The Faith of Islam | Page 6

addressing the Khalíf Abu Bakr, said,
"The slaughter may again wax hot amongst the repeaters of the Qurán
in other fields of battle, and much may be lost therefrom. Now,
therefore, my advice is that thou shouldest give speedy orders for the
collection of the Qurán." Abu Bakr agreed, and said to Zeid who had
been an amanuensis of the Prophet:--"Thou art a young man, and wise,
against whom no one amongst us can cast an imputation; and thou wert
wont to write down the inspired revelations of the Prophet of the Lord,
wherefore now search out the Qurán and bring it all together." Zeid
being at length pressed to undertake the task proceeded to gather the
Qurán together from "date leaves, and tablets of white stone, and from
the hearts of men." In course of time it was all compiled in the order in
which the book is now arranged. This was the authorized text for some
twenty-three years after the death of Muhammad. Owing, however,
either to different modes of recitation, or to differences of expression in
the sources from which Zeid's first recension was made, a variety of
different readings crept into the copies in use. The Faithful became
alarmed and the Khalíf Osmán was persuaded to put a stop to such a
danger. He appointed Zeid with three of the leading men of the Quraish
as assistants to go over the whole work again. A careful recension was
made of the whole book which was then assimilated to the Meccan
dialect, the purest in Arabia. After this all other copies of the Qurán
were burnt by order of the Khalíf, and new transcripts were made of the
revised edition which was now the only authorised copy. As it is a
fundamental tenet of Islám that the Qurán is incorruptible and
absolutely free {9} from error, no little difficulty has been felt in
explaining the need of Osmán's new and revised edition and of the
circumstances under which it took place; but as usual a Tradition has
been handed down which makes it lawful to read the Qurán in seven
dialects. The book in its present form may be accepted as a genuine
reproduction of Abu Bakr's edition with authoritative corrections. We
may rest assured that we have in the Qurán now in use the record of
what Muhammad said. It thus becomes a fundamental basis of Islám. It
was a common practice of the early Muslims when speaking of the
Prophet to say:--"His character is the Qurán." When people curious to

know details of the life of their beloved master asked 'Áyesha, one of
his widows, about him, she used to reply:--"Thou hast the Qurán, art
thou not an Arab and readest the Arab tongue? Why dost thou ask me,
for the Prophet's disposition is no other than the Qurán?"
Whether Muhammad would have arranged the Qurán as we now have it
is a subject on which it is impossible to form an opinion. There are
Traditions which seem to show that he had some doubts as to its
completeness. I give the following account on the authority of M.
Caussin de Percival. When Muhammad felt his end draw near he
said:--"Bring ink and paper: I wish to write to you a book to preserve
you always from error." But it was too late. He could not write or
dictate and so he said:--"May the Qurán always be your guide. Perform
what it commands you: avoid what it prohibits." The genuineness of the
first part of this Tradition is, I think, very doubtful, the latter is quite in
accordance with the Prophet's claim for his teaching. The letter of the
book became, as Muhammad intended it should become, a despotic
influence in the Muslim world, a barrier to freethinking on the part of
all the orthodox, an obstacle to innovation in all spheres--political,
social, intellectual and moral. There are many topics connected with it
which can be better explained in the next chapter. All {10} that has
now to be here stated is that the Qurán is the first foundation of Islám.
It is an error to suppose it is the only one: an error which more than
anything else has led persons away from the only position in which
they could obtain a true idea of the great system of Islám.
The Shía'hs maintain, without good reason, that the following verses
favourable to the claims of 'Alí and of the Shía'h faction were omitted
in Osmán's recension.
"O Believers! believe in the two lights. (Muhammad and 'Alí).
'Alí is of the number of the pious, we shall give him his right in the day
of judgment; we shall not pass over those who wish to deceive him. We
have honoured him above all this family. He