3.8.Origins of the Quran
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3.8.Origins of the Quran
Chapter 3.8.Origins of the Quran?
1.STANDARD ISLAMIC NARRATIVE (SIN) ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE QURAN.
What is the Islamic traditional narrative about the origin of the Quran?
- During the 23 years of Muhammad's time as a prophet, the verses of the Quran were memorized as they were revealed, and about 42 scribes wrote the verses on different materials such as paper, cloth, bone fragments and leather. (In ancient times, literacy was a skill that few people had and Muhammad himself did not know how to read or write.)
- Then (that's how the story continue) ... During the time of Caliph Abu Bakr, after 70 people who knew the Quran by heart (qari), were killed in the Battle of Yamama, Umar ibn al-Khattab became concerned and appealed to Abu Bakr to compile the Quran into a book.
- Abu Bakr formed a delegation under the leadership of Zaid ibn Thabit, one of the leading scribes. This delegation of 12 people came together in Umar's house and collected all the materials on which verses from the Quran were written.
- In addition, the verses memorized by the companions were heard as well.
- Then all the verses of the Quran that describe the creation of the universe and people, judgment day, exemplary stories of the people who lived before and the beliefs, worship, morals, and legal bases that believers should obey, were collected into a single-volume book.
- Each of the verses was exactly as taught by the archangel Gabriel and declared by Prophet Muhammad. (The verse is the name given to each sentence of the Quran and the surah is the name given to each part of the holy book. There are 6,236 verses (or is it 6666), 114 surahs and about 323,000 letters in the Quran.
- Saeed ibn al-Aas wrote them down on gazelle skin. The writing used was the Arabic script of the time, which was already old and used commonly at that time in Hejaz.
- The copy of the Quran was recited to the companions at a general meeting. There was no objection. So, a book called "Mushaf" emerged, which means written verses.
- A total of 33,000 companions agreed that every letter of the Quran was in the right place.
- Each verses was exactly as taught by the archangel Gabriel and declared by Prophet Muhammad.
It’s just amazing how Muslims just belief this without asking true questions. Without questioning any of the variabilities possible in such a narrative or ‘story’...
Or are Muslims not allowed to ask - questions that need answers that are acceptable for a thinking mind; for people that use their heads and have common sense...
2. What researchers found about the Origins of the Quran?
May be a good starting point would be to get acquainted with Isa al-Warraq and his many research work and books.
Who is Ibn Warraq? He is the pen name of an anonymous author critical of Islam. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and used to be a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry, focusing on Quranic criticism.
Warraq is the Vice-President of the World Encounter Institute.
Ibn Warraq is called by some the Godfather of the Ex-Muslim Movement. As a modern scholar of the Quran and critic of Islam, Ibn Warraq, derives his pseudonymous name from al-Warraq or Abu 'Isa al-Warraq, full name Abu 'Isa Muhammad ibn Harun al-Warraq, a 10th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic of Islam.
The Ibn Warraq of today is a Islamic scholar and a leading figure in Qur’anic criticism and was a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry.
He is the author of many books, including What the Qur’an Really Says (Prometheus Books, 2002) and Which Koran? Variants, Manuscripts, Linguistics. You can find more of Ibn's writings on his Facebook Page.
In his very informative Book The Origins of the Koran, Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book by Ed. Ibn Warraq. Prometheus Books, his introduction reads as follows... “The stereotypic image of the Muslim holy warrior with a sword in one hand and the Koran in the other would only be plausible if he was left-handed, since no devout Muslim should or would touch a Koran with his left hand which is reserved for dirty chores. All Muslims revere the Koran with a reverence that borders on bibliolatry and superstition. "It is," as Guillaume remarked, "the holy of holies. It must never rest beneath other books, but always on top of them, one must never drink or smoke when it is being read aloud, and it must be listened to in silence. It is a talisman against disease and disaster."
- In some Westerners it engenders other emotions. For Gibbon it was an "incoherent rhapsody of fable," for Carlyle an "insupportable stupidity," while here is what the German scholar Salomon Reinach thought: "From the literary point of view, the Koran has little merit. Declamation, repetition, puerility, a lack of logic and coherence strike the unprepared reader at every turn.
