﴿1﴾ ‫ا ۡق َر ۡا اِب مۡس ِ َرب ّ َِك اذَّل ِ ۡى َخلَ َۚ‌ق‬

‫ اک انم ےل کر پڑھو جس ےن (عامل کو) پیدا کیا‬/‫ اےنپ پروردگار‬/)‫(اے محمدﷺ‬ : ‫ترمجہ‬
Read: In the name of thy Lord Who created

﴿2﴾ ‫َخلَ َق ااۡل ِن ۡ َس َان ِم ۡن عَلَ ‌ۚ ٍق‬

‫جس ےن انسان کو خون یک پھٹکی ےس بناای‬ : ‫ترمجہ‬
Created man from a clot.

﴿3﴾ ‫ا ۡق َر ۡا َو َرب ُّ َك ااۡل َ ۡك َر ُ ۙم‬

‫پڑھو اور متہارا پروردگار بڑا کرمی ےہ‬ : ‫ترمجہ‬
Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,

﴿4﴾ ِ ۙ ‫اذَّل ِ ۡى عَمَّل َ اِب لۡ َقمَل‬

‫جس ےن قمل ےک ذریعے ےس عمل سکھاای‬ : ‫ترمجہ‬
Who taught by the pen,

﴿5﴾ ؕ ۡ ‫عَمَّل َ ااۡل ِن ۡ َس َان َما ل َ ۡم ي َ ۡعمَل‬

‫اور انسان کو وہ ابتںی سکھائںی جس اک اس کو عمل نہ تھا‬ : ‫ترمجہ‬
Teach the man that which he knew not.

The very first verses revealed on Holy Prophet are of Surah Alaq. It is composed
of 19 verses but only 5 verses were revealed in the beginning in Cave Hira,
Makkah. In the recent Quranic order, it is the 96thsurah present in the 30th chapter
of Holy Qur’an. It is also known as Surah Iqra (read), as Muhammad was told
“Recite in the name of your Lord who created” by angel Jibraeel.
REVEALATION OF HOLY QURAN
Dignity of Holy Quran
Before starting the discussion on to the revelation and preservation of Quran it is
important that we all should understand the merits or dignity of Quran and what
Allah Almighty has said about its preservation and divine nature in Quran. In
Quran, Allah Almighty says: “And we have sent down to thee the Book
explaining all things, a guide, a mercy and glad tidings to Muslims.” (Quran,
16:89)
Quran is the book of guidance, mercy and glad tidings. Other than that we as a
Muslim should believe Quran is the Book free of doubts. The authenticity of Quran
in terms of its preservation is concerned, Allah Almighty says in Quran: “We have
without doubt, sent down the message; and we will assuredly guard it (from
corruption).” (Quran, 15:9). So, we can say that the Quran in its present form is
the same as it was revealed and there can be no doubt regarding its being Divine in
nature and a source of guidance without any doubt or reservation.
Revelation of Quran
Holy Quran was revealed to last Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the form of wahi.
In Islamic terminology, wahi can be literally defined as “Allah’s divine message
conveyed to Allah’s chosen persons (Prophets).” Descriptions of wahi are also
given in the Holy Quran:

“So we sent this inspiration to the mother of Musa.” (Quran, 28:7).

“This is part of the tidings of the unseen which we reveal unto thee (oh
Prophet) by inspiration”. (Quran, 3:44)
Quran revealed in form of Wahi which was made open to Prophet Muhammad
(SAW) by Allah Almighty in different forms, either during sleep, while awake,
with imprint on His heart, or Gabriel brought the verses in his original or humanly
forms from time to time.

The process of revelation of Quran started in the month of Ramadan as Allah

(SWT) mentioned in Quran: “Ramadan is the (month) in which we sent down
the Quran.” (Quran, 2:185)
The Quran was not revealed in one instance but through a gradual process with
small numbers of Ayahs revealed at any one time. 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 mightiest recite it to men. At intervals we have revealed it by
stages.”  (Quran, 17:106)
Hence there was a step by step process of revelation where the verses were
revealed at specific instances to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) making it easy to
circulate and propagate the information to the followers of Islam. So the divine
message of Allah (SWT) was revealed slowly to allow the new Muslim Arabs to
change and accept the new faith Islam and live their lives according to teachings of
Islam.

Revelation in stages also created a constant link between Allah Almighty and His
beloved Prophet (SAW) giving moral support in times of need and distress:

“Thus (it is revealed), that we may strengthen thy heart.” (Al-Furqan, 25:106)

Thus we can conclude from this we have a solution of every problem which we are
facing in our lives in the Holy Book Quran.

Compilation of Quran
In the beginning, Quran was recorded in form of memorizing the verses of Holy
Quran. But later the process of compilation of Quran started to preserve it in form
of Book. When it comes to the compilation of Quran, it has been divided into
specific parts and time in the history where different Muslim rulers at different
times made different contributions to make the compilation of Quran better and
more reliable. We will discuss the different stages of the compilation of Quran
throughout the Islamic history which has made it possible to view and read Quran
in its present form.

