Muhammad, the Qur\'an & Islam

The Qur'an

Notes:

[1] Suyuti, El-Itkan, vol. 1, p. 137. Another tradition in this same
reference states that when Muhammad died, all the verses of the Qur'an had
been written, but the Qur'an had not been collected, and the suras had not
been arranged.

[2] Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 2, p. 12.

[3] Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 477 f; vol. 9, pp. 228 f; Dodge, Fihrist, vol.
1, pp. 47 f; Suyuti, El-Itkan, vol. 1, pp. 137 f; Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ,
vol. 2, pp. 11 f; Watt and Bell, Introduction, pp. 40 f; Watt, Religionen,
pp. 176 f.

[4] See Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 2, pp. 15 f. Another set of
traditions, by which Ali is said to have collected the Qur'an after the death of Muhammad (e.g. Ibn Sad, vol. 2, 2, pp. 435 f), is generally viewed as
being the innovation of later Islamic traditionists; Schwally, GQ, vol. 2,
pp. 8 f.

[5] Schwally, GQ, vol. 2, pp. 7 f, who also references Caetani, mentions
some of these (trans. and condensed): After battle near Qadisiya Umar instructed Sad b. Waqqas to divide the remainder of the spoils among the
bearers [transmitters] of the Qur'an. When Amr b. Madikarib was asked
about his knowledge of the Qur'an, he replied: "I converted to Islam in
Yemen, but I was always in battles later and therefore did not have time to
memorize the Qur'an." When Bishr b. Rabia (from Taif) was asked, he
only recited the basmala. In the battle of Yamama, when one leader named
the Ansar "the people of the Cow [Qur'an 2] sura," a soldier of the Tayyi'
said that he had not memorized any verse of that sura. Aws b. Khalid, an
esteemed person among the Tayyi', was beaten to death by a commissioner
of the Caliph `Umar, because he could not recite any part of the Qur'an.

[6] Ibid., vol. 2, p. 20; cf. Watt and Bell, Introduction, p. 41, n. 3.