Revelation and Collection of the Qur'an

The Mother of the Believers ‘Ā'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) says in this Hadīth that revelation would descend upon the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) on a cold morning and his forehead would perspire so much, due to the difficulty of receiving revelation.

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) points out that the Qur’an's surahs would reveal to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) while he did not know where they should end and be separated, until "In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful" was revealed to him; thereupon, he knew that the previous surah came to an end and this was the beginning of a new surah.

Al-Hārith ibn Hishām (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) how the revelation came to him. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) told him that the angel, Jibrīl, would sometimes come to him and his voice communicating the revelation was as strong as the sound of a bell. This form was the hardest on the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and afterwards he would be overwhelmed and severely distressed and then it would lift. After this he fully understood and had memorized what the angel had said to him. The angel would make a loud sound when he came down with the revelation to distract the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) from matters of the worldly life and to make him focus on the sound. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) would understand what the angel said to him, as he heard nothing but the angel's voice. At other times, the angel would come to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) in the form of a man, such as Dihyah (may Allah be pleased with him) or another man, and communicate the revelation to him, and the Prophet would understand it. ‘Ā'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said that on very cold days, the Prophet's forehead would sweat due to the stress of receiving the revelation.

Whenever the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) received revelation, he would experience hardship and distress to the extent that the color of his face would change due to the gravity and difficulty of that matter. Besides, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) paid much attention and care to the revelation and showed great awe to whatever he was asked to observe, such as fulfilling the rights of servitude, showing due gratefulness to Allah, the Almighty, and glorifying His commands and reports.

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) used to experience hardship and intense stress while the revelation was being sent down upon him. He used to move his lips with what he received from Jibrīl before Jibrīl had finished the revelation, fearing that he would not be able to memorize it before Jibrīl left. Ibn ‘Abbās described to his student Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr how the Prophet moved his lips. This indicates that Ibn ‘Abbās had seen the Prophet in that state. Sa‘īd, likewise, described it to his students. Allah, the Exalted, sent down a verse commanding the Prophet not to move his tongue with the Qur'an to hasten in receiving it, for Allah ensured that the Qur'an would be collected in the Prophet's heart. Then, Allah, the Almighty, revealed another verse telling the Prophet to listen attentively when Jibrīl recited the Qur'an to him, for Allah ensured that the Prophet would recite it just as Jibrīl had recited it. Later on, when Jibrīl came to the Prophet with revelation, the Prophet would listen to him, and when Jibrīl had departed, the Prophet would read the Qur'an as Jibrīl taught him to read it.

According to this Hadīth, the Qur’an initially stated that ten times of confirmed breastfeeding make the breastfed person Mahram (unmarriageable) to those who shared breastfeeding from the same woman and their Mahram relatives. Yet, both the ruling and wording of this verse were abrogated and replaced with another verse stipulating five times of confirmed breastfeeding. Later, only the wording of the latter verse was abrogated while its ruling remained in force. As for ‘Ā'ishah's statement that the Prophet died while this verse was still being recited as part of the Qur'an, it means that the abrogation came so late that news of it did not reach some people and, thus, they continued reciting the abrogated verse as part of the Qur’an due to their ignorance of its abrogation.

The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned that all the prophets were supported by Allah and were given miraculous signs that served as proof of their prophethood and led those who witnessed them to believe in their truthfulness. These miracles were beyond human ability to challenge or resist, though some people might still deny them out of stubbornness and arrogance. As for the Prophet (ﷺ), his sign and miracle is the Qur’an that Allah revealed to him, for it contains a clear and everlasting miracle due to its immense benefit and universal guidance. It includes the call to truth, decisive proof, and knowledge of what is yet to come. Thus, its benefit extends to those present and absent, to those who have existed and those who will exist. Then he said: I hope to be the one among them with the greatest number of followers on the Day of Judgment.

