Surah Al-Hijr (15) — Ayah 9

(Ayah 9) ➊ {اِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ … :} Here, Allah Almighty has used the word "Dhikr" instead of "Qur'an," in which the Qur'an comes first, as He said: «{ اِنَّاۤ اَنْزَلْنٰهُ قُرْءٰنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُوْنَ }» [ یوسف : ۲ ] "Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an so that you may understand." And after that, the sayings, actions, and conditions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), that is, Hadith, are also Dhikr (reminder), because Allah Almighty Himself has declared the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as His revealed Dhikr, as He said: «{ قَدْ اَنْزَلَ اللّٰهُ اِلَيْكُمْ ذِكْرًا (10) رَّسُوْلًا يَّتْلُوْا عَلَيْكُمْ اٰيٰتِ اللّٰهِ مُبَيِّنٰتٍ }» [ الطلاق : ۱۰، ۱۱ ] "Indeed, Allah has sent down to you a Dhikr (reminder), a Messenger who recites to you the clear verses of Allah." Moreover, in the Noble Qur'an, Allah Almighty has repeatedly commanded to do what the Prophet (peace be upon him) does and to accept what he says; the first is called following (ittiba'), the second is obedience (ita'at). Thus, He said: «{ قُلْ اِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّوْنَ اللّٰهَ فَاتَّبِعُوْنِيْ۠ }» [ آل عمران : ۳۱ ] "Say, if you love Allah, then follow me." And He said: «{ قُلْ اَطِيْعُوا اللّٰهَ وَ الرَّسُوْلَ }» [ آل عمران : ۳۲ ] "Say, obey Allah and the Messenger."

➋ {اِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا:} In this sentence, Allah Almighty has repeated the word "We" three times for great emphasis: in {’’ اِنَّا ‘‘} in {’’ نَا ‘‘} (We), the second in {’’ نَحْنُ ‘‘} (We), and the third in {’’ نَزَّلْنَا ‘‘} in {’’نَا‘‘} (We). Even with great effort, it is difficult to translate all three emphases into eloquent Urdu.

➋ That is, this "Dhikr" whose bringer you are calling mad, We ourselves have revealed it, and surely We are its protectors. Qazi Ismail Basri was asked what is the secret that the previous books could not remain preserved like the Qur'an? He replied, Allah Almighty had assigned their protection to humans, as He said: «{ اِنَّاۤ اَنْزَلْنَا التَّوْرٰىةَ … بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُوْا مِنْ كِتٰبِ اللّٰهِ }» [ المائدۃ : ۴۴ ] "Indeed, We sent down the Torah... so that they were made guardians of Allah's Book." Whereas the protection of the Qur'an, Allah Almighty took upon Himself. (Al-Wasit) Another wisdom is that the Qur'an and Hadith are for all people until the Day of Judgment, whereas every previous book was for one nation and for a specific time. Just as the Qur'an is a miracle in its words and meanings, that even if jinn and humans gather, they cannot produce a surah like it, similarly, it is also its miracle that no alteration can be made in it. This promise of the protection of the Qur'an is being fulfilled in an amazing way. There is no book in the world except the Qur'an that, after fourteen hundred years, has remained so preserved that not a single letter has been altered. Among all the copies of the Qur'an present in the world, there is not even the slightest difference. Besides this, it is preserved in the hearts of millions of people. Even in the days of decline and slavery of Muslims, there was no difference in the protection of the Qur'an. This is the protection from Allah Almighty which no other book has received, and even non-Muslim opponents acknowledge this unique preservation of the Qur'an.

➍ The deniers of Hadith generally say, to reject Hadith, that Allah has promised the protection of the Qur'an, but has not promised the protection of Hadith, therefore it is not reliable. Ask them, what is their evidence? They will recite this verse, although the word "Qur'an" is not in it, rather {’’ الذِّكْرَ ‘‘} is, which includes Hadith as well, and Allah Almighty has made such a powerful and astonishing arrangement for its protection that no person's sayings, actions, and conditions in the world are preserved as those of our Noble Prophet (peace be upon him). For this, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), the Tabi'in (the Successors), and the Hadith scholars worked so hard that the entire life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) has been preserved for us, whose following and obedience is obligatory for us. For this protection, Allah Almighty inspired the hearts of Muslims with the sciences of biographical evaluation (Rijal) and the principles of Hadith, and they preserved the life details of more than one hundred thousand individuals, their reliability or unreliability, their year of birth and death, by which it is known whether the narration attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) is Sahih or not. No nation has ever had such an arrangement for the sayings, actions, and conditions of any prophet, nor are even a thousandth part of any prophet's life details found as have been preserved about Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). The reality is that if Hadith were not preserved, it would be impossible to act upon the Qur'an; prayer, zakat, fasting, hajj, etc.—nothing can be performed without the details found in Hadith. As for the matter that weak narrations have been mixed into the Hadith, the answer is that since there is a solution for this, it makes no difference, because the Hadith scholars have separated the Sahih from the weak. Just as the Shia belief that this Qur'an is not the one that was with Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) or the Ahl al-Bayt does not affect the authenticity and greatness of the Noble Qur'an, because a claim without evidence has no weight, and to this day, their alleged Qur'an has never been found anywhere, similarly, the objection of the deniers of Hadith does not affect the preservation of Hadith, because all these objections are the result of ignorance or atheism, and the scholars of Islam have answered all of them in the best way.

