This is the material that I am preparing for my forthcoming sessions exposing the lies and misinformation of Muhammadan Ali Ataie in respect to the veracity of the “satanic verses”.

In these posts I will address Ataie’s two main contentions, which are:

There are no manuscripts of the Quran that contain the satanic verses, not a single one. And there are no variant Arabic readings (qiraat) which them either.

Q. 22:52, which is supposed to have been “revealed” concerning this incident, wasn’t “sent down” until eight years later in Medina. Therefore, it makes no sense that Muslims were reciting the satanic verses as part of Q. 53:19-20 for eight more years without anyone raising an eyebrow or objecting seeing how these verses contradict the Quran’s express condemnation of the worship of any other deity besides Allah.

Here I will address Ataie’s first main objection.

WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION OF THE QURANIC CODICES

The first problem with Ataie’s claim is that he erroneously assumes that Muhammad and his cronies would not have immediately expunged the satanic verses from the written materials in their possession, the very moment his prophet admitted that Satan had inspired him to utter these statements, thereby committing the unforgiveable sin of idolatry.

This brings us to the second problem with Ataie’s pathetic assertion. Another reason why there are “zero manuscripts (MSS)” which still have the verses which Satan inspired Muhammad to recite is because the Islamic sources attest that the Muslims pretty much destroyed the copies which were written down by Muhammad’s followers, which resulted in the loss of a great bulk of the Quran.

Note, for instance, the following tradition from al-Bukhari:

Narrated 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 Musailama). (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 Quran by heart) on the day of the Battle of Ya’mama, 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 Apostle. 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 Apostle 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) palmed 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, Volume 6, Book 61, Number 509 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=61&translator=1&start=0&number=509)

Narrated 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 (Quran) 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, Said 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. Said bin Thabit added, “A Verse from Surat Ahzab was missed by me when we copied the Qur’an and I used to hear Allah’s Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari. (That Verse was): ‘Among the Believers are men who have been true in their covenant with Allah.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 61, Number 510 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=61&translator=1&start=0&number=510)

Here’s an alternate rendering of the aforementioned hadiths:

III: The Collection of the Qur’an

4702. It is related that Zayd ibn Thabit said, “After the slaughter of people in the Battle of Yamama, Abu Bakr sent for me. ‘Umar was with him. Abu Bakr said, ”Umar came to me and said, “Many Qur’an reciters were killed in the Battle of Yamama, and I fear that heavy casualties will be inflicted on the Qur’an reciters in other places and therefore MUCH OF THE QUR’AN WILL BE LOST. I think that you should collect the Qur’an together.”‘ Abu Bakr said, ‘I said to ‘Umar, “How can I do something which the Messenger of Allah did not do?” ‘Umar said, “By Allah, it is better.” ‘Umar kept at me about it until Allah opened my breast to that. I think what ‘Umar thinks about that.'”

Zayd continued, “Abu Bakr said, ‘You are an intelligent young man and we have no suspicion about you. You used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Therefore you are to search out the Qur’an and collect it.’ By Allah, if he had obliged me to move one of the mountains, that would not have been weightier for me than what he commanded to do of collecting the Qur’an. I said, ‘How can you do something which the Messenger of Allah did not do?‘ Abu Bakr said, ‘By Allah, it is better.’ Abu Bakr continued to keep at me until Allah opened my breast to what Allah had opened the breasts of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar. So I began to search out the Qur’an and collect it from the palm stalks, thin white stones, and the breasts of men until I found end of Surat at-Tawba with Khuzayma al-Ansari which I did not find with anyone else: ‘A Messenger has come to you from among yourselves. Your suffering is distressful to him…’ (9:128)” The copy of the Qur’an in which the Qur’an was collected remained in the possession of Abu Bakr until Allah took him, and then it was with ‘Umar until Allah took him, and then it was with Hafsa bint ‘Umar.”

4703. Anas ibn Malik reported that Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman came to ‘Uthman while the people of Syria were conquering Armenia and Azerbaijan with the people of Iraq. Hudhayfa WAS ALARMED BY THE DIFFERENCE IN THEIR RECITATION. Hudhayfa said to ‘Uthman, “Amir al-Mu’minin! Deliver this Community before they disagree about the Book as the Jews and Christians differed!” So ‘Uthman sent a message to Hafsa, saying, “Send us the pages in your possession and we will copy them and then return them to you.” So Hafsa sent them to ‘Uthman. He ordered Zayd ibn Thabit, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr, Sa’id ibn al-‘As, and ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham to transcribe copies. ‘Uthman said to the group of the three Qurashis, “When you and Zayd ibn Thabit disagree about any of the Qur’an, write it in the dialect of Quraysh. It was revealed in their language.” They did that. When they had copied it out, ‘Uthman returned the pages to Hafsa and he sent a copy of what they had copied out to every region and commanded that every sheet or copy which had any other form of the Qur’an should be burned.

