I have often wondered about the compilation of the Koran. Muslim speakers will often claim that it is so beautiful that it has to come from God, but when you ask them to pinpoint specific verses that are especially beautiful to them they are usually unable to identify any. Which either means that all verses are equally beautiful to them, or they are simply regurgitating stuff they have been told and have not actually been emotionally moved by any of it themselves.
Apparently Muhammad had something like 42 scribes that would write down his Koran recitations for him. These guys were probably assembled from some of the greatest poets of the various tribes of Arabia. I was reading nj7's
website, he discusses this guy called Hassan ibn Thabit who was one of Mo's scribes but was also a poet in the Pre-Islamic Age and wrote a poem that mirrors the Dhu'l Qarnayn story from the Koran. It seems like far too much of a coincidence that his pre-Islamic poetry happens to be on the exact same subject as a part of the Koran. I get the feeling that some of these "scribes" were in on the lie. Otherwise why would he need so many scribes? Obviously these guys were re-wording Mo's recitations and coming up with more poetic styles, and even adding in their own stories, or telling Mo their stories which he would then retell slightly differently and claim it came from God.
Anyway I started doing a little more research on this and discovered that the history records have preserved the story of one of Mo's scribe who was aware of Mo's big lie and decided to go Mecca and tell all the Meccans that Mo was making up the Koran as he went along, his name was Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh, and there is a youtube video about him here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-3iSi2V3UEWhen Mo conquered Mecca he wanted this guy killed. Obviously this was to silence him, otherwise why else would you need to kill your former scribe?
I am pretty sure that this story is not in a "Sahih" hadith, but who cares! Obviously devout Muslims are not going to be carefully preserving stories that make Mo look like a liar, history is of course written by the winners.
Anyway, what do other people here know about Mo's various scribes?
Topic: Muhammad's scribes