In my many years of speaking with Muslims about Islam and Christianity, I am always met with the same argument: “The Bible has been changed, it has many languages and translations, whereas the Quran has only one translation and its language and has never been corrupted!”. Through these claims, Muslims attack the very core faith of Christians which is the Bible, the word of God. Muslims are absolutely incorrect in their assertion that the Quran has never been changed. I’d like to take this opportunity to examine Islam’s claims that the Quran has not been changed and that today’s version is the original manuscript.
In early Islam, there were many versions of the Quran that were written in different Arabic dialects and reading traditions called Qirarat. According to Islamic tradition, the Quran was revealed in seven ahruf, translated as ‘styles’, ‘ways’, ‘forms’ and ‘modes’. Before the first Quran was compiled, the early writings of Muhammed’s followers were called Mushafs. The first Quran was commissioned to be compiled by Islam’s first Caliph, Abu Bakr. When completed, it was also known as ‘al-Mushaf’ meaning written verses or pages”.
These writings or Mushafs were written on different materials such as paper, leaves, flat bone and rock. Some of these original Mushafs have disappeared over time, while others all of which belong to the Uthmanic standardized Quran (except for one – the Sana’a manuscripts) are displayed in various mosques, museums and libraries around the world. Islam’s third caliph, Uthman‘s standardisation of the Quran and destruction of non-conforming mus’hafs has been held by some scholars to have eliminated all the ahruf except one, although the extent to which the Uthmanic codex contains the seven ahruf has been a subject of debate.
According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Quran, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632 A.D., the year of his death. Incidentally, Muslims believe that during these 22 years, the angel Gabriel orally revealed the Quran to Muhammed. Muhammed did not actually write the Quran as he was illiterate and did not know how to read or write. The revelations were written by Muhammed’s companions known as Sahabas.
My conclusion is that the Quran that Muslims have today is not an original.
Islam’s Caliphs Commission Compilation Of The Quran
After Muhammed’s death, Islamic political leaders called Caliphs succeeded Muhammed. In the 14 years after his death, Islam had 3 Caliphs. The first Caliph was Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (who reigned for only 2 years before he died of an illness). During his reign at the fierce battle of Yamama, 700 Muslims died. Among the dead were 70 “Qaris” (people who knew Muhammed’s revelations by heart). At this point, most of the best of the Qaris’ had died. Sahih Bukhari 6:61:509
Realizing oral tradition could be lost, Umar ibn al-Khattab, who later became Islam’s second Caliph, urged Abu Bakr to compile the Quran into a book. Islam’s first Calipha, Abu Bakr commissoned Zayd ibn Thabit, one of Muhammed’s scribes, to assemble the Quran. According to tradition, several of Muhammed’s companions (Sahabahs) served as his scribes and recorded the revelations he would speak of. Shortly after Muhammed’s death, the Quran was compiled by the 12 companions of Muhammed who had written down or memorized parts of it.
During its compilation, Zayd, being charged with the task of its collection, states:
“I started looking for the Quran and collecting it from (what was written on) palm-leaf stalks, thin white stones, and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last [two] verse[s] of Surat at-Tauba (repentance) with Abi Khuzaima al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him.” Sahih Bukhari 6:61:509
Despite its difficulty, the first Quran was compiled in 634 A.D and was known as “al-Mushaf”. Upon Abu Bakr’s death, the Mushaf was given to Umar ibn al-Khattab (who later became Islam’s second Caliph). After Umar’s death, the Mushaf was given to Hafsa, one of Muhammed’s wives and daughter of the second Caliphate (Umar ibn al-Khattab). It would later be known as the ‘Hafsa Codex’.
Differing Recitations Leads To Destruction Of Early Manuscripts
As Islam began to grow, Muslims in different regions began arguing about the differing recitations they were hearing due to the difference in dialects. Muslims began to read and recite the Quran with different accents and dialects, completing, compromising and changing the meaning of some verses. Civil unrest and conflict between tribes and regions ensued as many were being declared unbelievers (takfir).
Upon hearing this, the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, commissioned 4 people to retrieve Hafsa’s codex and duplicate it in the Quraishi dialect, which was Muhammed’s dialect. Over a period of 5 years, the commission compiled the Quran. Once complete, seven master copies were made and each one was sent to the different regions where Islam was growing (Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Yaman, Mecca, Bahrain and Medina).