- It is humiliating to the human intellect to think that this mediocre literature has been the subject of innumerable commentaries, and that millions of men are still wasting time absorbing it."
For us in studying the Koran it is necessary to distinguish the historical from the theological attitude. We should only be concerned with those truths that are yielded by a process of rational enquiry, by scientific examination. "Critical investigation of the text of the Quran is a study which is still in its infancy," wrote the Islamic scholar Arthur Jeffery in 1937.
In 1977 John Wansbrough noted that "as a document susceptible of analysis by the instruments and techniques of Biblical criticism [the Quran] is virtually unknown."
By 1990, more than fifty years after Jeffery’s lament, we still have the scandalous situation described by Andrew Rippin: “I have often encountered individuals who come to the study of Islam with a background in the historical study of the Hebrew Bible or early Christianity, and who express surprise at the lack of critical thought that appears in introductory textbooks on Islam. The notion that "Islam was born in the clear light of history" still seems to be assumed by a great many writers of such texts. While the need to reconcile varying historical traditions is generally recognized, usually this seems to pose no greater problem to the authors than having to determine "what makes sense" in each situation.
To students acquainted with approaches such as source criticism, oral formulaic compositions, literary analysis, and structuralism, all quite commonly employed in the study of Judaism and Christianity, such naïve historical study seems to suggest that Islam is being approached with less than academic cantor.
The questions any critical investigation of the Koran should answer are:
1. How did the Koran come to us? —That is the compilation and the transmission of the Koran.
2. When was it written, and who wrote it?
3. What are the sources of the Koran? Where were the stories, legends, and principles that abound in the Koran acquired?
4. What is the Koran? Since there never was a textus receptus no variator of the Koran, we need to decide its authenticity.
If you really want to know the factual truth, welcome to study this article further yourself.
3. CRITICAL QUESTION FROM DR. TAHA HUSSEIN
After Uthman completed his Quran, he forced all the Islamic countries to have one Quran - and banned all other codices. He finished the matter by burning all other codices of the Quran. (Read more here)
Dr. Taha Hussein, a well-known author, college professor, and minister of education in Egypt, wrote in his book Al- Fitnato Al-Korba (The Great Sedition):
The prophet Muhammad said: "The Quran was revealed in seven dialects all of them are right and perfect." When Uthman banned whichever, he banned from the Quran, and burned whichever he burned of it, he banned passages Allah has revealed and burned parts of the Quran which were given to the Muslims by the messenger of Allah. He appointed a small group of the Sahaba (close friends of Muhammad) to rewrite the Quran and left out those who heard the prophet and memorized what he said. Therefore, Ibn Massoud was angry, because he was one of the best men who memorized the Quran. He said that he took from the mouth of the prophet seventy suras of the Quran while Zaid Ibn Sabit was yet a young lad.
Ibn Massoud objection to the burning of the other codices of the Quran.
What was the response to Ibn Massoud objection? Uthman took him out of the mosque with violence, and struck him to the ground, and broke one of his ribs (Read more about it here).
4. WHERE IS THE ORIGINS OF THE QURAN ACCORDING TO DAN GIBSON?
Dan Gibson, historian, and author has been studying the earliest evidence of the origins of Islam and the Quran.
The disclosure of these discoveries of Dan Gibson are rewriting the history of Islam. Al Fadi and Dr. Jay Smith conclude their discussion of these discoveries, and how this are rewriting the history of Islam (Look video here).
Specifically in this episode Al Fadi and Dr. Jay Smith discuss the origin and history of the Quran in its earliest versions, along with the biography of Muhammad and the Hadith.
They also explore the origin of the name of Allah. Did the name originate with the god Dushara and his wife Al-Lat?
Muslims are taught that Mecca is the historical home of Muhammad and Islam began from there. Evidence, however, points to another origin, the ancient city of Petra. (Later more)
5. The Original Sources Of The Qur'an: Its Origin In Pagan Legends and Mythology.
(The Title of the Book by W St Clair Tisdall)
- Which of these were his own invention, which of them were derived from earlier systems?
- To what extent had he the means of learning the teachings of those who professed other religions than his own?
- If he borrowed from other systems, what particular parts of the Qu'ran can be traced to such sources?
- How much of the Qur'an is due to the character of Muhammad himself and the circumstances of his time?
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