those who lived after them about their circumstances. It is not part of what Allah revealed to them, nor of what they commanded during their lifetimes or told people.

The same applies to His words:

“You have no ground to stand upon until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.”

And His words:

“Had they upheld the Torah, the Gospel, and what was revealed to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed provision from above them and from beneath their feet.”

Upholding the Scripture means acting upon what Allah commanded in it, including believing what He communicated through the Messenger. What its copyists wrote after the Messenger’s death—his lifespan and similar details—is not part of what Allah revealed to the Messenger, nor of the commands or accounts conveyed. Something similar may occur in authored books: a person writes a book, and its copyist mentions at the end the author’s lifespan, lineage, age, and other details that are not the author’s own words.

For this reason, the Companions and the scholars instructed that the Quran be kept free of additions and that nothing other than the Quran be written in its written copies. Thus, neither surah names, markings for every five or ten verses, “Amen,” nor anything else should be written in them. The early copies were written in this manner by people of knowledge. In some copies, however, the copyists wrote the surah names, markings for every five or ten verses, and indications of where to pause and resume recitation. At the end of the copy, a copyist might also write an affirmation of its truth, a supplication, his name, and similar things. None of this is part of the Quran.