The Preservation of Religious Scriptures -By Saliu Momodu

The thing about religious scriptures that makes us believe every single word in them, also makes us seldom question how they came about & got transmitted over the ages till a copy ended up in our hands.

Well, I’ve been enjoying some study time on the history of religious scriptures and something about the Qur’an (the Muslim Scripture) stands striking.

While efforts at preserving other Scriptures where limited to orthography & oral tradition, the Quran’s was by orthography, oral tradition & above all by mass memorization & constant recitation.

What that meant & still means is that anyone who perhaps don’t fancy the word ‘jihad’ in the Qur’an could actually do an edition to that effect and could even make & distribute a billion copies of same.

But notice the miracle. Among men, the Qur’an is ultimately preserved not in writing or in prints but in the hearts & memories of believers who constantly recite it’s verses.

In other words, you may have those editions in pages but not a single tongue would recite same as the Qur’an hence they die a natural death into extinction only for the authentic Qur’an to endure forever. Amazing isn’t it.
For example, you can’t possibly weave any story into the Qur’an about some cat (even if a cute one like this🐈).
Even if the pious cat was dancing, singing and praying to God all it’s nine lives.

You have to account for the story (oral tradition), show the script (orthography), provide living witnesses among memorizers and recount your recitation. By now, the psychiatrist would have been summoned.

So it has been with the Qur’an since the onset of it’s revelation.

Saliu Momodu.