Glories of Quran 2

The literal meaning of an ayah is signs. An ayah can be a few letters, a word, a sentence, or several sentences. These measures in themselves render an ayah different from a verse. Thus, the parallel in Quran of what is known as a verse in Bible is only to a certain extent an Ayah. It should be noted, however, that a single letter is not an ayah.

2. A collection of ayahs makes a 'Surah'. The word Surah is derived from 'Sur', meaning a boundary or an entrenchment. Every ayah is a sign of Allah Jalla Shanahu's Wisdom, and the unit of surah encompasses within it a city of meaningful ayahs. In all there are 114 surahs in the Quran. The longest surah in the Quran Al-Hakeem is Al-Baqarah which has 286 ayahs. The smallest number of ayahs in a surah is 3. Incidentally, the number of surahs which have 3 ayahs each is also three. They are; Al-Asr, Al-Kawthar and Al-Nasr.

3. Besides the ayahs and surahs, in the time of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihe wa Sal'am), there was only one other division of Quran Majeed known as 'Manzil' or 'Hizm'. After the ayahs and the surahs, the Quran was further divided into 7 Manazil or 7 Ihzam. The concept behind the manazil or ihzam was to split the Quran into seven identifiable sections for those who wished to finish its recitation in one week. With Surah Fatiha generally regarded as a preface to the Quran, the division of the remaining 113 surahs into 7 Manazil was done in the following manner; 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 65. In other words, three surahs in the first manzil and 65 surahs in the seventh and final manzil.

4. An advantage with this division was that it did not infringe upon the wholeness of the surahs. However, later on, when the Quran was further sub-divided into 30 Juzz (Arabic) or Paras (Persian), the boundaries of the surahs were disregarded and the surahs appeared fragmented between the various Juzz. It is not certain when Quran's division along these lines was made.

5. Yet another measure, the division of longer surahs into 'Rukuh' is also a latter period development. It was introduced to maintain the continuity of a particular topic within the longer surahs. From Rukuh, came the word 'Rakah', the unit of prayer. The idea being to recite a topic in one rakah. This division is attributed to Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.

6. Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, or his administration, is also credited with the introduction of the 'Aa'raab', or the intonation marks, e.g., 'Zair, Zabar, Paish, Tanween, Madd, Jai-e-Waqoof' etc. in the present day Quran.

Order and Compilation:

The order of revelation of Quran and the order of its compilation are different. In other words, the Quran's compilation is not chronological. Surah Al-Fatiha was revealed in early Mecca period whereas Surah Al-Baqarah was revealed in Medina. Parts of this surah are, in fact, among the final revelations of the Quran. Yet, these two surah appear side by side. The compilation of the Quran was instructed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by Allah Azza wa Jall.

The Quran was put together and compiled in Prophet Muhammad's (SAW) life time, however, it was not put between two covers. That is, it was not put in a book form then. Every Ramadan, Hazrat Jibraeel (Alaihe Salaam), revisited with Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the Quran revealed up to that period. The exercise was undertaken twice in the last year of the Prophet's (SAW) life.

Compilation in book form:

During the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr (Radhi Allah Anhu), following the Battle of Yamamah, wherein hundreds of Ashab-e-Qur'aa and Huffaaz were martyred, there was enormous pressure on Hazrat Abu Bakr by other Companions (Radhi Allah Anhuma Ajmaeen) to put the Quran together in book form. A committee of the Katibeen Wahi (Recorders of Revelation) was formed and Quran was formulated into book form.

Initially, there was no one particular script, a fact which encouraged different tribes to introduce in recitation their own dialect. During the caliphate of Hazrat Usman (RAA), this trend was proscribed by producing copies of Quran in a single script (Kufi). Almost half a dozen prototype copies were made and distributed to the main government centres such as Mecca, Kufa, Basra, Misr etc.

One copy was retained in Medinah. It is the same copy which is now on display at the Topkapi Museum in Turkey. Its pages carry the stains of blood of Hazrat Usman (RAA) when he was martyred and the blood from his wife, Hazrat Naila's (RAA) finger which got chopped off as she struggled to stave off the assailants and save her husband's life.