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on camel bone or skin. During the lifetime of the Prophet, collection of the verses and their organization into súras was begun. During the first Caliph Abu-Bakr’s time, in the Battle of Yamáma (633 CE), many of the Companions who knew the ‘Qur’án by heart were killed. So Abu-Bakr ordered that both written and oral sources of the Qur’ánic verses be collected, and they be written on parchment. These parchments were then collected and put together. It is said, some living Companions had their own versions. Later in the third Caliph Uthman’s caliphate (644 – 656 CE) serious differences arose about the correct recitation of the Qur’án, so Uthman ordered that a proper final collection of the Qur’ánic parchments be made, and their verses and order be fixed. All other versions were ordered to be destroyed. This version became the Qur’án we have today.
The sacredness of the Qur’án in Islam cannot be over-emphasized. In Christianity, the locus of the Word (the Logos, that which emanates from God) is for most Christians the person of Jesus. Hence the belief in the divinity of the person of Jesus. In Islam, unlike in Christianity, that which is “divine” is not the person of the Prophet but the Qur’án, and the Prophet is a just special conduit of that Word.
There is so much we can say about the Holy Qur’án, but for the Dawn-Breakers story, one key point is to be remembered: The Holy Qur’án is a masterpiece of Arabic prose. In Islam, it is considered to be Revelation (the very Words of God, the Logos itself manifested), a miracle in and of itself, and one of the most important signs of Prophethood – that is only a Messenger of God can produce verses like that. This is claimed in the Qur’án itself:
“Say: “If men and Jinn should combine together to bring the like of this Qur’án, they cannot bring the like of it, though some of them help others.”. (Súra 17:88)
“This Qur’án is not such as can be produced by other than Alláh; on the contrary it is a confirmation of (revelations) that went before it and a fuller explanation of the Book – wherein there is no doubt-from the Lord of the Worlds. Or do they say, ‘He forged it’? Say: ‘Bring a Sura like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can, besides Alláh, if it be ye speak the truth!’” (Súra 10:37-38)