9. 1. That is, protecting it from the interference of time and from alteration and change is Our responsibility. Thus, the Quran is preserved today exactly as it was revealed; misguided sects, for the affirmation of their own misguided beliefs, have always made and still make interpretative distortions in its verses, but unlike previous scriptures, it is protected from verbal alteration and change. Furthermore, a group of the people of truth has always existed in every era to expose these interpretative distortions, refuting their misguided beliefs and false arguments and proofs, and even today, they are actively engaged on this front. Moreover, the Quran is referred to here as 'ذکر' (reminder), which indicates that the aspect of the Quran being a 'reminder' (remembrance and admonition) for the people of the world, the radiant impressions of the Prophet ﷺ's life, and his sayings have also been preserved and will remain until the Day of Judgment. In other words, the path of inviting people to Islam through the Quran and the biography of the Prophet ﷺ will always remain open. This honor and level of protection was not granted to any previous book or messenger.

9. Surely, it is We who have sent down the Reminder, and surely, We will be its Guardian [5].

[5]
The Difference Between Dhikr and the Quran:

At this place, Allah Almighty has used the word "Dhikr" instead of "Quran." The literal meaning of Dhikr is "reminder" or "admonition." Although, from a descriptive aspect, one of the names of the Noble Quran is also Dhikr, these two names are not synonymous. As in Surah Qamar, Allah Almighty says:
﴿وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْاٰنَ للذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُّدَّكِرٍ﴾
From this, it is clear that the Quran and Dhikr are two separate things. When Dhikr is used in the sense of "reminder," it refers to all revelation sent down from Allah, i.e., both the Book and the insight which Allah Almighty grants to His messengers for the explanation of the Book. This insight can also be called Sunnah. That is, Allah Almighty has not only taken the responsibility for the protection of the Quran but also for its meanings and interpretations. Now, let us see how Allah Almighty fulfilled this responsibility.

Protection of the Quran Through Writing:

There are many aspects to the protection of the Quran, and this protection was carried out both through writing and through memorization, and all of this work Allah Almighty accomplished through His servants. Regarding the protection of the Noble Quran through writing, consider the following two hadiths:
1. Sayyiduna Zaid bin Thabit Ansariؓ (scribe of revelation) says that when, in the battle of Yamama (which took place against Musaylimah the Liar in 11 AH), many companions were martyred, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiqؓ sent for me. At that time, Sayyiduna Umarؓ was also present with him. I went, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiqؓ said: Umarؓ came to me and said, "In the battle of Yamama, many Muslims have been martyred, and I fear that if Muslims are killed in other battles in the same way, much of the Quran will be lost from the world. If the Quran is collected in one place, this fear will not remain. Therefore, you should have the Quran collected." And I (Abu Bakrؓ) replied to Umarؓ, "How can I do something which the Messenger of Allahﷺ did not do?" Umarؓ kept saying, "By Allah! This is a good deed," and he kept repeating it until Allah opened my heart, and I agreed with Umarؓ's opinion. Sayyiduna Zaidؓ says, "Umarؓ listened to this quietly." Then Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiqؓ said to me, "You are young and intelligent, and we consider you truthful, and you were a scribe of revelation during the time of the Prophetﷺ, so now search for the Quran (the scattered written pieces) and gather them all together." Zaidؓ says, "If Abu Bakr Siddiqؓ had asked me to move a mountain, it would not have been as difficult for me as collecting the Quran seemed." In the end, I said, "You both are doing something which the Messenger of Allahﷺ did not do." Abu Bakr Siddiqؓ said, "By Allah! This is a good deed." I argued with them a lot until Allah opened my heart as well, and I started this work. The Quran was written on parchments, shoulder blades, and date palm stalks, and most people had memorized it as well. Until I found the last two verses of Surah Tawbah, i.e., ﴿لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُوْلٌ مِّنْ اَنْفُسِكُمْ﴾ to the end, only with Khuzaymah bin Thabit Ansari and not with anyone else. Then this Mushaf in which the Quran was collected remained with Abu Bakr Siddiqؓ during his life, then with Sayyiduna Umarؓ during his life, and after his death, it was given to Umm al-Mu'mineen Sayyidah Hafsahؓ. [بخاری، کتاب التفسیر، سورۃ توبہ۔ باب جمع القرآن]
2. Sayyiduna Anas bin Malikؓ says that Hudhayfah bin Yaman came to Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ at the time when he was waging jihad with the Muslims of Syria and Iraq to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. He was alarmed by the differences among the Muslims in the recitation of the Quran. He said to Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ: "O Leader of the Believers! Take care of this Ummah before they differ about the Quran as the Jews and Christians did." So Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ wrote to Sayyidah Hafsahؓ, "Send us your Mushaf so that we may make copies of it and then return your Mushaf to you." So Sayyidah Hafsahؓ sent it. Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ ordered Zaid bin Thabitؓ, Abdullah bin Zubairؓ, Sa'id bin al-Asؓ, and Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hishamؓ to make copies of it. He instructed that if Zaid bin Thabitؓ (an Ansari) differed from the other three (Qurayshi) about the recitation, then write it in the dialect of Quraysh, because the Quran was revealed in their dialect. When the copies were prepared, he returned Sayyidah Hafsahؓ's Mushaf to her and sent a copy to every central place. He also ordered that whatever Quran was written on separate parchments and papers with people should be burned. [بخاری، کتاب التفسیر۔ باب جمع القرآن]

