The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Qur’an S 369

prophet’s lifetime people recorded portions of the revelations on scraps of material that happened to be available: bits of leather, papyrus leaves, ribs of animals. They also committed the revelations to memory. Tradition attributes the work of compiling the Qur’an to Zaid ibn Thabit. Indeed, it attributes it to him twice. During the term of Abu Bakr (caliph, 632–634), the first caliph or leader of the Islamic community after Muhammad’s death, many peo ple who had memorized the revelations were killed in a great battle. Abu Bakr was worried that the revelations might be lost. Therefore, he commis sioned Zaid to gather into a book as many of the revelations as he could find. The resulting work was passed down to the next caliph, Umar (caliph, 634–644), and then to Umar’s daughter. Uthman (caliph, 644–656), the caliph after Umar, became concerned that there were many dif ferent versions of the Qur’an, and that these might cause confusion. Therefore, he commissioned Zaid to assess the various versions and add verses that were genuine to his earlier work. When Zaid was finished, Uthman ordered that all competing ver sions be destroyed. In fact, all other versions of the Qur’an were not destroyed, but for all intents and purposes they were. Uthman’s version is simply considered the Qur’an today. CONTENTS The Qur’an consists of poetic verses revealed to the prophet Muhammad at various times during a period of 22 years. It does not tell connected sto ries, the way parts of the B IBLE do. It also does not systematically present the teachings of Islam, in the way, for example, that a CREED or a confes sion might. Rather, it contains distinct verses on a large variety of topics. Many of them addressed concerns that were pressing in the Arabic com munity at the time they were given. Muhammad reported to the community what he received from God. Because he did so, when the Qur’an speaks in the first person (“we”), the pronoun refers not to Muhammad but to God. The Qur’an is Arabic poetry. Indeed, those who speak Arabic insist that it is a form of

At first Muhammad doubted the reliability of his experiences. The doubts became more intense when the messages from God stopped briefly. But the messages resumed, and until the end of his life Muhammad continued to receive messages that Muslims attribute to God. Sometimes these messages came as a ringing in Muhammad’s ears. Sometimes the ANGEL Gabriel delivered them. And sometimes Muhammad heard the voice of God himself. Muhammad did not write the Qur’an, either in the sense that he composed it as an author or that he recorded it as a scribe. According to tra dition, Muhammad could not write. During the Page from the Qur’an written in Kufic writing in the 11th century. Surah al-Rum (XXX, The Romans), verses 24 and 25: “. . . after it (the Earth) is dead: verily in that are signs for those who are wise. And among his signs is this, that heaven and earth stand at his command. Then when he calls you by a single call from the Earth . . .” (Victoria & Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, N.Y.)