Has Qur'an been Preserved?

This article covers the Muslims response and refutation to some of the common false allegations against the preservation of the Qur'an. These are my notes from a debate that I had with an atheist on the topic of preservation of the Qur'an. He mainly argued that Qur'an was not complete during the life of the Messenger of Allah (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam - peace and blessings be upon him), neither it was completely written down or memorized. He also argued that the Qur'an we've today is missing ayat and parts. The preservation of the Qur'an has been gruanteed by Allah (God): "Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur'an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption)"⁽¹⁾. Imam ibn Jarir at-Tabari (rahimahullah - May Allah have mercy on him) says in the tafsir (exgesis) of this ayah: "Allah is saying, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (Reminder), i.e. the Qur'an, and We will guard the Qur'an against anything false being added to it that is not part of it, or anything that is part of it being taken away, whether that has to do with rulings, hudood punishments or matters having to do with inheritance"⁽²⁾. The sound minded readers can go through my notes and analyze the truth:

Non-Muslim's Argument

Quran was not complete when Muhammad died and was in fragments. Quran is incomplete because it was not completely compiled, missing parts or some parts didn’t survive. If the sayings of the Quran was not organised into a book called the Quran, there is no Quran.

Muslim's [My] Response

This misconception is only raised due to lack of basic knowledge. The attacker thinks that when Muslims today say "Qur'an", they refer to the written mushaf (codex), which is not true. No sound minded Muslim believe in such a thing. According to the correct Islamic 'aqeedah (creed), Sunni Muslim believe that the Qur'an is the Kalam (speech) of Allah and it is not created. In addition, the literal meaning of the word Qur’an is, "the recitation". Therefore, when Muslims say "Qur'an", they're talking about the text not the written copies which contain the text. Now, the Qur'an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam) over the period of 23 years, it was completed while he was alive. Allah Ta'ala says in the Qur'an: "this day have I perfected your deen for you"⁽³⁾. Therefore, the Qur'anic revelation was completed when Allah’s Messenger (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam) was alive. Even if we assume the attacker's position, if the content of a story is complete, how can you claim that the story is incomplete? The following sahih (authentic) ahadith further confirms them:

Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: The Prophet was the most generous person, and he used to become more so (generous) particularly in the month of Ramadan because Gabriel used to meet him every night of the month of Ramadan till it elapsed. Allah's Apostle used to recite the Qur'an for him. When Gabriel met him, he used to become more generous than the fast wind in doing good.⁽⁴⁾

Narrated Abu-Huraira: Gabriel used to repeat the recitation of the Qur'an with the Prophet once a year, but he repeated it twice with him in the year he died. The Prophet used to stay in I'tikaf for ten days every year (in the month of Ramadan).⁽⁵⁾

Non-Muslim's Argument

No one memorized or written down all of Muhammad's teachings. Look at the following hadith: Narrated Zaid bin Thabit: ...So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palm-leaf stalks, thin white stones, and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last verse of Surat at-Tauba (repentance) with Abi Khuzaima al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him...⁽⁶⁾. From this hadith, it is clear that the scribes failed to note down all the Muhammad said, hence why the tale talks about his followers failing to create a book and also why the person needed to search for multiple people, multiple writings to even compile it.

Muslim's [My] Response

Again, the attacker shows his lack of basic Islamic knowledge and misinterpretation of the hadith. First, let's look at the proofs which refutes his false claims and then we'll look at this hadith within the context. Shaykh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid (May Allah preserve him) said:

Everything that was revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was written down in front of him straight away, and some of the Sahaabah had masaahif (written copies of the Qur'an). After the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the first khaleefah, Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq (may Allaah be pleased with him) gathered the Qur’aan in written and kept it. Then the third khaleefah, 'Uthmaan ibn 'Affaan (may Allaah be pleased with him) compiled it in mus-hafs that were based on the mus-haf compiled by Abu Bakr, in addition to what had been memorized.⁽⁷⁾

and in another place he said:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) appointed a group of his companions who were trustworthy and knowledgeable to write down the revelation. They are known in their biographies as those who wrote down the Revelation, such as the four Caliphs, 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'Aas, Mu'aawiyah ibn Abi Sufyaan, Zayd ibn Thaabit and others – may Allaah be pleased with them all.⁽⁸⁾

The whole Qur'an was memorized by many companions

Let's look at the sahih (authentic) ahadith which supports what the Shaykh said:

Wallahu a'lam (and Allah knows best)

Footnotes:

(1) Surah Al-Hijr (15) Ayah 9 - interpretation of the meaning

(2) Surah Al-Hijr - The Tafsirs

(3) Surah Al-Ma'idah (5) Ayah 3 - interpretation of the meaning

(4) Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 661, Number 509

(5) Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 661, Number 519

(6) Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 661, Number 520

(7) Is it true that there is no evidence of a Qur'an being written in the 7th century?

(8) Who wrote the Qur'an and how was it put together?