INTRODUCTION
Qur'a.n were collected and all the surahs (chapters) named under the direct instruction of the Prophet himself. The process of collection was that whenever the verses were revealed the Prophet directed his scribes, the chief of whom was Zaid bin Th!bit, to place verses of similar nature together in one surah (chapter} and himself gave the name to each siirah. Sometimes it so happened that verses of two surabs were revealed simultaneously, and the Prophet got them recorded separately so as_ to avoid confusion Thus towards the close of the Prophet's life all the verses had been arranged and surahs named. · What was done- by ealiph Abu Bakr was to arrange these surahs in the order suggested by the Holy Prophet, and no more. The third Caliph 'Uthman simply issued an official copy ofthe Qur'an (which was an exact copy of that prepared by Abu Bakr), gave it publicity and forbade the use of other copies (which differed from the official one only in the method of reading), so that- different readings might not lead to differences of .doctrine, such as have actually occ11rred in other religions. Thus there were three stages in the assembling together of the verses of the Qur'an in a volume. The first was Collection, and that -was made during the lifetime of the Proohet himself ; the second was Compilation (in the shape of a book), and t.hat was effected by CaUph Abu Bakr at the request of 'Umar, and _the third stage was Enforcement or Publicity,· and that was given by Caliph 'Uthman. 1 t. I quQte but a few out of many piects of reliable evidence availc~.ble in support of the facts 1 have set out above. -. (1) J:ludll.ifah, a Companion of the Prophet, narrate_s that the _Prophet recit11d certain verses of the siirah Baqarab (Chap. II). of Al-i-•Imriin{ Chap. 111) and of Nisii' (Chap. IV) in some of his pr~yers, _ (2) It is recorded in $a~i~ al-Bukhari, the most authentic book of l;tadith, that the Prophet recited certain ver;es ()f A·raf (Chap, Vll) in prayers, . _ (3), Several traditions in the viuit.tlS ,book~ of I:Iadith unmistakably show th'at the C:>mpanions knew tb.:J narues of the liifierent siirahs which the_ Prophet recite<l, partially or wholly, in his prayers from time to time.