Has the Qur’an Been Changed?

Muslims confess that God sent down the Qur’an and guards it. Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says that. The same Muslim reports also describe a book collected after Muhammad’s death, other copies burned, and verses companions said they had recited that are not in the Qur’an now.

Key points

• Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source is the promise. Qur’an 2:106CloseWe do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allāh is over all things competent?Qur’an 2:106 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source and Qur’an 16:101CloseAnd when We substitute a verse in place of a verse - and Allāh is most knowing of what He sends down - they say, "You, [O Muḥammad], are but an inventor [of lies]." But most of them do not know.Qur’an 16:101 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source speak of God replacing a verse. Muslims do not call that corruption.
• Sahih al-Bukhari 4986CloseNarrated Zaid bin Thabit: Abu Bakr As-Siddiq sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Musailima). (I went to him) and found `Umar bin Al- Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said (to me), "`Umar has come to me and said: "Casualties were heavy among the Qurra' of the Qur'an (i.e. those who knew the Qur'an by heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected." I said to `Umar, "How can you do something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" `Umar said, "By Allah, that is a good project." `Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my chest for it and I began to realize the good in the idea which `Umar had realized." Then Abu Bakr said (to me). 'You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it in one book." By Allah If they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, "How will you do something which Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did not do?" Abu Bakr replied, "By Allah, it is a good project." Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my chest for what He had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and `Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palme stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last Verse of Surat at-Tauba (Repentance) with Abi Khuzaima Al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The Verse is: 'Verily there has come unto you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty..(till the end of Surat-Baraa' (at-Tauba) (9.128-129). Then the complete manuscripts (copy) of the Qur'an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with `Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of `Umar.Sahih al-Bukhari 4986 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source is Zaid’s account of Abu Bakr’s collection, after a fear that a large part of the Qur’an might be lost. Sahih al-Bukhari 4987CloseNarrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to `Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to `Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an) as Jews and the Christians did before." So `Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to `Uthman. `Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, `Abdullah bin AzZubair, Sa`id bin Al-As and `AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. `Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, `Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. `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 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source is Uthman’s standard copy, and the order to burn the other Qur’anic materials.
• Sahih al-Bukhari 4977CloseNarrated Zirr bin Hubaish: I asked Ubai bin Ka`b, "O Abu AlMundhir! Your brother, Ibn Mas`ud said so-and-so (i.e., the two Mu'awwidh-at do not belong to the Qur'an)." Ubai said, "I asked Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about them, and he said, 'They have been revealed to me, and I have recited them (as a part of the Qur'an)," So Ubai added, "So we say as Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) has said."Sahih al-Bukhari 4977 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source records a disagreement, attributed to Ibn Mas‘ud, about the two short refuge surahs. The standard Qur’an includes them.
• Sahih al-Bukhari 6829CloseNarrated Ibn `Abbas: `Umar said, "I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, "We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book," and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorized this narration in this way." `Umar added, "Surely Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him."Sahih al-Bukhari 6829 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source and Sahih al-Bukhari 6830Closeamong what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married person (male & female) who commits illegal sexual intercourse, and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book,' and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. And the punishment of the Rajam is to be inflicted to any married person (male & female), who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if the required evidence is available or there is conception or confession. And then we used to recite among the Verses in Allah's Book: 'O people! Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers, as it is disbelief (unthankfulness) on your part that you claim to be the offspring of other than your real father.'Sahih al-Bukhari 6830 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source have Umar say that a stoning verse was revealed and recited, and that he fears people will not find it in the book. Sahih Muslim 1452Close'A'isha (Allah be pleased with, her) reported that it had been revealed in the Holy Qur'an that ten clear sucklings make the marriage unlawful, then it was abrogated (and substituted) by five sucklings and Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) died and it was before that time (found) in the Holy Qur'an (and recited by the Muslims).Sahih Muslim 1452 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen source has Aisha say that a ruling about suckling was still recited as Qur’an when the Prophet died. Sahih Muslim 1050CloseAbu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad reported on the authority of his father that 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 so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it:" Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise" (lxi 2.) and" that is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13).Sahih Muslim 1050 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen source has Abu Musa say he forgot a surah like al-Tawbah except for one sentence.
• The Birmingham parchment is dated 568–645 CE. That date is the death of the animal, not a test of the ink. The lower text of the Sana’a palimpsest is a copy from outside the standard Uthmanic text, in the analysis of Sadeghi and Goudarzi.
• Printed readings that differ in wording are the subject of How Many Versions of the Qur’an Are There?. The collection story at length is Who Wrote the Qur’an? How It Was Compiled.

