• Dotting its letters to distinguish some from others, such as distinguishing kha from jim and ha, and distinguishing jim from kha and ha, and distinguishing ta by placing two dots above it for each of ya, ba, nun and tha.
• Punctuating its words with damma, fatha, kasra and jazm, such as: “Al-Hamdu li-Lahī Rabbi al-‘Alamīn” — This is an incidental matter in the collection of the Qur’an in its two previous stages.
• Punctuation marks: such as: ج صلى لا قلى م
• Placing circles with the numbers of the verses in each surah.

All of these additions did not exist in the era of the Prophet, nor in the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.

The magnificence of the Qur’an’s arrangement, the purity of its words, the sweetness of its tone, and the nobility of its meanings, these characteristics and features surprised the Arabs with what they did not know, so it struck a magical chord with them in its strong effect on the minds and feelings, so their interest in it intensified, especially those who were among the first to believe in it, and they were anticipating everything new that was revealed by the trustworthy revelation, combining memorization with action.

Whenever something of the revelation was revealed to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, he would order the scribes of the revelation to write it down immediately, hearing it from his pure mouth, then he would spread what was revealed of the revelation among the people.

The reason for the revelation of the Qur’an in scattered stages is its connection to the upbringing of the nation, and its advancement in the field of education, stage after stage, and addressing the problems of life that were encountered, and keeping pace with the movement of building the call from its first ray to the end.

The number of verses in this Surah is eleven verses, and they are distributed in terms of the pauses — which are the words that occur at the ends of the verses — over four axes:

• Verses 1–3: Each pause ends with the letter Ha — Dhabhan, Qadhan, Subhan.
• Verses 4–5: Each pause ends with the letter Ain — Naqa, Jama’.
• Verses 6–8: Their pauses end with the letter Dal — Laknood, Li Shahid, Li Shadid.
• Verses 9–11: Their pauses end with the letter Ra — Al-Qubur, Al-Sudur, Li Khabeer.

Note that the pause letters in this Surah, except for the first three verses, are preceded by the letter “madd” which is “waw” in “Laknood” and “ya” in “Lashid Li Shadid.” Then the “waw” in: “al-qubur al-sudur” then the “ya” in: “la-khabir” — and the long vowels help to “soften” the voice and make it sweet to the ear. Therefore, the long vowels accompanied the words of “al-fasila” in almost the entire Qur’an, and added to them a unique lyrical character that attracted the ear, and stirred the feelings to approach the Qur’an with the intensity of its captivation to them through hearing, so that this would be a means to approach understanding its meanings, then believing in it.

It is a short surah, as its verses did not exceed eleven verses.

The verses are short — some of them are composed of two words, which are the first three verses. Some of them are composed of three words, which are the fourth and fifth verses. Some of them are composed of four words, which are the sixth, seventh and eighth verses. Only two verses have five words, which are the tenth and eleventh. And one verse has seven words, which is the ninth verse.

The system of “the contract of meanings” in the surah is as wonderful as its arrangement. The first three verses are a solemn oath by the horses of the mujahideen in the way of Allah. The fourth and fifth verses are a digression that completes the meanings of what is sworn by, the intensity of its raids that stir up the dust of the earth, the speed of its running and its surprise of the enemy in its raid. Then comes the thing sworn by in the sixth verse: “Indeed, man is ungrateful to his Lord.” The seventh verse hints at man’s knowledge that he is disobedient to his Lord. The eighth verse denounces man’s disobedience to his Lord. As for the last three verses from (9) to (11), they are a warning to man who is ungrateful for his Lord’s blessings.

These characteristics are not all limited to Surat “By the Chargers,” but they are, along with others, general characteristics of the entire Qur’an. Thus, the Qur’an became easy to memorize for whoever tried it and was sincere in his quest and took the right path that leads to it.

