6 THE RECENSIONS OF THE QUR'AN
and wise; against whom no one amongst us can cast an imputation; and thou wert wont to write down the inspired revelations of the Prophet of the Lord, wherefore now search out the Qur'an and bring it all together.1 Zaid collected it from the passages written as we have described, from all who could remember any portion, and when the whole was completed it was probably given to the Khalifa Abu Bakr. It then came into the possession of the Khalifa 'Umar who gave it to his daughter Hafasa, one of the widows of Muhammad. This edition was for ten years the only one in full use.

Zaid was assisted by Anas bin Malik and others and the work whilst in progress was superintended by 'Umar, who it is said accepted nothing as part of the Qur'an which had not been written down and which was not testified to by two persons. A case in point is the stoning verse, 'The married man and the married woman when they commit adultery then stone them without doubt.'2 'Umar, said he could not vouch for this, but that he would have inserted it had he not feared that he might be charged with having added something to the Qur'an. He himself knew the verse, but could not find corroborative testimony.3 The punishment decreed in the Qur'an for adultery is one hundred stripes,4 but as a matter of fact stoning is the Muhammadan legal punishment for adultery and no other basis for it is known except this verse which 'Umar withdrew. This seems to show that he had good authority for his statement. Anyhow its omission shows the care taken with this recension.

In the arrangement of the Qur'an, Zaid seems to have had original passages before him and to have put them together without much regard to the sense. Thus we have
1 Syuti, History of the Khalifas (Calcutta ed.), p. 78.
2 والشيخ والشيخة إذا زنيا فارجموهما البتة
3 See Noldeke, Geschichtes des Qorans, p. 194. Margoliouth states that 'Ayesha said that this verse, in which stoning was enjoined as a punishment for adultery, was on a slip (of parchment) deposited under her bed and was afterwards lost.--Mohammed, p. 219. In commentating on Sura al-Ma'ida (v) 18, in which the Jews are charged with concealing their Scriptures, Husain and Baidawi say that one of the matters concealed was the رآيتِ رَجْم —'the verse of stoning'—which was in the Pentateuch. —Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 140. Baidawi, vol. i, p. 251.
4 Sura an-Nur (xxiv) 1. This and the succeeding four verses are said to have abrogated the verse of stoning which 'Umar hesitated to put permanently in the Qur'an.
THE DOUBT OF 'UMAR 7
the name Suhuf, 'loose leaves'; and Suras, 'the rows,' the name now given to the various chapters. A tradition recorded by ibn 'Aliya says: 'Zaid after much labour compiled the Qur'an without any order of Suras.' Some orthodox Muslims hold that the present form was ordained by God, and follows an arrangement made by the Companions of the Prophet; in which case it is difficult to see the need of Abu Bakr's recension.

It is said by the German critic, Weil, that Abu Bakr altered some passages. Thus Weil adduces the tradition that 'Umar would not believe that the Prophet was dead and vehemently expressed his doubts, until Abu Bakr recited some passages from the Qur'an on the subject of the death of Muhammad. Weil considers that 'Umar and other Muslims did not know of these passages and that Abu Bakr invented them. But Noldeke,1 Muir, and other competent critics think that this is a gratuitous assumption without the least foundation in fact.

The circumstances are these: 'Umar, on seeing the placid countenance of the Prophet, said: 'He is not dead, he hath only swooned away.' To one who tried to convince him he replied, 'Thou liest, the Apostle of God is not dead . . . . the Prophet of the Lord shall not die, until he has rooted out every hypocrite and unbeliever.'2 In words similar to these he addressed the crowd which had now gathered together. Then Abu Bakr said: 'Silence! 'Umar, sit thee down, be quiet. Hath not the Almighty revealed this verse to the Prophet, saying, "Verily thou shalt die and they shall die."' 3 And again, after the battle of Uhud, the revelation came, 'Muhammad is no more than an Apostle: other Apostles have already passed away before him. If he die, therefore, or be killed, will ye turn4 upon your heels? 5 Let him then know, whosoever worshippeth Muhammad, that Muhammad is dead.' Then 'Umar was satisfied. There are also other passages which speak of death, such as: 'Have we granted to man before thee a life that

1 See Geschichtes des Qorans, p. 197.
2 Raudatu's-Safa. Part ii, vol. iii, p. 730.
3 إنَّكَ مَيِّتٌ وإنَّهُمْ مَيَّتُوْنَ —Sura Az-Zumar (xxxix) 31[30].
4 i.e. return to idolatry. A report had been spread in the battle of Uhud that Muhammad was slain.
5
وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلاَّ رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ أَفَإن مَّاتَ أَوْ قُتِلَ انقَلَبْتُمْ عَلَى أَعْقَابِكُمْ
Sura Ali 'Imran (iii) 138[144].