Page 123 - Tafsir of surat at tawba repentance
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The Prophet (r) also made reference to aayahs in particular positions in soorahs.
For example, Aboo ad-Dardaa’ reported that the Prophet (r) said,
(. ِلﺎﺠﺩﻟﺍ ﻥِﻤ ﻡِﺼﻋ ﻑﻬﹶﻜﹾﻟﺍ ِﺓﺭﻭﺴ ِلﻭَﺃ ﻥِﻤ ٍﺕﺎﻴﺁ ﺭﹾﺸﻋ ﹶﻅِﻔﺤ ﻥﻤ )
“Whoever memorizes the first ten verses of Soorah al-Kahf will be protected from
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Ad-Dajjaal (the Anti-Christ).”
Also, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab mentioned during a sermon that he had been
confused about a problem of inheritance related to a person who dies without
parents or children to inherit from him. He kept asking the Prophet (r) about it,
until he became annoyed, prodded him in the chest and said,
( ؟ ِﺀﺎﺴﱢﻨﻟﺍ ِﺓﺭﻭﺴ ِﺭِﺨﺁ ﻲِﻓ ﻲِﺘﱠﻟﺍ ِﻑﻴﺼﻟﺍ ﹸﺔﻴﺁ ﻙﻴِﻔﹾﻜﹶﺘ ﹶﻻَﺃ )
“Isn’t the verse (revealed) in the summer, the one at the end of Soorah an-Nisaa’,
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enough for you?”
If the order of the verses was not fixed, these hadeeths, and others like them,
which attach special benefits for particular verses would be meaningless. There
are also numerous authentic reports in which the Prophet (r) recited soorahs
with the verses in order during salaah (prayer), Jumu‘ah sermons, etc.
During the second copying of the Qur’aan, Caliph ‘Uthmaan personally
checked the position of each aayah in every soorah, making sure that every one
was in place, even if they were abrogated verses. Ibn az-Zubayr reported that he
said to Caliph ‘Uthmaan, “The verse: ‘And those of you who die, leaving wives
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behind...’ has been canceled by the other aayah, so why are you having it written
“Soorahs were revealed to the Prophet (r) over a period of time. Whenever something would be
revealed to him, he would call one of his scribes and tell him, ‘Place this in the soorah that
mentions such-and-such.’ (Musnad Ahmad, nos. 376 and 468.) The hadeeth was also collected by
Aboo Daawood (Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 1, pp. 201-2, no. 785) and at-Tirmithee and has seven
isnaads, all containing Yazeed al-Faarisee, who was classified as maqbool (acceptable for
corroborative reports) by Ibn Hajar. (See Taqreeb at-Tahtheeb, p. 606, no. 7796.) The rest of the
narrators are highly reliable. The hadeeth is thus weak by itself, but it may be used where it
corroborates another report, such as the hadeeth of ‘Uthmaan ibn Abee al-‘Aas.
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Collected by Muslim (Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, pp. 386-7, no. 1766) and Aboo Daawood (Sunan
Abu Dawud, vol. 3, p.1203, no. 4309).
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Sahih Muslim, vol. 3, p. 854, no. 3937.
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Soorah al-Baqarah (2):240.
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