I share another installment in this series: A Coptic Convert Exposes Muhammad Pt. 3.
THE CORRUPT QURAN
Ibn Raja shows extraordinary knowledge and mastery of what the Islamic sources claim in respect to the composition, variations and corruption of the Quran I excerpt pp. 153-173 of David Bertaina’s translation of ibn Raja’s work titled Būluṣ ibn Rajāʾ The Fatimid Egyptian Convert Who Shaped Christian Views of Islam. All emphasis is mine.
Chapter 7
[58] Four sections on the meaning of the Qurʾan.128
[59] They narrated in their report about their companion [Muḥammad] that the Qurʾan was revealed in seven letters129 and each one is completely satisfactory.130 He named those seven: Nāfiʿ131 and Abū ʿAmar132 and Ḥamza133 and al-Kisāʾī134 and ʿĀṣim135 and Ibn Kathīr136 and Ibn ʿĀmir.137
[60] So we say to them: Tell us about [Muḥammad’s] words, “Recite the Qurʾan according to seven letters.” What does he mean by it? Does he mean by that to recite the Qurʾan in the languages of those seven [people]? If they say yes, we reply to them: Then those seven [people], did they live with him and recite to him? They say no, they did not live at his time, but they recite according to their teachers successively reaching back to Muḥammad. Then we say to them: Did their teachers, according to whom [the seven] recite, agree on this version that is in your possession today? If they say yes, then they have lied and the proof regarding that is that the first recitation is different than that of the second.
[61] No one memorized the Qurʾan completely in Muḥammad’s time except ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd138 and Zayd ibn Thābit139 and ʿUmar140 and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.141 They disagreed about ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, for his companions said he [knew] it completely during [Muḥammad’s] life. ʿĀmir [ibn Sharāḥīl] alShaʿbī142 said: “ʿAlī went to his tomb and he did not [know] the Qurʾan completely.”143
[62] Each one of them whom we have named edited a codex in a way [that] does not resemble any other book. As for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, his codex did not have sura “Praise,”144 and the sura: “Say: I seek protection with the Lord of people,”145 and the sura: “Say: I seek protection with the Lord of dawn.”146 Whoever would add them to the Qurʾan, he would accuse them of error and he would throw dirt on the faces of those who would recite them. He would say to them: “You have made a liar of God’s messenger.” So he differed from all of Muḥammad’s companions on this issue. He thought there should be jihad against them while they saw it fit to kill him. But what prevented them from killing him was that their companion [Muḥammad] said: “Whoever wants to hear the Qurʾan in a pure way just as it was revealed, then he should hear it from Ibn Masʿūd’s mouth.”147 That is what prevented them from killing him.
[63] There were many more things in his codex. All of his companions denied it and rejected its recitation. They even alleged that a camel used to carry his codex. Also, he did not agree with them about the exact words. For instance, [Ibn] Masʿūd would recite, “God took you out from the wombs of your slave girls,” while all of the people recite: “God took you out from the wombs of your mothers.”148 In addition, he recited: “The mountains were like puffed-up wool [ṣūf ],” while all of the people recited: “like puffed-up dyed wool [ʿihn]” – dyed wool is wool.149 And Ibn Masʿūd recited: “She prepared for them citrus fruit,” pronounced without doubling, while all of the people recited “banquet” with doubling.150 And Ibn Masʿūd recited: “Indeed it is up to us to put it together and to recite it [qurʾānahu]. So when you recite it, follow its reading [qirāʾatahu]. Then, its exposition lies with us,” while all of the people recited: “Indeed it is up to us to put it together and to explain it [bayānahu]. So when we recite it, follow its recitation [qurʾānahu]. Then, its exposition lies with us.”151 In addition to these, Ibn Masʿūd was unique in many features [in his codex] that no one follows him on them.
[64] In addition to what has been mentioned, that if he prayed … in bowing and prostrations.152 That was not confirmed from … [evidence showing that] any of his companions did [that], having a unique distinction.
[65] [Ibn Masʿūd] was one of the worst liars among the people, as reported about him when he saw the people of Zutt153 and told them: “Those ones have the most resemblance to those whomI saw with the prophet on the Night of the Jinn.” They said to him: “Didn’t you witness that?” He said: “Nobody witnessed that but me.”154 It was also reported about him that one day he was sitting with many people and they mentioned the Night of the Jinn. So he said: “By God, no one among us witnessed it with the prophet.” They said to him: “Not even you?” He said: “Not even me.”155 So he made himself a liar without knowing it. In addition to that, he corrupted the Qurʾan and he changed it and added to it and he lied about their prophet and all of his companions … testified [to that].