Kharija ibn Zayd ibn Thabit added that he heard Zayd ibn Thabit say, “I missed one ayat of Surat al-Ahzab when we copied out the Qur’an which I used to hear the Messenger of Allah recite. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzayma ibn Thabit al-Ansari: “Among the believers there are men who have been true to the contract they made with Allah.” (33:23) (Aisha Bewley, The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, Chapter 69. Book of the Virtues of the Qur’an; emphasis mine)

Moreover, the Islamic sources are emphatic that there are many verses that have disappeared:

“Umar bin al-Khattab asked about a verse of Allah’s book, they answered: ‘It was with a man who got killed on day of Yamama (battle)’. He (Umar) said: ‘We all shall return to Allah’. Then he ordered to collect the Quran, therefore he was the first one who collected it in one book.” (Kanz ul Ummal, Volume 2, p. 574) 

Umar was once looking for the text of a specific verse of the Qur’an he vaguely remembered. To his deep sorrow, he discovered that the only person who had any record of that verse had been killed in the battle of Yamama and that the verse was consequently lost. (Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, p. 10 – see also as-Suyuti’s al-Itqan fi ‘ulum al-Quran, volume 1, p. 204) 

In the Muqaddamah of Q. 33, Jalaluddin as-Suyuti recorded a statement from Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161 A. H), as narrated by his student Abd al-Razaq al-Sanani (d. 211 A. H.):

 وأخرج عبد الرزاق عن الثوري قال : بلغنا ان ناسا من أصحاب النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم كانوا يقرأون القرآن أصيبوا يوم مسيلمة فذهبت حروف من القرآن  

“Abd al-Razaq narrated from Al-Thawri that he said: ‘I have come to know that people from the Sahaba of the Prophet who used to recite the Quran were killed on the day of Musaylama and with their deaths LETTERS FROM THE QURAN WERE LOST (Zahab).’” (Tafsir Dur al-Manthur, Muqaddamah of Surah Ahzab, Volume 6, p. 558) 

And here are several reports which speak of the missing verses of adult breast feeding and stoning in connection with the loss of much of the Quran: 

9 The Chapters on Marriage

(36) Chapter: Breastfeeding an adult

It was narrated that ‘Aishah said:

“The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed¹, and the paper was with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah died, we were preoccupied with his death, AND A TAME SHEEP CAME AND ATE IT.”

¹: These verses were abrogated in recitation but not ruling. Other ahadith establish the number for fosterage to be 5.

Grade: HASAN (Darussalam)

Reference: Sunan Ibn Majah 1944

In-book reference: Book 9, Hadith 100

English translation: Vol. 3, Book 9, Hadith 1944 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:1944; emphasis mine)

How ironic that a sheep proved to be too powerful for Ataie’s god since he prevented Allah from preserving the only copy which contained these specific verses, resulting in their wholesale disappearance!  

And: 

Zirr ibn Hubaish reported: “Ubayy ibn Ka’b said to me, ‘What is the extent of Suratul-Ahzab?’ I said, ‘Seventy, or seventy-three verses’. He said, ‘Yet it used to be equal to Suratul-Baqarah and in it we recited the verse of stoning’. I said, ‘And what is the verse of stoning’? He replied, ‘The fornicators among the married men (ash-shaikh) and married women (ash-shaikhah), stone them as an exemplary punishment from Allah, and Allah is Mighty and Wise.”‘ (Al-Itqan fi ‘ulum al-Quran, p. 524)

This is what Jalaluddin as-Suyuti wrote in the preface of his book Dur al-Manthur concerning the veracity of the reports found all throughout: 

“Praise be to Allah… who has given me the ability to conduct a commentary of his great book based on what I have received of the transmitted reports with high valued chains.” 

