Many Muslims have told me that the Qur'an has been perfectly preserved and that all Qur'ans around the world are absolutely identical. They have said this in order to prove that the Qur'an is superior to the Bible. Maybe a Muslim has said this to you? Maybe you are a Muslim and this is what you believe and have said about the Qur'an yourself?

It is common for Muslims to believe and say this because this is what their leaders teach them. Consider the following quote.

No other book in the world can match the Qur'an ... The astonishing fact about this book of ALLAH is that it has remained unchanged, even to a dot, over the last fourteen hundred years. ... No variation of text can be found in it. You can check this for yourself by listening to the recitation of Muslims from different parts of the world. This quote is from (Basic Principles of Islam)

The above claim is that all Qur'ans around the world are identical and that "no variation of text can be found".

So on this thread I will take up this challenge and see if all Qur'ans are identical.

PLEASE NOTE TO ALL MUSLIMS WHO MIGHT READ THIS THREAD... THE CHICKEN IS COMING HOME TO ROOST AS THE FOCUS WOULD BE ON THE ARABIC CONTENT OF THE QUR'AN AND HOW IT IS VIEWED BY MUSLIM SCHOLARS AND THEIR OWN QUR'AN INTERPRETATIONS SO ALL YOU WILL BE SEEING HERE WOULD BE FROM MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC SCHOLARS WHOM YOU ALL REVERE AND HOLD IN HIGH ESTEEM

So Join me in another exposure of another lie and falsehood in Islam with regards to the authenticity of her "noble" Qur'ran

cc anas09, analice107, APCsupporter, WORDWORLD, friendchoice, yazach, lexonkabir and all others..

To start this investigation we turn to an Islamic encyclopedia written by a practising Muslim. This scholar explains an important aspect of the history of the Qur'an. Please read this quote a few times if you are new to this area of study and this quote is from The Concise 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" 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)
Ibn Kathir (from Mecca)
Abu `Amr al-`Ala' (from Damascus)
Ibn `Amir (from Basra)
Hamzah (from Kufah)
al-Qisa'i (from Kufah)
Abu Bakr `Asim (from Kufah)


Therefore, we need to realise that the Qur'an has been passed down to us from men called the "Readers". They were famous reciters of the Qur'an in the early centuries of Islam. The way these men recited the Qur'an was formally recorded in textual form by other men called the "Transmitters". There are in fact more Readers and Transmitters than those listed above. The table below lists the ten commonly accepted Readers, their transmitted versions, and their current area of use.
___________________________________________________________________________
Reader : Nafi`

Transmitter Warsh
Area of use : Algeria, Morocco, parts of Tunisia, West Africa and Sudan

Transmitter: Qalun
Area of Use: Libya, Tunisia and parts of Qatar

_________________________________________________________________________________
Reader : Abu `Amr al-'Ala'
Transmitter: al-Duri, al-Suri

Area of use: Parts of Sudan and West Africa

____________________________________________________________________________
Reader: Ibn `Amir
Transmitter: Hisham, Ibn Dhakwan

Area of Use: Parts of Yemen
___________________________________________________________________________

Reader: Abu Bakr `Asim
Transmitter: Hafs, Ibn `Ayyash

Area of use: Muslim world in general
_____________________________________________________________________________
And so on

What the above means is that the Qur'an has come to us through many transmitted versions. You cannot recite or read the Qur'an except through one of these versions. Each version has its own chain of narrators (isnad) like a hadith. There are more versions than those listed above but they are not considered authentic because their chain of narration is considered weak. Not all of these versions are printed or used today, but several are. We will now compare two of them.

Ibn ‘Abbaas who narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Jibreel taught me one style and I reviewed it until he taught me more, and I kept asking him for more and he gave me more until finally there were seven styles.” (narrated by Bukhari 3047)

When ‘Uthmaan made copies of the Qur’an, he did so according to one style (the first style that was revealed in the dialect of the Quraysh), but he omitted the dots and vowel points so that some other styles could also be accommodated. So the Mus-haf that was copied in his time could be read according to other styles, and whatever styles were accommodated by the Mus-haf of ‘Uthmaan remained in use, and the styles that could not be accommodated fell into disuse. The people had started to criticize one another for reciting differently, so ‘Uthmaan united them by giving them one style of the Qur’an.