Al Qur’an is technically defined as the words of Allah. The noble book is the central point of faith and a panacea for all the ills, problems and issues facing the humanity till Doomsday. Quran is a source of great inspiration, wisdom and guidance for all mankind.
Holy Quran is the 4th and last sacred book of Almighty Allah in the line of revelation from Hazrat Ibrahim (Peace be upon him)to Muhammad(Peace be upon him),revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) orally by God through the archangel Gabriel incrementally over a period of some 23 years, starting in 610CE, when Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was 40; and continued to have revelations until his death in 632 CE. The process of revelation of Quran started in the month of Ramadan. The responsibility of the safety of this Holy Book is taken by Almighty Allah, Himself.
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We
will assuredly guard it” 15:9
The Holy Prophet was ummi (who was not aware of revelation earlier). Before the Qur'an was revealed to him, he never claimed to proclaim a Message from Allah. He was not in the habit of preaching eloquent truths as from a Book, before he received Revelations, nor was he able to write or transcribe with his own hand. If he had done so those who follow falsehood might have had cause to doubt. The circumstances in which the Qur'an came bear their own testimony to its truth as from Allah.
“And thou was not (able) to recite a Book before this (Book came), nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand in that case, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted.” 29:48
The revelation began while Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), was on a spiritual retreat in the cave in mount Hira, near Mecca. Angel Gabriel appeared before Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and asked him to “Read!”. He responded, “But I cannot read!”
The first Revelation in the Holy Qur'an was 'Iqra'.
The imperative 'Iqra' means "read" or "recite" or "proclaim aloud" and the word is understood as a message from Allah.
Then the angel Gabriel embraced him tightly and then revealed to the Muhammad (SAW), the first lines:
“Read: In the name of your Lord Who created, (1) Created man from a clot. (2) Read: And your Lord is the Most Generous, (3) Who taught by the pen, (4) Taught man that which he knew not.” (5).
The first five verses of Surah-96 (al-Alaq)
The Quran was not revealed in one instance but through a gradual process with small numbers of Ayaat revealed at specific instances to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Allah Almighty also explains the reason behind the in-parts revelation of Quran over a period of 23 years. Allah says in Quran:
“(It is) a Quran which we have divided (into parts from time to time), in order that thou mightest recite it to men. At intervals we have revealed it by stages.” (17:106)
Revelation in stages also created a constant link between Allah Almighty and His beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) giving him guidance and moral support in times of need and distress.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was the first to learn the Quran by heart. According to Islamic tradition, during the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) the Qur’an was mainly preserved through memorization. Hundreds of Companions of the Prophet, were huffaaz or memorizers of the Qur’an.
First time the compilation process of Quran was started in the life of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). In this stage, the arrangement and order of the Surahs and Ayaat were specified by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and the text was inscribed on different materials such as cloth, barks, stones, bones, leather sheets leaves or anything available that was clean and durable. So, during his time, one copy of the Qur’an, inscribed under his personal supervision, existed. It was not in the form of a book but in different parchments.
Each of the verses of Qur`an was taught by the archangel Gabriel and declared by Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The Qur'an is divided into 30 convenient sections, 114 Chapters (Surahs) and 6346 verses in order to facilitate its reading. There are 14 places in the Qur'an as places for "Sujud" (prostration) to glorify Allah (Sub-hana hu wa ta'ala). Different Muslim rulers and scholars at different times made contributions to make the compilation of Quran better and more reliable.
During the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him), the Companion, suggested the need for compilation of the Holy Qur’an in the form of a book as in the battle of Yamamah and other battles, many huffaaz were martyred. Hazrat Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him), also realized the need for compilation of the Holy Qur’an in the form of a book. He entrusted this task to members of the commission in the leadership of Hazrat Zaid Bin Thabit, who used to inscribe the Qur`an for the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) during his life time. Once the whole text was collected and complied, the commission carefully proof-read, rechecked and certified that it was correct and present in its entirety; thus, a complete copy of Holy Quran(original mus-haf) was preserved. After the death of Hazrat Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him)in 634CE, the original mus-haf was passed on to the second Caliph, Hazrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him). After Hazrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him) the safety was entrusted to his daughter, Hazrat Hafsah (RA)
During Hazrat Usman Ghani's (Allah be pleased with him) caliphate serious issue related to the recitation of the Qur’an surfaced. Hazrat Usman (Allah be pleased with him) felt the need to establish a unified text of the Qur’an and to ensure the recitation of the Qur’an with correct and standard pronunciation. He also ordered to produce more copies of holy Quran the very same way. Hazrat Usman (Allah be pleased with him) borrowed the Holy Qur’an (original mus-haf) from Hazrat Hafsah. The commission prepared the text accordingly and then several copies were made and sent to different parts of the Islamic state with the instructions that only that copy should be considered the official and authentic text of Quran.
During the period of caliph Hazrat Ali (Allah be pleased with him)with the spread of Islam and the conversion of large numbers of non-Arabs, the need for making the text of the holy Quran readable for non-Arabs emerged. The first person who added the dots and signs to the original text of the Quran and compiled Arabic grammar was Abul-Aswad al-Doeli. This development was fulfilled under the instruction and guidance of Imam Ali (Allah be pleased with him).
Some of old hand written copies of Quran by Hazrat Usman and Hazrat Ali are preserved in different countries till today like in museum of Turkish-Islamic Arts, Istanbul, in India and in Iraq.
Allah Almighty Himself took the responsibility of safety of Quran; He had the work done by lucky humans. The Quran was preserved and it was in a form that was universal with no deviation, in terms of its textual content explained gradually with translations in different languages that is available till today.