Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 33
33 The third Caliph Usman had the same commission prepare seven additional copies of the Quran, and after being thoroughly checked for accuracy were distributed throughout the Muslim world. Some of these copies still survive. One such copy is preserved in a Turkish Museum which has been used by leading authorities to compare the current Quranic text. After additional copies of the Quran were compiled and distributed throughout the Muslim world, the third Caliph Usman considered it essential that the original recording be destroyed, due to the following reasons: 1. Because of their uniqueness, they could be revered by people to the point of worship, thus potentially defeating the essence of Islam. 2. The inscriptions could be damaged due to natural degradation of the material even in safe custody Moreover, they could be damaged by natural disasters, thus preventing their use as a standard manuscript. 3. They could be desecrated and also serve as a tool for blackmail if they fell into enemy hands. Contrasting the compilation of the Old and New Testaments with that of the Quran, Divine designs become more evident. Muslims can boast that the Quran around the world is uniform, even in its minutest detail. It is exactly the same as was originally revealed to the Holy Prophet and which was assembled in one volume by the first Caliph Abu Bakr. Encyclopedia Britannica, among other independent sources, testify to this fact and concede this point to the Muslims. 39 The authenticity of the Quran is beyond the slightest shadow of doubt. It had to be so because God Himself had claimed to safeguard the integrity of His word: Surely, We Ourself have sent down this Exhortation, and We will, most surely, safeguard it. 40 The Quran has the additional distinction among all other scriptures of being an entirely verbal revelation. That itself, was as a guarantee that it would not be perverted or twisted. All non-Muslim scholars who have made a research into the integrity of the Quranic text are agreed that it is an exact and accurate version of the verbal revelation that Muhammad (pbuh), the Prophet of Islam, claimed God had vouchsafed to him. This divine guarantee of safeguarding the Quran is not confined to preserving the integrity of the text alone. It extends to all factors that bear upon the preservation of the Quran as the perfect source of divine guidance for the whole of mankind for all times. For instance, it is guaranteed that the language in which it was revealed, namely Arabic, would always continue to be a living language in current use all the times, so that no difficulty might be encountered in determining and comprehending the meaning of the Quran. Arabic is today spoken and written over a much greater area of the earth and by many hundred times the number of people than was the case when the Quran was revealed. Besides, the Holy Prophet predicted that at the beginning of every century God Almighty would raise someone from among his followers who would set forth from the Quran the guidance that may be needed