Surah 15:9 of the Qur’an proclaims:

"We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)."


Muslim scholars interpret this ayah (verse) as a divine promise that the text of the Qur’an would be preserved perfectly, down to the smallest detail. The Qur’an therefore offers us a way to test its divine origin, based on whether Allah’s promise in Surah 15:9 was fulfilled. In this pamphlet, we will review the history of the Qur’an according to Muslim sources, allowing us to see if this book has Allah’s stamp of approval.

I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE QUR’AN

The first Qur’anic revelation came to Muhammad around the year 610. Muhammad delivered many more verses to his scribes and companions for memorization and recording over the next two decades. These verses were written on stalks of palm leaves, bones of dead animals, flat stones, and other materials. There was no complete manuscript of the Qur’an during this time.

Qur’anic revelation ceased when Muhammad died. Shortly after Muhammad’s death, Caliph Abu Bakr needed to suppress a rebellion, and he sent many huffaz (people who had memorized portions of the Qur’an) to fight at the Battle of Yamama. Many of these huffaz died, and Muslim sources tell us that portions of the Qur’an were lost:

Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif—Many (of the passages) of the Qur’an that were sent down were known by those who died on the day of Yamama . . . but they were not known (by those who) survived them, nor were they written down, nor had Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman (by that time) collected the Qur’an, nor were they found with even one (person) after them.

Abu Bakr decided that it was time to gather what remained of the Qur’an in order to prevent more from being lost, and he appointed Zaid ibn Thabit to this task. After Zaid completed his codex around 634 AD, it remained in Abu Bakr’s possession until his death, when it was passed on to Caliph Umar. When Umar died, it was given to Hafsa, a widow of Muhammad. (For a fuller account see Sahih al-Bukhari 4986.)

During Caliph Uthman’s reign, approximately 19 years after the death of Muhammad, disputes arose concerning the correct recitation of the Qur’an. Uthman ordered that Hafsa’s copy of the Qur’an, along with all known textual materials, should be gathered together so that an official version might be compiled. Zaid ibn Thabit, Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, Sa’id bin Al-As, and Abdur-Rahman bin Harith worked diligently to construct a revised text of the Qur’an. When it was finished, “Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4987). The Qur’an we have today is descended from the Uthmanic codex.

II. DISPUTES AMONG MUHAMMAD’S SCHOLARS

Not all Muslims approved of the new Qur’an. Indeed, some of Muhammad’s top teachers rejected Zaid’s version.

Muhammad once told his followers to “Learn the recitation of the Qur’an from four: from Abdullah bin Masud—he started with him—Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, Mu’adh bin Jabal and Ubai bin Ka’b” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3808). Interestingly, Ibn Masud (first on Muhammad’s list) held that the Qur’an should only have 111 chapters (today’s version has 114 chapters), and that chapters 1, 113, and 114 shouldn’t have been included in the Qur’an.

Because of this (along with hundreds of other textual differences), Ibn Masud went so far as to call the final edition of the Qur’an a deception! He said, “The people have been guilty of deceit in the reading of the Qur’an. I like it better to read according to the recitation of him [i.e. Muhammad] whom I love more than that of Zayd Ibn Thabit” (Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Vol. 2, p. 444).

Should Muslims submit to this “deceit”? Not surprisingly, Ibn Masud advised Muslims to reject Zaid’s Qur’an and to keep their own versions—even to hide them so that they wouldn’t be confiscated by the government! He said:

Jami at-Tirmidhi 3104—“O you Muslim people! Avoid copying the Mushaf and recitation of this man. By Allah! When I accepted Islam he was but in the loins of a disbelieving man”—meaning Zaid bin Thabit—and it was regarding this that Abdullah bin Mas’ud said: “O people of Al-Iraq! Keep the Musahif that are with you, and conceal them.”

