RENAISSANCE MARCH 2021

Qur’ ā n 20 Monthly Renaissance March 2021 through this mode. In fact, this transmission was actually made possible because of the existence of a large of number of Companions of the Prophet (sws) at the very onset. 3 This was supplemented further with the existence of the Muslim empire in the times of the Prophet (sws) and which continued to exist for fourteen centuries after him. In other words, in the very first stage of transmission, such a large number of Companions were available to transmit this Qur’ ā n to the next generation that any error in its transmission was ruled out. This process has been continuing ever since in an uninterrupted manner. Authorities through the ages copiously allude to these two modes of Qur’ ā n transmission. This article presents a survey of how these authorities document these modes. Consensus Al-Sarakhs ī 401-490 AH) records: ﻟﻤﺼﺎﺣﻒﻣﺎ !ﻔﻘﻮ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ uy وأﺛﺒﺘﻮ The companions wrote in the ma ṣāḥ if that on which they unanimously agreed. 4 (Beirut: D ā r al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah, 2001), 20; ‘Al ī ibn Mu ḥ ammad al- Bazdaw ī , U ṣū l al-Bazdaw ī : Kanz al-u ṣū l il ā ma‘rifah al-u ṣū l (Karachi: Ma ṭ ba‘ah Jav ī d, n.d.), 5; Mu ḥ ammad ibn A ḥ mad ibn Ab ī Sahal al- Sarakhs ī , U ṣū l al-Sarakhs ī , vol. 1 (Beirut: D ā r al-ma‘rifah, n.d.), 279; al-Ghaz ā l ī , Al-Musta ṣ f ā , 81; Al- Ā mid ī , Al-I ḥ k ā m , vol. 1, 212; Mu ḥ ammad ibn ‘Al ī ibn Mu ḥ ammad al-Shawk ā n ī , Irsh ā d al-fu ḥū l il ā ta ḥ q ī q ‘ilm al-u ṣū l , 1 st ed. (Beirut: D ā r al-fikr, 1992), 62. 3. Obviously no exact number can be estimated because no one ever counted them or could have possibly done so given their number and places in which they lived. However, according to Ab ū Zur‘ah al-R ā z ī (d. 264 AH), one of the earliest historians of Islam, this number stood at 114, 000. See: A ḥ mad ibn ‘Al ī ibn Th ā bit al-Kha ṭī b al-Baghd ā d ī , Al-J ā mi‘ li akhl ā q al-r ā w ī wa ad ā b al-s ā mi‘ , vol. 2 (Riyad: Maktabah al-Ma ‘ ā rif, 1403), 293. In the opinion of Im ā m Sh ā fi‘i (d. 204 AH), those who heard and saw the Prophet (sws) were approximately sixty thousand in number. See: Ab ū al-Fad ā ’ Ism ā ‘ ī l ibn ‘Umar ibn Kath ī r, Al-Bid ā yah wa al- nih ā yah , vol. 4 (Beirut: Maktabah al-ma‘ ā rif, n.d.), 356. 4. Al-Sarakhs ī , U ṣū l al-Sarakhs ī , vol. 1, 280.