Page 103 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

THE WRITTEN COMPILATION OF THE QUR'AN 83

In any case Zaid alludes to people's memories: "So I gathered the Qur'an
from various parchments and pieces of bone, and from the chests of men
(JG:-)1 j)..l.,o) [i.e. their memories]." Az-Zarakhshi comments,

This statement has lead a few to suppose that no one had memorised
the Qur'an in its entirety during the Prophet's lifetime, and that claims
of Zaid and Ubayy bin Ka'b having done so are unfounded. But this is
erroneous. What Zaid means in fact is that he sought out verses from
scattered sources, to collate them against the recollections of the &l{/fii?-.
In this way everyone participated in the collection process. No one
possessing any portion of it was left out, and so no one had reason for
expressingconcern about the versescollected, nor could anyone complain
that the text had been gathered from only a select few. 19

Ibn Hajar draws special attention to Zaid's statement, "I found the last
two verses of Sura at-Bard:a with Abu Khuzaima al-Ansari," as demonstrating
that Zaid's own writings and memorisation were not deemed sufficient.
Everything required verification." Ibn Hajar further comments,
OjY' ?T..:r-~';I~\6'y-....u; ~..i.l)"~..f":y ':>l5'L.~~ ~1~ y.l.A~»
21«.u.o..:r-)r \..p,~.:>l5' <01c: ~y£.. \..p,~) r..?- ••If.

Abu Bakr had not authorised him to record except what was already
available [on parchment]. That is why Zaid refrained from including
the fInal ayah of Sura Bara'a until he came upon it in written form,
even though he and his fellow Companions could recall it perfectly
well from memory.

vi. Authentication of the Qur'an: The Case of
the Last Two Verses from Sura Bara'a

Tawatur (;Ij) is a common word in the Islamic lexicon; for example, that
the Qur'an has been transmitted by tawatur or that a certain text has be-
come established through tawatur, It refers to gathering information from
multiple channels and comparing them, so that if the overwhehning majority
agrees on one reading than that gives us assurance and the reading itself
acquires authenticity. While no scholarly consensus exists on the number
of channels or individuals needed to attain tawatur, the gist is to achieve
absolute certainty and the prerequisites for this may differ based on time,

19 Az-ZarakhshI, Burhdn, i:238-239.
20 Ibn Hajar, Fa0ulBarl, ix:13.
21 ibid,ix:13.