Page 92 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

72 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

upon it."28 In this haditii we again note that the Prophet was super-
vising the compilation and arrangement of verses.
Finally we have the clearest evidence of all, that of reciting suras
in the five daily prayers. No public recital can occur if the sequence
of verses has not been universally agreed upon, and there is no
known incident of a congregation disagreeing with its imam on
his sequence of verses, whether in the Prophet's era or our own.
In fact, the Prophet would occasionally recite entire suras during
theJumu'a (Friday) sermon as well. 29
Further support is given by numerous hadiths which demonstrate that
the Companions were familiar with the beginning and end points of siiras.
The Prophet remarked to 'Urnar, "The concluding verses of Sura
an-Nisi' would alone be sufficient for you [in resolving certain cases
of inheritance]."30
Abu Mas'ud al-Badri reports that the Prophet said, "The final two
verses from Sura al-Baqara will suffice for whoever recites them at
night."!'
Ibn 'Abbas recalls, "Spending the night in my aunt Maimuna's house
[wife of the Prophet], I heard the Prophet stirring up from his sleep
and reciting the final ten verses from Sura Ali-'Imriin. "32

ii. The Arrangement of Suras

Some references allege that the Mushafs (c..A>- L......: compiled copies of the
Qur'an)33 used by Ubayy bin Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud exhibited discrepancies
in their arrangement of suras, based on the universal norm. But nowhere
do we find any reference to a disagreement in the ordering of verses within
a particular sura. The Qjir'an's unique format allows each sura to function
as an independent unit; no chronology or narrative carries over from one
to the next, and therefore any change in the sequence of suras is purely
superficial. Such were these discrepancies, if indeed they did exist, that
the message of the Qur'an remained inviolate. Variations in word order or
the sequence of verses would be a different matter altogether - a profound
alteration that thankfully not even the best-known variant Mushafs can
make claims to.

28 Al-Baqillani, ai-Intisiir, pp. 176-7.
29 Muslim, $a~i~,Jumu'a:52.
30 Muslim, $a~i~, al-Fara'id.S.
31 Al-Bukhari, $a~i~, Fada'il al-Qur'an: 10.
32 Al-Bukhari, $~iIj, al-Wuqu':37; Muslim, $~i~, Musafirm, no. 182. For details
see Muslim, Kitiib at-Tamyiz; edited by M.M. al-A'zami, pp. 183-5.
33 Literally a collection of sheets, here meaning sheets of parchment containing
the Qjir'an. See pp. 84-85.