• The first listening in memorizing the Qur’an was from Gabriel, peace be upon him, whom God described as the trustworthy.
• The first listener was the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, who heard the entire Qur’an many times from Gabriel.
• The second listener was him, may God bless him and grant him peace, after hearing the Qur’an from Gabriel.
• The second listeners of the Quran are the scribes of the revelation. They heard it from the Prophet ﷺ immediately after he heard the Quran from Gabriel. This is because when the revelation came down and he finished receiving what Allah had revealed to him, he would call the scribes of the revelation and dictate to them what had been revealed, and they would write it down immediately.
• Then, what was revealed of the Quran would be spread among the believers by hearing, not writing, either from the mouth of the Messenger ﷺ or from the mouths of the scribes of the revelation.

Likewise, during the eras of the two sheikhs, Abu Bakr and Umar, may God be pleased with them, reliance was placed on memorization in the chests rather than writing, because it was scattered and not collected.

This is not detracted from by the fact that some narrations state that the Companions who memorized the entire Qur’an were four or seven. Some of these narrations were mentioned in the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, because what was mentioned in them has a specific meaning, which is that they memorized the entire Qur’an and presented their memorization to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he approved of their memorization. This does not mean that they were the only Companions who memorized the Qur’an.

During this time, the Qur’an was written on scattered pieces of paper. These pieces of paper and others on which the Qur’an was written by dictation from the mouth of the Prophet ﷺ remained as they were, and no change of any kind occurred to them.

After the death of Abu Bakr, the Mushaf was handed over to Umar ibn al-Khattab, and after his death, the Mushaf remained in the possession of his daughter, the Mother of the Believers, Hafsa, may God be pleased with her.

This is what prompted Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman to seek help from the Commander of the Faithful, Uthman ibn Affan, and to urge him to seize the nation before it splits around the Qur’an as the Jews and Christians split around their holy books.

1. He was one of the scribes of the revelation in the Medinan period.
2. He was a memorizer and expert in the Qur’an, having heard it directly from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
3. He was the only one who attended the final presentation of the Qur’an by the Prophet ﷺ to Gabriel, peace be upon him.
4. He was the one who collected the Qur’an during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.

First: The Mushaf that was coordinated during the caliphate of Abu Bakr — may Allah be pleased with him. It was mentioned earlier that the components of this Mushaf are the written documents that the scribes of the revelation recorded in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ by hearing them directly from him. So nothing was accepted in the second stage of collection that was not present in those documents that the Prophet ﷺ approved.

Second: The verse or verses must be memorized in a manner identical to what is in the Mushaf of Abu Bakr by at least two of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It is not enough for one man to memorise it, nor is it enough for it to be present in the Mushaf of Abu Bakr. Rather, both things must be present:

1. It must be present in the Mushaf of Abu Bakr.
2. Then hearing it from two memorizers, i.e. two witnesses.

Abu Khuzaymah al-Ansari was exempted from this condition, as his memorization was equivalent to that of two men in a single verse that was not found memorized except with Abu Khuzaymah. This is because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made his testimony equal to the testimony of two just men.

1. Unifying the collective Mushaf and excluding the individual Mushafs because they were not free from errors. This was done in the best way.
2. Eliminating the incorrect readings, and uniting the people on the correct readings, which the Prophet ﷺ recited in the last presentation to Gabriel in the year in which he died.
3. Protecting the nation from division over the Book of their Lord. And eliminating fanaticism for the reading of some readers over the reading of others.

That is why one of the scholars expressed it as being most similar to papers that were found scattered in the house of the Prophet and were tied together with a single thread, preventing them from being scattered again.

Second aspect — In terms of goal:

• In Abu Bakr’s collection: to preserve the scattered prophetic documents in a single order, joined together, coordinating the surahs and verses, to be a reference for preserving the verses of the Wise Remembrance.
• In Uthman’s collection: the nation collected on the correct readings that the Prophet ﷺ read in the final presentation to Gabriel. As for the texts that were revealed by the trustworthy revelation, they remained in their original form, in which they were written during the life of the Prophet ﷺ.

• First: listening to those who have mastered the memorization and recitation of the Qur’an.
• Second: memorization in the chests.

