‹ C. Bess Wonders

The Corruption of the Quran

Sunday, October 20, 2024
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The Corruption of the Quran

TL;DR; There is no early Islamic physical evidence that the Quran is perfectly preserved. None. Manuscript-wise, it all points to a mutable text that was not yet standardized like today.

No two quranic manuscripts are the same. And no one can know if the full Qur’an is in the possession of the Muslim community today. The Hafs text is the current standard.

Changes to the Quran

Quotes from, Sean Anthony, Ohio State University, Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures 1

1

He distributed copies of this codex (muṣḥaf; pl. maṣāḥif) to the major garrison cities of the burgeoning empire and then ordered the incineration or erasure of all previously written copies of the Qurʾān, whether partial or whole, so that the official codex established by Zayd would have no rival. According to one account, ʿUthmān even destroyed his own personal copy of the Qurʾān, which he owned prior to the codification efforts during his caliphate.

2

These earliest codices were privately owned copies compiled by the Prophet’s Companions and even earlier caliphs.

3

Hence, early accounts almost invariably contrast ʿUthmān’s codex with prior codices in order to demonstrate the superiority of ʿUthmān’s caliphal codex over the regional, prototype codices An important example of such narratives can be seen in a tradition concerning five Sūras of the Qurʾān whose status as revelation and, therefore, inclusion in the caliph ʿUthmān’s codex were in dispute. Of these five disputed Sūras, the ʿUthmānic Qurʾān included three (Q. Fātiḥa 1, Falaq 113, and Nās 114). But two Sūras, called al-Khalʿ (‘Casting-off’) and al-Ḥafd (‘Hastening’), the ʿUthmānic Qurʾān excluded.

See also, Sahih Buhkari 4986 & 4987

6 Uthmanic manuscripts

No two manuscripts have the same Arabic text, they all have variants between them. This points to the witness of the Quran even in the minds of Muslims, since we should assume they created the Uthmanic manuscripts. The memorization of the Quran was not perfect and if it was, people memorized it differently, which also tells us it was not perfectly preserved in any sense (physically or mentally).

Birmingham folios

  • Suras 18-20, 63 verses out of 6236 verses
    • Only 63 verses out of 343 verses in these 3 suras
  • Radio carbon dated: 568-645
    • Muhammad started receiving revelation in 609-610!
  • Carbon dating manuscripts, only gives the date of the carbon (the skin), not the writing on the skin
  • Arabic contents seem to be written by non-Muslims. Seems to be pre-Muhammad
    • Example: Surah 20:1-40, the Bible’s story of Moses

Quotes from, Gabriel Said Reynolds, Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology, Notre Dame 1:

1

Nevertheless, the extremely early dating of these manuscripts is helpful for the way it helps clarify something which has troubled scholars of early Islam. Many elements of the Qur’an are difficult to understand. For example, twenty-nine of its suras begin with a series of disconnected letters, yet the origin and meaning of those letters remains a mystery (for which reason they have been dubbed the “mysterious letters”). To give another example: in two passages (2:62 and 5:69) the Qur’an speaks of a group called the Sabi’un who seem to be promised entry into heaven (along with “the believers”, Jews and Christians). Yet no one is sure exactly who these Sabi’un are.

2

For now all we know is that our most ancient manuscript of the Qur’an does not agree with the standard text read around the world today.

Topkapi (turkey), mid-8th century

  • ~99% of the Quran
  • 2k+ variants from current standard Quran

Samarkand (720-790), Uzbekistan

  • Only up to Sura 43, ~50% of the Quran
  • Only one Sura that are complete
  • Scholars say its an embarrassment, inaccurate translation, made by many hands
  • Many variants

Ma’il (London)

  • Up to Sura 43 (~50%)
  • 100s of variants

Petropolitanus (Paris)

  • ~20% of Quran
  • 93 variants

Al Husseini (Cairo, Egypt)

  • Has many coverings, write-overs, it has many emendations, leads to Hafs, a Quranic reciter and student of Asim

Sana’a (Yemen), 650’s-700s+

  • Palimsests, there are about 70 variants between the layers
  • 100s of variants
  • 60-70 years between some pages

General

  • Ottomans controlled all these, they desired the Hafs text

    • ~93% of the Muslim world use it
    • ~5k differences between Hafs and Warsh Qur’ans alone

  • Qira’ats, readings of the Qur’an, introduced in the 8-10th century. Needed to know how to accurately read the text.

    • Dots and vowels change the word (and its meaning)
    • 1 consonantal-only word using the 3 marks, makes 19 different words
    • Dr. Yasir Qadhi says they are all the Qur’an

Resources