Has the Koran (Quran) been corrupted?

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Ha ha, well that was the one that Uthman differed to. What gets me is that Mohammad personally asked for the Koran to be recited in seven different dialects, and, as I said, even today in Muslim culture there are many different schools of recitation of the Koran.
Yeah, ya got me…I have no idea where Muslims like Zaki get this stuff from.
what is “normal” Arabic? Because according to what Mohammad asked for and what Islam is today, there doesn’t seem to be one
.

This is also the consensus in the Linguistics community. Hey, Muhammad got something right! Alhamdulillaah! 😃
It also doesn’t respond to the point I made earlier in the thread, where there is evidence to the companions of the prophet - companions that were entrusted in memorizing the Koran - who have variants on readings not compatible with Uthman’s.
Yeah. Maybe there is no valid response to that point.
 
Not to mention that Mohammad asked for the Koran to be in different dialects, and even today there are different recitation traditions of the Koran in various dialects.

Ubayy b. Ka’b reported that the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) was near the tank of Banu Ghifar that Gabriel came to him and said: Allah has commanded you to recite to your people the Qur’an in one dialect. Upon this he said: I ask from Allah pardon and forgiveness. My people are not capable of doing it. He then came for the second time and said: Allah has commanded you that you should recite the Qur’an to your people in two dialects. Upon this he (the Holy prophet) again said: I seek pardon and forgiveness from Allah, my people would not be able to do so. He (Gabriel) came for the third time and said: Allah has commanded you to recite the Qur’an to your people in three dialects. Upon this he said: I ask pardon and forgiveness from Allah. My people would not be able to do it. He then came to him for the fourth time and said: Allah has commanded you to recite the Qur’an to your people in seven dialects, and in whichever dialect they would recite, they would be right. [Sahih Muslim Book 004, Number 1789; emphasis mine]
**
One must ask, of these seven dialects, which one was the “normal” Arabic? Why the need for one if all seven are right**?
When the Noble Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, it was revealed in Arabic, and in the Quraishi dialect. The Quraishi dialect is the most proper Arabic dialect that properly uses the Arabic words without altering their sound.

The Quraishi dialect was the most popular dialect in the Middle East at that time, and is today the dialect used among Arabs who speak Proper Arabic. The dialect that books teach at schools is also a Quraishi dialect today.

Back in the Middle East 1400 years ago, the Quraishi dialect was not the only one used among Arabs. There existed 6 other dialects along with it, but as I said, it was the most popular.

It is very important in the Islamic faith that when we recite the Noble Quran, we recite it in the Quraishi dialect or what we call today in the proper Arabic. We can’t pronounce for instance “th” as “sa” or “za”. We can’t pronounce “la” as “laman”. We can’t pronounce “ja” and “ga”, etc…

The Arabic dialects had problems with each others, and that’s why standardizing the Noble Quran with its original Quraishi dialect was essential to keeping it as a perfect Holy Book: For instance, take the letter “j”. Did you know that some Arabs don’t pronounce the “j”? They always pronounce it as “g” or “ga”.

Take “the” as another example. Some Arabs also don’t pronounce “the”. They pronounce it as “za”.

Another example, and this is an important one in my opinion, is that some Arabs used to have a dialect which originated from Yemen, where they would add “an” at the end of a noun. Take for instance the popular word of today “Taliban”, as in the Taliban in Afghanistan. “Taliban” is the same as the Arabic word “Talib” which means “Student”.

The Afghans today used the old Arabic dialect from Yemen which dates even older than 1400 years ago when the Noble Quran was revealed. Back then in Yemen, as I said, they used to add the word “an” for nouns. So if they for instance wanted to refer to a stone “sakhr (in Arabic)”, then they would refer to it as “sakhran”, even though it would be written in Arabic as “sakhr”.

In Islam, properly reciting the Words of Allah Almighty is the way it must be practiced. Otherwise, it would be considered a sin and disrespect toward Allah Almighty and the individual would be disobeying Allah Almighty and would gain bad deeds that will count against him in the Day of Judgment if he did it intentionally.
 
Actually my interpretation on his post is that he admits there were many versions (and therefore many corrupt versions) of the Koran. They simply picked one copy and destroyed the others, hoping to get lucky with the “uncorrupt” copy. Therefore it admits full out that the Koran has been corrupted.