Listening and memorization are the oldest means of memorizing and reciting the Noble Book of God. And they will remain so until the Day of Judgment.

The history of the Qur’an is very clear and well-known. It did not go through periods of ambiguity or periods of turmoil, as is the case in the eras of the Holy Book — the Torah and the Gospel. The situations they were subjected to cannot be measured against the history of the Qur’an.

Before adding dots to the letters, listening was their substitute, because the memorizers of the Qur’an who are proficient and skilled in reciting the Qur’an do not need these marks, because they memorize the Book of their Lord fresh and tender as God revealed it to the Seal of His Messengers. As for those who do not memorize and cannot do without looking at the Qur’an, these dotted, diacritical, and paused marks guide them to the ideal recitation.

If the word “garden” were left without dots or diacritics, the reader who is not a memorizer would fall into many mistakes, because it can be pronounced in several ways, such as: a living grain, henna, khabbah, garden, piece, tailored, jiyyah, grain, cloak.

But when its letters were dotted and its words were diacritical, the intended meaning became clear and precisely defined, eliminating all unintended possibilities.

It is one of the good innovations that scholars have permitted because it makes it easier for the readers of the Noble Book of Allah, and helps them to recite it in a perfect and precise manner. It is one of the public interests that the Shariah has been silent about, neither commanding nor forbidding.

Achieving an interest takes the place of commanding it, and the occurrence of harm takes the place of forbidding it. This is a characteristic of the flexibility of the just and merciful Islamic Shariah.

The reality is that all these additions to the writing of the words of the Mushaf, in addition to being means of clarification as mentioned above, brought in to serve the Qur’anic text, at the same time perform a great service to the meanings of the Qur’anic words and structures.

We see the mark (صلى) above the letter waw in the word “هوا” and it symbolizes that stopping on this word “هوا” is permissible and connecting it to what comes after it is also permissible, except that connecting is better than stopping.

The reason for the permissibility of stopping and connecting here is that each of the two statements has a complete meaning and it is good to pause on it, and it is also good to connect it to what comes after it because they are two statements between which there is a close connection, and in terms of the syntactic structure, they are the condition of “إن” and the two conditional verbs in them are a present tense verb, and they are one verb that is repeated in the two conditions of the two statements “يلمسك” and the subject is “Allah” in both of them. The first is an apparent noun, and the second is a pronoun referring back to it.

As for the connection being more appropriate than stopping, it is because the correspondence between the two statements is stronger than the difference in wording and meaning, noting that the permissibility of stopping allows the reciter of the Qur’an a breath of comfort in silence.

The punctuation mark (قلى) is placed above the second lam of the word “قليل” and symbolizes the permissibility of connecting and stopping on the word “قليل” and that stopping on it is better than connecting it to what comes after it.

• The permissibility of stopping: to complete the meaning in the first part of the verse.
• The permissibility of connecting: because the second part of the speech is branched off and arranged on the first part. (Branching out is the generation of one word from another, and the letter “fa” comes as evidence of this branching out)

As for stopping on the word “little” it is more appropriate in this verse because what precedes it are two declarative sentences, and they are both the subject of the statement. As for the sentence “So do not dispute about them,” it is a performative sentence in which there is a prohibition against arguing about the people of the cave. And the performative speech is different from the declarative speech. Therefore, the two statements are not homogeneous. The pause is the break between two words by a moment of silence; it has a great role in the recitation of the Holy Quran, in terms of the words and in terms of savoring the meanings and serving them.

The pause mark (ج) is placed above the “ه” at the end of the word “منه” and symbolizes the permissibility of pausing on “منه” and the permissibility of connecting it to what comes after it “That is among the signs of Allah.” This permissibility is at the level of both sides — pausing is not preferred to connecting, nor connecting to pausing.

• The pause is very appropriate for the length of the speech before the word “from it” and in the pause there is rest for the soul, and rest helps to perfect the recitation.
• The connection is very appropriate in terms of meaning; because the Almighty’s saying: “That is from the signs of Allah” is a construction that takes the place of “the news” about what Allah the Almighty mentioned about the conditions of the people of the cave.