But Ibn Masud wasn’t the only one of Muhammad’s trusted teachers who disagreed with Zaid’s Qur’an. Ubayy ibn Ka’b was Muhammad’s best reciter and one of the only Muslims to collect the materials of the Qur’an during Muhammad’s lifetime. Yet Ibn Ka’b believed that Zaid’s Qur’an was missing two chapters! Later Muslims were therefore forced to reject some of Ibn Ka’b’s recitation:

Sahih al-Bukhari 5005—Umar said, “Ubayy was the best of us in the recitation (of the Qur’an), yet we leave some of what he recites.” Ubayy says, “I have taken it from the mouth of Allah’s Messenger and will not leave it for anything whatever.”

Due to these disputes among Muhammad’s hand-picked reciters, Muslims are faced with a dilemma. If Muslims say that the Qur’an we have today has been perfectly preserved, they must say that Muhammad was horrible at choosing scholars, since he selected men who disagreed with today’s text. If, on the other hand, Muslims say that their prophet would know whom to pick regarding Islam’s holiest book, they must conclude that the Qur’an we have today is flawed!

III. MISSING CHAPTERS

Simply knowing the facts about such disputes is enough to dismiss the claim that the Qur’an has been perfectly preserved. Nevertheless, we may go further by briefly considering certain other problems.

When Ibn Umar—son of the second Muslim caliph—heard people declaring that they knew the entire Qur’an, he said to them: “Let none of you say, ‘I have learned the whole of the Koran,’ for how does he know what the whole of it is, when much of it has disappeared? Let him rather say, ‘I have learned what is extant thereof’” (Abu Ubaid, Kitab Fada’il-al-Qur’an).

One of Muhammad’s companions, Abu Musa, supported this claim when he said that the early Muslims forgot two surahs (chapters) due to laziness:

Sahih Muslim 2286—Abu Musa al-Ash’ari sent for the reciters of Basra. They came to him and they were three hundred in number. They recited the Qur’an and he said: You are the best among the inhabitants of Basra, for you are the reciters among them. So continue to recite it. (But bear in mind) that your reciting for a long time may not harden your hearts as were hardened the hearts of those before you. We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara’at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: “If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust.” And we used to recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it . . .

This shows that entire chapters of the Qur’an were forgotten.

IV. MISSING PASSAGES

We know further that large sections of certain chapters came up missing. For instance, Muhammad’s wife Aisha said that roughly two-thirds of Surah 33 was lost:

Abu Ubaid, Kitab Fada’il-al-Qur’an—A’isha . . . said, “Surat al-Ahzab (xxxiii) used to be recited in the time of the Prophet with two hundred verses, but when Uthman wrote out the codices he was unable to procure more of it than there is in it today [i.e. 73 verses].”

According to Aisha, the collectors simply couldn’t find all of Surah 33. Why not? As we’ve seen, many huffaz were killed at the Battle of Yamama. Apparently, no one who knew the entire chapter survived.

V. MISSING VERSES

Aisha also tells us that individual verses of the Qur’an disappeared, sometimes in very interesting ways:

Sunan ibn Majah 1944—It was narrated that Aishah said: “The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, and the paper was with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah died, we were preoccupied with his death, and a tame sheep came in and ate it.”


The verses on stoning and breastfeeding an adult ten times are not in the Qur’an today. Why? Aisha’s sheep ate them.

VI. MISSING PHRASES

Since entire chapters, large portions of chapters, and individual verses of the Qur’an were lost, it should come as no surprise that short phrases were forgotten as well. Let’s consider two examples.

First, Surah 33:6 declares that “The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers.” Ubayy ibn Ka’b and other early Muslims held that a phrase (“and he is a father of them”) is missing from this verse. Even the great translator Yusuf Ali admits this in his commentary. Ali writes: “In some Qira’ahs, like that of Ubayy ibn Ka’ab, occur also the words ‘and he is a father of them,’ which imply his spiritual relationship and connection with the words ‘and his wives are their mothers’” (Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, Note 3674). It seems that Muslims have been left with an incomplete verse.

