Salamu alaykum I have a Christian friend who was asking how the Quraan was compiled, and preserved. He was also asking how we Muslims can prove that it hasn`t ever been changed. Please, help me to answer him so that May Allah guide him to His Right Path.

All praise be to Allah, and may his peace and blessings be on the last and best prophet and messenger, Muhammad.

“There is, probably in the world, no other book, which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text” these are not my words; they belong to Sir William Muir (orientalist), in reference to the Quran.

Here is some historical background for your own benefit and you may be able to tactfully use it in persuading your colleague.

The stages of collection of the Quran:

1-    In the time of the prophet.
2-    In the time of Abu Bakr.

(A)    In the time of the prophet.

The Quran was not only memorized by the Sahaba during the time of the prophet but it was also written in entirety. However, each one of the Sahaba had some of the manuscripts, and none of them had the whole book in writing.

As to the memorization, Al-Bukhari reported after Qatada that He asked Anas Bin Malik about the Sahaba who collected the Quran at the time of the Prophet and Anas said: Ubay ibn Ka’b, Mu’adh ibn Jabal, Zaid ibn Thabit and Abu Zaid.
Definitely Anas did not mean that it was only those four, but He meant that those four were the best reciters because in the battle of `Be’r Ma’unah` it was reported that 70 Qurra’ were killed by the pagans.

There is no doubt also that the Quran was written during the time of the prophet Al-Bukhari reported that Al Bara’ narrated: it was revealed “Not equal are those believers who sit at home and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah.  The prophet said: call Zaid for me and let him bring the board, the ink pot and the scapula [bone]. Then He said write: “not equal are those…..”

And in the Hadeeth of the collection of the Quran at Abu Bakr’s time, Zaid said that He collected it from Scapulae, Parchment and leaves, besides collecting from the chests (memory) of Al Sahaba.

B-    In the time of Abu Abkr, After the battle of Al Yamama, Omar went to Abu Bakr, and told him that so many of the Quraa’ (reciters) were killed, and that He is afraid by the killing of more of the Quraa’, some of the Quran will be lost. He advised Abu Bakr to collect al-Quran in one book. Abu Bakr, after a brief debate with Omar, was convinced. He called Zaid Ibn Thabit who, also, after a brief debate with both, ( how dare they do something which the prophet did not do) got convinced. He said: it was easier on me had he commanded me to move a mountain.
Then he started collecting the book from:

1-    The memory of Al Sahaba “their breasts”
2-    The written scripts on Parchment, scapulae, leaves.

He would not write a verse until he has two witnesses from Al Sahaba on the authenticity of such a verse.
He said, he missed a verse he had heard from the Prophet “Verily there has come to you an apostle from among yourselves” and found it (in a written form) only with Khuzaimah ibn Thabit. That report tells us that he would not write any verse unless it is verified in both ways (writing and memory). He knew the verse by heart but lacked a written copy.
The whole report was narrated by al-Bukhari .

The Quranic manuscripts from the time of the companions were spread over a geographic area that was extremely vast. Had there been any attempts to corrupt its versions, this would have resulted in contradictory manuscripts, which is not the case with the Quran. N.B. There are 15000 manuscripts of the bible, without any identical pair.

The Quran – unlike any other book its size – is entirely memorizable, a miracle from Allah to preserve it. Up until now, there are tens of thousands of memorizers throughout the Muslim world who received the Quran through a chain of narrators that ends with the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace).

The Quran still exists in its first language in which it was revealed, which protected it from corruption resulting from mistranslation. The most ancient biblical manuscripts are written in Greek, a language Jesus never spoke.

The oldest manuscripts of the Quran date back to the time of the companions of the Prophet, whereas those of the Bible date back to 200-300 years after Jesus (May Allah bless him and give him peace).

The Quran was all conveyed by the Messenger of God, whereas the biblical books were written by people who conlicted each other’s reports, and sometimes, by unknown authors. If you refer to Collins’ RSV , (Bible) 1971: pp 12-17, it will tell you that many of the biblical books have unknown authors.

I advise you to spend time explaining to your colleague the beauty of Islam, particularly its simple, natural and sound creed of the unity and uniqueness of the one true God.