Brief history of The compilation of Al-Quran
06-06-2008
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
During the life of the Prophet (saw) (570-632 CE)
The Prophet (saw) used to recite the Qur'an before angel
Jibril (Gabriel) once every Ramadan, but he recited it twice (in the same order
we have today) in the last Ramadan before his death. Jibril also taught the
Prophet (saw) the seven modes of recitation.
Each verse received was recited by the Prophet, and its
location relative to other verses and surahs was identified by him.
The verses were written by scribes, selected by the
Prophet, on any suitable object - the leaves of trees, pieces of wood, parchment
or leather, flat stones, and shoulder blades. Scribes included Ali Ibn Abi Talib,
Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan, Ubay Ibn Ka'ab, and Zaid Ibn Thabit.
Some of the companions wrote the Qur'an for their own use.
Several hundred companions memorized the Qur'an by heart.
During the caliphate of Abu Bakr (632-634 CE)
Umar Ibn Al-Khattab urged Abu Bakr to preserve and compile
the Qur'an. This was prompted after the battle of Yamamah, where heavy
casualties were suffered among the reciters who memorized the Qur'an.
Abu Bakr entrusted Zaid Ibn Thabit with the task of
collecting the Qur'an. Zaid had been present during the last recitation of the
Qur'an by the Prophet to Angel Jibril (Gabriel).
Zaid, with the help of the companions who memorized and wrote verses of the Qur'an, accomplished the task and handed Abu Bakr the first authenticated copy of the Qur'an. The copy was kept in the residence of Hafsa, daughter of Umar and wife of the Prophet.
During the caliphate of Uthman (644-656 CE)
Uthman ordered Zaid Ibn Thabit, Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubair,
Saeed Ibn Al-Aas, and Abdur Rahman Ibn Harith Ibn Hisham to make perfect copies
of the authenticated copy kept with Hafsa. This was due to the rapid expansion
of the Islamic state and concern about differences in recitation.
Copies were sent to various places in the Muslim world. The original copy was returned to Hafsa, and a copy was kept in Madinah.
Three stages of dotting and diacritization
Dots were put as syntactical marks by Abu Al-Aswad Al Doaly,
during the time of Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufian (661-680 CE).
The letters were marked with different dotting by Nasr Ibn
Asem and Hayy ibn Ya'amor, during the time of Abdul Malik Ibn Marawan (685-705
CE).
A complete system of diacritical marks (damma, fataha, kasra) was invented by Al-Khaleel Ibn Ahmad Al-Faraheedy (d. 786 CE).
Submitted by a Mujahid