Class 3: Codification

Question 1

The timeline of the Qur’an:
Discuss the revelatory process, the death of Muhammed, the Rashidun Caliphs, refusal and backlash (Ibn Masud vs Uthman), personal copies of the Qur’an, the Qira’at, and other details.

Answer 1

General summary of the timeline of the Qur’an (and clarifications in bulletpoints):

1. 610: start of Revelation (encounter at Hira’)
2. 622: Hijra to Medina
3. 632: end of Revelation (death of Muhammed)
4. 633: Battle of Yamama (collection of the Qur’an)
5. 650: Codification of the Qur’an (other Qur’ans destroyed)
6. 1924: Standardization of the Qur’an (other Qur’ans destroyed)

Other notes:

• The Revelatory process: 23 years, oral tradition, (virtually) no physical form at the time of the Prophet, sequentialization
• After death of Prophet, rules of: Abu Bakr 2 years, Umar 10 years, Uthman 12 years, Ali 5 years → Umar and Uthman had the most time to put the Qur’an together
• Codification in 633 (1st concern): Collection, creation of 1st Codex, oral tradition still going strong
• Roles in Codification: Abu Bakr = custodian & overseer, Zayd = collector & scribe, Umar = initiator & overseer & custodian, Hafsa = custodian, Uthman = disseminator, Ali = custodian of alternate knowledge of the Qur’an
• Circulation of Qur’an: Commissioned by Uthman in 645
• Standardization in 650 (2nd concern): Many recitations of different versions of the Qur’an during Uthman’s rule (3rd Caliph - meticulous around selective process)
• Backlash: Uthman sent his Codex to 4 cities and asked others to get rid of their unstandardized copies, possessiveness from having your own copy of the Qur’an → Ibn Mas’ud (note: no al-Fatiha in his copy), puts himself as better custodian as the Qur’an
• People with personal copies of the Qur’an: Salim b. Mu’qib b. ‘Ubayd b. Rabi’a (<633, real first Codex, didn’t survive), Ibn Mas’ud (survived), Ubayy b. Ka’b (survived), Hafsa bt. Umar (<665, didn’t survive), Umm Salama (<680, didn’t survive), ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (didn’t survive?)
• Ali’s Qur’an: Shia belief that it is being handed down from every imam to their successor until the arrival of al-Mahdi
• First Latin Qur’an in 1155
• First English Qur’an in 1642
• Final standardization in 1924: Azhar version remains, differing versions destroyed, 14 qira’at (variant readings) then 10 but only 7 considered nowadays, Qur’an printed in Morocco is different (riwaya of Warsh from Nafi’ al-Madani instead of riwaya of Hafs from Asim al-Kufi)

Canonization vs standardization

• C: Uthman’s Codex, being in agreement that these 114 suras are the Qur’an Codification = making a Codex
• Std: Azhar copy from Cairo, one copy circulated worldwide, standardized pronunciations made mainstream (1 of 14)

How Muslims experience the Qur’an:

• Prophet = hearing, oral recitation
• Early Muslims = oral recitation (only 4-5 physical books available)
• Late Muslims = oral recitation, elite people have physical copies → more of a sacred object than book to study (only scholars were using it as a book)
• Contemporary Muslims: Oral recitation, physical copies (accessible, can read and interpret, new interpretations of the Qur’an emerged when more people had access to it)
• Today: Qur’an as a piece of literature and how we analyze it