The Glorious Quran, the Muslims’ religious Scripture, was revealed in Arabic
to the Prophet Muhammad, may God praise him, through the angel Gabriel.
The revelation occurred piecemeal, over a period of twenty-three years,
sometimes in brief verses and sometimes in longer chapters.1
The Quran (lit. a “reading” or “recitation”) is distinct from the recorded sayings
and deeds (Sunnah) of the Prophet Muhammad, which are instead preserved
in a separate set of literature collectively called the “Ahadeeth” (lit.
“news”; “report”; or “narration”).
Upon receiving revelation, the Prophet engaged himself in the duty of conveying
the message to his Companions through reciting the exact words he
heard in their exact order. This is evident in his inclusion of even the words
of God which were directed specifically to him, for example: “Qul” (“Say [to
the people, O Muhammad]”).The Quran’s rhythmic style and eloquent expression
make it easy to memorize. Indeed, God describes this as one of its
essential qualities for preservation and remembrance (Q. 44:58; 54:17, 22,
32, 40), particularly in an Arab society which prided itself on orations of
lengthy pieces of poetry. Michael Zwettler notes that:
“In ancient times, when writing was scarcely used, memory and oral transmission
was exercised and strengthened to a degree now almost unknown.”2
Large portions of the revelation were thus easily memorized by a large number
of people in the community of the Prophet.
The Prophet encouraged his Companions to learn each verse that was revealed
and transmit it to others.3
The Quran was also required to be recited regularly as an act of worship,
especially during the daily meditative prayers (salah). Through these means,
many repeatedly heard passages from the revelation recited to them, memorized
them and used them in prayer. The entire Quran was memorized verba-
tim (word for word) by some of the Prophet’s Companions. Among them
were Zaid ibn Thabit, Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Muadh ibn Jabal, and Abu Zaid.1
Not only were the words of the Quran memorized, but also their pronunciation,
later which formed into a science in itself called Tajweed. This science
meticulously elucidates how each letter is to be pronounced, as well as the
word as a whole, both in context of other letters and words.
Today, we can find people of all different languages able to recite the Quran
as if they are Arabs themselves, living during the time of the Prophet.
Furthermore, the sequence or order of the Quran was arranged by the Prophet
himself and was also well-known to the Companions.2
Each Ramadan, the Prophet would repeat after the angel Gabriel (reciting)
the entire Quran in its exact order as far as it had been revealed, while in the
presence of a number of his Companions.3
In the year of his death, he recited it twice.4 Thereby, the order of verses in
each chapter and the order of the chapters became reinforced in the memories
of each of the Companions present.
As the Companions spread out to various provinces with different populations,
they took their recitations with them in order to instruct others.5
In this way, the same Quran became widely retained in the memories of
many people across vast and diverse areas of land.
Indeed, memorization of the Quran emerged into a continuous tradition
across the centuries, with centers/schools for memorization being established
across the Muslim world.1 In these schools, students learn and memorize the
Quran along with its Tajweed, at the feet of a master who in turn acquired the
knowledge from his teacher, an ‘un-broken chain’ going all the way back to
the Prophet of God. The process usually takes 3-6years. After mastery is
achieved and the recitation checked for lack of errors,
a person is granted a formal license (ijaza) certifying she has mastered the
rules of recitation and can now recite the Quran the
way it was recited by Muhammad,the Prophet ofGod.
The image is a typicallicense (ijaza) issued at the end of perfecting Quran
recitation certifying a reciter’s unbroken chain of instructors going back to
the Prophet of Islam. The above image is the ijaza certificate of Qari Mishari
bin Rashid al-Afasy, well known reciter from Kuwait,issued by Sheikh
Ahmad al-Ziyyat. Image
courtesy of (http://www.alafasy.com.)
A.T. Welch, a non-Muslim orientalist, writes:
“For Muslims the Quran is much more than scripture or sacred literature in
the usual Western sense. Its primary significance for the vast majority
through the centuries has been in its oral form, the form in which it first appeared,
as the “recitation” chanted by Muhammad to his followers over a
period of about twenty years…The revelations were memorized by some of
Muhammad’s followers during his lifetime, and the oral tradition that was
thus established has had a continuous history ever since, in some ways independent
of, and superior to, the written Quran… Through the centuries the
oral tradition of the entire Quran has been maintained by the professional
reciters (qurraa). Until recently, the significance of the recited Quran has
seldom been fully appreciated in the West.”1
The Quran is perhaps the only book, religious or secular, that has been memorized
completely by millions of people.2 Leading orientalist Kenneth
Cragg reflects that:
“…this phenomenon of Quranic recital means that the text has traversed the
centuries in an unbroken living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be
handled as an antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant
past. The fact of hifdh (Quranic memorization) has made the Quran a present
possession through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it a human currency
in every generation, never allowing its relegation to a bare authority for
reference alone.”3
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