Uthman then ordered for all fragmentary and whole copies of the Quran that did not conform to the new version to be burned. All copies of the Quran were to be in compliance with the new version and others were ordered to be burned. Hafsa’s codex was returned to her, but after Hafsa’s death, her codex was also believed to be destroyed by Marwan, the governor of Medina.
When Uthman ordered all other manuscripts and fragments of the Quran to be destroyed, some companions of Muhammed, such as Abdullah bin Mas’ud refused to hand over their codex. Mas’ud was one of the companions of Muhammed. He was the first individual that Muhammed deemed as the best authority, reciter and teacher of the Quran. He heard about 70 Suras (chapters) of the Quran directly from Muhammed. Muhammad ordered Muslims to learn the Quran from four individuals and the first of them was Abdullah bin Mas’ud. Mas’ud had a codex that was well known and agreed upon by many Muslims.
Mas’ud said,
“I have not led them [the people of Kufa] astray. There is no verse in the Book of Allah that I do not know where it was revealed and why it was revealed, and if I knew anyone more learned in the Book of Allah and I could be conveyed there, I would set out to him”.Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, p.14
When Uthman ordered the destruction of Ibn Mas’ud’s codex, Ibn Mas’ud gave a sermon to the people in Kufa and said,
“Conceal the manuscripts! I like it better to read according to the recitation of him (Prophet) whom I love more than that of Zayd Ibn Thabit. By Him besides Whom there is no god! I learnt more than seventy surahs from the lips of the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, while Zayd Ibn Thabit was a youth, having two locks and playing with the youth” Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Vol. 2, p.444
Source: https://theislamissue.wordpress.com/2020/08/25/the-fate-of-the-ibn-masud-codex/
From al-Bidaya wal al-Nihaya 7/244 by ibn Kathir: The people gathered around him and told him “Stay and do not go. We will protect you from anything that might harm you.” And he said: “I owe him [Uthman] my obedience and there will be conflicts and tribulations and I do not want to be the one that starts them.” So he refused the people and traveled to Uthman.
Ibn Masud was very clear with his words that the only reason he capitulated to the government is for the purpose of unity and to prevent a civil war, not that he thought that the Uthman Quran was correct.
The reports after this differ slightly but have the same central narrative. Ibn Masud went to Uthman in the prophets mosque, was insulted by Uthman, words were exchanged and Uthman had him violently thrown out where he had ribs broken. He was banned from leaving Medina and his pension was severed for the rest of his life. He died around the age of 60 in Medina.
Despite the attempts to have his Quran erased from the world by Uthman, its textual variants survived throughout the centuries fragmented and passed on through the tabiun such as Qatadah Diamah, Mujahid Jabr, Alqama, Muqatil Sulayman, Sufyan Al-Thawri, Atta Rabah, Ibn Juraij and Al-Amash among others.
On top of these variations, Ibn Masud also believed that whole chapters of the current Quran should not have been included:
Narrated Zirr ibn Hubaysh: ‘I met Ubai bin Ka’b and said to him: ‘Ibn Masud used to remove the verses of refuge from the Quranic codices, saying: ‘Both of them are not part of the Quran and do not include in it what is not part of it”.
Despite the burning by Uthman and the capitulation of Ibn Masud, the Kufans still used his readings for at least 5 decades after the Uthman recension. At this time, an initiative was created by Al-Hajjaj Al-Yusuf and heavily endorsed by the central government, to completely eliminate all textual variations and make a standardised Quran to regain political image for the Umayyad government, wildly unpopular after a massive civil war between them and their opponents.
Initially, Mas’ud refused to hand over his codex and was beaten at the command of Uthman. The Uthmanic Quran we have today was rejected by Ibn Mas’ud, whom the prophet of Islam himself approved of. Uthman’s codex had differences from Mas’ud’s. Eventually, Masud surrendered his codex which was subsequently destroyed and the Uthmanic version of the Quran took precedence and was confirmed as the official version.
19 years after the first Quran was compiled, Islam’s third Caliph, Uthman established a standardized version known as the Uthmanic codex which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran today. Literary evidence makes it clear that not everybody gave up their non-Uthmanic codices and that non-Uthmanic variances were handed down by prominent scholars. Ibn Masud’s codex in particular continued to have supporters and physical copies of such codices did exist in the early centuries.
