History of the Quran
In Sunni tradition, it is believed that the first caliph Abu Bakr ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to compile the written Quran, relying upon both textual fragments and the memories of those who had memorized it during Muhammad's lifetime, with the rasm being officially canonized under the third caliph Uthman ibn Affan, leading the Quran as it exists today to be known as the Uthmanic codex. Some Shia Muslims believe that the fourth caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib was the first to compile the Quran shortly after Muhammad died. The canonization process is believed to have been highly conservative, although some amount of textual evolution is also indicated by the existence of codices like the Sanaa manuscript. Beyond this, a group of researchers explores the irregularities and repetitions in the Quranic text in a way that refutes the traditional claim that it was preserved by memorization alongside writing. According to them, an oral period shaped the Quran as a text and order, and mentioned repetitions and irregularities were remnants of this period.
Some Western scholars, question the accuracy of the traditional accounts on whether the holy book existed in any form before the last decade of the seventh century ; and/or argue it is a "cocktail of texts", some of which may have been existent a hundred years before Muhammad, that evolved, or was redacted, to form the Quran. It is also possible that the content of the Quran itself may provide data regarding the date and probably nearby geography of writing of the text. Sources based on some archaeological data give the construction date of Masjid al-Haram, an architectural work mentioned 16 times in the Quran, as 78 AH an additional finding that sheds light on the evolutionary history of the Quranic texts mentioned, which is known to continue even during the time of Hajjaj, in a similar situation that can be seen with al-Aksa, though different suggestions have been put forward to explain. These structures, expected to be somewhere near Muhammad, which were placed in cities like Mecca and Jerusalem, which are thousands of kilometers apart today, with interpretations based on narrations and miracles, were only a night walk away according to the outward and literal meaning of the verse.
File:SanaaQuoranDoubleVersions.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A fragment showing part of Surat Ta-Ha; The Sanaa palimpsest is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. The most comprehensive and oldest Quranic text, containing subtext that some researchers say points to the textual development of the Quran.
A similar situation can be put forward for Mecca which casts doubt on its centrality within Islam, was not recorded as a pilgrimage center in any historical source before 741 rather than the Hejaz, and lacks pre-Islamic archaeological data.
Etymology
While there are various proposed etymologies, one is that the word 'Quran' comes from the Arabic verb qaraʾa in the verbal noun pattern fuʿlān, thus resulting in the meaning 'reading'.Others are that it is a name given to the book by God, without any previous etymology, that the word comes from the verb qarana, referring to the gathering together of revelation, and that it comes from qarāʾin, the plural of a word variously translatable as 'evidence', 'yoke', 'union'.
Nine out of the ten imams of recitation have it read in their tradition with a hamza, as Qur'ān, with only Ibn Kathir's tradition excluding the letter, reading it instead as Qurān.
Traditional history of the Qur'an
According to the Islamic tradition, the revelation of the Quran to the Islamic prophet Muhammad began in 610 CE when the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad in the cave of Hira. The revelations started one night during the month of Ramadan in 610 CE, when Muhammad, at the age of forty, received the first visit from the angel Gabriel, reciting to him the first verses of Surah Al-Alaq. Muslims believe that Muhammad continued to have revelations until his death in 632 CE. The Quran uses the term to describe Muhammad. The majority of Muslim scholars interpret this word as a reference to an illiterate individual, though some modern scholars instead interpret it as a reference to those who belong to a community without a scripture.According to the narration attributed to Muhammad's wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid by the hadith collector Bukhari, who lived 250 years after Muhammad, the story is as follows; Gabriel visited Muhammad and asked him to recite. Muhammad responded ma ana bīqāre'u, which could be translated into a number of ways: 'I do not read' or 'what am I to read/recite?' or 'I will not read/recite'. Gabriel pressed him "until all the strength went out of me; thereupon he released me and said: 'Read!'" This was repeated three times and upon the third, Gabriel released him and said, "Read in the name of the Sustainer who created humankind from a clot! Read! And your Sustainer is the most Beautiful." After this Muhammad continued to have revelations sporadically over a period of twenty-three years, until shortly before his death in 11/632. It was also reported that the experience was painful for Muhammad. "Never once did I receive a revelation without thinking that my soul had been torn away from me."
File:Map of the Three Arabias Excerpted Partly from the Arab of Nubia Partly from Several Other Authors.png|upright=1.2|thumb|Carte des trois Arabies: Non-Islamic testimonies about Muhammad's life describe him as the leader of the Saracens, believed to be descendants of Ishmael, lived in the regions Arabia Petrae and Arabia Deserta in the north. According to some sources, Muhammad is not a name but a title.
The Quran emphasizes that Muhammad was required only to receive the sacred text and that he had no authority to change it. After Muhammad would receive revelations, he would later recite it to his Companions, who also memorized it or wrote it down. The practice of memorizing the whole Quran is still practised among Muslims. In the context of 7th-century Arabia, people had a penchant for recited poetry and competitions that featured the recitation of elaborate poetry were of great interest.
In Pre-Islamic Arabia, the society during the time of Muhammad was predominantly oral, and it is unknown whether the Quran was ever written and collected during the time of Muhammad. While writing was not a common skill during Muhammad's time, Mecca, being a commercial center, had a number of people who could write. Some scholars believe that several scribes including Zayd ibn Thabit and Ubay ibn Ka'b recorded verses of the Quran. This provides an explanation as to how the Quran existed in written form during the life of Muhammad, even if it was not compiled into one text.
Another story attributed to Ibn Abbas is this; "the prophet recited the book before Gabriel every year in the month of Ramadan, and in the month in which he died he recited it before him twice." The term 'recite', which is used here, is referring to the custom where a Quranic scholar recites the entire Quran from beginning to end a number of times before a senior scholar. According to this tradition the act of recital is being performed by Muhammad, with the angel Gabriel playing the role of superior authority. In one of the hadith Muhammad is recorded as saying: "I leave among you two things of high estimation: the Book of God and my Family." Some scholars argue that this provides evidence that the Quran had been collected and written during this time because it is not correct to call something al-kitab when it is merely in the memories. The word al-kitab signifies a single and united entity and does not apply to a text which is scattered and not collected. However, Alan Jones has explored the use of this word in the Quran, finding that there is no evidence that it was used in such a "concrete sense" in reference to the Quran and other scriptures, but instead evidence points to an "abstract meaning". It can be accepted that the compilation of existing written material cannot be considered a complete text due to the expectation of additional revelation during Muhammad's lifetime, as well as Naskh accepted of by some scholars..
Abu Bakr
According to Sunni scholars, during the life of Muhammad parts of the Quran, though written, were scattered among his companions, much of it as private possession. After the Battle of Yamama in 633, when 70 Muslims who had memorized the Quran were killed, steps began to be taken to collate the body of material. The death of Salim Mawla Abi Hudhayfa was most significant, as he was one of the very few who had been entrusted by Muhammad to teach the Quran. Consequently, upon Umar's insistence, Abu Bakr ordered the collection of the hitherto scattered pieces of the Quran into one copy, assigning Zayd ibn Thabit, Muhammad's primary scribe, to gather the written fragments held by different members of the community. Ibn Thabit noted:Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani draws special attention to Zayd's statement, "I found two verses of Sura al-Bara'a with Abu Khuzaima al-Ansari," as demonstrating that Zayd's own writings and memorization were not deemed sufficient. Everything required verification. The compilation was kept by the Caliph Abu Bakr, after his death by his successor, Caliph Umar, who on his deathbed gave them to Hafsa bint Umar, his daughter and one of Muhammad's widows.