Seraje Monir

Qur’anic Proofs of the Writing of the Qur’an in the Era of the Prophet Mohammad

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Mohammad Kazem Shaker

Professor of the Qur’anic and Hadith Sciences Department, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22054/ajsm.2024.80879.2056
Abstract
Extended Abstract

Introduction

Two questions arise regarding the writing of the Quran in the era of the Prophet Mohammsd: 1) When did the writing of the Quran begin? 2) Was the entire Quran or only parts of it written down in the era of the Prophet (PBUH)? In the 19th century, Aloys Sprenger (1813-1893) said that the writing of the Qur’an, as a book, in the true sense of the word, is a later matter and therefore, one should not expect the Quran to have been written as a book in the era of the Prophet (PBUH) (see. Sprenger, 1851). According to Régis Blachère (1900-1973), there was a long gap between the time of the beginning of the Qur’an revelation and the time of the beginning of the writing of the Quran, and he believes that the Prophet and Muslims in Medina thought that they should put the Quran in writing (see. Regi Blacher, 1997). Unlike Western Qur’an scholars, Muslims believe that the entire Holy Quran was written down during the time of Mohammad (PBUH), although at that time the order of its chapters had not yet been determined and it had not yet been compiled into a single manuscript (see. Ibn Hajar Asqalani, 2000). It should be seen on what evidence and proofs each of these two hypotheses is based. Various evidences have been presented regarding the writing or non-writing of the Quran during the time of Mohammad (PBUH). What is presented in this paper is exclusively dedicated to the Quranic evidences that indicate the writing of the Quran during the time of Prophet Muhammad. In this article, the Quran is referred to and cited not as a religious text, but as a historical text. When we consider the Quran as a historical text, the reader does not necessarily have to believe in its divinity in order to accept what is cited, and it is not even necessary to accept that this text was brought by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Rather, it is enough to imagine that this is a text that came into existence in a specific historical period. We want to know what this text has to say about its written form. Are there any instances in the Qur’an itself that indicate that this text was also in written form when it was produced, or are there verses that indicate that this text was presented only orally?
Literature Review
In 1976, an article entitled “Introduction to the Writing of the Qur’an in the Time of the Prophet of Islam” was written by Muhammad Baqir Hojjati. (See: Hojjati, 1976). In that article, calligraphy and writing in pre-Islamic Arabia and the issue of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) being illiterate were discussed. In 1998, another article entitled “The Writing of the Qur’an in the Time of the Prophet” was published by Muhammad Baqir Saeidi Roshan (See: Saeidi Roshan, 1998). The aforementioned article was published in a very small volume in the Besharat magazine, which is specifically for young people. In 2002, another article titled “The Writing of Revelation Began in the Time of the Messenger of God” was published by Rajab Ali Salarian (see: Salarian, 2002). This short article deals with topics such as the collection and compilation of the Qur’an, the scribes of revelation, and the evidence for the collection of the Qur’an in the era of the Prophet, and does not discuss any Qur’anic evidence for the writing of the Qur’an. Therefore, the subject and content of the present paper are completely new and this is the first time that this discussion is conducted using this method.
Methodology
The research method in this paper is a subset of the literary criticism method that is used in the contemporary period for many ancient texts to arrive at the approximate date of the text’s creation and to observe the cultural, social, and environmental atmosphere within the text. Our hypothesis is that significant passages in the Qur’an indicate that this text was written down at the same time as it was transmitted orally. In addition, some verses indicate that it was necessary for a number of the Prophet's companions - who were skilled in reading and writing - to write it down in order to make it a lasting work for all people in all generations. Some verses also refer to the scribes of the Qur’anic revelation. In this paper, the verses related to writing in general, as well as the verses related to writing the Qur’an, have been examined using a semantic method. In this regard, these verses have been examined using a historical method, in such a way that the verses and chapters in which ‘writing’, in general, or ‘writing the Qur’an’, in particular, have been discussed and analyzed with regard to the period of time which revealed during the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Conclusion
1- This paper, using the method of literary criticism and considering the text of the Qur’an as a historical text, examines the contents of the Qur’an regarding ‘writing’, in general, and ‘writing the Qur’an’, in particular, and through this, it has come to the conclusion that the "written Qur’an" came into existence at the same time as the "spoken Qur’an";
2- The verses that tell about the writing of important matters, especially verse 282 of Al-Baqarah, which places great emphasis on writing down debts, are used to show that the writing of the Qur’an was done in the first way and with the utmost care. This was so obvious that there was no need for a verse or verses to be revealed and instruct Muslims to write down the Qur’an;
3- Studying the Qur’an, considering the historical course of the revelation of the chapters, shows that reading and writing and the importance of the pen (QALAM) in recording events and knowledge, especially recording matters of revelation and the unseen, were common in the history and geography of the era of the revelation of the Qur’an, and the audience of the Quran was familiar with this;
4- The Qur’an has spoken of the writing of the Qur’an and the scribes of the Qur’an in the first revealed chapters. This shows that the followers of the Prophet, along with reciting and memorizing the divine verses, always kept copies of the Qur’an.
5- Considering that the Holy Qur’an explicitly mentions ‘paper’ and ‘thin leather’ as two tools on which writing was done, it seems that the excessive emphasis on writing materials such as various animal bones and rough objects is more for storytelling than for the sake of the history of the writing of the Quranic text;
6- From the content of the Qur’an as a historical text it is clearly evident that at the same time as the emergence and formation of this text, its writing was also done and the written Qur’an was present alongside with the oral Qur’an in the early Islamic society.

Keywords

Qur'an Writing
Qur'anic Fragments
Qur'anic Dating
Writing in the Qur'an
Subjects
Qur'an al-Karim
The Holy Bible
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Seraje Monir
Volume 15, Issue 49
Summer 2024
Pages 241-268

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