The pause mark (لا) is placed on the “ن” at the end of the word “طيبين” to symbolize that the pause on “طيبين” is forbidden.

The reason for this prohibition is that the phrase “they say” which follows the word “طيبين” is a state of “the angels” and they are the subject of “تَتَوَفُهم”. As for “Tayyibeen”, it is a state of the accusative pronoun as the object of the verb. If it were permissible to stop at “Tayyibeen”, a time interval would have occurred between the state clause “they say” and the subject of the state “the angels”, and no rhetorical necessity called for this action.

Therefore, stopping at “Tayyibeen” was forbidden so as not to lead to cutting off the “state”, which is a description, from its subject “the angels”, which is the described. This is not permissible for the sake of rhetoric. The occurrence of the state here is a verbal sentence with a present tense verb that indicates the occurrence of the event in the present and future — because the angels say this speech to those righteous people they take in death at all times.

The punctuation mark (م) is placed on the letter dal in the word “ولد” to indicate the necessity of stopping on this word “ولد” and the impossibility of connecting it to what comes after it.

The pause here is necessary because this pause will result in the correctness of the meaning and to prevent the illusion of incorrectness. If the connection had occurred, it would have suggested that the Almighty’s statement: “To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth” is a description of the negated “son” — meaning: God has no son, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. This does not prevent God Almighty from having a son! This is absolutely false.

When the reader stops at the word “Born” and then resumes the recitation from “To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth,” it is impossible for this description to be for the negated son, and it must be for God Almighty. So you see that the stop here performs a great service to the intended meaning of the noble verse.

The stop mark (م) is placed above the م in the word “هم” to indicate the necessity of stopping on it, and the impossibility of connecting it to what comes after it, which is “those who have lost themselves.”

The secret of this necessity is: the connection suggests a corrupt and unintended meaning, because it would result in the Almighty’s saying: “those who have lost themselves” being a description of “their sons,” and this is not intended. Rather, what is intended is something more general than “their sons,” and they are those who have lost themselves in every time and place — a general rule for those who have lost themselves, not specific to the sons of those to whom Allah has given the Book.

This is a great delusion that they have fallen into, because these signs and others are not what created the meanings that we have indicated examples of. These meanings are facts of revelation and were observed since the Qur’an was revealed, and the memorizers of the Qur’an and its reciters from the companions of the Messenger of God ﷺ applied them in their recitation of the Qur’an, before the Qur’an was written down in the “Mushaf.”

As for the placement of these signs in the era of the Tabi’een, they came as an aid to those who were not familiar with the etiquette of reciting the Qur’an, without being in their form part of the revelation.

No Muslim claims that they have the sanctity of the divine text, or that they came down from heaven through the trustworthy revelation.

Rather, he considers these additional works to be means of clarification for the verified text and important facilitations for the readers.

• Is there anything in the history of the Qur’an that calls for doubting it or distrusting it?
• Have its decisive verses been affected by any defect or disorder?
• Have you seen it disappear from the nation for a moment, or the nation disappear from it for a moment?
• Have you seen in it ignorance of its source, origin, and the development of the stages of its collection and writing?
• Or have you seen any change or alteration in its verses?

These are our goods that we have offered in the market of supply and demand, not fearing that fraud or poor quality will appear in it, or that it will be ruined or stagnant due to a competitor who is hostile to it.

This is what we have. So what do you have of the history of the Holy Book in its two testaments?

• A plague related to its history: when it was born, by whom it was born, and how it was born. Then, what is the content of the Holy Book? Is it the word of God, or the word of others?
• A plague related to its content: the meanings and purposes contained in the books of the two covenants.

This ambiguity in the history of the Holy Book was not raised by Muslims, but was announced by the People of the Book themselves, Jews or Christians, who were characterized by courage, freedom of opinion, and a sincere recognition of the difficulty of the problems that surrounded the Holy Book, while pointing out their intractability.

