economic thought in the qur"àn and sunnah 33hol occupied a high priority in the consumer’s scale of preference.
Thirdly, Qur"ànic verses, which aim to set the parameters governing
the socio-economic structure of society, were revealed at various stages
of societal development to accommodate changes in the Islamic com-
munity. It was necessary, therefore, to reveal those verses at intervals.
Turning our attention to the authenticity of the Qur"àn, Muslims
have no doubt about the authenticity of the Book. Qur"ànic texts
were written during the revelation by a team commissioned by the
Prophet. The texts were divided into verses, given numbers, put in
order and divided into chapters by the Prophet himself (Al-Qattan,
1992). Two years after the Prophet’s death, the first Caliph, Abù-
Bakr, ordered the manuscript of the Qur"àn to be collected and
compiled in one copy. Abù-Bakr followed the method of dual-
verification in compiling the Qur"àn, the written manuscript was
checked with the text memorised by the memorisers of the Qur"àn
and the Prophet’s companions. In the third Caliphate, 644–656 A.C.,
Caliph Uthmàn ordered copies to be made of the master copy and
all other manuscripts to be burned. That copy is the copy that has
been used by Muslims since (ibid.).
The Sunnah
The Sunnah represents what the Prophet is reported to have said,
done and agreed to be undertaken during his lifetime. As a source
of the Sharì"ah, the Sunnah therefore is divided into three main ele-
ments: the Prophet’s sayings, his practice and his approval of others’
practices. The Prophet’s sayings, however, were not God’s words,
though he was inspired by God in what he said. They were said to
clarify rules in the Qur"àn through man to man teaching and pro-
vide details of what has been generalised in the Qur"ànic verses. To
avoid confusion between the Qur"ànic texts and the Prophet’s
sayings, the Prophet, while instructing his followers to write the
Qur"àn, and indeed arranging for a group of writers to do so, ordered
not to write his sayings and instructed that whoever had to erase
what he had written and his sayings to be transmitted only verbally,
(Khallaf, 1942). Muslims, therefore, differentiated between the divine
texts, the Qur"àn, and the Prophet Sayings and practice, Aœàdìth.
The first attempt to collect the Aœàdìth in writing took place in
the reign of the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abel-Azìz in the mid
eighth century. Three reasons explain the collection: (a) the death