The promise

Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1), Saheeh International:

Indeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.

Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

The bracket is the translators’ identification of the message as the Qur’an. Muslims read the verse as a promise that God keeps the text. The Arabic is on Quran.com, through Open source.

The same book also speaks of replacement. Qur’an 2:106CloseWe do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allāh is over all things competent?Qur’an 2:106 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says God does not abrogate a verse, or cause it to be forgotten, without bringing a better or similar one. Qur’an 16:101CloseAnd when We substitute a verse in place of a verse - and Allāh is most knowing of what He sends down - they say, "You, [O Muḥammad], are but an inventor [of lies]." But most of them do not know.Qur’an 16:101 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says that when God substitutes a verse, people call Muhammad an inventor. Muslims treat that as God’s own act, not as damage done by later copyists. A promise of guarding, and a report that a verse was recited and then was not in the collected book, are two different sentences. Both are in Muslim sources.

Abu Bakr and Uthman

Sahih al-Bukhari 4986CloseNarrated Zaid bin Thabit: Abu Bakr As-Siddiq sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Musailima). (I went to him) and found `Umar bin Al- Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said (to me), "`Umar has come to me and said: "Casualties were heavy among the Qurra' of the Qur'an (i.e. those who knew the Qur'an by heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected." I said to `Umar, "How can you do something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" `Umar said, "By Allah, that is a good project." `Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my chest for it and I began to realize the good in the idea which `Umar had realized." Then Abu Bakr said (to me). 'You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it in one book." By Allah If they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, "How will you do something which Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did not do?" Abu Bakr replied, "By Allah, it is a good project." Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my chest for what He had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and `Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palme stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last Verse of Surat at-Tauba (Repentance) with Abi Khuzaima Al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The Verse is: 'Verily there has come unto you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty..(till the end of Surat-Baraa' (at-Tauba) (9.128-129). Then the complete manuscripts (copy) of the Qur'an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with `Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of `Umar.Sahih al-Bukhari 4986 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (2) is Zaid ibn Thabit. After the fighting at Yamama, Umar tells Abu Bakr that many who knew the Qur’an by heart have been killed, and that a large part of the Qur’an may be lost if more of them die. Abu Bakr and Zaid both answer that the Prophet did not collect the Qur’an into one book. Zaid then collects it from palm stalks, stones, and men who had it by heart. He says the last verses of al-Tawbah were found with Abi Khuzaima and with nobody else. The copy stays with Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Hafsa. The full narration is on the compilation page.

Sahih al-Bukhari 4987CloseNarrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to `Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to `Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an) as Jews and the Christians did before." So `Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to `Uthman. `Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, `Abdullah bin AzZubair, Sa`id bin Al-As and `AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. `Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, `Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. `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 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (3) is the next step. Hudhayfa asks Uthman to save the community before it differs about the book the way Jews and Christians did. Uthman has Zaid and three Quraysh men write official copies. Where they disagree with Zaid, they are to write in the dialect of Quraysh. Copies go to the provinces. Uthman orders every other Qur’anic manuscript, a fragment or a whole copy, burned.

Muslims read the burning as care for one standard. The report itself says the other materials were burned after a dispute about recitation. Who Wrote the Qur’an? How It Was Compiled quotes those two narrations at length.