This explains why Muslims have admitted that much of the Quran’s contents is completely gone, lost to the vestiges of time, never to be recovered or found ever again:   

“Abd al-Razzak in Al-Musannaf from Ibn Abbas said: Umar bin Al-Khattab ordered a person to gather people for Salat of Jama’at. He then ascended on a pulpit, praised Allah and said: ‘O people! Do not get afraid about the verse of Al-Rajm because it is a verse that was revealed in the book of Allah and we recited it but it was lost [Zahab], WITH MUCH OF THE QURAN GONE WITH MUHAMMAD; and the proof of that is that the prophet would stone, and Abu Bakr would stone, and I have stoned and there will come people from this nation who would deny the stoning.’” (Tafsir Dur al-Manthur, Muqadmah of Surah Ahzab) 

“Ismail bin Ibrahim narrated from Ayub from Naf’i from Ibn Umar who said: ‘Verily among you people one would say that he has found the Quran while he is unaware of what the total quantity of the Quran was, because MOST of the Quran has been lost. Rather one should say that verily he has found the Quran that has appeared.’” (Fadhail al-Quran, by Qasim bin Salam (d. 222 A.H.), Volume 2, p. 135) 

The following authorities all cite this particular narration: 

Tafsir Dur al-Manthur Volume 1, p. 106. 

Tafsir Ruh al-Mani, Volume 1, p. 25. 

Al-Itqan fi ‘ulum al-Quran by Suyuti, rendered into Urdu by Maulana Muhammad Haleem Ansari, Volume 2, p. 64 (Idara Islamiat, Lahore).

Here is an English translation of this specific report taken from another version of the Itqan: 

It is reported from Ismail ibn Ibrahim from Ayyub from Naafi from Ibn Umar who said: “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.’” (Al-Itqan, p. 524) 

And here is what the scholars said about the transmitters of the foregoing report: 

Ismail bin Ibrahim  

Dahabi said, “Hujja” (Al-Kashif, Volume 1 p. 242). 

Ibn Hajar said, “Thiqah” (Taqrib al-Tahdib, Volume 1, p. 90).  

Ayyub al-Sakhtiani

Dahabi said, “The master of scholars’ (Siar alam al-nubala, Volume 6, p. 15). 

Ibn Hajar said, “Thiqah Thabt Hujja” (Taqrib al-Tahdib, Volume 1, p. 116).  

Naafi 

Dahabi said, “The Imam of Tabi’in” (Al-Kashif, volume 2, p. 315). 

Ibn Hajar said, “Thiqah Thabt” (Taqrib al-Tahdib, Volume 2, p. 239). 

The words Thiqah, Thabt and Hujja are used to describe men of integrity who were deemed to be completely reliable and trustworthy in narrating hadiths. 

Finally, and more importantly, the Quran testifies to its own corruption:

Like as We sent down on the dividers, Those who made the Quran INTO SHREDS. So, by your Lord, We would most certainly question them all, As to what they did. S. 15:90-93 Shakir

Here are some of the various ways that Q. 15:91 has been translated:

(So also on such) as have made Qur’an into shreds (as they please). Y. Ali

Those who break the Qur’an into parts. Pickthall

who dismember the Qur’an. Palmer

who have broken the Koran into fragments. Arberry

Who splintered the Quran into diverse parts. Tarif Khalidi

Those who divided the Qur’an into parts. Maulana Muhammad Ali

Those who break the Quran into separate parts. Hamid S. Aziz

Those who have broken the Qur’an into fragments (as they please). Ali Unal

and also divided the Quran believing in some parts and rejecting others. Muhammad Sarwar

and who have broken the Scripture into fragments— Wahiduddin Khan

And severed their Scripture into fragments. Muhammad Ahmed-Samira

It is thus clear from this verse that the words of the Quran were being changed.

As the late Islamic Scholar Alphonse Mingana explained:

“Finally, if we understand correctly the following verse of Suratul-Hijr (xv. 90-91): ‘As we sent down upon (punished) the dividers (of the Scripture?) who broke up the Koran into parts,’ we are tempted to state that even when the Prophet was alive, some changes were noticed in the recital of certain verses of his sacred book. There is nothing very surprising in this fact, since Muhammad could not read or write, and was at the mercy of friends for the writing of his revelations, or, more frequently, of some mercenary amanuenses.” (Mingana, “Three Ancient Korans”, The Origins of the Koran – Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book, edited by Ibn Warraq [Prometheus Books, Amherst NY, 1998], p. 84; bold emphasis mine)

