January 02, 2008
New Finds in Qur’anic History
The Qur’an, the word of God for Muslims, remains a mystery for both Muslims and non-Muslims. According to Muslim belief, the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet during his lifetime, and faithfully transmitted to the community. It was written down by some, and memorized by many others. Prior to his death, the Prophet is said to have ensured that several members of the community had it memorized exactly and correctly.
During the early caliphate period, many of the memorizers of the Qur’an died, and to ensure its accuracy for the future, the third Caliph, Othman, is said to have had it compiled and copied as a complete book for the first time. The Qur’ans that we use today are said to be exact replicas of that original written version.
So what does history actually show? Do we have any copies of Othman’s Qur’an? Up to now the oldest existing copy of the Qur’an is housed in Istanbul, and dates to the early 8th century, perhaps 80 years after the death of the Prophet. This leaves a gap of several decades between the Prophet and the earliest Qur’an we have at present.
For non-Muslim scholars, that gap of time has created an opportunity for speculation. There are some who have argued that the Qur’an was developed after the death of the Prophet, and much of it was created later by others, similar to scholarship on the Christian Bible, which has shown that it was written decades after Jesus, and by many different authors. The Qur’an has always been a bit of a puzzle to non-Muslim scholars. It is hard to understand how the Prophet could have written such a book, but it is also difficult to put together a convincing explanation of how the Qur’an could have an origin separate from the Prophet, and perhaps even after his death.
Into this historical debate comes an exciting find from Yemen. About ten years ago, workmen were engaged in some renovation work of the oldest mosque in Yemen. To their surprise, they broke into an old chamber in which a huge volume of manuscripts were housed. They turned out to be very ancient Qur’anic texts. In those days, old and worn Qur’anic pages were not destroyed or burned, but put into a sort of storage, which is what the workmen had stumbled upon. The Yemeni government took control of the find, and has kept the documents away from the public. However, they are being intensely studied by a team of archeologists.
This last week at the MPAC Convention I had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Juan Cole, who is one of the foremost experts on Arabic and the Middle East in the United States. He told me that he had spoken to one of the researchers working on the Yemeni find, and her conclusions were astounding. This researcher felt that these documents, which are written on papyrus, and use a very ancient Kufic script, go all the way back to the early Umayyad period, perhaps only a few decades after the Prophet’s death. It is possible that they may go back to very close to the time of Othman. Even if they date from a few decades later, it would mean that those written versions of the Qur’an were created and circulating while some companions of the Prophet were still alive. This makes it highly likely that they are accurate versions of what the Prophet transmitted. And the Yemeni texts are essentially identical to what we use today (in the Yemeni find are some complete Qur’ans), although they are written without the vowel marks that are standard in modern Qur’ans.
The Yemeni find is of profound interest to both Muslims and non-Muslims. When the full research is completed and findings published, it will surely be of great significance. The view that the Qur’an is in fact an accurate record of what the Prophet revealed, and is not a compilation of other material, is what Muslims believe. Secular scholarship appears to be confirming that view.
Comments can reach me at Nali@socal.rr.com.