Second, if we open a modern edition of the Qur’an, we find that Surah 2:238 commands Muslims to “Guard strictly your (habit) of prayers, especially the Middle Prayer; and stand before Allah in a devout (frame of mind).” According to Aisha, Muhammad recited this verse as follows: “Guard strictly (the five obligatory) prayers, and the middle Salat, and Salat Al-Asr. And stand before Allah with obedience” (Jami at-Tirmidhi 2982). Hence, the phrase “and Salat Al-Asr” is missing from modern editions.

VII. ASSESSMENT

Obviously, the Qur’an has changed significantly over the years. The evidence shows that entire chapters were lost, that large sections of chapters came up missing, that individual verses were forgotten, and that phrases have been left out. Muhammad’s best teachers and reciters couldn’t even agree on which chapters were supposed to be in the Qur’an.

This raises an obvious question. What’s the difference between a book that’s been perfectly preserved, and one that hasn’t been perfectly preserved? If Muslims are right, there’s no difference at all. The typical characteristics of a book that hasn’t been perfectly preserved are (1) missing phrases, (2) missing passages, (3) missing chapters, (4) disagreements about what goes back to the original, etc. But the Qur’an has all of these characteristics. Thus, Muslims who are aware of the evidence but who also want to maintain the perfect perseveration of the Qur’an must say something like this: “Yes, the Qur’an has all the characteristics of a book that hasn’t been perfectly preserved, but it’s been perfectly preserved anyway.” Can anyone make sense of such a claim?

We must also take note of the obvious. Anyone who has read the Muslim sources (e.g. Hadith, Tafsir, etc.) knows that the Qur’an has not been perfectly preserved. Muslim scholars are well aware of the fact that the Qur’an has been changed, and yet they tell less-educated Muslims that the Qur’an has always been exactly the same. Why are Muslim scholars and leaders deceptive about the history of their book? Moreover, if they are willing to deceive their fellow Muslims about the history of the Qur’an, what else are they being deceptive about?

Friends, whenever a book is passed on and copied by human beings, mistakes are going to be made (e.g. spelling errors, inadvertent omissions, intentional changes, and so on). This is true of all books, including the Qur’an and the Bible. The difference between the Qur’an and other books is that the Qur’an promises that no changes in its text will ever occur. As we have seen in this study, the Qur’an has not been perfectly preserved, which means that the promise of Surah 15:9 was not kept. The Qur’an cannot therefore be the Word of God.

Tidytim needs help. Ask David Wood to show you the verses in the Bibles where Jesus said he is God and or demanding worship from mankind?

The history of Quran is known to muslims.

LagosShia:

REFUTING DAVID WOOD:

http://www.call-to-monotheism.com/refuting_david_wood

I followed the link, and this is an excerpt from the introduction :

David Wood said:

According to many Muslims, the Bible is full of prophecies about Muhammad.[[/b]1] Christian apologists have spent a great deal of time refuting this claim, but, as the following account will demonstrate, [b]the Bible does contain clear prophecies about Muhammad. Nevertheless, the Muslim search for prophecies supporting Islam has been sloppy; as a result, defenders of Islam have failed to provide a single well-evidenced example of a Biblical prediction about their prophet. [/b]Thus, after briefly examining the Qur'anic claim to Biblical support,[b] I will show (1) that the standard Biblical verses used by Muslims to support this claim are extremely problematic for Islam, and (2) that Christian apologists are wrong when they claim that the Bible is silent when it comes to Islam.

Are you kidding me   

is this from the same corrupt Bible 

So without the Bible Muhammad is like undone , right 

The bible is either corrupt or it isn't.

Something is fishy when your so called scholars only select and twist passages that they think validate the prophethood of Muhammad.

Try a different game with me !!!!

@tidytim: thats a bad name for yourself, because there is tidycat which is dirt here in the usa.

[Quote]Are you kidding me Undecided[/Quote]No. he is for real.


[Quote]is this from the same corrupt Bible Undecided[/Quote]the truth mixed with corruption can be identified. Like God is 1 is the truth. But God is 3 persons is the corruption.


