Just a few years after the death of the Prophet (SAW) the Caliph Uthman (R) set up a committee of famous sahaaba to compile all the various skins and bones with verses from the Quran written on them and compare them to the memorisation of the hundreds of Companions who had memorised the Quran directly. This was also compared to the master copy kept with Hafsa (Ra) - one of the Prophet (SAW)'s wives.

The result was 5 master copies were created and sent to the 4 corners of the Islamic Empire with one being kept in Medina with Uthman (R) himself. Today these precious earliest copies of the Quran are kept in the Hast Imam Mosque of Tashkent, the Imam Hussein Mosque in Cairo and Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

Interestingly, Uthman (R) was assassinated while reading his copy of the Quran (claimed to be the one in Topkapi Palace.) His blood fell on the parchment covering the Ayahs "... and do not spill the blood of the believers."

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3 year old Fareh Abdur Rahman from Algeria is no ordinary child. While the kids his age are still mastering the art of walking and trying to string together sentences with any meaning he is busy reciting the Quran. In numerous appearances he has shown a precocious ability that is as impressive as it is cute. May Allah bless his mother and father who taught him the best of speech. Enjoy...

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This story is of a little girl named Bar`ah who is 10 years old, her parents were doctors who moved to Saudi Arabia in search of better life. At this age, Bar`ah memorized the whole Quran with tajweed. She suffers with Brain Cancer. See how the Sheikh is unable to stop crying as she recites from the heart. As long as parents give birth to children such as her, there is hope for our Ummah yet - inshaAllah.

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Here at ULU ISoc, we want to take time out to reflect on the Quran. For far too long Muslims have used the Quran more as a talisman and less as a Users Guide to life. So for the next week, the Unity Blog will be bringing you interesting and sensational posts all about the last testament to humanity, the greatest miracle, the final revelation of God -

The Quran

Don't Forget the Quran

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Does hypocrisy know no bounds? Only last week, the media were railing against multiple Muslim speakers for allegedly being anti-semitic. But when Geert Wilders, the notorious Dutch politician is invited to the House of Lords to screen his movie of hate - Fitna - denouncing Islam and the Quran . It is not a surprising to anyone that not a word was uttered in anger.

Muslims have come to expect such two-faced double dealing by now. We have realised that we are seen as an existential threat to virtually every one else. We are learning that the lessons from the dark and inglorious history of Europe (Colonialism, World Wars, the Holocaust etc...) are being forgotten. We are being reminded the truth that is in the Quran:

"They seek to extinguish the Light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His Light, much as the unbelievers may dislike it."                                         [Quran 61:8]

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MEDINA: JUNE 8, 632. Within hours of the Prophet (SAW) dying, the Ansar had gathered in the courtyard of Bani Saidah above. There they sat and debated which of them would take over. A few Muhajir Sahaabas were informed and hurried to the scene. After some discussion and debate, Zaid ibn Thabit (R) and another prominent Ansar Sahaabi both declared that the Ansar did not seek power and that they would remain the Ansar of whoever took over from the Prophet (SAW.) Umar (R) grabbed Abu Bakr (R)'s hand and pledged allegiance and all the Muslims rushed to do the same. In the garden above, the first Caliph of Islam was declared.

ISTANBUL: MARCH 4, 1924. Almost 1400 years later, Abdul Majeed II is reading the Quran alone by himself in the Library of the Dolmabache palace. He sits at the table above reading by candlelight. A messenger arrives at the door announcing the abolition of the Caliphate. thus, at some time after midnight and before Fajr on the 4th of March the 101st Caliph of Islam left his home and went into exile. He died in France and was buried in Jannat Al Baqi. In the Library above, an Ummah was brought to its knees and an unbroken line of Commanders of the Faithful came to an end. May Allah have mercy on us and reunite us once more under the shade of the Khilafah.

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Please click on the hyperlinked image below to read the latest issue of ISocNews!

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Charles Hassan Le Gai Eaton passed away on the 26th of Feb, 2010. Some know him as a brilliant Muslim philosipher, others have read the various books he has written. The majority of Muslims however will not have heard of him and would not have realised he has passed away... and that is a shame.

Gai Eaton was so much more than just another intellectual British man who converted to Islam - he was also a thinker and a someone who truly pondered over the deep questions about life. Why are we here? What is it that we want? How can we get to the destination? Having converted in the early 1950's, Gai Eaton had been Muslim long before even many of our parents were born.

A da'ee to the day he died, we should make duaa that Allah has mercy on him and us inshaAllah.

Inna lillahi wa innaa ilayhi raji'un - "Indeed, to Allah we Belong and to Him we will most certain return."

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Muslim students are used to being talked about as a latent evil just one short step away from being radicalised into mindlessly violence. So used to it, in fact, that when the President of Ireland turned up to the Islam Awareness Week finale in the Royal College of Surgeons (Dublin) they sat back waiting to hear what they would be accused of next.

But instead of a diatribe, Mary McAleese gave a short talk on how much she appreciated the contribution of Muslim students to Ireland and how (shock, horror) Islam Awareness Week was actually  " the path to understanding and I hope that as the week comes to a close more and more people will have joined the journey of mutual understanding which is so essential for the development of a tolerant, peaceful, safe and nurturing society.”

They even briefly showed the Charity Week Video of 2009 to an impressed audience. In a day and age when you're used to having the media filled with diatribe after diatribe against everything even tangentially associated with Islam - it makes a nice change.

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Come to our next Monthly Circle on the 3rd of March from 2 - 4PM @ LSE!

*** NOTE: The Room has been changed to 108 ***

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