Islam's Reformers .pdf

(’alaihi ’s-salâm) revealed and pronounced them. One could nothelp being bewildered at the science called “ilm al-qirâ’a”, onwhich many books have been written, and at Muslim scholars’studies and services in this way. Not a single word has beentaken out of or added to the Qur’ân later, for Muslim scholarshave put a very strong principle lest the Qur’ân be injured, lesteven a small doubt approach it: that the Qur’ân must beconveyed through unanimity in every century. In every centuryfrom the Prophet’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) companions up to today, ithas come to us through hundreds of thousands of people whohave memorized the Qur’ân and who could not be thought of asagreeing on a lie. It flows towards eternity like an overflowingriver that never stops for a moment. Despite the presence ofenemies of Islam all over the world today, every letter and dot ofone copy of Allâhu ta’âlâ’s book, thanks be to Him, are thesame in another. It may be understood how dependable thefaithful’s Book is also from the fact that no matter how emphaticthey may be, some different pronunciations, which belonged tosome great companions of the Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm) butwere not accepted unanimously, have not been considered tobe of the Qur’ân. For example. Hadrat ’Abdullah ibn Mas’ûd(radiy-Allâhu ’anh) conveyed the âyat “fasting for three days”,which defined the atonement (kaffâra) for breaking an oath, as“fasting for three consecutive days”, and the scholars of fiqhtaking this as a document, made it necessary to perform theatonement by fasting for three days without intervals. But,though Hadrat ’Abdullah ibn Mas’ûd (radiy-Allâhu ’anh) was oneof the great ones of the Prophet’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) companionsand a very dependable person, the word mutatâbi’(consecutive) was not included to the Qur’ân, because he wasalone in his argument. As a precaution, only the meaning of hisword was taken and, again as a precaution, it was not put intothe Qur’ân. These are called “qirâ’at shâdhdha”.Rasûlullah’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) own sayings are called al-Hadîth ash-sherîf. Surprisingly cautious labours have beendone in learning and preserving the Hadîth. Every saying ofFakhr al-’âlam (the ‘Honour of all creatures’, ProphetMuhammad) was memorized by his campanions and conveyedto those who did not hear it or who came later. Thus, ’ilm alhadîth,which is like an infinite sea, was established. Despitethe Qur’ân, the evident, unequalled miracle, why should not- 92 -