Among the Jews of Madīnah were Banu Quraydah and Banu an-Nadīr. One of the two tribes had overpowered and subdued the other during the pre-Islamic period. They agreed and made a pact that if a person from the strong and dominant tribe killed someone from the weaker and subjugated tribe, the blood money would be fifty Wasqs only; but if the weaker tribe killed someone from the stronger one, the blood money would be double—one hundred Wasqs (1 Wasq equals sixty Sā‘s, a traditional measure of volume). They remained upon that agreement until the Prophet (ﷺ) arrived in Madīnah as an emigrant. Both tribes then submitted to his presence (ﷺ), even though at that time he (ﷺ) had not yet triumphed over his enemies nor compelled them to obey him, for that was at the beginning of the Hijrah, during a period of peace. Then the weaker tribe killed a man from the stronger tribe. So the stronger tribe sent a message to the weaker one, saying: Send us one hundred Wasqs as agreed. The weaker tribe replied: Has it ever been that two clans, whose religion is one, whose lineage is one, and whose land is one, have unequal blood money—some worth half of the others? We only gave you that before, out of a sense of injustice toward us and fear of you. But now that Muhammad has arrived, we will never give you that again. War was about to break out between them, but they agreed instead to make the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) a judge between them. Then the stronger tribe reconsidered and said: By Allah, Muhammad will not give you from them double of what he gives them from you. They have spoken the truth—they only gave us that before out of injustice and domination over them. So secretly send someone to Muhammad to find out his opinion for you: if he gives you what you want, you will appoint him as judge; but if he does not grant you what you desire, you will avoid him and not make him a judge between you. So they secretly sent some of the hypocrites to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to find out his opinion. When they came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), Allah revealed to him all about their affair and what they intended. Then Allah Almighty revealed in Surat al-Mā’idah, beginning with His words: {O Messenger, do not grieve for those who rush to disbelief – those who say with their mouths, “We believe”} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 41] until His saying: {Whoever does not judge according to what Allah has revealed, it is they who are the rebellious.} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 47] Then Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) said: By Allah, these verses were revealed concerning them: {Whoever does not judge according to what Allah has revealed, it is they who are the disbelievers} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 44] And {...it is they who are the wrongdoers} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 45] And {...it is they who are the rebellious} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 47], and it was they whom Allah Almighty meant.

An-Nu‘mān ibn Bashīr (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) mentioned that he was sitting near the pulpit of the Prophet (ﷺ) when he heard a man say: I do not mind doing no other deed after becoming Muslim except giving water to the pilgrims. And another man said: I do not mind doing no other deed after becoming Muslim except maintaining and serving the Sacred Mosque. Then another said: Jihad in the cause of Allah is better than what you both have said. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with them) rebuked them for raising their voices near the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)—and it was Friday morning. Then he said: When I have prayed the Friday prayer, I will go in and ask the Prophet (ﷺ) about the matter in which you have differed. So Allah Almighty revealed: {Do you consider giving water to the pilgrims and maintaining the Sacred Mosque as equal to believing in Allah and the Last Day and striving for Allah’s cause? They are not equal before Allah, and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.} [Surat at-Tawbah: 19]

‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned regarding the statement of Allah Almighty: {And whoever intends to deviate therein by evildoing, We will cause him to taste a painful punishment} [Surat al-Hajj: 25]. He said: If anyone intended and resolved to commit an evil deed in the sacred sanctuary of Makkah—violating its sanctity by words or intentional killing that Allah has forbidden—this is considered wrongdoing. Even if this intention and resolve occurred in the city of ‘Adan in Yemen, he deserves Allah's painful punishment because of it, even if he does not carry it out. It is enough that he made the resolve.

Allah, Exalted and Glorified, increased the revelation that was sent down to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) before his death to complete the Shariah, up until the Messenger (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) died at a time when the revelation was most abundant.

