The Sahabah (Radiyallahu anhum) & the Compilation of the Glorious Qur’aan

We come to understand that the Qur’ān went through three stages. Firstly, writing of it in the era of Rasūlullāh (Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wasallam). Secondly, its gathering in the era of Sayyidunā Abū Bakr (Raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu). And thirdly, being copied in the era of Sayyidunā ʿUthmān (Raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu). However, in all of these stages, it was the Ṣaḥābah (Raḍiyallāhu ʿanhum) that had greatly contributed to the compilation of the Qur’ān. Thus we are entirely indebted to them for the Qur’ān that we have in our hands today and for the other various details of Dīn that they had passed on to the ummah.

The great scholar, ʿAllāmah Dhahabī (Raḥimahullāhu) so beautifully and eloquently explains this in the following words:

“If it was not for the Ṣaḥābah (Raḍiyallāhu ʿanhum), no principle issue nor secondary aspect of Dīn would have reached us and we would have not known any obligatory or sunnah practice. Similarly, we would have not known any ḥadīth or tradition… For they were the best mediums and links for the reports and traditions. Finding fault in the medium is tantamount to finding a fault in the original and discrediting the reporter automatically discredits the report.”

This could be easily understood from a simple example. If someone wishes to demolish the entire ground floor of a sky scraper and leave the rest of the building standing as is. Is this possible? It’s obvious that once the ground floor is demolished, the entire building will come down crumbling. This is exactly the situation with our Dīn. The entire structure of Dīn rests on the Ṣaḥābah (Raḍiyallāhu ʿanhum) as it was they who had compiled the Qur’ān and passed on the aḥādīth to us. Once we doubt them, our entire Dīn is weakened and discredited. Hence, we need to have the highest regard and respect for the Ṣaḥābah (Raḍiyallāhu ʿanhum) for all that they have done for us and have a very deep appreciation for the services that they had rendered in preserving and passing on Dīn.