The evidence also shows that such corruptions to the text continued long after Muhammad’s death. For instance, Mingana records the Muslim reaction to Uthman b. Affan’s burning and wholesale destruction of primary, competing Quranic codices:

“The book, drawn up by this method, continued to be authoritative and the standard text till 29-30 A.H. under the caliphate of ‘Uthman. At this time the wonderful faithfulness of Arab memory was defective, and according to a general weakness of human nature, the Believers have been heard reciting the verses of the Koran in a different way. This fact was due specially, it is said, to the hundreds of dialects used in Arabia. Zaid was again asked to put an end to these variations which had begun to scandalize the votaries of the Prophet. That indefatigable compiler, assisted by three men from the tribe of Quraish, started to do what he had already done more than fifteen years before. The previous copies made from the first one written under Abu Bakr were all destroyed by special order of the caliph: the revelation sent down from heaven was one, and the book containing this revelation must be one. The critic remarks that the only guarantee of the authenticity of the Koran is the testimony of Zaid; and for this reason, a scholar who doubts whether a given word has been really used by Muhammad, or whether it has been only employed by Zaid on his own authority, or on the meagre testimony of some Arab reciters, does not transgress the strict laws of high criticism. If the memory of the followers of the Prophet has been found defective from the year 15 to 30 A.H. when Islam was proclaimed over all Arabia, why may it not have been defective from 612 to 632 C.E. when the Prophet was often obliged to defend his own life against terrible aggressors? And if the first recension of Zaid contained always the actual words of Muhammad, why was this compiler not content with re-establishing it in its entirety, and why was the want of a new recension felt by ‘Uthman? How can it be that in the short space of fifteen years such wonderful variants could have crept into the few copies preceding the reign of the third caliph that he found himself bound to destroy all those he could find? If ‘Uthman was certainly inspired only by religious purposes, why did his enemies call him ‘THE TEARER OF THE BOOKS’ and why did they fasten on him the following stigma: ‘He found the Korans many and left one; HE TORE UP THE BOOK’? …” (Ibid., p. 84-85; bold and capital emphasis mine)

In another article, Mingana cites Muslim historian al-Tabari who wrote that:

“… ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, and ‘Uthman b. Affan wrote the Revelation to the Prophet; but in their absence it was Ubai b. Ka’b and Zaid b. Thabit who wrote it.’ He informs us, too, that the people said to ‘Uthman: ‘The Koran was in MANY BOOKS, and thou discreditedst them all but one’; and after the Prophet’s death, ‘People gave him as successor Abu Bakr, who in turn was succeeded by ‘Umar; and both of them acted according to the Book and the Sunnah of the Apostle of God – and praise be to God the Lord of the worlds; then people elected ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan WHO … TORE UP THE BOOK.’” (Ibid., The Transmission of the Koran, p. 102; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Muslims have disagreed on who compiled the Quran. They said that the four men mentioned earlier died, and so it was not compiled. Sometimes they said it was Zaid b. Thabit who compiled it, or Salim, the servant of Abu Hudsaifa. Some say that Ali swore not to put on a cloak, except for prayer, until he had compiled the Quran. Once the Quran had been compiled, people wondered what to call it. Some suggested calling it Sifr (“the Book”), But Ali refused, because that is a Hebrew word. Later Ali said: “I saw one like it in Abyssinia called Al-Mushaf“; so this is what it was called (Darwaza, Al-Qur’an al-Majid, p. 53).

I now conclude this part by citing the following Christian reference’s superb summation of the issues concerning the imperfect and chaotic compilation of the Muslim scripture:

… Further, al-Bukhari narrated what he heard from Qatada. He said: “I asked Anas b. Malik: ‘Who compiled the Quran during the lifetime of the Prophet?’ ‘Four,’ he replied, ‘and all of them are from the Ansar: Ubai b. Ka’b, Muads b. Jabal, Zaid b. Thabit, and Abu Zaid.’ I asked: ‘Who is Abu Zaid?’ ‘One of my uncles,’ he answered” (see al-Bukhari, Fadhail al-Qur’an 3).

