The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 394
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 394 “It is Our responsibility to compile the Holy Qur’ān, and it is We who shall complete this task. ” 1 It is obvious that the task of compiling the Holy Qur’ān implies the task of its arrangement as well, especially when the order of compilation is different from the order of its revelation. Moreover, as mentioned above, the Aḥādīth explicitly mention that upon the revelation of every verse and upon the completion of every Sūrah , the Holy Prophet sa would himself instruct that the following verse or Sūrah should be placed at such and such a place. 2 In these circumstances, whether someone is able to comprehend the current arrangement of the Qur’ān or not, there can be no doubt in the fact that there is definitely some principle which has been employed in its arrangement. In actuality, if one contemplates, the very fact that the original order of revelation has been altered proves that in the new arrangement, some principle has definitely been taken into account. If this was not the case, there would have been no reason to disregard the order of revelation and set a new sequence. For example, a few people enter a hall one after the other. Now if the manager of the hall takes special care not to seat these people according to the order of their entry, and seats them in a different arrangement, this very action of his would establish the fact that irrespective of whether anyone is aware of the rule that he has employed in his arrangement or not, there must definitely be some principle in his own consideration. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to alter the order of entry, because no man in his right mind does anything without purpose and in vain. At this instance, most European historians assert that the manager of the hall has altered the order of entrance, and seated people according to the principle of sizing, as it were. In other words, they claim that the Qur’ānic Sūrahs have been arranged according to length. However, this is absolutely unfounded and incorrect, because firstly, we have already proven above that the task of compilation and arrangement was performed by the Holy Prophet sa himself under divine inspiration, and a nonsensical action of this nature can never be attributed to a person such as the Holy Prophet sa. Such an action 1 Al-Qiyāmah (75:18) 2 * Fatḥul-Bārī Sharḥu Ṣaḥīḥil-Bukhārī, By Al-Imām Aḥmad bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 9, p. 27, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Kātibin-Nabiyyi sa , Qadīmī Kutub Khānah, Ārām Bāgh, Karachi * Fatḥul-Bārī Sharḥu Ṣaḥīḥil-Bukhārī, By Al-Imām Aḥmad bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 9, p. 50, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Ta’līfil-Qur’ān, Qadīmī Kutub Khānah, Ārām Bāgh, Karachi