Church of God Message
Call Us: 8133745451
HINDUISM, SIKHISM AND ISLAM: ARE THESE GOD'S RELIGIONS
CHAPTER 21
The Miracle of the Quran
Muslims are taught that the Quran is a miracle because not a letter in it has been changed from what was revealed to Muhammed, and it is the same in Arabic no matter in what nation it is read. That’s why they claim it is the unaltered and infallible word of God. There are incredible lies in the Quran, and there are also equally incredible lies about the Quran and Muhammed by those who preach Islam.
Religious leaders must preach that the Quran is the infallible, unaltered word of God for their followers to continue following them. Otherwise they will lose their lucrative livelihoods, and the honor and respect they receive from their followers. Since the Quran attacks the Bible, they also have to preach lies that the Bible has been altered.
If the Muslims are searching for the truth, there is plenty of well researched material available on the Internet to nail the lie that the Quran that Muslims have now has been transmitted through the centuries unaltered even to a letter being missing or out of place.
The Ayatollahs, Mullahs, Imams, Maulvis and Qazis have an axe to grind by maintaining lies about the Quran and Muhammed. But government leaders in Muslim countries also lack courage because they can easily search out the truth by research. But they don’t want to upset the strongly held beliefs of the people as they will then lose their power. Therefore, the Muslim population continues to be deceived.
I suggest Muslims just go to the Internet and look at abundantly compiled evidence that shows how ridiculous the whole idea is that a scripture as large as the Quran could have been transmitted orally without any variation.
Here is a brief summary of the evidence that the Quran has not been transmitted through the centuries without a single letter having been changed in it. It is summarized from the material compiled by John Gilchrist.
The Quran was never compiled into a single text during the life of Muhammed as he received most of his revelation towards the end of his life. He started receiving revelation when he was 40 years old in 610 A.D., and continued receiving them till his sudden death in 632 A.D. But after his death, there could be no new revelations. During his life, the Quran was recited orally, though some portions may have been put to writing by some reciters.
According to Sahih al Bukhari, Muhammed’s successor Abu Bakr then felt the need to compile it in written form. John Gilchrist writes:
“It was only after Muhammad’s death that the first attempts were made to compile written manuscripts of the whole Qur’an text. The same source [Sahih al Bukhari] states that Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s immediate successor, encouraged a well-known reciter of the Qur’an, Zaid ibn-Thabit, to collect it. This young man recorded that he had to acquire it from various sources, namely palm-leaf stalks, thin white stones and other materials upon which parts of it had been recorded as well as from the memories from those who learnt it by heart. At least one verse was found with only one person, Abi Khuzaima al-Ansari (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, p. 478). Taken together, these were hardly the ideal source for a perfect, inerrant compilation.
“At the time this manuscript had very little significance other than being commissioned by the Caliph himself. It receded into the private custody of Hafsah, one of the widows of Muhammad (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, p. 478). Other codices were soon put together by close companions of Muhammad.”
Muhammed mentioned four greatest authorities of the Quran from whom Muslims should learn it. Besides Zaid ibn-Thabit, the other three were: Abdullah ibn Masud, Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, and Ubayy ibn Kab. The Quran compiled by Ubayy ibn Kab became the preferred text in Syria.
Besides these four, others compiled their own codices of the Quran. Those of Ali, Ibn Abbas, Abu Musa, Anas ibn Malik and Ibn az-Zubair are well-documented by historians of Islam.
Uthman Ibn Affan was the third successor caliph of Muhammed. Word came to him that in there were considerable differences in the readings of the Quran in the various provinces. He ruled from Medina. John Gilchrist writes:
“Uthman decided to unite the people on a mushaf wahid (single text) and, after calling for Zaid’s codex which was conveniently in Medina in Hafsah’s [one of the widows of Muhammed] possession where the caliph had his seat of government, he ordered Zaid with three others to transcribe his manuscript into seven exact replica copies and to send one copy to each province with the order that all the other manuscripts of the Qur’an in existence be burnt (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, p. 479). The codices of Abdullah ibn Mas’ud and Ubayy ibn Ka’b were specially singled out and both were destroyed.
