Compilation of the Quran

The arrangements instituted by the Holy Prophet were perfect not only in respect of communication of Quranic Revelations  but also concerning  their preservation.

In this connection, it shud be noted that although paper and parchment were not available in abundance , all important  literary work was preserved thru writing on parchment or on paper, The concept of writing on parchment or paper has been clearly projected in the Qur'an itself when it says in surah Anam -verse 7-". And even if We had sent down unto you a Message written on paper  so that they could touch it with their hands ----"

 Supplies of paper and even parchment , being very limited, the initial writing of the revelations was very naturally executed by using other writing materials of those days like flat bones , chiselled stems of palm leaves and wooden or stone tablets. But, once this initial work has been executed , the writing of the revelations, in accordance with their arrangement  dictated to the Scribes by our prophet sallal lahu alaihi wasallam, on proper pieces of paper or parchment , which  were seemingly in the form of the leaves of a book, was undertaken without fail. The evidence in this respect is explicit. For intsance
 Al-Hakim has recorded the testimony of no less an authority than Zaid ibn Thabit, under the heading of "Compilation of  the Qur'an during the time of God's messenger", thus :He said " We {the scribes},  used to compile  the Qur'an from {Records of revelations made on }ruqa {i.e pieces of paper or of parchment} Al-Mustadrak Vol II p-611

       In this way, grew up quite a good number of copies of the Holy Qur'an under the direct instruction and supervision of Holy Prophet sallal lahu alaihi wasallam. Then, the copies compiled by the Scribes were handed over to other companions, so that they copied them out in order to possess there own copies for reading as well as memorisation. The copies complied   by the scribes as well as the others continued to grow in content with the progress in revelation untill they were declared  to complete by the Holy Prophet who proclaimed in clear terms "I'am leaving in your midst a thing which { in term sof its importance} is such that you will never fall into error so long as u hold to it firmly; and it is the Book of God {Qur'an} { Abu Dawud - Sunan Vol-1}
 

  Since then upto this day, the number of copies that have gone into circulation is beyond all possibility of counting. But the text of teh Holy Quran has not suffered even the SLIGHTEST DEVIATION AND VARIATION. Truly had it  been proclaimed by God at the time of its revelation in chapter 15" 9. Verily, We, it is We Who revealed the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur'an) and surely We will guard it (from corruption}

 It is necessary to observe here taht Qur'an was propagated  by our Prophet Sallal lahu alahi wasallam, not only in written  form but  also orally, he being not merely the deliverer of the Divine message but also its Teacher in par excellence;  and the muslims were  asked by them not only to read to the Holy Book but also to memorise it. In this way a a double process of PRESERVING the purity of text of the Holy Qr'an came to exist and a perfect system of teaching it originated with the Holy Prophet himself.

                                    Thus, we find Bukhari reprting from Abdullah Ibn Masood that he said "I learnt directly from the mouth of  God's messenger about 79 chapters.{Sahih Vol-2} The same companion also reported acc to Muslim's Sahih [Vol-1} that God's messenger asked me recite Qur'an before him. There upon i inquired "shud i recite to u while it has been revealed to u? He replied "I like to hear it recited by others" So i recited the chapter Al-Nisa .

                            Thus were the Companions trained by the Holy Prophet as licensed teachers  of the Qur'an  for the masses and they performed this function , under the appointment frim him with utmost diligence. Just by way of examples : Miftah al Sa'adah reports "Abu Aliyah said " I recited the Qura'n to Umar RA 4 times" Acc to Dhahabi's Tabaqat al-Qurra "When  Abu Darda would finish his morning prayer he would set his students in patches of 10 .Once he counted them and they were more than 1600."