Lesson No 67

Q. If the revelation of the holy Quran began with the above verses of ‘Al-‘Alaq’, does it mean that the present order of the holy Qur-an differs from the order of revelation?

Ans. The existing order does not reflect the order in which it was revealed. As said earlier, the revelation took place as and when necessity arose. But whenever a chapter was revealed, the holy Prophet gave instructions that the chapter concerned be inserted before and after such and such chapter. Similarly, when a certain verse or verses were revealed, the holy Prophet (peace be on him) used to direct their being written before or after certain verses. Thus, although the present order of the Quran does not reflect the order of revelation, this order is also dictated by the Prophet and has been fixed by his command and approval.

Q. Is the present order of Qur-anic chapters and verses fixed by the Prophet of his own volition or by the will of Al-lah?

Ans. Everything concerning Quran-number of Surahs (chapters), their beginning and end, number of ayahs (verses) in every Surah, its beginning and end, and the order of the Qur-an all was made known by Al-lah to Hadrat Jibril. He, in his turn, apprised the Prophet of it and the Prophet intimated us.

Q. Revelation of the Qur-an is now more than thirteen hundred years old. This being so, on what basis can we claim that the Qur-an in our hands is the same as was revealed to the holy Prophet?

Ans. There are a lot of things to substantiate the proposition that the present Qur-an is the same as was revealed to the Prophet. Here we enumerate a few of these that are easy to understand.

(i) Tawatur (unanimity): There is not only general consensus but complete unanimity among Muslims from the days of the Prophet down to the present age on its text and version. Consensus or unanimity about a thing is conclusive proof of its authenticity, its being beyond any doubt or suspicion:

Q. What do we mean by the terms mutawatir and tawatur (unanimous and unanimity)?

Ans. Anything reported by people in such an overwhelmingly large number that it is improbable for all of them to tell lies on the subject, is mutawatir (unanimous) and the fact of its being reported from one to another in such a manner is called tawatur (unanimity).

(ii) Millions of Muslims from the days of the Prophet down to our age have been memorising the Qur-an by heart. Even today hundreds of thousands of Muslims, among them children, young and old, remember the whole of the Qur-an by heart. There can, therefore, be no doubt about the authenticity of a book whose text has been preserved in the hearts of millions from the day of its revelation to the present age.

(iii) In the Holy Qur-an itself Al-lah has said:

IN-NA NAHNU NAZ-ZALNAZ-ZIKRA WA IN-NA LAHU LA-HAFIDHUN,

(We have revealed this Book (the Qur-an) and verily we will preserve it). Thus, since Al-lah has taken upon himself the onus of preserving the Holy Qur-an and has made a promise to this effect, it logically follows that it is the same text as was revealed to the Holy Prophet (peace be on him). The promise has ensured its unchangeability not only to this day but beyond, to the day of amihilation of the universe.

1. The unequivocal claim made by the Qur-an at the time of its revelation that the text of the Qur-an is unparalleled and inimitable by man has remained unchallenged to this day. No one in the world has ever been able to produce or claim to have produced the like of Qur-an up to this day. Nor can anyone ever hope to produce the like of it. This is another evidence in support of the Qur-an being in its original form as it was revealed to the Prophet.

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