“How were these books (meaning the Torah) written and when were they written? That is an innocent question with no harm in it, but it is a question about which fifty thousand volumes have been written, and we must finish it here in one paragraph, and then leave it without an answer?!” — The Story of Civilization, Vol. 2, p. 367, translated by Muhammad Badran

Will Durant comments on the book, saying: “No one knows what this book is? What was written in it? Was it the first birth of the Torah in the life of the Jews?”

Ezra, one of the chief priests, called the Jewish scholars to a meeting and he and seven priests began to read to them the Book of the Law of Moses. When they finished reading it, the priests, leaders and people swore to obey these laws and adopt them as their constitution for all eternity. — The Story of Civilization, Vol. 2, p. 356

• The first account does not provide more than attributing the file that was found “Creatively” to Moses’ sayings and rulings in judging between opponents.
• The second account explicitly attributes that the system that the priests established, after reading the book, was a mixture of the sayings of their ancient priests and God’s commands.

(2) Surah “Al-Adiyat” is one of the short surahs with which revelation began in Mecca, before the migration. Some researchers believe that the Qur’an began with these surahs of a lyrical nature in Mecca, to attract the people of Mecca to it through listening first, and then to contemplate its meanings second.

(3) See the interpretation of Surah “Al-Adiyat” in any of the popular interpretations you wish: Al-Kashaf, Ruh Al-Ma’ani, Al-Tafsir Al-Wadih by Dr. Hijazi, or in others.

(4) See: Al-Burhan fi Ulum Al-Quran by Imam Al-Zarkashi (1/241) and after.

(5) It is a single, not multiple, Mushaf, so it was not circulated among the Muslims, because memorizing the Qur’an in the chests was the reference.

(6) See: The compilation of the Qur’an during the Caliphate of Uthman in “Al-Burhan fi Ulum Al-Qur’an” and “Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Qur’an” — the first by Imam Al-Zarkashi, and the second by Imam Jalal Al-Din Al-Suyuti.

(7) Because if the Qur’an had been compiled in a mushaf from the beginning, people would have relied on the written mushaf, and their interest in memorizing it would have decreased.

(8) There will be a detailed discussion of the conditions and extremely dangerous plagues that the Holy Book, both Old and New Testaments, were exposed to.

(9) Al-Baqarah: 265.

(10) Al-Muqni’ by Abu Amr Al-Dani, p. 129, edited by Muhammad Al-Sadiq Qamhawi.

(11) Al-An’am: 17.

(12) Al-Kahf: 22.

(13) Branching out is the generation of one word from another, and the letter “fa” comes as evidence of this branching out as in the noble verse.

(14) All speech is divided into two types: declarative and imperative. Any speech in which you inform someone of something that happened before or after the time of speaking is declarative speech. However, if you ask for something that did not happen at the time of speaking, such as: Obey your parents, then it is imperative speech.

(15) Al-Kahf: 17.

(16) An-Nahl: 32.

(17) An-Nisa: 171.

(18) Al-An’am: 20.

(19) They are like the signs of inflection, such as fatha, damma, kasra, and sukoon. They do not have the rules of inflection, but are merely symbols indicating them.

(20) The missionaries are those who want to tempt the general public with what they write about Islam, and they are the teachers of the Orientalists. As for the Orientalists, they aim to tempt the educated and the upper classes, and they portray Islam in a way other than its image, except for a few of them who you will find to be fair to Islam.

(21) By the history of the Qur’an, we mean its journey through its early history, until it was compiled into the Qur’ans, and the symbols and terminology that were added to this compilation to facilitate its recitation in a memorized manner, and to make it easier to comprehend the words and meanings contained in it.

(22) The Jews believe in the Old Testament alone, and disbelieve in the New Testament (the Gospels). As for the Christians, they consider the Old Testament to be part of the Holy Bible, and believe in both Testaments together.

(25) The Story of Civilization (Vol. 2, p. 367), translated by Muhammad Badran.

(26) The Story of Civilization (Vol. 2, p. 356).