critics of Islam and strengthens our faith in its preservation.