Monday 3 February 2014

Misconception : Al-Quran


This is the Book about which there is no doubt, guidance for those conscious of Allah.
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.2]

          It is good to have another chance to write another entry. It is Allah permission and He is the one who gives the knowledge to the person He wanted. In the earlier pages in the Quran, Allah mentions that the Book has no doubt for people who believe. Because of this verse, Islam scholars very confident with Quran and always have the answer for the misunderstanding questions.

          I wanted to write this entry because I think that not very Muslim knows about this. This is my responsibility to share the knowledge that I have. This misconception was brought out by Christian scholars, Jimmy Swaggart when he had debate with Syeikh Ahmad Deedat. The debate was long ago held, about 30 years ago. The answer that I will write I quoted from Syeikh Ahmad Deedat. Thanks to him and may Allah bless him.

1.  Muslims had changed the Quran and the original Quran has been burned.

Jimmy Swaggart said that Sayyidina Usman changed the original Quran and the original one was burned up. Before I give the answer from Syeikh Ahmad Deedat, I want us to refresh on the history of our prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the history of Quran.

Our prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was illiterate and it leads him to do not know to write. When the revelations come down to him by Gabriel, he will pass the messages to his companion. There are a few of his friends know to write and to read, so they will write the revelation on papers or hide or other things. But in his life, he never asks his companion to compile the revelation into a book.

When our prophet died, his closest friend Sayyidina Abu Bakar became the Muslims leader. One day, come Sayyidina Umar al-Khattab to Sayyidina Abu Bakar asking him to compile the revelation into a book called Quran. But Sayyidina Abu Bakar said to Sayyidina Umar, he will not do the things that prophet never did. Day by day gone and Sayyidina Umar did not give up persuaded to compile the revelation. At last, Sayyidina Umar quoted one verse from the Quran that leads Sayyidina Abu Bakar to compile the revelation.

… And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.
[AL-HADID Ch.59:V.7]

But at the era of Sayyidina Abu Bakar and Umar, they just collecting the pieces that containing ayah from Quran. When come Sayyidina Usman, he decided to write the revelation in the book. This is because so that people that do not memorizing the Quran also can read it. At this time, Islam already spread all over places in the world. Now come to the answer to the questions above. To write the revelation into a book, Sayyidina Usman needs Quran specialist. When I say Quran specialist meaning that the person memorizing the whole content of the Quran and also understand the messages in the Quran.

The Quran specialist did change the spelling errors. The spelling errors come from the person who write the revelation when was told to him. This is human errors. For example, when someone mention his or her name and asked us to write the name. Probably we are going to spell wrong the name. With the help of specialist they can remove all the errors.

They also add in something to the Quran that is the vowels. Before this, the Arabic words do not contain the line or mark or sign. For the Arab that understands they own language there will be no problem. But for the non-Arab people, they will find the difficulty to read and to understand the Quran. So the vowels were to make other people also can read the Quran.

Then why did Sayyidina Usman burn the pieces such as paper or hide that containing the verses and the revelation? This is because he does not want other people that have lack of knowledge about Quran to write another book. He afraid that they will make a mistake and the Quran will have many versions. So he wants to avoid it and just use the one he compile as the authentic and the main source.

Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
[AL-HIJR Ch.15:V.9]

2.  Version and translation.

Firstly, I will talk about version. Quran only has one version, but has many translations. Let we take all the Quran that have on the earth and check each of them. All of them will contain only 114 chapters. If the book contains more of less than 114 chapters, we as Muslim will not accept it as Quran. Now check words by words, comparing two Quran that were produced by two different printers. It is also the same.

But maybe there are different in terms of the signs used. Because in the modern days the Quran was printed to make the reader easier to read it.

Or add to it (night), and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation.
Ataupun lebihkan (sedikit) daripadanya; dan bacalah Al-Quran dengan "Tartil".
[AL-MUZZAMMIL Ch.73:V.4]

          Now take a look on the number of verse. Yes, there will be a different total number of verses in some Quran. Maybe not too many Quran that have difference in total number of verses. Why there is different in total number of verses? For Arabic words there are no capital letter or small letter. We can start with AND in the beginning of the verse, it is not wrong. The position of the full stops slightly different according to different scholars. This makes the total number of verses different.

          How about translation? Translation is the matter of choosing words. The words that were chosen to be used to give the same meaning as in the Arabic words. Different people will choose different words. So the Quran has many translations including in many other languages. All of the translators have the same purpose and wanted to lead to the same meaning.

And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it].
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.42]

          Hope that with this simple entry, my messages can be delivered to the readers. I also hope that we gain some knowledge in this entry and can share with others. Lastly, hope with this entry we can reduce the misconception and misunderstandings about Islam.

[Moses] said, "My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance]. And ease for me my task. And untie the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech.
[TAHA Ch.20:V.25-28]



~Wallahua’lam~

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