That’s this non-Muslims take on it anyway.
After the death of our beloved Prophet, Islam started to expand in the Middle East region. Not only the People of the entire region didn’t have the same dialect, but also they had different languages. The languages that were spoken in the region at that time were Arabic (with its 7 dialects), Persian, Assyrian, Hebrew and some Greek. All of these languages are quite different from each others. You would need a translator to translate almost 100% of the conversation if you were to pick two languages and have two people converse with them, each person with one language.

As the Muslims expanded through the entire region, which is thousands of squared miles in area, the Noble Quran was documented at different places with sometimes different languages and Arabic dialects as well.

Islam mostly spread throughout the region during the first two Caliphs (our Prophet’s disciples); may Allah Almighty be pleased with them, Abu-Baker Al-Siddeeq, and Omar bin Al-Khattab. They were mostly concerned with spreading Islam to the people of the entire region and never had the time, nor the rulership (since Islam wasn’t quite spread throughout the entire region until toward the end of the second disciple’s time) to unify the Noble Quran or the teaching of the Noble Quran with one dialect in recitation and spelling.

When Uthman bin Aaffan (the third disciple) came, Islam was pretty stable in the region, and he had rulership to implement the Quraishi dialect among all the Arabic speaking people in the entire region, and to teach them the Noble Quran through that dialect only.

When Uthman got hold of all of the Qurans that were written in different dialects, and in some cases were altered to sound exactly like the other dialects, **he ordered for them to get burnt because they did not use the proper Arabic that was revealed unto our beloved Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and in some cases their words were different because of this dialect difference. ** He then compiled all of the Noble Surahs (Chapters) of the Noble Quran that were already written during the time of Prophet Muhammad in the city of Madina and formed what we call today the one true copy of the “Noble Quran”.
 
I’m sorry, I just have a hard time believing that all the manuscripts were gathered up and burnt because they were in a different dialect. Dialects don’t usually cause major confusion the bad grammar usually lets people know it is in a different dialect than they are used to. I also have a hard time believing that all of the Arabs went from different dialects to the same dialect. Something which could unite dialects probably wouldn’t allow them to separate again.
If the Noble Quran is recited in a different dialect than the Quraishi one, and if one tries to write down what he is reciting, he could and would end up with different words in spelling and in some cases in meaning as well than the original copy of the Noble Quran.
 
If the Noble Quran is recited in a different dialect than the Quraishi one, and if one tries to write down what he is reciting, he could and would end up with different words in spelling and in some cases in meaning as well than the original copy of the Noble Quran.
Then you agree that Uthman was chasing down corrupt copies of the Koran, which means you agree the Koran did get corrupted. It’s simply a matter of whether the “correct” one was kept.
 
Then you agree that Uthman was chasing down corrupt copies of the Koran, which means you agree the Koran did get corrupted. It’s simply a matter of whether the “correct” one was kept.
just a question nine_two,
is english your second language? bcz seriously, you dont know wth elwill or i am trying to say

wasalam
 
Then you agree that Uthman was chasing down corrupt copies of the Koran, which means you agree the Koran did get corrupted. It’s simply a matter of whether the “correct” one was kept.
you still don’t understand

there’s no correct one and corrupted one
anyway , if you wanna to convince me that Uthman was chasing down corrupt copies of quran then give me answers for these questions

1-How did he arrive at that text?

2-On the basis of what text did the first two leaders, Abu Bakr and `Umar governed the Muslim lands before him?

3- What text people had been using in their daily prayers in Madinah, the city of the Prophet, which consisted almost entirely of Muslims, most having seen and heard the Prophet?

4- How could `Uthman change the text that had been used for twelve years before him in the presence of hundreds of companions of the Prophet who could easily detect any change to the original text and were obligated by religious principles to prevent alterations in the word of God?

5- And why at all would he want to change it, considering that the extant text says nothing in his favor?

6-There is also no evidence that anyone resisted ‘Uthman and was executed for doing so or otherwise persecuted. In fact, several traditions suggest an atmosphere of complete freedom within which promulgation of the so-called ‘Uthmanic text took place

Zaid is reported to have said, "I saw the companions of Muhammad (going about) saying, “By Allah, Uthman has done well! By Allah, Uthman has done well!” [Nisaburi]
Ibn Abi Dawud records Musab ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas to have testified: “I saw the people assemble in large number at Uthman’s burning of the proscribed copies; not a one spoke out against him.” Ali commented, “If I were in command in place of Uthman, I would have done the same.” [Zarkashi]

Almost every companion of the Prophet (pbuh) clealy approved the action of Uthman (ra).
 
you still don’t understand

there’s no correct one and corrupted one
anyway , if you wanna to convince me that Uthman was chasing down corrupt copies of quran then give me answers for these questions
I’m not trying to convince you, but that’s what it sounds like you’re saying. You say he destroyed versions of the koran because they said different things, that would be what “corrupt” means. Additionally you’re completely ignoring Byzantine_Wolf’s point that your prophet ordered the Koran to be made in several dialects.
1-How did he arrive at that text?
Picked the one he was most familiar with I would assume.
2-On the basis of what text did the first two leaders, Abu Bakr and `Umar governed the Muslim lands before him?
You really don’t want my answer to this, and I’m not going to clean it up to the point that I’m not going to have to go to confession for saying it.
3- What text people had been using in their daily prayers in Madinah, the city of the Prophet, which consisted almost entirely of Muslims, most having seen and heard the Prophet?
If we go by what you said, the version of the Koran available in their local dialect. I don’t see how this is relevant. It neither proves the corruption or incorruption of the book.
4- How could `Uthman change the text that had been used for twelve years before him in the presence of hundreds of companions of the Prophet who could easily detect any change to the original text and were obligated by religious principles to prevent alterations in the word of God?
I didn’t say he changed the text. He destroyed differing copies. I thought we already had common agreement on that. The argument is over why.
5- And why at all would he want to change it, considering that the extant text says nothing in his favor?
Answered by my response to your last question.
6-There is also no evidence that anyone resisted ‘Uthman and was executed for doing so or otherwise persecuted. In fact, several traditions suggest an atmosphere of complete freedom within which promulgation of the so-called ‘Uthmanic text took place
Again, I never said he changed anything himself. He just destroyed copies that differed from what he deemed to be the “official” version. Two different concepts.
Zaid is reported to have said, "I saw the companions of Muhammad (going about) saying, “By Allah, Uthman has done well! By Allah, Uthman has done well!” [Nisaburi]
Irrelevent.
Ibn Abi Dawud records Musab ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas to have testified: “I saw the people assemble in large number at Uthman’s burning of the proscribed copies; not a one spoke out against him.” Ali commented, “If I were in command in place of Uthman, I would have done the same.” [Zarkashi]
So are you agreeing or disagreeing with the idea that he systematically destroyed all differing (or ‘corrupt’) versions of the Koran? You can’t have it both ways.
Almost every companion of the Prophet (pbuh) clealy approved the action of Uthman (ra).
Even if that was at issue it is completely irrelevant.
 
just a question nine_two,
is english your second language? bcz seriously, you dont know wth elwill or i am trying to say

wasalam
Fix the grammar and spelling in that statement and I might deign to answer you.
 
When the Noble Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, it was revealed in Arabic, and in the Quraishi dialect. The Quraishi dialect is the most proper Arabic dialect that properly uses the Arabic words without altering their sound…
All that I understand. This still doesn’t answer a few questions regarding the Koran’s textual history:
  • Mohammad personally asked Gabriel to OK the Koran to be recited in seven different dialects, all of which must have different pronunciations, as you have said. Gabriel confirmed this. How then is there a “normal” Arabic if both the prophet of Islam and an angel from heaven said all seven dialects are right?
  • This still doesn’t respond to the fact that today there are many different schools of recitation of the Koran, and each has grammatical variations on how various passages are read. This is a fact in modern Islam.
  • This still doesn’t respond to evidence provided even by Muslim scholars that there are textual variants in the Koran’s development, both found among the companions of the prophet, the different schools of Koranic recitation, and manuscripts of the Koran.
  • This still doesn’t respond to the fact that there is no copy of the Koran from Mohammad’s time, since: 1) Mohammad’s revelation of the Koran never ended until his death, and 2) all copies of the Koran outside of Uthman’s official copy, including fragments, were burned. How then can one be certain that the copy printed by Uthman was the correct one when the original does not exist? I ask this for the purpose of consistency: this same exact question is posed by Muslims against the Bible. If one book is going to be held to a certain standard, then another book in the same field must be held to the same standard as well.
On another note:
6-There is also no evidence that anyone resisted ‘Uthman and was executed for doing so or otherwise persecuted. In fact, several traditions suggest an atmosphere of complete freedom within which promulgation of the so-called ‘Uthmanic text took place…almost every companion of the Prophet (pbuh) clealy approved the action of Uthman (ra).
You are wrong in saying “no evidence” and right in saying “almost every companion,” because men like Abdullah ibn Masud, whom I quoted earlier as one of the most trusted by Mohammad to memorize and recite the Koran, did not approve of it (and was supposedly executed for it).

Az-Zuhri said: “Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utbah informed me that Abdullah bin Mas’ud disliked Zaid bin Thabit copying the Musahif, and he said: ‘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. For indeed Allah said: And whoever conceals something, he shall come with what he concealed on the Day of Judgement. So meet Allah with the Musahif.’” [Jami At-Tirmidhi 3104]

Also, as I showed in my earlier post (which has apparently been ignored) there exist textual variants that do not coincide with Uthman’s version that are sourced to other companions of the prophet - again, companions entrusted by the prophet himself to memorize the Koran. Why did these variants not enter Uthman’s copy? Also, their very existence shows that the “one Koran” argument does not hold true when put up to scholarly evidence rather than popular belief.
 
I’m not trying to convince you, but that’s what it sounds like you’re saying. You say he destroyed versions of the koran because they said different things, that would be what “corrupt” means. Additionally you’re completely ignoring Byzantine_Wolf’s point that your prophet ordered the Koran to be made in several dialects.
Islam spread to many areas. The Muslims who were not Arabs, couldn’t read the Qur’an as it should have been read. They changed the meanings of the verses, and many variant readings sprung out, because the people were ignorant of Arabic. Old Arabic was written as lines, and now one can distinguish such and such alphabets easily by marks. But this was not the case in older times. That’s why, the Caliph Uthman immediately told a committee of scribes to write the Qur’an in the dialect of the Quraysh, because that was how the Qur’an was revealed. When the scribes had prepared many copies from the one which Abu Bakr (ra) had compiled, each copy was sent to each city under Muslim rule. Other copies which were not from Uthman were burned. Then, from the standard copies, more copies were made and this time there were also teachers of the people to teach them how to recite the Qur’an.
So are you agreeing or disagreeing with the idea that he systematically destroyed all differing (or ‘corrupt’) versions of the Koran? You can’t have it both ways.
i really hope if someone can help you and make you understand

ask me to write my name , i can write it as : waleed , walid . two different forms but with same pronunciation ( i don’t know if my name is more complex how many wrong dialects i will hear my name from you nonarabs , i think that arabs alone will pronounce it exactly as i meant !!!), when i make standards for the form of writing of this word and burn the others , it dosn’t mean that they differ

imagine with me if group of people attend sermony , and everyone wrote what he heared in his note , and imagine if the languge wasn’t studied as a science and grammer and spelling . it will means that although the group heared the same words but everyone of them wrote it in different form
if you asked everyone of them to read what he wrote , he will pronounce exactly the words as his brothers , yet the form of writing differs
then you wanted to unify the style of writing , so that you sat with them and agreed to make standard form for writing of this sermony , this form will be distributed to everyone . and others will be burnt

so is that means to you that others are corrupted ones !!! ,

this is exactly what othman did , he collect the quran and wrote it in one form of writing , then teached the people how to read this form of writing

but quran revealed in 7 dialect !!!
well , othman choose the dialect of mohammed (pbuh) .
what he burned was the style of writing not the versions of other dialect
untill these days , specialist can read the quran by 7 dialects , and they can read them all from the same copy of quran

i hope if the situation is more clear now
 
All that I understand. This still doesn’t answer a few questions regarding the Koran’s textual history:
  • Mohammad personally asked Gabriel to OK the Koran to be recited in seven different dialects, all of which must have different pronunciations, as you have said. Gabriel confirmed this. How then is there a “normal” Arabic if both the prophet of Islam and an angel from heaven said all seven dialects are right?
i can’t understand the problem with that , and what do you mean by normal arabic , what “normal arabic” supposed to mean or proof ?
and tell me , do you know the nature of difference in 7 dialects of arabic ?
  • This still doesn’t respond to the fact that today there are many different schools of recitation of the Koran, and each has grammatical variations on how various passages are read. This is a fact in modern Islam.
no , there is no differes in grammatical , it’s just in the sound of dialect

can you enlighten us with these variations to understand the nature of variation we are talking about ?
  • This still doesn’t respond to evidence provided even by Muslim scholars that there are textual variants in the Koran’s development, both found among the companions of the prophet, the different schools of Koranic recitation, and manuscripts of the Koran.
actually i approve that arabic language as a science of writing was in development , what is the problem with that ?
  • This still doesn’t respond to the fact that there is no copy of the Koran from Mohammad’s time, since: 1) Mohammad’s revelation of the Koran never ended until his death, and 2) all copies of the Koran outside of Uthman’s official copy, including fragments, were burned. How then can one be certain that the copy printed by Uthman was the correct one when the original does not exist? I ask this for the purpose of consistency: this same exact question is posed by Muslims against the Bible. If one book is going to be held to a certain standard, then another book in the same field must be held to the same standard as well.
i can be certain that the copy brinted by othman was the correct one for many reasons :

1- the original copy of quran was existed in the heart of hundreds of companions and in the heart of thousands of muslims in that time

2- there is no mention about existence of corrupted quran and correct one , actually the corruptance wasn’t a reason for what othamn did ( i allready said why he collect the quran )

3- i have no reason to doubt on the great companion of the prophet (pbuh)
You are wrong in saying “no evidence” and right in saying “almost every companion,” because men like Abdullah ibn Masud, whom I quoted earlier as one of the most trusted by Mohammad to memorize and recite the Koran, did not approve of it (and was supposedly executed for it).
what ? abduallah ibn thabit executed ? ( can i have some details plze )
Az-Zuhri said: “Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utbah informed me that Abdullah bin Mas’ud disliked Zaid bin Thabit copying the Musahif, and he said: ‘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. For indeed Allah said: And whoever conceals something, he shall come with what he concealed on the Day of Judgement. So meet Allah with the Musahif.’” [Jami At-Tirmidhi 3104]
Abdullah Ibn Mas`ud was a very close companion of the Prophet (pbuh). When Uthman (ra) ordered all personal and other codices to be destroyed other than the standard, Ibn Mas’ud (ra) refused to hand over his copy.

Here is the reason for this initial or early reaction. Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud had with him a personal copy of the Qur’an (Musaf) which was his precious personal possession. Ibn Ma’sud had made some notes on his copy. It is quite understandable that any religious teacher or missionary would develop a kind of sentiment for his personal copy of the Divine Scripture which he has been using over a period of time and more so, if there were his personal notes on that copy. Such early reactions are but normal under the most normal circumstances.

what happened in such situation was out of anger , not more than that

The truth is clear from what you would like to allege. Caliph Uthman (ra) didn’t destroy the Qur’an , instead, he took the best action ever possible.
Also, as I showed in my earlier post (which has apparently been ignored) there exist textual variants that do not coincide with Uthman’s version that are sourced to other companions of the prophet - again, companions entrusted by the prophet himself to memorize the Koran. Why did these variants not enter Uthman’s copy? Also, their very existence shows that the “one Koran” argument does not hold true when put up to scholarly evidence rather than popular belief.
There were many textual variances of the Qur’an, or variant readings. These variant readings didn’t concern the content of Surahs and the Qur’an, but they were differences in spellings, nouns, etc.

**Further more, the variant readings can be divided as follows (taken from von Denffer’s “Ulum al Qur’an”): **
The mutawatir (transmitted by many; they include the seven well-known readings)
The ahad (transmitted by one, they number three, going back to the sahaba and together with the seven make up ten).
The shadh (exceptional; they go back to the tabi’un only)

From the above, the current text of the Qur’an (Uthmanic), is mutawatir
 
i can’t understand the problem with that , and what do you mean by normal arabic , what “normal arabic” supposed to mean or proof ?
I was making reference to a post Zaki made earlier.
and tell me , do you know the nature of difference in 7 dialects of arabic ?
Variants in spelling and phrases. These are still variants found in the recitation and passing down of the Koran. I’ll get to that at the end of my post.
can you enlighten us with these variations to understand the nature of variation we are talking about ?
I hope this is written in jest. I offered them in my post on the first page, and made reference to them a few posts ago. Don’t start going planten on me, elwill, and pretending you don’t notice my arguments or my references to them. 😛
actually i approve that arabic language as a science of writing was in development , what is the problem with that ?
I have no idea what this means. I made reference to variants that existed among the companions of the prophet. You’re talking about the arabic language. I do not see the connection.
i can be certain that the copy brinted by othman was the correct one for many reasons :
1- the original copy of quran was existed in the heart of hundreds of companions and in the heart of thousands of muslims in that time
I’m sure it did. Nevertheless, there still existed variants, which I showed before, especially among men who were the most trusted to memorize the Koran. Some of these variants never entered Uthman’s Koran.
2- there is no mention about existence of corrupted quran and correct one , actually the corruptance wasn’t a reason for what othamn did ( i allready said why he collect the quran )
That depends on what you define as “corrupted.” Again, I’ll get to that at the end of my post.
3- i have no reason to doubt on the great companion of the prophet (pbuh)
That is circular reasoning. Unless the companions were Christ, they were still flawed men.
what ? abduallah ibn thabit executed ? ( can i have some details plze )
According to Shia sources, yes. The Sunni say he handed his copies over willingly - the Shia say he was beaten to death.
**Abdullah Ibn Mas`ud was a very close companion of the Prophet (pbuh). When Uthman (ra) ordered all personal and other codices to be destroyed other than the standard, Ibn Mas’ud (ra) refused to hand over his copy.

Here is the reason for this initial or early reaction. Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud had with him a personal copy of the Qur’an (Musaf) which was his precious personal possession. Ibn Ma’sud had made some notes on his copy. It is quite understandable that any religious teacher or missionary would develop a kind of sentiment for his personal copy of the Divine Scripture which he has been using over a period of time and more so, if there were his personal notes on that copy. Such early reactions are but normal under the most normal circumstances.**

what happened in such situation was out of anger , not more than that
Is that part (which I put in bold) a quote? If so, please cite it.
The truth is clear from what you would like to allege. Caliph Uthman (ra) didn’t destroy the Qur’an , instead, he took the best action ever possible.
I am not necessarily making the allegation that Uthman purposefully changed anything. What I am pointing out is that what Uthman gave us was nothing more than one textual tradition of the Koran, when others existed. I also put forward that there existed outside of what Uthman collected textual traditions, some of which still exist to this day and are evident in certain recitation traditions. Either the Koran Uthman canonized was not exactly the Koran that Mohammad gave, or bin Ka’b and bin Masud were all heretics who added things to the Koran.

I also, on the side, point out that from Muslim sources there is evidence of the possibility of corruption of the Koran, whereas nothing supports this in Christian history outside of conjecture backed by nothing but more conjecture. This is inconsistency, which, again, I’ll get to at the end.
There were many textual variances of the Qur’an, or variant readings. These variant readings didn’t concern the content of Surahs and the Qur’an, but they were differences in spellings, nouns, etc. [emphasis mine]
Thank you for admitting this!! You have now, by Muslim standards, admitted that there were corruptions within the Koran. Why do I argue this? Because Muslims allege this very same thing against the Bible. They allege that because of textual variants the Bible was corrupted. This is the standard Muslims present. Even when Christians present that the variants are often “differences in spellings, nouns, etc.,” Muslims still allege that they are signs of corruption, and therefore the Bible cannot be trusted. And yet now that we’ve come to the Koran, with full admittance that there are similar variants, we are supposed to just shrug them off. This is inconsistency in its purest form.

The fact of the matter is that we can either be consistent in our textual examination, or we can be two-faced. Again, if Muslims wish to be equals with Christians in debate and admit that both holy books have a textual history, discussions between the two sides would become more and more balanced. However, if Muslims want to continue to bash Christian scripture because of nonconsequential textual variants while arguing that the Koran is 100% the same in all manuscripts when scholarly history shows otherwise…then suddenly switch gears and admit there are textual variants in the Koran but that they are nonconsequential textual variants…well, nothing is going to get accomplished.
 
Christoph Luxenberg established that the currently accepted Koran is thoroughly corrupted. The fact that some of it makes no logical sense in parts is a clue. It also contradicts itself to a great degree (the later, more violent verses superseding - according to Islamic interpretation - the earlier, ‘softer’ verses).
Mr Luxenberg is now in hiding of course - so much for logic and debate (not an Islamic strongpoint). Muslims are of course perfectly at liberty to say that the Old and New Testaments are corrupted (without having to go into hiding) - they have to do so because they contradict the Koran so frequently.
 
great post Zaki

**Details of this feat is given in Hadeeth narration’s as follows:**Huzayfah Ibne Yamaan was engaged in jihaad on the Armenian-Azerbaijaan front. There he noticed that differences were rising among people about readings of the Qur’an. So, on his return to Madeenah, he went straight to Uthmaan and once there, he pleaded, ‘O Ameer-ul Mu’mineen! Before this Ummah falls prey to differences in the Book of Allah like the Jews and Christians, you should do something about it.’ Uthmaan asked, ‘What is the matter?’ In reply, Huzayfah said, ‘I was on a jihaad mission fighting on the Armenian front. There I saw people of Syria following the reading of Ubayi Ibne Ka’b which would not be familiar to the people of Iraq, and the people of Iran following the reading of Abdullah Ibne Mas’ood which would not be familiar to the people of Syria. **As a result of this, they are charging each other of being kaafirs.’ **Consequently, Uthmaan gathered people together and delivered a sermon and in it he said, “You who live so close to me in Madeenah, if you can falsify each other and differ with each other in respect of the readings of the Qur’an, it is quite obvious that those who are far away from me will be indulging in falsification and disputation on a much larger scale. Therefore, let everyone get together and come up with a copy of the Qur’an following which becomes obligatory for all.”
Though sounds ridiculous, it’s seemed that this had been the common practice of muslims. So ironic…seems islam has taught muslim to judge everybody by his or her appearance or the surface only…😃
 
We can imagine their conversations like this:

Muslim 1: “Hey, you there! Iranian! Are you following that awful foreign reading?!”

Muslim 2: “Why, no, my Iraqi brother! I am on my way to commit a jihad against the Assyrians so that they’ll be forced to convert to Islam…er, excuse me, so that they’ll be forced to pay us all their money or convert to Islam!”

Muslim 1: “Ohhhhh…okay! I thought something really bad was going on over there…whew!”
 
We can imagine their conversations like this:

Muslim 1: “Hey, you there! Iranian! Are you following that awful foreign reading?!”

Muslim 2: “Why, no, my Iraqi brother! I am on my way to commit a jihad against the Assyrians so that they’ll be forced to convert to Islam…er, excuse me, so that they’ll be forced to pay us all their money or convert to Islam!”

Muslim 1: “Ohhhhh…okay! I thought something really bad was going on over there…whew!”
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
I was making reference to a post Zaki made earlier.

Variants in spelling and phrases. These are still variants found in the recitation and passing down of the Koran. I’ll get to that at the end of my post.

I hope this is written in jest. I offered them in my post on the first page, and made reference to them a few posts ago. Don’t start going planten on me, elwill, and pretending you don’t notice my arguments or my references to them. 😛

I have no idea what this means. I made reference to variants that existed among the companions of the prophet. You’re talking about the arabic language. I do not see the connection.

I’m sure it did. Nevertheless, there still existed variants, which I showed before, especially among men who were the most trusted to memorize the Koran. Some of these variants never entered Uthman’s Koran.

That depends on what you define as “corrupted.” Again, I’ll get to that at the end of my post.

That is circular reasoning. Unless the companions were Christ, they were still flawed men.

According to Shia sources, yes. The Sunni say he handed his copies over willingly - the Shia say he was beaten to death.

Is that part (which I put in bold) a quote? If so, please cite it.

I am not necessarily making the allegation that Uthman purposefully changed anything. What I am pointing out is that what Uthman gave us was nothing more than one textual tradition of the Koran, when others existed. I also put forward that there existed outside of what Uthman collected textual traditions, some of which still exist to this day and are evident in certain recitation traditions. Either the Koran Uthman canonized was not exactly the Koran that Mohammad gave, or bin Ka’b and bin Masud were all heretics who added things to the Koran.

I also, on the side, point out that from Muslim sources there is evidence of the possibility of corruption of the Koran, whereas nothing supports this in Christian history outside of conjecture backed by nothing but more conjecture. This is inconsistency, which, again, I’ll get to at the end.

Thank you for admitting this!! You have now, by Muslim standards, admitted that there were corruptions within the Koran. Why do I argue this? Because Muslims allege this very same thing against the Bible. They allege that because of textual variants the Bible was corrupted. This is the standard Muslims present. Even when Christians present that the variants are often “differences in spellings, nouns, etc.,” Muslims still allege that they are signs of corruption, and therefore the Bible cannot be trusted. And yet now that we’ve come to the Koran, with full admittance that there are similar variants, we are supposed to just shrug them off. This is inconsistency in its purest form.

The fact of the matter is that we can either be consistent in our textual examination, or we can be two-faced. Again, if Muslims wish to be equals with Christians in debate and admit that both holy books have a textual history, discussions between the two sides would become more and more balanced. However, if Muslims want to continue to bash Christian scripture because of nonconsequential textual variants while arguing that the Koran is 100% the same in all manuscripts when scholarly history shows otherwise…then suddenly switch gears and admit there are textual variants in the Koran but that they are nonconsequential textual variants…well, nothing is going to get accomplished.
in the time of mohammed (pbuh) and his companions , and among muslims in arabia . the quran were recited in 7 dialect which were known to muslims in arabia

and i said to you that unill these days we can read the quran in all 7 dialect . ( by the way the all 7 dialect are understandable to any arabs , it’s not different languges if you imagined that , it’s just little difference in the prounounce of specefic characters)

An example of different pronunciation in Surah Al Baqarah:

2: 70 Ibn Mas’ud reads al-baqira in place of al-baqara

as for the variants of texts , i discribed that before
the variants not in the containing nor in the meaning and not in anything but text
as for it will be easy for arabs to pronounce them correctly although their are differes in text , but for non arabs they will find it complex and may pronounce it incorrectly

An example of different spellings in Surah Al Baqarah:
2: 19 He reads** kulla ma in place of kullama**

if you try to proof that quran is corrupted in this way , and if you think that these variance means that different version of quran were exist , then it’s okey with me to say whatever you want about the corruptence of quran 🙂

that’s why i ask you to show me the variances , you actually have no knowledge about the nature of variences you are talking about
 
as for the variants of texts , i discribed that before
the variants not in the containing nor in the meaning and not in anything but text
as for it will be easy for arabs to pronounce them correctly although their are differes in text , but for non arabs they will find it complex and may pronounce it incorrectly

An example of different spellings in Surah Al Baqarah:
2: 19 He reads** kulla ma in place of kullama**

if you try to proof that quran is corrupted in this way , and if you think that these variance means that different version of quran were exist , then it’s okey with me to say whatever you want about the corruptence of quran 🙂

that’s why i ask you to show me the variances , you actually have no knowledge about the nature of variences you are talking about
I have shown variances. I have even cited sources. I have explained and demonstrated what I meant by variances. Everyone reading this thread can see that. You seem to either have completely missed the point of my argumentation, or (again, like planten) you are ignoring it to avoid responding to the heart of the argument. I sincerely hope it is not the latter, because I would dislike seeing a good Muslim poster on CAF falling back on such dishonest tactics. In either case, to make the statement, “I asked to show me variants, but I guess you have no knowledge of the subject” when that person has in fact demonstrated and cited evidence for such variants openly and in the same thread is a sign of disrespect for the subject matter and the person this accusation is being said to.

The fact is, I understand the nature of the variances, but I am consistent in my argumentation. Muslims are not: a non-consequential variant in the Koran is shrugged off as normal while a non-consequential variant in the Bible is treated as a sign of malicious corruption by heretics. You cannot have double standards. When this topic comes up, textual variants are most often treated in either one of the two following categories:
  • Textual variants that do not affect a religion’s entire theology are merely a sign of transcribing and tradition.
  • Textual variants, no matter how small or non-consequential, are a sign of corruption.
The question in the OP was whether or not the Koran was corrupted. I used the standards set by Muslims for other religious texts (the second option listed) to maintain consistency when discussing the Islamic faith. If you do not like the standards set, you have only yourself and your fellow Muslims to blame.
 
Thank you for admitting this!! You have now, by Muslim standards, admitted that there were corruptions within the Koran. Why do I argue this? Because Muslims allege this very same thing against the Bible. They allege that because of textual variants the Bible was corrupted. This is the standard Muslims present. Even when Christians present that the variants are often “differences in spellings, nouns, etc.,” Muslims still allege that they are signs of corruption, and therefore the Bible cannot be trusted. And yet now that we’ve come to the Koran, with full admittance that there are similar variants, we are supposed to just shrug them off. This is inconsistency in its purest form.

The fact of the matter is that we can either be consistent in our textual examination, or we can be two-faced. Again, if Muslims wish to be equals with Christians in debate and admit that both holy books have a textual history, discussions between the two sides would become more and more balanced. However, if Muslims want to continue to bash Christian scripture because of nonconsequential textual variants while arguing that the Koran is 100% the same in all manuscripts when scholarly history shows otherwise…then suddenly switch gears and admit there are textual variants in the Koran but that they are nonconsequential textual variants…well, nothing is going to get accomplished.
This is what a Muslim apologist told about the Qu’ran and the Bible: “The Qu’ran is the word of God, so it cannot have errors in it. The Bible is not the word of God, so it can have errors in it. If the Qu’ran has any errors, it is not because it is corrupted but because it’s a poor translation of the Qu’ran. The Qu’ran is verbatium of God, uncreated and eternal, not the written words you read.”

That’s my paraphrase, at least. I wish I knew where I found that apologist online again. That website was a gold mine of lies being told to Muslims about Christians and Jews.
 
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