Jam al-Quran al-Karim fi Ahd al-Khulafa al-Rashidin - Fahd al-Rumi
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Jam' al-Qur'an al-Karim fi 'Ahd al-Khulafa' al-Rashidin (The Compilation of the Noble Qur'an in the Era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs) is a specialized treatise on Quranic sciences by the Saudi scholar Fahd ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Rumi, examining the historical compilation and preservation of the Qur'an during the early Caliphate .
Background and Context
The work was originally composed as a research contribution for the symposium Care of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Noble Qur'an and Its Sciences, organized by the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Medina and held between 4–7 Jumada al-Akhirah 1421 AH (2–5 September 2000 CE) . At the time of its preparation, the author served as a professor of Quranic studies at the Teachers' College in Riyadh .
In terms of scope, al-Rumi restricted his focus strictly to the official compilations undertaken during the reigns of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and Uthman ibn Affan, dismissing unofficial personal compilations as lacking authentic basis . Furthermore, he deliberately excluded polemical doubts and objections (shubuhat) regarding the Quranic text from the study, because that subject constituted a separate, designated theme within the broader symposium .
Structure and Content
The work spans roughly 42 pages and is organized into an introduction, a preliminary section (tamhid), three core chapters (mabahith), and a conclusion :
- Preliminary Section: Defines the Qur'an both linguistically and technically, clarifies the conceptual meaning of Quranic compilation (jam'), and explains the relationship between the Qur'anic text and the variant readings (qira'at) .
- First Chapter: Examines the compilation of the Qur'an under the caliphate of Abu Bakr across six subsections, detailing Abu Bakr's era, the motives and causes behind the compilation, the appointment of Zayd ibn Thabit to execute it, the methodology and physical writing materials employed, and the outcomes and benefits of the project .
- Second Chapter: Investigates the compilation during the caliphate of Uthman across eight subsections, analyzing Uthman's era, the causes necessitating the compilation, the members of the designated drafting committee, the compilation procedures, the number of distributed codices and their regional destinations, the theological status of Quranic orthography (rasm) as divinely ordained (tawqifi) or conventional, the writing proficiency of the Companions, and the results achieved .
- Third Chapter: Contains two comparative subsections, the first addressing the distinguishing differences between Abu Bakr's and Uthman's compilations, and the second analyzing the preservation and consideration of the seven modes of revelation (al-ahruf al-sab'ah) across both initiatives .
- Conclusion: Summarizes the primary findings and historical conclusions of the study .
Method
The author relies directly on classical source material and documents biographical entries for historical figures mentioned throughout the text in the footnotes, while placing the detailed biographical accounts of Abu Bakr, Uthman, and the members of the compilation committee within the main body of the work due to their central roles in the historical events .
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