Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 32
32 revelations was through memorization. Interestingly, Quran was literally preserved by "it being written on the hearts of people" in accordance with the Biblical prophecies: But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 36 Thus, the memorization process proved to be the single, most effective method for preserving Quranic revelation. Moreover, the style in which the Quran was revealed is also in total conformity with Isaiah's prophecy about the new law being revealed as: For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, Nay, but by men of strange lips and with an alien tongue, the Lord will speak to his people to whom He has said, 37 **. Alternately, the revelation was also recorded in written form, soon after its receipt. Islamic traditions record fifteen scribes who were employed by the Prophet for preserving the revelation in writing from the Prophet's dictation. This method of preservation was to serve as a backup. Once a month during the month of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting), the angel Gabriel would recite the entire revelation revealed up to that time with the Prophet. During the last Ramadan, after the revelations had been completed, the angel recited the entire Quranic revelation to the Prophet twice. 38 This regular annual recitation was also meant to arrange the revelations in their present order. At the time of the Prophet's death, the number of people who had memorized the entire Quran exceeded one hundred thousand. 39 The process of new converts accepting Islam continued as did the process of memorizing the entire Quran. It propagated through the process of memorization, which ensured its survival in pristine purity. During the Caliphate of Abu Bakr (the first Caliph after the Prophet's death), over 500 people who knew the entire Quran by heart, were killed in a battle. This tragic event served as the catalyst to accelerate the process of preserving the written Quranic revelation as an alternate means of safeguarding God's message. Thereupon, the Caliph Abu Bakr appointed a commission and charged it with the task of compiling the Quranic revelations into one volume. The commission assembled the scribes employed by the Prophet for recording the revelations and compiled the recorded texts into one volume. The Prophet’s disciples who had committed the entire Quran to their memory and also from the written scripts checked the accuracy of this text. This one volume compilation was completed within two years of the Prophet's death. ** This verse is found in the older editions of the Revised Standard Version. It has been significantly altered in recent editions.