These two reports are Sunni hadith. A Shia reader who does not take Bukhari as proof still has Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source and Qur’an 2:106CloseWe do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allāh is over all things competent?Qur’an 2:106 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source. Which collections each community accepts is Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith?.

Ibn Mas‘ud’s copy

Sahih al-Bukhari 4999CloseNarrated Masriq: `Abdullah bin `Amr mentioned `Abdullah bin Masud and said, "I shall ever love that man, for I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, 'Take (learn) the Qur'an from four: `Abdullah bin Masud, Salim, Mu`adh and Ubai bin Ka`b.' "Sahih al-Bukhari 4999 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source names four men to learn the Qur’an from, and Ibn Mas‘ud is one of them. Sahih al-Bukhari 4977CloseNarrated Zirr bin Hubaish: I asked Ubai bin Ka`b, "O Abu AlMundhir! Your brother, Ibn Mas`ud said so-and-so (i.e., the two Mu'awwidh-at do not belong to the Qur'an)." Ubai said, "I asked Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about them, and he said, 'They have been revealed to me, and I have recited them (as a part of the Qur'an)," So Ubai added, "So we say as Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) has said."Sahih al-Bukhari 4977 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (4) then has Zirr ask Ubayy about Ibn Mas‘ud’s view that the two refuge surahs do not belong to the Qur’an. Ubayy says the Prophet told him those surahs were revealed, and that he recited them as part of the Qur’an. The standard text includes them. The report still says a named teacher of the Qur’an was remembered as leaving them out.

Sümeyye Saygın studies the further report that Ibn Mas‘ud’s personal copy did not contain al-Fatiha and those two refuge surahs. Her article is in Turkish. She treats the reports as solitary, about one companion’s copy, and she concludes that he did not deny the surahs. A minority view in her survey says he for a time treated the refuge surahs as prayers of seeking refuge and later gave that up. This page does not put an English rendering of her abstract inside quotation marks. The English sentence that is on sunnah.com is Bukhari 4977. Extra surahs sometimes attributed to Ubayy’s copy are not quoted here, because that wording was not checked against an edition.

Verses companions said they recited

Sahih al-Bukhari 6829CloseNarrated Ibn `Abbas: `Umar said, "I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, "We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book," and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorized this narration in this way." `Umar added, "Surely Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him."Sahih al-Bukhari 6829 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (5) is Umar. He is afraid that, after a long time, people will say they do not find the verses of stoning in the book, and will leave an obligation God revealed. He confirms stoning for a married person when the crime is proved by witnesses, pregnancy, or confession. He says the Prophet carried out that penalty, and so did the community after him. This report does not quote the words of a stoning verse.

Sahih al-Bukhari 6830Closeamong what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married person (male & female) who commits illegal sexual intercourse, and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book,' and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. And the punishment of the Rajam is to be inflicted to any married person (male & female), who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if the required evidence is available or there is conception or confession. And then we used to recite among the Verses in Allah's Book: 'O people! Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers, as it is disbelief (unthankfulness) on your part that you claim to be the offspring of other than your real father.'Sahih al-Bukhari 6830 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (6) is Umar’s longer sermon. In the part about the book, he says that among what God revealed was the verse of stoning, that they recited it, understood it, and memorized it, and that he fears someone will say it is not in God’s book. He also says they used to recite a sentence warning people not to claim other fathers. The rest of that narration is about succession after Muhammad. The preview on the citation is the book passage, not that surrounding speech.

Sahih Muslim 1452Close'A'isha (Allah be pleased with, her) reported that it had been revealed in the Holy Qur'an that ten clear sucklings make the marriage unlawful, then it was abrogated (and substituted) by five sucklings and Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) died and it was before that time (found) in the Holy Qur'an (and recited by the Muslims).Sahih Muslim 1452 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen source (7) is Aisha. A ruling that ten clear sucklings make marriage unlawful was revealed, then replaced by five, and the Prophet died while that ruling was still recited as Qur’an. sunnah.com numbers the report 1452a. The English matches the wording this site already stores for it.