Even after Uthman’s standardization, Uthman’s codex is also said to have variances to the skeletal text called “skeletal morphemic” text changes, usually changing one word to another. For example, the Syria codex changes the word “makes you spread” to “makes you journey”, thus completely changing the meaning of the verse. Different cities had variations in their Qurans which scholars believed must have been introduced in Medina, as the texts were copied off one another before being dispatched to further cities. Different cities continued their own reading traditions (Qirarat).
The history of the compilation of the Quran clearly shows that the original versions of the Quran, which differed from the current Uthmanic version, were destroyed. Thus, debunking Islam’s claims that the Quran has not been corrupted. Since the original Mushafs were written in each Companion’s dialect, they were not similar in translation or meaning. So then, in an effort to prevent conflict and confusion, Uthman ordered for a standardized version to be created.
In 1972, a cache of ancient Quranic manuscripts was discovered in a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, known as the Sana’a Manuscripts. Believed to be produced no more than 15 years after Muhammed’s death, the manuscripts appeared to have 2 layers of writing where the first layer was written and then some time later, was erased and a 2nd layer of text was written on top of it to replace the original text. Through examining the two texts known as the upper and lower text, German scholar Gerd Rudiger Puin concluded that the Quran as we have it, is a ‘cocktail of texts’, some perhaps preceding Muhammed’s day by 100 years.
The lower text does not belong to the Uthmanic textual tradition, and it is also distinct from those of Companions Ibn Masud and Ubayy b. Ka’ab. The text we have today has definitely evolved as evidenced when compared to the Sana’a manuscripts in the sudden changes of text pronouns from singular to plural, as well as the rhyming style of writing. The change in length of verses and the 2nds to 3rd person writing styles all suggest different hands have been at work. The types of variants found in the Sana’a manuscripts were additions, omissions, substitutions and transpositions of words.
All extant manuscripts of the Quran today belong to the standardized Uthmanic text, with the exception of the lower writings of the Sana’a manuscript. Upon studying the Sana’a manuscripts, scholars have concluded that the differences amongst the codices of Muhammed’s companions appear to have motivated an attempt to standardize the Quran.
During Uthman’s reign as Caliph, Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr (Islam’s first Caliph) and wife of Muhammed, played a leading role in the opposition against Uthman.
Scholars like Ibn Ishaaq, a muslim historian and hagiographer, concludes that Muhammed included Judeo-Christian tales heard from others in the region. Many Hadith (books containing the life, actions and sayings of Muhammed), even account Muhammed spending much time with Christians in order to understand the Quran.
There are also verses in the Quran which instruct those who have questions about the Quran to ask Christians and Jews.
Surah Yunus 10:94 – If you ˹O Prophet˺ are in doubt about ˹these stories˺ that We have revealed to you, then ask those who read the Scripture before you.
Surah Al-Maidah 5:68 – Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “O People of the Book! You have nothing to stand on unless you observe the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.”
Among the seven canonical reading traditions of the Quran, the reading tradition of Hafs, a significant figure in the art of Quran reading and primary transmitter of one of the 7 canonical methods of recitation, has become the most popular amongst today’s Muslim world. Yet Muslim scholars say he was a liar, plagarizer and thief.
Liar:
Al-Bukhari: “He was rejected by the compilers of biographical dictionaries.”
Al-Nasa’i: “I consider him [Hafs] untrustworthy and the traditions he transmitted were not recorded.”
Ibn Kharash: “Hafs was a liar, and was rejected for fabricating traditions.”
Ibn Hayyan: “He used to change the chains of transmission, and even fabricated chains for those traditions that did not have ones.”
[Prolegomena to the Quran by Al-Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Musawi al-Khu’i, p. 95 – 96]
Plagiarizer and Thief:
“Shuba said: Hafs took a book from me and never returned it. He also said, Hafs used to take people’s books and copy them.”
[Al- Bukhari, Al-Duwafaa-Al-Sagheer, p. 35]
Scholars have concluded that any text like the Quran that has been scribed and copied through oral and written tradition will naturally contain “errors of the mind” as classified by Metzger. Over the course of hundreds of copyings, the manuscripts naturally accumulate noise such as: changes due to copyists discretion, his choice of spelling conventions or error and contamination due to influence from another tradition.
Even the most meticulous scribe was only as good as the manuscript he was copying, which would have incorporated the changes accumulated in the course of the earlier copyings of both careful and careless scribes.
