# Did the Prophet leave a written Quran, and what did the caliphs really do?

*At the Prophet's death: a living tradition, no official written codex, and inflated stories about the caliphs' compilation*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/5/
- Date: 2020-06-19 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Dr. Shehzad Saleem | the Preservation of the Quran & the Problem of Qira'at | MindTrap with Mufti#26 (21:00–24:57)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BcGWatU5g&t=1260s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/

**Topics:** Preservation and variant readings; Hadith collections and their history; Guest conversations

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** At the Prophet's death the Quran lived in the community's recitation, teaching and notes; he deliberately left no official codex. The caliphs merely spread copies, and the guest says the Bukhari narratives about their compilation are weak in chain and content.

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says few doubt that the Quran was complete and taught in the Prophet's lifetime, and asks what happened at his death. The guest says the Quran was then with the living tradition of the Muslims: written, taught, read, memorised and compared. Students of the Prophet had written it down, but he never left an officially compiled written Quran, which the guest calls wise, since protecting a written text in such a society would have been hard and it would have rotted away; the written culture existed but was not relied on, like students taking notes and comparing them. The Prophet himself received the Quran orally from Jibril, not being a reader or writer, and transmitted it exactly as he received it. The stories of what the caliphs did after his death, that Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman made copies, are in his view grossly inflated and misinterpreted: as responsible rulers of an expanding realm with wars and new converts, they simply spread copies of the Quran that was already there. The narratives in Bukhari and other hadith books about how the Quran came to be compiled, he says, he has shown in his research to be lacking not only in their chains but in their content, with many conflicting versions. Mufti then asks whether, in the guest's understanding, the Quran's words were absolutely fixed as they are today, and the guest says yes, with an explanation that follows.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Shehzad Saleem (guest)
- The deen reaches us through continuous living practice
- Jibril (Gabriel)
- Abu Bakr
- Umar ibn al-Khattab
- Uthman ibn Affan
- Sahih al-Bukhari

## Transcript (machine tier, 21:00–24:57)

[20:41] was a very strong oral tradition and this was simply like a kind of code to help people to nudge them along it wasn't actually something like people trying to I mean I just thought that's a very it just goes in with what you think so ok so the oral tradition was there this part okay I think very few people would doubt that the Prophet Salla Salem in his lifetime the Quran is complete and it's being taught to the companions he passes away Salah a live Saddam what

[21:18] in your belief happens then in in as part of this paragraph before we expand on the some of the may be the difficult objections of all problems so you see a very unique method was adopted in the transmission of the Quran so if you ask me what happened at dead of the Prophet or what was the status of the Quran at the death of the Prophet I would say that it was with the living tradition of the Muslims it was being written it was being taught it was being read it was being memorized it was being done like a comparative text as well so all kinds of things which star which which living tradition of any religious community was

[21:56] it would have was possessed by the Quran so at the time of the prophets death there were students of the Prophet who had written it down but the Prophet never left and officially compiled written Quran that he never did and I think that was a very wise thing as well because protecting something written is not easy all things can creep in in in a society where we have so many things and the custody of that must have been become would have been very difficult and over a period of time it would have just rotten away so this was this was just partly adopted that written culture was there but it was never relied upon and the Prophet never gave a written

[22:33] sort of a Koran to his companions the Companions himself wrote that wrote it down for themselves so it was basically like students taking notes and then all of them comparing those notes to each other and coming up with the same result and the way the Prophet himself received the Quran was oral he never already done for himself you know that he was not conversing with reading and writing so I mean he's not writing he would if he could understand so he just got it from Gabriel and the way he got it from Gabriel was that over tradition and he transferred it exactly in the manner that he received it from Gabriel and this is how the Quran was transferred so the stories that what the caliphs did after the prophets demise that for

[23:12] example did Abu Bakr either Mercer or dittos man-made copies I think they are grossly inflated and misrepresented and misinterpreted all that they did was they just spread the Quran which was already there between being responsible caliphs of their of their kingdom they wanted it to expand and for new Muslim converts and there was they were Wars going on there were people who been coming into the fours of Islam and they wanted more copies of the Quran so what they did was is this spread far and wide these copies of the Quran but the stories which are mentioned in Bukhari and in some of the other Hadees books regarding how the Quran came to be

[23:51] compiled I've shown in my research that they lack not only in there is not a lot of problems but in the content as well yeah so a lot of conflicting narrations as well and you show that so so well in the book right so just you know you said doctors are that you said gibreel Ali Salaam is orally transmitted to the Prophet the Prophet is orally transmitting word-for-word so just to be clear in your understanding the Quran did it have flexibility in its words like so when we're reading a verse today

[24:31] in the Quran when the Prophet was reading this are you espousing the opinion that there was it was absolutely fixed the word is as the word is today all of the words yes I do but there is a little explanation perhaps that would that is in order because to understand this I would say yes and just to explain how I say yes I would say that the history of the compilation of the Quran is something which the Quran itself has itself has spoken of so you see when you talk about the collection of the Quran you first go to the primary source which is the Quran itself and this is precisely what Hamilton fara he did when

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment f2BcGWatU5g/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.