How was the Quran were protected from distortion?
The Quran, the last divine book of Allah and His divine command for the mankind, was sent down verse by verse, chapter by chapter in 23 years. Our Prophet read the chapters and the verses that were sent down to his Companions that were near him; the Companions memorized them and some of the Companions wrote them down.
In addition, there were revelation scribes of our Prophet, The Prophet was informed by Gabriel (pbuh) where to put the verses and chapters in the Quran; and the Prophet told the revelation scribes what to do. Thus, all of the Quran was written down while he was alive and it was definite which verses belonged to which chapter.
In addition, Gabriel (pbuh) came down in each Ramadan and read all of the verses and chapters that had been sent down up to that time. In the last Ramadan before the death of our Prophet, Gabriel and our Prophet read the Quran twice. First Gabriel read it and the Prophet listened to him; then the Prophet read it and Gabriel listened to it. Thus, the last form of the Quran became definite.
However, the Quran was not in the form of a collected book when the Prophet was alive. They were in the form of pages belonging to the Companions and it was in the memories of the people. However, it was definitely known which verse was in which chapter.
Eventually, during the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr, a committee consisting of revelation scribes and strong huffaz (people who memorized the whole Quran) under the presidency of Zayd bin Thabit. The committee was given the duty of collecting the Quran in a volume. All of the Companions delivered the written pieces of the Quran that they had to that committee. As a result of the common work of the revelation scribes and huffaz, the chapters and verses were placed in the Quran as our Prophet described. Thus, the Quran took the form of a single volume of book, called Mushaf.
From then on, it was impossible for the Quran to be forgotten, lost, distorted and changed because its original form had been determined as it was sent down to the Prophet.
During the period of Hazrat Uthman, new copies were reproduced from that volume and they were sent to different countries as it was necessary.
The copies of the Quran that we have today were reproduced from that Quran.
The Quran was determined soundly in the form that it was sent down, and it reached today without undergoing any change or distortion unlike other holy books because it was protected. It is definite that the following aspects played an important role in its protection: its easy memorability, its inimitable unique nature, and maximum attention in its protection. However, the real reason is that God Almighty undertook its preservation and protection and vowed to maintain it as a miracle in terms of words and meaning until the Day of Judgment. As a matter of fact, the following is stated in the Quran:
“We have, without doubt sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)....” (al-Hijr, 9).
Today all of the copies of the Quran in the world are the same. There is no difference and change among them. In addition, millions of huffaz have it in their memory; millions of tongues recite it every moment. No other book written by a person has that quality and characteristic; neither does any of the holy books. It is necessary that the last word of Allah, His eternal command that is valid until the Day of Judgment, has such a unique rank and a high honor.
• The Quran approved all of the books that were sent before it but it abrogated some of the decrees they brought and replaced them with new decrees.
It is not enough to believe in the previous holy books to be a believer; it is also necessary to believe in Prophet Muhammad and the Quran, which was sent down to him. That point is repeatedly emphasized in the Quran. (Aal-i-Imran 3/31; an-Nisa 4/47; al-Maida 5/15)
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