[Quote]So without the Bible Muhammad is like undone , right Undecided[/Quote]Muhammad [as] is supported enough in the Quran. That all I follow. The rest is gravy.


[Quote]The bible is either corrupt or it isn't.[/Quote] how about the mixture of corruption and truth? Have you thought of that tidy?


[Quote]Something is fishy when your so called scholars only select and twist passages that they think validate the prophethood of Muhammad.[/Quote]Your ignorance is making you smell fish. Tell me who is the one that God will speak with and he will simply repeat it and whosoever does not follow him will be required of him? Remember you call Jesus a God, already and your flamey ghost never spoke a word, and addition he is God, also?


[Quote]Try a different game with me !!!![/Quote]tidytim needs to read what david wood wrote in his own word. follow the link. it will lead you to another where you will read david wood in his original. Or is satan so much on top of you that you can't follow the link? take shaadah and then say audhu bIllahi minal shytani rajim. you will see how quickly your heart is strengthened.

finally,"frosbel" has decided to take the back seat and run and disappear for this week,and suddenly a miracle happened:the dumb has spoken!!

previously our Tidytim friend only posts copy-paste and run.he does not speak up.now he is talking.halleluyah,miracle!!!!

^^

I am here , OLD Man

Sweetnecta:

@tidytim: thats a bad name for yourself, because there is tidycat which is dirt here in the usa.

Muhammad [as] is supported enough in the Quran. That all I follow. The rest is gravy.

So leave our Bible alone , no ? 

how about the mixture of corruption and truth? Have you thought of that tidy?

How about a concoction of fairy tales , myth , plagiarised scripture and poems, all cobbled together into one chaotic , unchronological , confusing mayhem called the Quran 

Your ignorance is making you smell fish. Tell me who is the one that God will speak with and he will simply repeat it and whosoever does not follow him will be required of him? Remember you call Jesus a God, already and your flamey ghost never spoke a word, and addition he is God, also?

I will sooner smell of fish than a lie.

frosbel:

^^

I am here , OLD Man

one more reason to believe frosbel and tidytim are one and the same!!!!

you can enjoy the below with your twin username:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-550247.0.html

@Tidytim; [quote]How about a concoction of fairy tales ,[/Quote]where man was wrestling with God and overcoming God and man. does that sound about right?


[Qupte] myth ,[quote][/Quote]where a man can sell his birth right because his mother hated him and the uncle who didnt, he was tagged an ass of a man.


[Quote] plagiarised scripture and poems,[/Quote]The egyptian myth of 3 gods, with a son born by a virgin, and i think your calling psalm a poem is below you. no. you are below it.


[Quote] all cobbled together into one chaotic ,[/Quote] this reminds me of the 7 spirits of Biblical God.


[Quote] unchronological ,[/Quote]imitate Surah Fatih for a moment, from your Bible, tinytim.


[Quote] confusing mayhem called the Quran[/Quote]You wanted to write the Bibles, i imagine.

Sweetnecta:

Tidytim needs help. Ask David Wood to show you the verses in the Bibles where Jesus said he is God and or demanding worship from mankind?

The history of Quran is known to muslims.

It wont be the typical muslim response if it wasnt:
a. completely offtopic
b. avoiding the uncomfortable task of responding to the quran's incoherence
c. seeking to employ the escapist "isn't the bible much worse" game.

These fraudulent christians are fond of using mutually exclusive arguement in perpetating their lies. When it suits them they will quote 'scholarly' works that claim that Muhammed (SAW) never wrote the Koran that i was formulated 100 years after his death and later attributed to him. Then on another hand they will quote another blind 'scholar' that he did indeed write  it but some of it is lost or altered like this lousy OP is doing.

dont argue for the sake of it. pls try to be consistent if you are truthful

the_seeker:

These fraudulent christians are fond of using mutually exclusive arguement in perpetating their lies.