It is also narrated by Anas via Ibn Thabit: “The Prophet died, and only four compiled the Quran, including Abu Al-Darda, Muads b. Jabal, Zaid b. Thabit and Abu Zaid.” As such, this hadith disagrees with Qatada’s in the sense of confinement regarding the four; the other hadith mentions Abi Al-Darda instead of Ka’b b. Ubai. A number of Imams (leaders) resented this sense of confinement to the four only; yet some unbelievers held on tenaciously to Anas’ claim, implying that a great portion of the Quran had been lost – especially verses that back up their party. In fact, these four died before the Quran was compiled. They also asserted that many reciters of the Quran had died before the Quran was compiled. Al-Qurtubi said: “During the Battle of Yamama, 450 RECITERS OF THE QURAN WERE KILLED.” THE SAME NUMBER WAS KILLED at Mauna Well during the Prophet’s time (see Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya by Ibn Kathir; chapter on Battle of Yamama).

Abu Bakr was overwhelmed by sadness over the loss of the Quran. Al-Bukhari’s narration, based on what Zaid b. Thabit related, said that Zaid said: “Abu Bakr sent someone to call me when the Yamama people were killed. Umar was there with him. Abu Bakr said: ‘On the Day of Yamama, Umar came to me saying that reciters of the Quran were killed. He was afraid that others might be killed elsewhere. This indicates the loss of much of the Quran. He suggested that I command that the Quran be compiled.’…

Another version says that Abu Bakr asked Zaid b. Thabit to compile the Quran. Zaid refused until he was assisted. Yet another version claims that Abu Bakr asked Zaid b. Thabit to compile the Quran, with Zaid refusing until he was helped by Umar. Maghazi (“Campaigns”) by Musa b. Uqba, Ibn Shihab said: “When Muslims in the Yamama combat were injured, Abu Bakr panicked. He was afraid that a portion of the Quran would be lost. Therefore, people came with what they already had with them” (Al-Qur’an al-majid by Darwaza, pg. 54)…  

Abu Bakr said to Umar and Zaid: “Sit at the door of the mosque, so that if someone comes with two witnesses and has something of the Book of Allah, then you can write it.” So Zaid did not write a verse unless it was backed up by two just witnesses. The end of Sura al-Tawba was found only with Abu Khuzaima b. Thabit, but since his witness was considered equal to that of two men, what he had brought was written down. But Umar brought a verse about stoning (ayat al-rajm) which was not written down, for he was alone. The reason behind all this is that the Quran was divided among shoulder bones, palm branches, etc. (Al-Itqan by al-Suyuti; chapter on compiling the Quran)…

An evidence that the Quran had undergone some increase in volume is what Muhammad b. Sirin quotes Ikrima as having said: “After Abu Bakr had been paid homage to, Ali b. Abu Talib stayed home. So people said to Abu Bakr: ‘He hates to pay you homage.’ Therefore, Abu Bakr sent for Ali and asked: ‘Do you really hate paying me homage?’ ‘No,’ replied Ali. ‘Why then have you not come to me?’ asked Abu Bakr. Ali said: ‘I SAW THE BOOK OF ALLAH BEING ADDED TO. This led me to make up my mind not to put on my cloak, except for prayer, until I compile the Quran.’ Abu Bakr then stated: ‘Yes. What you have said is right!’” Muhammad b. Sirin continued: “Then I said to Ikrima, ‘Put it together as it was revealed, the first revelation comes first.’ He said: ‘If jinn and men had gathered to put it together in such a way, they could never have done it.’”  This clearly indicates that the Quran was not recorded in the sequence of its revelation. Rather, the caliphs and others put it together according to their own tastes, for it consisted of scattered fragments (Al-Itqan by al-Suyuti; chapter on compilation)…

This is a summary of the history of the Quran in Abu Bakr’s and Umar’s time, and from it we gather that the Quran had not yet been compiled. Consider the following:  

1. Ibn Ashtah produced the following account in the Al-Mushaf, having it authentically supported as he heard it from Muhammad b. Sirin. He said: “Abu Bakr died, and the Quran was not compiled then. Umar was killed, and the Quran was not compiled then.” Ibn Ashtah commented: “The entire Quran was not completely memorised; neither was the compilation of the three Masahif (plural form of al-Mushaf) completed” (Al-Itqan by al-Suyuti; chapter on compilation). This implies that many groups had their own Quran. There was a Quran that included the Nasikh and the Mansukh (“the Abrogative and the Abrogated”). Another edition was arranged in chronological order. If these copies had been identical, Uthman would not have had them burned.   