“Abdullah ibn Mas’ud at first strongly resisted the order. Zaid’s copy had never been standardised as an official text and it was used purely as a matter of convenience, being close at hand in Medina and not identified with any particular group of Muslims. Abdullah complained that he had directly obtained seventy surahs from Muhammad while Zaid was still a young child – why should he now forsake what he had acquired? (Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, p. 15). He also plainly stated that he preferred the Qur’anic recitation of Muhammad himself to that of Zaid, implying that he did not regard Zaid’s codex as completely authentic and adding that "the people have been guilty of deceit in the reading of the Qur’an" (Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Vol. 2, p. 444).
“Although there is abundant evidence that Zaid’s codex was only one of a number of early manuscripts and had no grounds for being regarded as the best available, least of all a totally authentic copy, it became standardised by Uthman as the official text of the Qur’an and remains so to this day.”
If Muslims want to believe a lie, that’s their prerogative. But this is irrefutable evidence that the Quran was not transmitted without a single letter being missing or out of place from what was revealed to Muhammed. The need to burn all other manuscripts arose out of differences in the various manuscripts of the Quran.
That is not the end of the story of differences in the Quran. The Quran as available today is also incomplete as it has whole suras and verses missing. Gilchrist writes: Abdullah ibn Umar had this to say in the very early days of Islam: Let none of you say "I have acquired the whole of the Qur’an". How does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur’an has disappeared? Rather let him say "I have acquired what has survived." (As-Suyuti, Al Itqan fii ‘Ulum al-Qur’an, p. 524).
Also, there is not one version of the Quran that has been transmitted through the centuries. Here is a quote from an Encyclopedia of Islam:
“Certain variant readings (of the Qur'an) existed and, indeed, persisted and increased as the Companions who had memorised the text died, and because the inchoate (basic) Arabic script, lacking vowel signs and even necessary diacriticals to distinguish between certain consonants, was inadequate. ... In the 4th Islamic century, it was decided to have recourse (to return) to "readings" (qira'at) handed down from seven authoritative "readers" (qurra'); in order, moreover, to ensure accuracy of transmission, two "transmitters" (rawi, pl. ruwah) were accorded to each. There resulted from this, seven basic texts (al-qira'at as-sab', "the seven readings"), each having two transmitted versions (riwayatan) with only minor variations in phrasing, but all containing meticulous vowel-points and other necessary diacritical marks. ... The authoritative "readers" are:
Nafi` (from Medina; d. 169/785); Ibn Kathir (from Mecca; d. 119/737); Abu `Amr al-`Ala' (from Damascus; d. 153/770); Ibn `Amir (from Basra; d. 118/736); Hamzah (from Kufah; d. 156/772); al-Qisa'i (from Kufah; d. 189/804); Abu Bakr `Asim (from Kufah; d. 158/778) (Cyril Glassé, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 324).
In his article “The Different Arabic Versions of the Quran” author Samuel Green then goes on to identify the differences in two of the versions that are read in various countries. (article available at: https://answering-islam.org/Green/seven.htm).
Nothing further needs to be said on this issue. There is plenty of evidence available to refute the lie that the Quran has been transmitted through 1,400 years unchanged even in a single letter (or dot) being missing or misplaced since the time it was revealed to Muhammed. Muslims who want to know the truth can research and verify it quite easily.
Muslims, also understand that your religious leaders deceive you, and they keep you in check by inciting murder on those who question or leave the faith. Blasphemy laws are designed to do just that. That’s why Muslim religious leaders are doubly the children of the devil, just in order that they can keep making a great living and force their followers to honor and respect them. But that is not going to gain salvation for you or provide you protection in the approaching catastrophes on the world.
Copyright © Church of God Message. All rights reserved