Textual History of the Qur'an: Difference between revisions

The fact that in more recent times there have been many memorizers (huffaz) of the complete Qur'an is not a helpful analogy because they have the benefit of choosing a standard qira'at (recitation) and standard written Qur'an as a complete book to help them or their teachers in the learning process.

During the [[Caliph|Caliphate]] of Uthman, he heard that many Muslims in different regions were arguing that they can recite the Qur'an better, and they had differences between them.<ref>"''...Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to 'Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and the Christians did before...''" - {{Bukhari|6|61|510}}</ref>  

Many other examples of such variations among the sahaba are discussed in another online article<ref>[http://www.islam-watch.org/Amarkhan/Corruption-in-Quran.htm Corruption and Distortion (Tahreef) in the Quran] by Amar Khan, 2009 [http://www.webcitation.org/6lPZcJIAX webcitation archive link]</ref>.

Ibn Mas'ud swore that he knew all the surahs of the Qur'an, saying "By Allah other than Whom none has the right to be worshipped! There is no Sura revealed in Allah's Book but I know at what place it was revealed; and there is no verse revealed in Allah's Book but I know about whom it was revealed. And if I know that there is somebody who knows Allah's Book better than I, and he is at a place that camels can reach, I would go to him".<ref>Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, p.488</ref>

After Muhammad's choice of Abdullah bin Mas'ud, he was followed by Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, Mu'adh bin Jabal and Ubai bin Ka'b.<ref name="bin Masud"></ref> What is odd is that we do not find any mention of Zayd Bin Thabit who was ultimately entrusted by Uthman with the task of collecting the Qur'an from scraps.  

The Qur'an that Ibn Mas'ud had was known and agreed upon by many Muslims. When Uthman ordered that all codices must be destroyed and that only Zayd's codex is to be preserved, The reaction of Abdallah ibn Masud was great.  

Zaid bin thabit was in no place to be a rival to the great scholar and teacher Ibn Mas'ud, and such sermons by him are devastating to the history of Islam and to the authenticity of the Qur'an.

Ibn Mas'ud's Qur'anic text omitted surah al-Fatiha and the mu'awwithatayni (surahs 113 and 114).<ref name="Itqan ibn Masud">"''Imam Fakhruddin said that the reports in some of the ancient books that Ibn Mas'ud denied that Suratul-Fatiha and the Mu'awwithatayni are part of the Qur'an are embarrassing in their implications... But the Qadi Abu Bakr said "It is not soundly reported from him that they are not part of the Qur'an and there is no record of such a statement from him. He omitted them from his manuscript as he did not approve of their being written. This does not mean he denied they were part of the Qur'an. In his view the Sunnah was that nothing should be inscribed in the text (mushaf) unless so commanded by the Prophet (saw) ... and he had not heard that it had been so commanded.''" - as-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fii Ulum al-Qur'an, p.186</ref>   

The Qur'an we have today was rejected by Ibn Masud, whom the prophet of Islam himself approved of. This tells us that the Qur'an we have is not the word of Allah.

Ubay ibn Ka'b, was another one of the four which were singled-out by Muhammad,<ref name="bin Masud"></ref> and was considered the best reciter of the Qur'an.<ref>"''Affan ibn Muslim informed us ... on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, he on the authority of the Prophet, may Allah bless him; he said: The best reader (of the Qur'an) among my people is Ubayyi ibn Ka'b.''" - Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Vol. 2, p.441 </ref> He was known as Sayidul Qura' (The Master of Reciters). Umar the Caliph also agreed that Ubay was the best reciter, even though he rejected some of what Ubay recited.<ref>"`Umar said, Ubai was the best of us in the recitation (of the Qur'an) yet we leave some of what he recites." {{Bukhari|6|61|527}}</ref>  

Visit [http://web.archive.org/web/20070309000028/http://www.geocities.com/pentaur2001/index.html this] site to see the differences between Samarqand Codex and Uthmans Codex.

According to some hadith literature, the Qur'an was revealed in seven ahruf, or modes of recitation. The nature of these ahruf generated a wide range of theories, some more plausible than others. A popular, though problematic theory is that these were 7 Arabic dialects of different Arab tribes, and only one, that of the Quraysh was retained by Uthman. A more plausible theory would be that Muhammad was inconsistent in his recitation, and it was a convenient excuse<ref>See Abu Dawud Book 8:1472 [http://sunnah.com/abudawud/8/62 sunnah.com] in which the angel reveals up to seven modes. "He then said: 'Each mode is sufficiently health-giving, whether you utter 'all-hearing and all-knowing' or instead 'all-powerful and all-wise'."</ref>, as well as a way of avoiding disputes between his followers<ref>See how Muhammad settled a dispute between his followers regarding the correct recitation {{Bukhari|9|93|640}}</ref> to say that there were up to seven valid ways to say a verse.

Each of the Qira'at has two transmissions (riwayat) named after its transmitters, one of which is the basis for any particular text (mushaf) of the Qur'an. For example, the mashaf used mainly in North Africa is based on the riwayah of Warsh from Nafi (the reading of Nafi transmitted by Warsh).

In {{Quran|18|86}}, Dhu'l Qarnayn finds the sun setting in a '''muddy''' spring, according to the Qira'at used by today's most popular transmissions of the Qur'an. However, in around half of the various Qira'at the sun intead sets in a '''warm''' spring. The latter variant is even used in some English translations. It is easy to see how the corruption arose (whichever one is the variant). The arabic word حَمِئَة (hami'atin - muddy) sounds very similar to the completely different word حَامِيَة (hamiyatin - warm). Al-Tabari records in his tafseer for this verse [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Tafsir_.28Commentaries.29 the differing opinions] on whether the sun sets in muddy or warm water.

For further discussion, see the section ''Origin of the Qira'at Variants'' further below.

Apart from other earlier variant readings, and those of al-Duri from Abu Amr still used in Sudan, and of Hisham from ibn Amir still used in parts of Yemen, there are two different readings of the Qur'an currently widespread in printed text (mushaf), named after their respective 2nd-century transmitters Hafs (from Kufa) and Warsh (from Medina).  

The most common apologetic defence of the preservation doctrine claims that all of the 7 canonical qira'at (readings) were recited by Muhammad. They claim that even when the variants are completely different words or when words are added or ommitted, that these are all divinely revealed alternatives. This doesn't address variants that contradict each other, nor explain the suspicious fact that the variants words generally either sound similar to each other or look identical in the early consonantal text without dots. In any case, such obviously contrived attempts to salvage the preservation doctrine in such a way as to make it almost meaningless and unfalsifiable are incredible, even by the standards of Islam, a religion built full of contrivances to escape difficult questions.

The Uthmanic codex was written in a "rasm", which is a defective Arabic script in which there are no markings for short vowels and sparse (if any) dots that were in later times used to distinguish different but identical looking consonants.