Means of Protection from Verbal Distortion:

The Messenger of Allahﷺ paid relatively much more attention to the oral preservation of the Quran. First of all, the Hafiz (memorizer) of the Quran was the Prophetﷺ himself. Whatever portion of the Quran had been revealed, in Ramadan, heﷺ would review it with Jibreelؑ, and in the last year of his life, heﷺ reviewed it twice. Then he would have the companions memorize it, listen to it from them, and sometimes recite it to them. The number of companions who memorized the Quran was much greater than those who wrote it, and this tradition of memorizing the Quran has continued generation after generation until today, and both methods protect each other. Then Allah Almighty created such people who loved the Quran so much that they counted its verses, words, even letters and diacritical marks. As a result, from the time of the Quran's revelation until today, not a single letter or word has changed, and in such circumstances, addition or omission became impossible, and all possibilities of verbal distortion were eliminated. The reasons why the Messenger of Allahﷺ paid more attention to memorization of the Quran are as follows:
1.

Comparison of the Merits of Memorization and Writing:

The Noble Quran was not revealed in written form but in an oral manner. Just as Jibreelؑ recited the Quran to the Prophetﷺ, in the same way, the Prophetﷺ recited it to the companions and had them memorize it. In this method of preservation, there was no need for any specific script, nor for the shapes of letters, dots, diacritical marks, etc., nor for knowledge of punctuation marks in the connection of verses. This method was very simple and natural; therefore, more attention was given to it.
2. The memory of the Arabs was extremely strong, but literate people were very few, and their number was less than five percent.
3. The Torah, which was revealed in written form, became restricted to the literate class only, and later, the literate people themselves altered it.
4. When reading something written, a less literate person can make a mistake, but a memorizer does not make such a mistake while reciting. In comparison, writing also has some benefits, for example:
➊ A memorizer of the Quran can forget at any time. If the written text is available, such forgetfulness can be corrected.
➋ The knowledge of a memorizer ends with his death, whereas writing remains even after. And it is this merit due to which collecting and recording the Quran in writing was considered necessary, as is clear from the above-mentioned hadith of Zaid bin Thabit Ansariؓ. Therefore, both methods were adopted as essential and complementary for the protection of the Quran. However, the superiority remained with memorization, and the Quran has expressed this reality in these words:
﴿ بَلْ هُوَ اٰيٰتٌ بَيِّنٰتٌ فِيْ صُدُوْرِ الَّذِيْنَ اُوْتُوا الْعِلْمَ﴾ [49: 29]
Rather, it (the Quran) is clear verses in the chests of those who have been given knowledge. And where Allah has mentioned the writing of the Quran, He has not mentioned the granting of knowledge: The command of Allah is:
﴿ وَالطُّوْرِِ وَكِتَابٍ مَّسْطُوْرٍ فِيْ رَقٍّ مَّنْشُوْرٍ﴾ [1: 52 تا 3]
By the Mount (Tur), and by the Book inscribed on an outspread scroll.

The Shia and the Protection of the Quran:

Despite all these things, some among the Shia slander Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ, claiming that during the compilation of the Quran, he excluded many verses and surahs that were in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt and did not include them in the Quran. We believe that although this accusation apparently targets Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ, in reality, it strikes at the responsibility of Allah Almighty for its protection. So take heed, O people of insight. Moreover, the question also arises that at that time, Sayyiduna Ali, the Lion of Allah, was, by Allah's grace, alive and well—how did he tolerate such a grave crime by Sayyiduna Uthmanؓ?

Protection from Distortion of Meaning:

The third aspect related to this protection of Dhikr is protection from distortion of meaning. That is, if the meanings of the Quran are not protected along with its words, then mere protection of the words is useless, and in such a case, the Quran could become a playground for the whims of atheists and other misguided sects. Therefore, it was necessary that the meanings of the Quran as understood by the bearer of the Quran or the Companions should also be protected, so that falsehood could not enter the Quran in any way, and if it tried to enter, it could be investigated and rejected. For this purpose, Allah Almighty created the group of hadith scholars, who devoted their lives to this very objective. They preserved every kind of Sunnah of the Messenger of Allahﷺ, which in reality is the protection of the meanings and interpretations of the Quran. In this way, Allah Almighty, through His servants, made such a strong arrangement for the protection of the Noble Quran and fulfilled His promise so completely that even non-Muslims could not help but acknowledge its complete protection.