Sahih Muslim 1050CloseAbu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad reported on the authority of his father that 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 so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it:" Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise" (lxi 2.) and" that is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13).Sahih Muslim 1050 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen source (8) is Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari, speaking to reciters in Basra. He says they used to recite a surah like al-Tawbah in length and severity, which he has forgotten except one sentence: if the son of Adam had two valleys of riches, he would want a third, and only dust fills him. He also remembers lines from a surah like the Musabbihat, which he identifies with the sense of 61:2 and 17:13.

Muslims explain these reports by abrogation. Qur’an 2:106CloseWe do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allāh is over all things competent?Qur’an 2:106 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source is the verse they stand on: God may lift a verse and bring another. The reports still say that words were recited as Qur’an, including after the Prophet’s death in Aisha’s account, and that the collected book does not contain them. Bukhari and Muslim are Sunni collections. A reader who sets them aside is not answered by pretending they are Shia canon. The Qur’an verses above are the texts a Shia Muslim and a Sunni Muslim share. Sunni and Shia is the leadership difference. What Are Hadith and Sira? is what a hadith is.

Manuscripts

The lower writing of the Sana’a palimpsest, called Sana’a 1, is the subject of Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi, “Ṣan‘ā’ 1 and the Origins of the Qur’ān,” in Der Islam (2012) (9). They describe that lower text as a copy from a textual tradition beside the standard Uthmanic one, the only such manuscript they know, and they argue that the surahs were already formed before the standardization under the third caliph, around AD 650. This page does not list verse-by-verse variants from their edition. The paper is the place for that apparatus.

The Birmingham leaves are Mingana MS 1572 in the Cadbury Research Library, two parchment leaves with parts of surahs 18–20 in Hijazi script (10). Oxford’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, sample OxA-29418, dated the parchment to 568–645 CE at 95.4% probability. The university’s research page says this dates the death of the animal whose skin became the parchment. It also says the leaves are not a palimpsest, that the brown ink is iron gall and the red is red lead, and that there is no reliable way to date the ink itself. The university calls those inks contemporary with the parchment result. That is not the same sentence as a radiocarbon date for the writing.

David Thomas, in the university’s 2015 announcement (11), goes further than the laboratory line. He says the parts on this parchment can be dated, with a degree of confidence, to less than two decades after Muhammad’s death, and that they are “in a form that is very close to the form of the Qur’an read today.” That is his comment, not the laboratory result. The date range for the skin, 568–645, reaches before Muhammad’s usual dates and past Uthman’s standardization. An early text close to today’s Qur’an is real evidence. It does not erase Sana’a’s lower text, or the hadith about burned copies.

François Déroche, Qur’ans of the Umayyads (Brill, 2014) (12), treats famous copies that have been called Uthman’s. He reports the Tashkent, or Samarkand, attribution to Uthman as word of mouth. On the facsimiles published by Tayyar Altıkulaç, he says Altıkulaç concluded that the Topkapı manuscript, the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum manuscript, and the Cairo manuscript were not Uthman’s copies, and he calls the colophon of the museum copy a gross forgery. The Topkapı codex, once H.S. 194 and now 44/32, was sent from Cairo in 1811. Déroche calls it, without any doubt, a copy of the second century AH, the eighth century AD, related to the Umayyad tradition. A precise radiocarbon date for the Samarkand codex is not stated here, because that figure was not read in Déroche.

Daniel Alan Brubaker, Corrections in Early Qur’ān Manuscripts: Twenty Examples (2019) (13), says he surveyed some 10,000 pages and documented thousands of physical corrections made after the copy was first written, including simple scribal error. The twenty examples are not copied onto this page. They were not checked here against the manuscripts. A correction in a handwritten book is ordinary. A count of thousands of later changes is still part of the manuscript record, next to a claim that the written text never moved.

The same standard

Has the Bible Been Changed? The Muslim Corruption Claim is the claim this page sits beside. Christians confess that Jesus is God, and the Gospels say he was crucified and raised. The Qur’an tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what they have, and it denies that death. That pair of claims is the Islamic dilemma and Does the Qur’an Confirm the Bible?.

The standard is the same for both books. Read the community’s own reports, and read the manuscripts. For the Qur’an, the promise in Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source stands in the text Muslims recite. So do a collection undertaken because of a fear of loss, a burning of other copies, companion disagreements, reports of recited verses absent from the book, a non-standard lower text at Sana’a, and a Birmingham parchment whose skin is early and whose ink is not radiocarbon dated. That is not a claim that the Qur’an was invented centuries later. It is not a claim that nothing in the record ever differed. How Many Versions of the Qur’an Are There? is the canonical readings, including a wording difference between Hafs and Warsh.

Frequently asked questions

Has the Qur’an been changed?

Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says God guards the message. Sahih al-Bukhari 4987CloseNarrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to `Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to `Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an) as Jews and the Christians did before." So `Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to `Uthman. `Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, `Abdullah bin AzZubair, Sa`id bin Al-As and `AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. `Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, `Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. `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 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source says Uthman sent out one form and had the other Qur’anic materials burned. Sahih al-Bukhari 6830Closeamong what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married person (male & female) who commits illegal sexual intercourse, and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book,' and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. And the punishment of the Rajam is to be inflicted to any married person (male & female), who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if the required evidence is available or there is conception or confession. And then we used to recite among the Verses in Allah's Book: 'O people! Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers, as it is disbelief (unthankfulness) on your part that you claim to be the offspring of other than your real father.'Sahih al-Bukhari 6830 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source and Sahih Muslim 1452Close'A'isha (Allah be pleased with, her) reported that it had been revealed in the Holy Qur'an that ten clear sucklings make the marriage unlawful, then it was abrogated (and substituted) by five sucklings and Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) died and it was before that time (found) in the Holy Qur'an (and recited by the Muslims).Sahih Muslim 1452 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen source say verses were recited that the collected book does not contain. The readings that remain inside the standard text are How Many Versions of the Qur’an Are There?.

Has the Qur’an ever been changed?

The reports above are the evidence inside Sunni hadith, not a later Christian list. Muslims receive them as the story of preservation and abrogation. The sentences still describe a written standard that replaced other copies, and recited words that did not stay in the book.

Is the Qur’an corrupted?

Muslims answer with Qur’an 15:9CloseIndeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.Qur’an 15:9 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source. The manuscript record supports an early text close to today’s Qur’an, in Thomas’s comment on the Birmingham leaves, and it also includes the Sana’a lower text and later handwritten corrections. “Corrupted” is a verdict. The sources on this page are the materials the verdict has to include.

Has the Qur’an been corrupted?

The same distinction holds. Abrogation, in Qur’an 2:106CloseWe do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allāh is over all things competent?Qur’an 2:106 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, is God replacing a verse. A lost or burned copy, and a verse companions say they recited and cannot find, are what Bukhari and Muslim describe. Those are Sunni books. The Qur’an verses are shared.

What is the Birmingham Qur’an manuscript?

Two Hijazi leaves in Birmingham’s Mingana collection, parts of surahs 18–20. The parchment, OxA-29418, is 568–645 CE at 95.4% probability. The university says that dates the animal, not the ink, and David Thomas says the text is very close to the Qur’an read today.

What is the Sana’a manuscript?

Sana’a 1 is a palimpsest. Sadeghi and Goudarzi argue that its lower text belongs to a tradition beside the standard Uthmanic Qur’an, and that the surahs were formed before the standardization around AD 650. It is not the same artifact as the Birmingham leaves.

Keep reading

• How Many Versions of the Qur’an Are There?
• Who Wrote the Qur’an? How It Was Compiled
• Has the Bible Been Changed?
• The Islamic dilemma
• Does the Qur’an Confirm the Bible?
• Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith?
• What Are Hadith and Sira?
• What Is the History of Islam?
• Who Was Muhammad?