This complete recitation would have no meaning if the Qur'an...

This complete recitation would have no meaning if the Qur'an had not been present as a complete structured whole as the meaning of a complete recitation (khatma) is to begin at the beginning of a book and to end at the end of it.30 The Prophet (S) said: 'Whoever completes a recitation of the Qur'an, it is as if he has reached the station of prophethood except that he does not receive revelation.' 31 The Prophet (S) also said: 'When the believer reads the Qur'an, Allah looks upon him with mercy and for each verse gives him one-thousand Houris and for each letter gives him a light on the path.

When he completes a recitation of the Qur'an, Allah rewards him with the reward of three-hundred and thirteen prophets who carried out the message of their Lord, and it is as if he has read every book that Allah has sent down upon His prophets, and Allah forbids his body from the fire and forgives him and his parents their sins.' 32 'Abdullah Ibn Mas'oud and Ubayy Ibn Ka'b and others completed recitations of the Qur'an in front of the Prophet (S) a number of times.

If the Qur'an had not been gathered together during his lifetime then this would not have been possible. 28 The Qur'an: The Prophet Hud (11): 1. 29 The Qur'an: The Prophet Abraham (14): 1. 30 In the lexicon Lisan al-'Arab, under the word khatama, a person khatama the Qur'an if he reads it to the end.

In the dictionary Al-Wasit, khatama means to complete something and reach the end and finish with it, and it is said 'finish the Qur'an.' In the dictionary al-Munjid, it means to read the entire Qur'an. 31 Usul al-Kafi: vol.2, p.604. In the book Mutashabih al-Qur'an, the author says: It is proven that the Prophet (S) read the Qur'an, compiled it and ordered that it be written down in this form.

Every year he would read it for the Angel Gabriel once except the year of his death when he read it for him twice. A group of the companions recited it in its entirety in front of the Prophet among them Ubayy Ibn Ka'b.

'Abdullah Ibn Mas'oud recited it ten times in front of the Prophet.33 In the book Seas of Lights, the great scholar al-Majlisi says: 'Al- Bukhari, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhi in their authenticated collections of hadith relate from Anas: 'The Qur'an was collected during the lifetime of the Prophet by four men of the Ansar: Ubayy Ibn Ka'b, Mu'adh Ibn Jabal, Abu Zaid, and Zaid Ibn Thabit.34 4.