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52 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

5. Recitation qf the Oy,r'an in TUrns with]ibril

To continually refresh the Prophet's memory, the ArchangelJibril would
visit him particularly for that purpose every year. Quoting a few hadiths in
this regard:
Fatima said, "The Prophet informed me secretly, Jibril used to recite
the Qur'an to me and I to him once a year,but this year he has recited
the entire Qur'an with me twice. I do not think but that my death
is approaching.'''38
Ibn 'Abbas reported that the Prophet would meet withJibril every
night during the month of Ramadan, till the end of the month,
each reciting to the other.39
Abu Huraira said that the Prophet andJibril would recite the Qur'an
to each other once every year, during Ramadan, but that in the year
of his death they recited it twice.'?
Ibn Mas'ud gave a similar report to the above, adding, "Whenever
the Prophet andJibril finished reciting to each other I would recite
to the Prophet as well, and he would inform me that my recitation
was eloquent."!'
The Prophet, Zaid b.Thabit, and Ubayy b.Ka'b recited to one another
after his last session with jibril.t? The Prophet also recited twice to
Ubayy in the year he passed away.43
Each of the above hadiths describes these recitations between Archangel
and Prophet using the term Mu'drada.":
The Prophet's duties towards the wahy were myriad: he was the instnnnent
of divine reception, the one who supervised proper compilation, provided
the necessary explanations, encouraged community-wide dissemination, and
taught to his Companions. Naturally, Allah did not descend to earth to
explain the meaning of this verse or that; by stating that "it is for Us to

38 Al-Bukhari, $aJ;I~, Fada'il al-Qur'an.Z.
39 Al-Bukhari, $a~'0, Saum.Z,
40 Al-Bukhari, $a~l~, Fada'il al-Qur'an:7.
41 At-Tabari, at-Tafsir, i:28. The isnad is very weak.
42 A Jeffery (ed.), Muqaddimatiin, p. 227.
43 ibid, p. 74; also Tahir al-jaza'irt, at- Tibyiin, p. 126.
44 MU'iira¢a (:a...,;,)L....) is from Mufd'ala (ili-Li...), meaning that two people are engaged
in the same action. For example muqiitala (;J;\k ): to fighteach other.Thus Mu'arada indicates
that Jibril would read once while the Prophet listened, then vice versa. This general
practice continues to this day. A few of the Companions were in fact privy to this
Mu'arada between the Prophet andJibril, such as 'Uthman [Ibn Kathir, Far/ii'il, vii:440],
Zaid b. Thabit, and 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud,