This
is one of the most ancient manuscripts of the Quran that we currently
posses, written in the Hijazi script. It is displayed at the University
of Birmingham, and has been Carbon-14 dated to the same era (plus or
minus a few decades) of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam). To
the right of the manuscript is the typed up version of the same text
(courtesy of Prof Alan Godlas).
It is patently clear, even to
those of us who can't read the ancient Hijazi script with ease, that the
two texts are essentially the same. No other religious text can even
come close to this level of preservation. The earliest complete copies
of the New Testament date back to more than three centuries after the
era of Jesus Christ, and the earliest manuscripts of the Old Testament
to more than a thousand years after the era of Moses.
What is
more amazing is that the Quran isn't even primarily preserved through
manuscripts - it is first and foremost preserved through the
memorization of huffadh of every single generation, to the point of
tawatur (meaning: in each generation numerous people have recited the
Quran and passed it down to the next generation, to the point that it
would be impossible for all of them to be mistaken about it).
The preservation of the Quran is a matter that all Muslims have agreed on, from the beginning of Islam, and hence it is of the most fundamental and essential beliefs of Islam.
Anyone who denies that the Quran has been preserved is simply not a Muslim.
Of the most fascinating disciplines of our academic tradition,
therefore, is the specialty of documenting the preservation of the
Quran, and of explaining the evolution of the script, the addition of
the tashkil and diacritic marks, the development of the various
recitations (the 'seven' and the 'ten' and the 'fourteen' and others),
the classification and codification of these recitations and the
differences between them, and of course the relationship of these
recitations to the 'modes' (Ar. 'ahruf') that are referenced in the
hadith. Scholars have always had many fascinating and at times heated
discussions regarding all of these facets and more, and many books have
been written about these topics, such as those by Ibn Abi Dawud and Ibn
Mujahid and Makki b. Abi Talib and al-Dani and Ibn al-Jazari and a host
of others. But despite all of the differences of opinion found in these
classical works, none of those discussions ever negated the basic fact
that all Muslims believe in: that the Quran, as the Speech of Allah, has
always been preserved.
"Truly, we have sent down this Remembrance, and We shall, for sure, preserve it" [al-Hijr; 9].
All praise is due to Allah for revealing the Quran to us and gifting us belief in His Speech!
Source: Sh Yasir Qadhi