o First Stage during the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW): First time

the compilation process of Quran was started in the life of Prophet Muhammad
(SAW). In this stage, the arrangement and order of the surah and Ayahs were
specified by the Prophet (SAW) and the text was written down.  However, at
this stage, the Quran was not compiled into a single book, comparatively was
available in separate sheepskin and was memorized in its integrity by
several companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).So, the initial compilation
was started in the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
o
o Second Stage during the Reign of Hazrat Abu Bakar (R.A): The second
stage of compilation took place during the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakar
(R.A).  In the battle of Yaman a large number of sahaba, who had memorized
Quran, were martyred.  This became a source of quiet concern for many
companions of the Prophet (SAW) and they feared about the preservation of
Quran.  Therefore Hazrat Umar (R.A) suggested to the Caliph that the Quran
should be collected and compiled into a single book in order to ensure its
preservation.  Hazrat Abu Bakar (R.A) liked the idea but was afraid because
the Prophet (SAW) himself had never taken this step and He (R.A) feared that
 this action might be considered a discrepancy from the   However, later on, he
had a change of heart and ordered Hazrat Zain bin Saabit (R.A) to be the chief
scriber and work on compiling the Quran in a book form. All of the members
of the commission were renowned Haffiz (memorizers) of the Quran, i.e. they
had already memorized it in its entirety. After listening to various Haffiz,
cross-referencing it with the different written verses of Quran found on tree
leaves, scorch and leather skins, he compiled a final copy of Quran which was
then presented to Hazrat Abu Bakar (R.A).  Once the whole text was collected
and compiled, the commission carefully proofread it and certified that it was
correct and present in its entirety. So, the first Book version of Quran was
compiled in the life of Hazrat Abu Bakar (R.A) the first caliph of Islam.

o Third Stage during the Reign of Hazrat Usman (R.A): During the era of
the third Caliph Usman (R.A) a serious issue related to the recitation of the
Quran raised. Despite the text of the Quran was universally accepted, Arabs
from different parts of the Islamic state recited it according to their dialect. 
These presented two problems: firstly that everybody considered their dialect
to be correct which gave rise to disputes; and secondly, it was feared that if this
went on, there will be no universally accepted version of Quran left. From
overcoming these problems Hazrat Usman (R.A) requested Hazrat Hafsa (R.A)
to provide the earlier compilation of Quran so that more copies could be made
out of it. Moreover, He also formed a committee consisting of Hazrat Zain bin
Harris (R.A) and a few other Companions to make sure that they agree on the
pronunciation of the original copy and produce more versions of that copy in
the very same way. 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 this should be considered the official and authentic
text of Quran. Since that day the Holy Quran has remained in its original intact
form and will remain as such in the future by the Grace and Blessings of Allah
Almighty.
In spite of Allah Almighty Himself took the responsibility of preserving Quran,
however, He had the work done by humans where different rulers in different
times made efforts to make sure that Quran was preserved and it was in a form that
was universal with no deviation whatsoever in terms of its textual content which
we have nowadays from which we recite.

Role of HAZRAT KHADDIJAT-UL-QUBRA:

Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration, his neck muscles twitching
with terror till he entered upon Khadija and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They
covered him till his fear was over and then he said, "O Khadija, what is wrong with
me?" Then he told her everything that had happened and said, 'I fear that
something may happen to me." Khadija said, 'Never! But have the glad tidings, for
by Allah, Allah will never disgrace you as you keep good reactions with your Kith
and kin, speak the truth, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guest
generously and assist the deserving, calamity-afflicted ones." Khadija then
accompanied him to (her cousin) Waraqa bin Nawfal. Waraqa was the son of her
paternal uncle, i.e., her father's brother, who during the Pre-Islamic Period became
a Christian and used to write the Arabic writing and used to write of the Gospels in
Arabic as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his
eyesight. Khadija said to him, "O my cousin! Listen to the story of your nephew."
Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" The Prophet described
whatever he had seen.

WARAKA BIN NAWAFIL:

Waraqa is one of the four men who left the pagan faith of Mecca as mentioned in this
article in search for the Hanifite roots (the religion of Abraham) and returned as a
Christian. Even he was claimed to be the source of the Qur’an. Some missionaries
depended on hadiths narrated in Sahih al-Bukhârî:

"..The Prophet returned to Khadija while his heart was beating rapidly. She took
him to Waraqa bin Nawfal who was a Christian convert and used to read the
Gospel in Arabic Waraqa asked (the Prophet), "What do you see?" When he told
him, Waraqa said, "That is the same angel whom Allah sent to the Prophet) Moses.
Should I live till you receive the Divine Message, I will support you strongly."

Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Nawfal who, during the
pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with
Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah
wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to
Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my
nephew! What have you seen?" Allah's Apostle described whatever he had seen.
Waraqa said, "This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom
Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when
your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they drive me out?"
Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with
something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I
should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support
you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died.

Waraqa was an old man and died shortly after Muhammad had received the
revelation of the Qur’an; as clearly can be read from the above hadith. While the
revelation of the Qur’an continued for more than twenty years after the death of
Waraqa bin Nawfal, the Prophet was receiving the revelation in different places
and even while he was among his Companions. Also, he was answering direct
questions raised later by the Jews in Medina. In addition, the Jews and the
disbelievers of Mecca would be very pleased if they knew for sure that there was a
knowledgeable person who was teaching Muhammad the Qur’an.

And finally Waraqa himself announced in all of the hadiths reported in Sahih al-

Bukhârî that he would support Muhammad strongly if he lived long enough:

"Should I live till you receive the Divine Message, I will support you strongly."

"If I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would
support you strongly."

It is not surprising to see that when these points are brought together, Christian
missionaries start to take refuge in the excuses that Waraqa was a heretic or on
whose authority he said that he would support Muhammad’s Prophet Hood?