Section [1]
[66] As for Zayd ibn Thābit, he took the book with which Muḥammad would pray the end of the morning prayer, and added it to the Qurʾan. The companions rejected that and said: “You have added to the Qurʾan what should not be in it.” But he responded: “Whoever does not say this has lied about Muḥammad.” Then the hostility between him and Ibn Masʿūd continued until the two of them died, because Ibn Masʿūd did not accept in his codex the recitation of sura “Praise”156 nor sura: “Say: I seek protection with the Lord of people,”157 and the sura: “Say: I seek protection with the Lord of dawn.”158 Zayd ibn Thābit had been reciting them and added the morning prayer canon to his codex. Ibn Masʿūd did not think that was proper. And Zayd’s codex contained: “Indeed the hour is coming. I almost have hidden it from myself. So how can I make you know it?” But all of the people deny that and recited: “Indeed the hour is coming. I almost have hidden it” without anything else.159
Another Section [2]
[67] As for ʿUthmān’s codex, it was reported that when he put it together, he examined it. Then he said: “I saw grammatical mistakes but the Arabs will correct it by practice.” So it was reported from ʿĀʾisha that she said: “ʿUthmān’s codex [contains] many false things.”160
[68] When ʿUthmān’s codex was completed, he said to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd: “Burn your codex and recite from my codex.” So he replied to him: “I am not one who would leave the faith and follow unbelief.” So [Ibn Masʿūd] informed him that his codex [contained] unbelief; consequently, [ʿUthmān] commanded [someone] to jump on [Ibn Masʿūd] and he struck him viciously and fractured two ribs. Each one of them continued to disparage the other until the two of them died.
Another Section [3]
[69] It was reported that Abū Bakr used to recite: “The agony of death brings the truth,” while all of the people recite: “The agonies of death bring the truth.”161 And it was reported about ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, that when one was called to prayer on Friday, he used to recite: “Listen to the reminder of God,” while all of the people recited: “Seek the reminder of God.”162 With so many differences, if I were to explain them, then it would take a long time.
[70] So those are the first generation and Muḥammad’s own companions, who recited the Qurʾan after him and to whom he completed it for them in his lifetime. They did not agree on a [single] sura or a recitation. One of their codices was carried by a camel, while the other [codex] without [a camel] and some of them would call others unbelievers until all of them died. The people continued to disagree afterwards about the Qurʾan until the time of Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam.163 Then he produced for them this book which is in their possession today. He forced it upon the people and burned the other books. We will explain that in [another] place, God willing.
Another Section [4]
[71] When the people agreed about this book, the people of Medina happened to have an imam and he was Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nuʿaym.164 For the parsing,165 he designated this codex and nothing else. The people of Mecca happened to have an imam called Ibn Kathir who differed from Nāfiʿ in the parsing of the Qurʾan. Then the people of Baṣra happened to have another imam called Abū ʿĀmr ibn al-ʿĀlāʾ.166 They disagree about his name. Some people say his name and his nickname are the same and other people say his name is al-ʿAryānī. He disagreed with whoever came before him about the parsing of the Qurʾan.
[72] ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir167 and ʿĀṣim168 and Ibn Ḥamza and al-Kisāʾī169 could not agree as well about the parsing of the Qurʾan. One would put in the nominative case that which another would put in the accusative, while another would keep it nominative. They did not agree about any of it. What do they want after this disagreement, and what falsehood, after the errors and the grammatical mistakes, have they followed? Indeed, of those seven, each one of them conveyed the Qurʾan according to his own language along with what agreed with the local sedentary Arabs. They knew it according to the language of the one who preceded [him] by articulate Arabs of the pre-Islamic period and their ancient poets. Every one of these seven had many followers to whom they recited in all of these languages. They continued that until other people came after them, and they looked at the well-known Arabic languages which they did not doubt. Those seven above mentioned established them for the people and those who did not know, if it was [not] structurally correct in the language, they would settle it. They would say no recitation or chapter or prayer is acceptable [apart from] it. They selected all of those [matters] on their own.
[73] You should say to them: Tell us now about those seven whom you have followed as an example concerning this recitation. Did your companion [Muḥammad] say to you in the Qurʾan: “You are appointed as successors after me”?170 And that the seven will come at such-and-such time, naming them: Nāfiʿ and Abū ʿAmar and Ḥamza and al-Kisāʾī and ʿĀṣim and Ibn Kathīr and Ibn ʿĀmir, and you should recite the Qurʾan just as they recite it to you? They will say “No.”