Christians hold the truth ! You perpetuate lies to interpose Muhammad in the Christian bible where he does not exist, you plagiarise aspects of our scripture together with other gnostic gospels and poems, you deny your hadiths when it suits you, you twist words in your Quran when embarassing verses appear and yet you call Christians liars.

Who is the Liar according to the bible , but he that denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

When it suits them they will quote 'scholarly' works that claim that Muhammed (SAW) never wrote the Koran that i was formulated 100 years after his death and later attributed to him. Then on another hand they will quote another blind 'scholar' that he did indeed write  it but some of it is lost or altered like this lousy OP is doing.

What are you talking about.

Admit it , there is nothing divine about a plagiarised book !!

tidytim:

Who is the Liar according to the bible , but he that denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

please look above how tidytim displays his christian skills in changing the verse in question and he totally disregard the fact that "son of God" also has a figurative meaning that jews and muslims understand as found in the Old Testament unlike the literal meaning christians satanically give to it.here is the verse:

1 John 2:22
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

now compare with the below:

Qur'an 3:45-51   Surah Ale-'Imran (The Family of 'Imran)
Behold! the angels said "O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ (Maseeh) Jesus the son of Mary held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah.
"He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity and he shall be (of the company) of the righteous."
She said: "O my Lord! how shall I have a son when no man hath touched me?" He said: "Even so: Allah createth what He willeth; when He hath decreed a plan He but saith to it 'Be' and it is!
"And Allah will teach him the Book and Wisdom the Law and the Gospel.
"And (appoint him) an Apostle to the Children of Israel (with this message): I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I make for you out of clay as it were the figure of a bird and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by Allah's leave; and I heal those born blind and the lepers and I quicken the dead by Allah's leave; and I declare to you what ye eat and what ye store in your houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if ye did believe.
"(I have come to you) to attest the Law which was before me and to make lawful to you part of what was (before) forbidden to you; I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah and obey me.
"It is Allah who is my Lord and your Lord; then worship Him. This is a way that is straight."

^^^^

Tell me sir :


1. Is this the same Mary that the Koran says is the sister of Moses

2. What on earth was the significance of breathing into a clay bird , does this come across as divine to you , because if it does, you need some real prayers !!!

What a laughable verse.

God will surely open your eyes and turn you away from darkness.

frosbel:

^^^^

Tell me sir :


1. Is this the same Mary that the Koran says is the sister of Moses

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-742103.32.html

2. What on earth was the significance of breathing into a clay bird , does this come across as divine to you , because if it does, you need some real prayers !!!

What a laughable verse.

God will surely open your eyes and turn you away from darkness.

is this also funny:

Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

@davidylan; [Quote]c. seeking to employ the escapist "isn't the bible much worse" game.[/Quote]isn't it worse? is it not?

actually, i am reading about the palindromic verses in the Quran.

I am sure the Bibles does not have such a linguistic wonder. What am I talking about. The Book cant even be preserved in original language or the language of the prophets they were revealed to.

LagosShia:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-742103.32.html

is this also funny:

Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

this analogy falls flat. In Gen 2:7, God is creating man for the first time, a monumental period in the history of the earth. In the example in the quran, Christ is shown creating a bird out of dust when millions of birds were already in existence? What was the purpose of the alleged miracle? Why did mohammad shamelessly copy it from the infancy gospel of St. thomas?

davidylan:

this analogy falls flat. In Gen 2:7, God is creating man for the first time, a monumental period in the history of the earth. In the example in the quran, Christ is shown creating a bird out of dust when millions of birds were already in existence? What was the purpose of the alleged miracle?

just like the purpose of Moses' lifeless rod turning into a serpent.it shows he was sent by the Giver of Life.

Why did mohammad shamelessly copy it from the infancy gospel of St. thomas?

"Did The Quran Plagiarize From The Infancy Gospel of Thomas"?
http://www.call-to-monotheism.com/does_the_quran_plagiarize_from_the_infancy_gospel_of_thomas_