2. The Muslims disagreed about the variant editions of the Quran, so Uthman burned them, being so advised by Hudsaifa. Al-Bukhari narrated that Anas said that Hudsaifa was appalled at the differences in reading…

Ibn Ashtah produced the following narration via Ayyub b. Abi Qulaba He said: “Ibn Malik, a man from Banu Amir, told me they disagreed on the Quran during Uthman’s time, until boys and teachers ended up killing each other.” When Uthman found out about this, he said: “Here, in my presence, you lie in the Quran and make it full of grammatical mistakes. O followers of Muhammad, gather together and write a main copy for the people”; so they did. Whenever anyone disagreed with someone on a verse, they would say: “The prophet of Allah had so and so read it.” They sent three people to ask him: “In what way did the prophet of Allah read such and such a verse to you?” He would answer: “As such and such.” Then they wrote it down, not that they had left a space for it.   

Ibn Abi Dawud said via Muhammad b. Sirin, that when Uthman wanted to write out the Masahif, he gathered together twelve men, Quraishites and Ansar: “They asked for the copy at Umar’s house, and it was brought. Uthman was overseeing them. Therefore, if they disagreed on something, they would delay recording it. I thought they were delaying it to see if someone had heard it as Muhammad had said it the last time. Then they would finally write it down as such” (Al-Masahif by al-Sijistani; chapter on Uthman’s compilation of the Quran).

From these accounts, it is evident that whenever Uthman sensed that they were in for a civil war or dissension as a result of the people’s disagreement over the Quran, he would hold meetings to appoint an imam for the people…

As for the compilation of the Quran, consider the following:

1. The people who undertook the compilation of the Quran were known for their treachery and lying. Uthman was murdered because he was a treacherous liar. The compilers were not filled with God’s Spirit, so they could not tell which writings, if any, were inspired. They quoted Arabs who did not know much about worldly or divine knowledge. The Quran itself says: “The Arabs are the worst in unbelief and hypocrisy, and most fitted to be in ignorance of the command which Allah has sent down to his apostle” (Sura al-Tawba 9:87).

2. When the Bible was revealed, no one tried to kill anyone else, because the writings were scattered in bits and pieces, needing to be gathered. But in Uthman’s time there were different ways to read the Quranic verses, according to different dialects. This led them to mistakenly blame one another of being in grave error. Uthman became afraid as to how far this would go; so he had the verses written in one copy, preferring the dialect of the Quraish to others.

3. Honest Muslim theologians cannot deny the discrepancies in the Quran. There have been disagreements over the number of masahif that Uthman sent to remote parts; some claimed there were five, others four, still others seven. Uthman sent these copies to Mecca, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Basra, and Kufa. He kept one copy at Medina.  

Some maintain that when Uthman noticed the reciters’ disagreement, seeing that the evil had gone too far, he collected whatever versions of the Quran he could get. No one dared to take the copy that Ali b. Abu Talib had, neither did anyone hurt those who recited the Quran according to Ali’s copy. Yet Ka’b b. Ubai died before Uthman compiled the Quran. Ibn Mas’ud refused to hand over his own copy to Uthman, so they sent him out of Kufa; they used Abu Musa al-Ash’ari’s copy instead. For composing and mending the Quran, they appointed Zaid b. Thabit al-Ansari and Abdallah b. Abbas (others claim that the latter was Muhammad b. Abu Bakr). Both were still young. Uthman said to them: “If you disagree on something, at least write it in the language of the Quraish.”    

When the Quran was compiled, they sent a copy to Mecca. It was burned in the year 200 A.H. They sent a copy to Medina that was lost in the days of Yazid b. Muawiya. They sent a copy to Iraq that was lost in the days of al-Mukhtar. Another copy was sent to Syria. Then Uthman ordered the governors in the Islamic world to collect whatever copies of the Quran they could find. He SOAKED THEM ALL in boiling vinegar until nothing remained. Uthman threatened to punish anyone who disobeyed his orders (Al-Itqan by al-Suyuti; Kitab al-Masahif). (The True Guidance [Light of Life, Villach, Austria, First English Edition: 1994], Part Four. An Introduction to Quranic Studies, pp. 47-55)

The foregoing explains why there are no extant Quranic MSS that contain the satanic verses. I.e., Muslims destroyed the very primary codices produced by the companions of Muhammad, resulting in the irreparable loss of much of the original Quran!

I continue my refutation of Ataie’s misinformation in the next installment: THE FRAUD THAT IS ALI ATAIE: THE SATANIC VERSES PT. 2.

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