However, the Quran displays more than just errors of the mind and accumulated noise. The Uthmanic manuscripts encompassed several different types of variants. DIfferences in vowel markings and hamza markings were discovered, markings that would differentiate one consonant from another as well as spelling differences that change the word, its pronunciation and its meaning.
The journal essay “The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Quran’ by Benham Sadeghi and Uwe Bergmann, pages 80-94 outline the different variances between the Uthmanic manuscripts and the Sana’a manuscripts.
The codex of Ibn Masud reportedly did not have the last 2 Surahs (chapters) of the Uthmanic Quran. The codices of Masud and Ubayy b. Kaab, also has the Surahs arranged in different orders. Among the reports about the different companion codices, one tradition (report) stands out because of its methodical nature. It is a report of the prominent second century Kufan traditionist and Quran reciter, Sulayman b. Mihran al-Amas. He lists over 150 points where Ibn Masud’s reading is different. The list included many letter variants (such as ‘and’ instead of a punctuation) as well as more important variations such as substitutions, transpositions, additions and omissions of words.
Among the variants in Ibn Masud and Ubayy b Kaab’s codices, several are deviating from what is considered standard, normal or expected from a text that has been written through dictation or orality They add large new clauses and phrases absent in the Uthmanic text that are not explainable in terms of the normal aural (sense of hearing) dimension of dictation.
In his book, Professor of Islamic studies, Hossein Modaressi, p. 13-14 notes “the very fact that Uthman standardized the Quran, suggests that there were different versions”.
In an attempt to disqualify Jesus and the Bible, Muslims use the fact that the bible has different translations to prove it has been changed. Since researching the Quran’s sketchy history, it perplexes me as to how Islam can claim that their Quran has not been corrupted. Christians should not be fooled by Muslims who take pride in the fact that the Quran has not been changed as this is not true.
Any text that has been passed down through oral tradition is bound to have variances because of natural human error. To claim that the Quran has never been changed is a complete fabrication and lie.
References:
Sadeghi, Behnam, and Uwe Bergmann. “The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Quran of the Prophet.” Arabica, vol. 57, no. 4, 2010, pp. 343–436.
https://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-bible-not-corrupted-early-muslims.htm
Why do Muslims believe the text of the Bible has been corrupted?
The Quran declares the Bible to be a true revelation of God and demands faith in the Bible. Sura 2:40-42,126,136,285; 3:3,71,93; 4:47,136; 5:47-51, 69,71-72; 6:91; 10:37,94; 21:7; 29:45,46; 35:31; 46:11
- All these above texts presuppose the availability of the true revelation of God to the people of Muhammad’s day. Sura 3:71,93; 10:94; 21:71
- A true Muslim is obliged to believe in all the revelations of God. Sura 2:136; 4:136; 29:46
- The Quran makes no distinction between God’s revelations Sura 2:136
The Quran claims that NO ONE can change the Word of God. Sura 6:34; 10:34
Why Do Muslims Believe The Bible Is Corrupted?
In 1064, Ibn-Khazem, a Spanish-born Arab theologian, philosopher, and jurist FIRST charged that the Bible had been corrupted and the Bible falsified. This charge was to defend Islam against Christianity because Ibn-Khazem come upon differences and contradiction between the Bible and the Quran. Believing, by faith that the Quran was true, the Bible must then be false. He said, “Since the Quran must be true it must be the conflicting Gospel texts that are false. But Muhammad tells us to respect the Gospel. Therefore, the present text must have been falsified by the Christians after the time of Muhammad.” His argument was not based on any evidence or historical facts but only on his personal faith, reasoning and desire to safeguard the Quran. This led him to teach that, “The Christians lost the revealed Gospel except for a few traces which God has left intact as argument against them.”
Many great MUSLIM teachers DO NOT believe the Bible has been corrupted and ACCEPT the authenticity of our PRESENT New Testament texts.
- Ali al-Tabari (died 855) accepted the Gospel texts
- Amr al-Ghakhiz (869) ” ” ” “
- BUKHARI (810-870) ” ” ” ” (he gathered some of the earliest tradition of Islam quoted the Quran itself to support his belief in the text of the Bible Sura 3:72,78)
- Al-Mas’udi (956) ” ” ” “
- Abu Ali Husain Bin Sina (1037)” ” “
- AL-GHAZZALI (1111) ” ” ” ” (probably the greatest Muslim scholar he lived after Ibn-Khazem but did not accept his teachings)
- Ibn-Khaldun (1406) ” ” ” ” ” ” (he lived after Ibn-Khazem but did not accept his teachings but rather believed the earlier Islamic teachers.)
- Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, founder of the Aligarh College “In the opinion of us Mohammedans it is not proved that corruption (tahrif-i-lafzi)…was practiced.”
- Fakhruddin Razi, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, a nephew of Muhammed, “The Jews and early Christians were suspected of altering the text of the Taurat and Injil; but in the opinion of eminent doctors and theologians it was not practicable thus to corrupt the text, because those Scriptures were generally known and widely circulated, having been handed down from generation to generation.”
HAFS – Abū ‘Amr Ḥafs ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Abi Dawud al-Asadī al-Kūfī (Arabic: أبو عمر حفص بن سليمان بن المغيرة الأسدي الكوفي), better known as Hafs (706–796 CE; 90–180 AH according to the Islamic calendar)
Liar:
Al-Bukhari: “He was rejected by the compilers of biographical dictionaries.”
Al-Nasa’i: “I consider him untrustworthy and the traditions he transmitted were not recorded.”
Ibn Kharash: “Hafs was a liar, and was rejected for fabricating traditions.”
Ibn Hayyan: “He used to change the chains of transmission, and even fabricated chains for those traditions that did not have ones.”
[Prolegomena to the Quran by Al-Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Musawi al-Khu’i, p. 95 – 96]
Plagiarizer and Thief:
“Shuba said: Hafs took a book from me and never returned it. He also said, Hafs used to take people’s books and copy them.”
[Al- Bukhari, Al-Duwafaa-Al-Sagheer, p. 35]
Examples of these variants that these men passed down include Ibn Masud reciting Quran 51:48 as إني أنا instead of ٱللَّهَ هُوَ (Tirmhidi 2940), Quran 3:81 as وإذ أخذ الله ميثاق الذين أوتوا الكتاب instead of وَإِذْ أَخَذَ ٱللَّهُ مِيثَٰقَ ٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ لَمَآ ءَاتَيْتُكُم مِّن كِتَٰبٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ (tafsir Tabari for Quran 3:81), Quran 17:23 as ووصى instead of وَقَضَىٰ (Tabarani 8598), Quran 62:9 with فامضوا instead of فاسعوا (tafsir Manthur 8/161), Quran 93:8 with عديما instead of عائلا (tafsir Manthur 8/544), Quran 4:40 with نملة instead of ذرة (Tafsir Thalabi 3/308), Quran 26:20 with الجاهلين instead of الضالين (Tafsir Ibn Hatim 8/275), in Quran 3:33 he added the words وآل محمد على العالمين (Shawahid al-Tanzil, Volume 1/152), he added in 18:79 the word صالـحة (Tafsir Tabari for Quran 18:79), he added the words وَقالُوا وَلَبِثُوا in 18:25 (tafsir Tabari 18:25), recited Quran 92:3 as والذكر والأنثى instead of وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَى (Bukhari 4944), he added the words وأنا كتبتها عليك to Quran 4:79 (tafsir manthur 2/597) and so much more.
To get a grasp of the tiny amount of variants I have cited from Ibn Masud here, know that on top of this number, Muqatil Sulayman cited variant readings from him 16 times, Sufyan Al-Thawri 17 times and Ibn Abu Dawud’s Kitab al-Masahif fill up no less than nineteen pages, chocked full of reports of Ibn Masuds variants (Kitab al-Masahif, pages 54-73).
On top of these variations, Ibn Masud also believed that whole chapters of the current Quran should not have been included:
Narrated Zirr ibn Hubaysh: ‘I met Ubai bin Ka’b and said to him: ‘Ibn Masud used to remove the verses of refuge from the Quranic codices, saying: ‘Both of them are not part of the Quran and do not include in it what is not part of it”.
Despite the burning by Uthman and the capitulation of Ibn Masud, the kufans still used his readings for at least 5 decades after the Uthman rescension. At this time, an initiative was created by Al-Hajjaj Al-Yusuf and heavily endorsed by the central government to completely eliminate all textual variations and make a standardised Quran to regain political image for the umayyad government, wildly unpopular after a massive civil war between them and their opponents.
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