One day, Abu Jahl asked his companions whether Muhammad prayed and prostrated on dust while they saw him. They said: 'Yes.' So he swore by the two idols of Al-Lāt and Al-‘Uzza that if he saw Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) prostrate, he would trample on his neck or throw dust on his face. Abu Jahl saw the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) prostrate, so he came over to step on his neck. Suddenly, however, the people saw Abu Jahl retreat in terror, extending his hand as if he was pushing something away. His companions asked why he was doing so. He told them that when he tried to step on the Prophet's neck, he saw a ditch of fire, wings, and horrible things in between the both of them. The scene terrified him so much that he withdrew. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) remarked that had Abu Jahl drawn closer to him, the angels would have torn him apart. Hence, Allah revealed these verses: {No! [But] indeed, man transgresses, because he sees himself self-sufficient. Indeed, to your Lord is the return. Have you seen the one who forbids a servant when he prays? Have you seen if he is upon guidance or enjoins righteousness? Have you seen if he (Abu Jahl) denies and turns away? Does he not know that Allah sees? No! If he does not desist, We will surely drag him by the forelock - a lying, sinful forelock. Then let him call his associates; We will summon the guards of Hell. No! Do not obey him} [Sūrat al-‘Alaq: 6-19]. In these verses, ''man'' refers to Abu Jahl, who indulged himself in disbelief, sins, and injustice, for he considered himself rich enough. This disbeliever will return to your Lord, O Muhammad, so that Allah lets him taste a painful punishment. Abu Jahl indeed tried to prevent the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) from praying at the Ka‘bah, puffed with arrogance and unbelief. That is quite amazing. The verses go on to draw this comparison between the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Jahl. The former was on the right way, commanding piety. The latter, however, was belying the truth with which Muhammad was sent. So he did not believe in him. Yet, Abu Jahl should have learnt that Allah sees him and will punish him on the Day of Resurrection. He is even warned that if he does not stop offending the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) Allah will take him by the forehead, the forehead of a monstrous liar. Again, let Abu Jahl seek the support of his companions. If he does, then strong harsh angels will be summoned against them. Finally, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) is commanded not to listen to Abu Jahl and just continue his prayers to get closer to Allah through worship.

Zayd ibn Thābit al-Ansāri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Abu Bakr As-Siddīq summoned him during his caliphate, after the Companions of the Prophet had fought against Musaylimah the Liar in the battle of Yamāmah in 11 AH. The battle was sparked due to Musaylimah's claim to be a prophet and also due to the apostasy of many of the Arabs. Many of the Prophet's Companions were killed in those battles. Zayd went to Abu Bakr and found ‘Umar sitting with him. Abu Bakr told Zayd that ‘Umar had come to him and told him that many of the Companions had been killed in their battles with Musaylimah and he feared that more of the Qur'an memorizers would be killed in subsequent battles with the disbelievers, and consequently parts of the Qur'an could be lost. So ‘Umar had proposed that the Qur'an should be collected. Abu Bakr wondered how he could do something that the Messenger of Allah had not done. ‘Umar replied that collecting the Qur'an would be better than leaving it scattered around. Abu Bakr said that ‘Umar had talked to him about collecting the Qur'an until he had felt comfortable with the idea and decided to collect it. Zayd ibn Thābit commented that ‘Umar was sitting there, silently. Then Abu Bakr said to Zayd that he was an intelligent young man whom they could not accuse of lying or forgetfulness. As Zayd had written the revelation for the Messenger of Allah, they suggested that he should track down the Qur'an and collect it. The whole Qur'an had been written down during the Prophet's life, but it had not been collected in one place nor were the Sūrahs arranged in their current order. Zayd commented that moving a mountain would have been easier for him than collecting the Qur'an. He wondered how Abu Bakr and ‘Umar could do something that the Prophet had not done. Abu Bakr said that this would be good, and he continued to talk to Zayd about the benefits of collecting the Qur'an until he felt comfortable with the proposal and decided to collect the Qur'an for the public interest. Zayd collected the Qur'an written on parchments, shoulder blades, and palm stalks, and also from the hearts of men who had fully memorized it, such as Ubai ibn Ka‘b and Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal. In this way, the text that was written on parchment and shoulder blades would be further evidence to what had been memorized by the Companions. He only found the last two verses of Sūrat At-Tawbah written down by Khuzaymah ibn Thābit al-Ansāri. These are the verses that state: {There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer, [he is] concerned over you...} until the end of the two verses [Sūrat At-Tawbah: 128-129]. The sheets on which the Qur'an were collected remained with Abu Bakr until he died, then with ‘Umar until he died, and then with Hafsah, ‘Umar’s daughter (may Allah be pleased with them all). The Shias objected to Abu Bakr's collection of the Qur'an, because he had done something that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) had not done. Abu Bakr did not do anything objectionable, as he embarked on this project for the sake of Allah, His Messenger, and His Book. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) had allowed this as in the Hadīth reported by Abu Sa‘īd: ''Do not write anything from me other than the Qur'an.'' [Muslim]. So Abu Bakr did nothing other than collecting the Qur'an that was already written. Thus, the Shias' objection to Abu Bakr's collection is baseless.

Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān (may Allah be pleased with him) visited ‘Uthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) who was then preparing the Syrians and Iraqis to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. Hudhayfah heard people read the Qur’an differently. Some of them followed the reading of Ubai, while others followed the reading of Ibn Mas‘ūd, to the point that conflict and turmoil was about to develop among them. This situation alarmed Hudhayfah, who therefore asked the Commander of the Believers ‘Uthmān to save the situation lest the people would diverge on the Qur’an as the Jews and Christians diverged on the Torah and the Gospel and tampered with them by adding to and deleting from them. At that point, the Qur’an was collected in sheets, not in a Mus'haf. Therefore, ‘Uthmān sent to Hafsah, requesting her to send him the sheets in which the Qur’an was written so that he would transcribe them into the Mus'hafs and then return the sheets to her. The sheets that he received from Hafsah were the sheets which Abu Bakr and ‘Umar had commanded the Qur’an be written in. So ‘Uthmān then collected the Qur’an in a Mus'haf. The difference between this Mus'haf and the sheets is that the sheets were the edited papers in which the Qur’an was collected during the time of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. They had separate Sūrahs, and each Sūrah was arranged in the order of its own verses. However, these Sūrahs were not arranged one after another in one volume. So when these Sūrahs were transcribed and arranged, they formed the Mus'haf. Thus, the Mus'haf started to exist only during ‘Uthmān's time. So Hafsah sent the sheets to ‘Uthmān, who then commissioned Zayd ibn Thābit, ‘Abdullāh ibn Az-Zubayr, Sa‘īd ibn al-‘Ās, and ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn Hishām to transcribe the sheets into the Mus'hafs. Zayd ibn Thābit was from the Ansār, whereas the rest were from the Quraysh. ‘Uthmān told the three Qurayshis that if they differed with Zayd ibn Thābit on anything of the Qur’an, they should write it in the dialect of Quraysh, for the Qur’an was revealed in their dialect. They did so. When they had transcribed the sheets in the Mus'hafs, ‘Uthmān returned the sheets to Hafsah. He also sent a Mus'haf to each province. Other Qur’anic materials, sheets, and private Mus'hafs were burned on ‘Uthmān's order.

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he was serving drink to those in the house of his stepfather, Abu Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him), and their wine at that time was Fadīkh—a mixture of dates and unripe dates. Then, a caller from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) announced: Indeed, wine has been declared unlawful. He said: Abu Talhah said to me: Go and pour it out and spill it. So, I went and poured it out and spilled it, and the wine flowed through the streets of Madīnah. Some people said: Some of the Companions had been killed before its prohibition while it was still in their bellies. Thereupon, Allah revealed: {There is no blame on those who believe and do righteous deeds for what they consumed...} [Sūrat al-Mā’idah: 93]. This means: There is no sin incurred on those who believe for what they consumed of the wine before its prohibition.