Guest Author - Serkan Tufan

Quran is called a book, however, it is far different from all the books we think might be similar in that it is actually God's exact speech or words. That is why I am not sure if we should call it scripture, in the sense of authorship. It is interesting to know that everything was created by God, except Quran as the text. It is not created because it is the actual voice/speaking of God to the audience of all people in the world. Thus, when we read Quran we should not look for the same type of organization, language, purpose and expressions that human-authored books use. When we read Quran with an open mind/ heart knowing that it is a unique book in every aspect and a guidance book from our Lord, the gains will be maximum.

Second, Quran states that it was sent down for humankind, it is universal and not just for one group of people. This is the same case with Prophet Muhammad. Quran tells him: "We sent you not, but as a Mercy for all creatures, all worlds" (Chapter 21: Verse:107)


There are couple of questions that has been asked about Quran:

is there a definitive Quran text in existence from the time of Muhammed?

If not, what is the oldest verified text of Quran? And did it exactly match today's Quran?

Also, if there is no Quran from the time of Muahmmed (or 609 to 632 AC), on what basis is it believed by Islam that the text of the Quran has not been changed?

With respect to Torah/New Testament is it Islam's belief that the corruption is to the text itself - so it differs from what was given by the prophets Moses and Jesus? Or is it the belief that the corruption is on the interpretation of meanings from these texts?

Here are the introductions to these questions:

Whenever Prophet Muhammad receives revelation as partial verses in Arabic, He would immediately have his writers write these verses on the leaves, woods, bones or parchamen papers and these parts would be kept well in containers.

The angel Gabriel would instruct Prophet Muhammad about what chapters will these verses to be listed under. Then, His companions would copy their own copies from this main copy. At the same time, since reading from Quran in daily prayer was required, many companions of prophet would memorize all the verses that were sent, the others would memorize some parts of it. Prophet Muhammad had also appointed over 40 writers among His companions. These companions were also educated about the order and the meaning of Quran. Prophet Muhammad would make it clear about the order of chapters and the organization of Quran.

Shortly after Quran was completed in the last year of Prophet Muhammad in the life, the Angel Gabriel and He went over all the verses and chapters by reciting Quran together twice. About one year later Messenger Muhammad died, Omer (peace be upon Him) suggested Abu Bakr (the first khaliphet and the most important companion of prophet) to collect all the writings as whole book. Zeyd bin Sabit, the leading writer of the Prophet (pbuh) supervised and guided the collection work. All copies that belonged to companions were collected and compared. After making three times sure to build a perfect copy, it was kept as a model manuscript for all who wants to copy Quran down. . Organization, order and the name of the chapters and the order of all verses, everything was done in the way that Prophet Muhammad instructed.

In Quran, God declares that Quran can never be changed:
'Nay! IThis is a glorious Quran...(Inscribed) in tablet Preserved" (Chapter 85 : Verses:21-22)

After Abu Bekr died two years later than Prophet Muhammad, Omer was suggested to become the second halife. After over twenty years of leadership of Muslims, Omer died and Osman bin Affan became the third noble halife. During Omer's time, many people and country from three continent had been introduced to Islam , joining the mainstream and increasing the Muslim population by hundreds of times. Of course, language and the alphabets of these different nations and accents of other Arabic speaking countries were different from each other.

To be able to preserve a fully correct copy, Osman (May Allah bless Him) consulted the other companions and several book-copies of Quran made and sent over different countries of the world. All other copies that were written on other dialects other then Makkan dialect and writing style of Arabic were burned not to cause confusion. Today, many important libraries have these very original copy. All the copies in the world are the same exact version of these initial copies, letter to letter.

It is one of the most cherishable moments for me to see one of these copies. Moreover, the copy I saw in Topkapi Palace in Istanbul was the personal copy of Halife Osman (M.A.B.H). Indeed, he was murdered while reading on his Quran. I saw the page with the marks of blood on it. It was an unforgettable moment for me. It was overwhelming to see some of the other treasures of old prophets with the things that belonged to Prophet Muhammad in the same place.

About the earlier scriptures, Islam considers the corruption of the Torah and New Testemant in both the text and the meaning. Although right now we have very later versions of Bible, there are some earlier copies that I have heard the Church has forbidden to publish. The reasons are quite interesting and supports what Quran teaches and says about the earlier scriptures.