Inspirational Islamic Stories

Part 5 Quran: Compilation of Divine Revelation

The compilation of the Holy Quran took place in three stages:
During the lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ)
During the caliphate of Abu Bakr (ra)
During the caliphate of Usman bin Affan (ra).
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▪️In the Lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ):
There is ample evidence showing that the entire Quran was written down in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. As stated earlier when He (ﷺ) received revelation, He (ﷺ) would instruct scribes to record the revelation on parchments of paper or pieces of leather. He would also indicate in which Surah each ayah was to be placed. The Companions never interfered in the arrangement of the ayahs and Surahs which are the same in copies of Quran available today.
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Zaid bin Thabbit (ra) was one of the most prominent of the scribes and has reported that he, along with other companions would compile the Quran in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ). During this time the names of the Surahs were also known. Angle Gibraeel (as) would also come to the Prophet (ﷺ) every Ramadan to listen to him reciting the Quran, and listened to him twice in the year of his demise.
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▪️In the time of Abu Bakr (ra):
A detailed account of this is contained in an account given by Zaid bin Thabbit (ra) in Sahih Bukhari. After the demise of the Prophet (ﷺ) an imposter called Muslimah announced falsely his own Prophethood. Abu Bakr (ra) sent a Muslim expedition against him and a harsh battle took place in 632 A.D (11 A.H) at the place of Yamamah during which around 70 of hafiz were martyred.
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Umar bin Kattab (ra) became concerned at the heavy loss of casualties, fearing that a large part of the Quran could be lost if the rate of martyrdom increased. He expressed these fears to the Caliph Abu Bakr (ra) and asked him to compile the Quran into a permanent book form. Abu Bakr (ra) was at first shocked at the request and said he could not do something that the Prophet (ﷺ) had never done in his own lifetime. However, Umar (ra) continued to persuade him until Abu Bakr (ra) said his heart was opened by Allah (swt) and he agreed to the suggestion.
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Abu Bakr (ra) called upon Zaid bin Thabbit (ra) to collect and compile the Quran into one volume. Zain bin Thabbit (ra) was also astonished at this request and declared it would have been easier for him to shift a mountain than to do such a task. He too questioned how they could do something that the Prophet (ﷺ) had never done. Abu Bakr (ra) replied this was a good thing and began to persuade him until Allah (swt) opened the heart of Zaid bin Thabbit (ra) who agreed to do this too.
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Zaid bin Thabbit (ra) set about completing the task. He collected all the written parts of the Quran from date leaves, parchment and pieces of leather and also listened to many of the hafiz who recited verses from their memories. After having carefully compared and cross checked each ayah, he compiled the written Quran into one single volume. Abu Bakr (ra) became its official custodian, passing on to Umar bin Kattab (ra) during his caliphate. After his demise the Quranic volume was passed into the custody of his daughter Hafsah (ra), One of the wives of Prophet (ﷺ).
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▪️During the era of the third Caliph Usman bin Affan (ra):
A serious issue related to the recitation of the Quran raised. Despite the text of the Quran was universally accepted, Arabs from different parts of the Islamic state recited it according to their dialect. 
These presented two problems: firstly that everybody considered their dialect to be correct which gave rise to disputes; and secondly, it was feared that if this went on, there will be no universally accepted version of Quran left. From overcoming these problems Usman (ra) requested Hafsa (ra) to provide the earlier compilation of Quran so that more copies could be made out of it.
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Moreover, He also formed a committee consisting of Zain bin Haris (ra) and a few other Companions to make sure that they agree on the pronunciation of the original copy and produce more versions of that copy in the very same way. The commission prepared the text accordingly and then several copies were made and sent to different parts of the Islamic state with the instructions that only this should be considered the official and authentic text of Quran. Since that day the Holy Quran has remained in its original intact form and will remain as such in the future by the Grace and Blessings of Allah Almighty.
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In spite of Allah Almighty Himself took the responsibility of preserving Quran, however, He had the work done by humans where different rulers in different times made efforts to make sure that Quran was preserved and it was in a form that was universal with no deviation whatsoever in terms of its textual content which we have nowadays from which we recite.
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It is not known exactly how many copies were made by Usman (ra), but many believe it to be five, not including his own copy. The cities of Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Kufa, and Basra each received a copy. Throughout early Islamic literature, references are made to these copies and it is believed that original copies exist to this day in Turkey and Uzbekistan.
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▪️Ibn Batuta, in the 14th century C.E. said he had seen copies or sheets from the copies of the Quran prepared under Usman, in Granada, Marrakesh, Basra, and other cities. 
▪️Ibn Kathir related that he had seen a copy of the Usmani Quran, which was brought to Damascus from Palestine.  He said 'it was very large, in beautiful clear strong writing with strong ink, in parchment, I think, made of camel skin'.
▪️Ibn Jubair said he saw the Usmani manuscript in the mosque of Medina in the year 1184 C.E.  Some say it remained in Medina until the Turks removed it in WW1.
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The Quran had been revealed in seven dialects of the Arabic language of the time.
The first Muslims who were literate could easily read the writing of their own language, but somewhat differently, since at the time the Arabic script did not have diacritical marks to differentiate letters or vowel symbols.
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For example, those from the Tameem tribe pronounced the letter "sin" as "te" and read the word "nas" as "nat." It was diverse and convenient, and did not change the meaning.
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The delegation brought the original mushaf from Hafsah. In this mushaf, the surahs were not separated from each other. The surahs were sorted according to the order of their descent in Ali's manuscript and according to their lengths in the manuscript of Abdullah ibn Masood.
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Now the verses were written in the Quraysh dialect. The surahs were arranged in rows, separated from each other regarding their length and alignment with each other. The order of the surahs was not based on the order the Angel Gabriel (as) gave them to Prophet (ﷺ), but on the consensus of the companions.
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Usman also established special schools for the correct recitation and writing of the Quran. During the caliphate of Ali, saw the introduction of diacritical marks. During the time of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik, vowel marks were also added.
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Usman (ra) sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Quranic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.