Page 102 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

82 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

Again, assume a single edition of the book. Failing to locate the
autographed copy however, the editor is forced to rely on three
other manuscripts. Two manuscripts, written by the original author's
students, we designate as A and B. The third manuscript X iscopied
from B. Here X has no value. The editor must depend entirely on
A and B, and cannot discard either of them since both have equal
bearing.
Such are the underpinnings of textual criticism and editing as established
by Orientalists in the 20th century. Fourteen centuries ago, however, Zaid
did precisely this. The Prophet's sojourn in Madinah had been a time of
intense scribal activity: many Companions possessed verses which they
had copied from the parchments of friends and neighbours. By limiting
himself to the verses transcribed under the Prophet's supervision, Zaid
ensured that all if thematerial he was examining was if equal status, thereby
guaranteeing the highest attainable accuracy. Having memorised the Qur'an
and scribed much of it while seated before the Prophet, his memory and
his writings could only be compared with material of the same standing,
not with second- or third-hand copies. IS Hence the insistence of Abu Bakr,
'Umar and Zaid on first-hand material only, with two witnesses to back
this claim and assure 'equal status'.
Spurred on by the zeal of its organisers, this project blossomed into a
true community effort:
Caliph Abu Bakr issued a general invitation (or one may say, a
decree) for every eligible person to participate.
The project was carried out in the Prophet's Mosque, a central
gathering place.
Following the Caliph's instructions, 'Umar stood at the gates of
the Mosque and announced that anyone possessing written verses
dictated from the Prophet must bring them. Bilal announced the
same thing throughout the streets of Madinah.

v. Zaid bin Thabit and the Use of Oral Sources

It appears that while the focus lay on the written word, once the primary
written source was found ~ whether parchment, wooden planks, or palm
leaves (-.,..-....II) etc. - the writings were verified not only against each other
but also against the memories of Companions who had learned directly
from the Prophet. By placing the same stringent requirements for accep-
tance of both the written and memorised verse, equal status was preserved.

18 In establishing any text, it is academically unacceptable to compare between
different grades of manuscripts.