Textual History of the Qur'an: Difference between revisions

This article examines the [[Islam|Islamic]] claim that the [[Qur'an]] is free from [[Corruption of Scripture|corruption]].

We would say no, as Muhammad himself had forgotten portions of the Qur'an and needed his followers to remind him.<ref>"''Allah's Apostle heard a man reciting the Qur'an at night, and said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has reminded me of such-and-such Verses of such-and-such Suras, which I was caused to forget."''" - {{Bukhari|6|61|558}}</ref> This led to him having a [[Muhammad's Just In Time Revelations|"just in time" revelation]]<ref>"''Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it...''" - {{Quran|2|106}}</ref> claiming that some verses were to be forgotten. Furthermore, evidence that Muhammad had a somewhat casual attitude to variant readings is provided in the Qira'at section later in this article.

He had stated "I started looking for the Qur'an 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 verse of Surat at-Tauba (repentance) with Abi Khuzaima al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him."<ref name="Zaid bin Thabit">"''...I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palm-leaf stalks, thin white stones...''"{{Bukhari|6|61|509}}</ref>

 

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.

That is quite a grandiose statement by Ibn Mas'ud, which we cannot disagree with. After all, according to Muhammad's words, he was one of the chosen teachers whom Muslims were to go to when they desired to learn the Qur'an.  

ibn Masud  too included Khal' and Hafd in his Qur'an mashaf (codice)<ref>al-Suyuti in his Tafseer Dur al-Manthur, Volume 4 page 421</ref>. As also did Ibn 'Abbas in his mashaf, while Umaya bin Abdullah and Umar recited  them as supplications <ref name=SuyutiItqan></ref>, as did Uthman <ref>according to hadith 7032 in Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah</ref>. One hadith says that these were du'as given by the angel Jibreel to Muhammad.<ref>“While the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was supplicating against the Mudhar, Gabriel came to him and signaled him to remain silent, so he became silent. Then Gabriel said, “O Muhammad, Allah has not sent you to disparage or condemn, rather he has sent you as a mercy. And he has not sent you to bring torment. ‘Not for you, [O Muhammad, but for Allah], is the decision whether He should [cut them down] or forgive them or punish them, for indeed, they are wrongdoers.’ [Qur’an 3:128] Then he taught him this supplication, ‘O Allah! We beg help from You alone …’” Sunan al-Kubra, Hadith 3142</ref> Al-Suyuti quotes another scholar saying that Surah al-Khal' and Surah al-Hafd were removed from the Qur'an and are now used as du'as.<ref>"''l-Husain b. 'l-Munadi in his work l-Nasikh wa l-Mansukh said: of the material that was removed from the Qur'an but not from memory are the two chapters of the qunut supplications that are recited in the witr prayer; they were named l-Khal`a and l-Hafd''" p.15 of the chapter on Nasikh and Mansukh in the abridged English translation of Al-Itqan by Muneer Fareed</ref><ref>A longer quote of al-Munadi's words is even more revealing: "''Az-Zarkashi said in al-Burhaan (2/37): The leading hadeeth scholar Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far al-Manaadi said in his book an-Naasikh wa’l-Mansookh, concerning that which has been abrogated from the Qur’an but was not erased from what people had learned by heart, that this included the two soorahs that are recited in Qunoot in Witr prayer. He said: There is no difference of opinion among the earlier scholars that these two soorahs were written down in the mushafs that were attributed to Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, and it was narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he recited them, and they were called the soorahs of al-Khal‘ and al-Hafd.''" https://islamqa.info/en/195880</ref>

Even ibn Abbas was unsure whether it was part of the Qur'an or not:

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center" width = "60%" class=wikitable

! Surah  

! Hafs

! Warsh

! Notes

! Corpus Coranicum link (see Asim (Hafs) and Nafi (Warsh))

|{{Quran|2|132}}