A Critical Analysis of Richard Bell's View Regarding the Collection and Compilation of the Qur'an in the Era of the Prophet (pbuh)

The discussion about how to collect and compilation the Holy Quran in the era of the Prophet (pbuh) is one of the important topics of Quranic sciences. Richard Bell is an English orientalist who has expressed his opinions in this regard from the perspective of his studies, opinions and beliefs. In his research, he did not consider the writing and compilation of the Qur'an complete during the time of the Holy Prophet; and he considers the reasons for this to be: the lack of writing of the Qur’an in Mecca, the forgetting of the Prophet, the failure to place all the verses in the surahs, and the formation of the core of the surahs during the era of the Prophet (pbuh). Bell considers the first compilation of the Qur'an to be related to the era of Uthman. This is despite the fact that after evaluating his reasons, it becomes clear that his arguments are not complete and according to the evidence of the Qur'an, they may have been compiled during the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Considering the special research methods of Orientalists, Bell's opinions are different from Islamic studies and sources due to having a biased view, or one-sided reliance on Sunni sources and selective use of historical texts, and can be seriously criticized.