[74] We say to them: We have not found the reason he told you that the Qurʾan was revealed in seven letters of reciting. What did he mean by this? Indeed, one group among them says: The meaning of his statement “the seven letters of reciting” means a promise and threat and Paradise and Hell and fear and covetousness and judgment.
[75] So we respond to them: This is nonsense. Because if it were that, likewise it would be said: the Qurʾan was revealed by seven ways or seven versions or seven characteristics or something like that. Rather he said: “Seven letters of reciting” so this distinguishes between this and that. If they agree with this and they do not respond, then they have been rebuked. Why would you corroborate the Qurʾan with those seven, since they did not recite from their companion [Muḥammad] as they were not from his time or even [the time of] his companions? He did not say to you before death that: “After me, there will indeed be seven men who will recite the Qurʾan in their own language.” Rather, they used their own reasoning and they knew it according to the Arabic language and that upon which some grammarians agreed. But whoever uses the grammar would discover many errors in it that disagreed with the grammar. I have already mentioned that in the Book of Amusing Anecdotes of the Commentators from what I knew of it.171
[76] What is the point of following those unbelievers since they differ from their companion [Muḥammad] and his companions? Why did you set them up as leaders to follow them? If you support everyone who recited to them, and you support their recitation as authoritative, then you should have claimed some correct and others wrong. A sound argument is not found among them about that and they only refer to those seven. So we say to them in truth, we need you to show us the way of reciting in which your prophet used to recite it. It should make sense for you to know that and not lose it. For they only refer to those seven, no one else. Now we say to them, your prophet’s statement in the Qurʾan in surat “al-Ḥijr” has been invalidated: “It is we who revealed the reminder and we will indeed be its guardian.”172 So tell us, how did he guard it when those [ones] have changed and altered it?
[Chapter 8]
[77] On what they have lost from the Qurʾan.
[78] They transmitted in their authentic hadith reports that many things were lost that we shall mention, God willing. For instance, in sura “Repentance”173 its beginning was lost, and they did not know it. They wrote it in the codex without: “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” It is the ninth sura in the Qurʾan after sura “Praise.”174 The rest of the Qurʾan, in the beginning of every sura, it is written in the book: “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” except sura “Repentance” alone.
[79] He said that Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad [ibn al-Faraj Abū Bakr al-Qammāḥ]175 reported from Abū Abī Qudayd – Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Khalaf ibn Qudayd,176 from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd alḤakam177 from his father, from Mālik ibn Anas,178 tracing the hadith to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, that he preached to the people at the end of his caliphate. He said: “People, I command you to stone the male and female who commit adultery. For God’s sake, do not forbid that. No one should say we cannot find the stoning verse in the Qurʾan and we cannot find the whipping [verse]. I swear by the one who possesses my soul that it was in the Qurʾan and we recite it on the authority of Muḥammad and it was: ‘The man and woman, as they consummate their lust, stone them absolutely according to God’s word. For God is Almighty and Compassionate’. But they were lost from the Qurʾan.”179
[80] They also narrated in their authentic hadith that sura “Divorce”180 was equal in length to sura “The Cow,”181 two hundred and eighty-five verses and more. Today it is twelve verses, and its remainder is lost. In addition, sura “The Cow”182 was numbered to a thousand verses and today it is two hundred and eighty-five verses and its remainder is lost.183 Indeed, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb spent twelve years before he mastered it. So when he memorized it, he sacrificed a female camel and he gave it charity. Indeed, they narrate about al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf184 that he added diacritical pointing to eighty-five verses from the Qurʾan and he added to it similar things of different meaning.185 He was also the one who [divided] the Qurʾan into tenths and fifths.
[Chapter 9]
[81] On their agreement regarding Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam’s codex.
[82] They narrated [this hadith] in many ways, so there is no point in repeating [all of] them. Among them is the hadith of Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad,186 from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz,187 from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal,188 [from Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna]189 from Sufyān al-Thawrī,190 from Nāfiʿ ibn ʿUmar,191 that Muḥammad passed away and there was no codex for the people to read. However, every one of them recited the Qurʾan from his memory. So when Abū Bakr came to power, he said to ʿUmar: “I think it is proper that I get the people to agree upon a single codex.” So he replied to him: “Will we do what Muḥammad never did himself?” He said: “There is no way out of this.” ʿUmar said: “I knew after that, that it was the truth, so I said to him, ‘Do what is required of you’.” So he commanded an announcer to tell the people: “Whoever has any of this Qurʾan, bring it to us.” So one of them would bring the Qurʾan written on a rag, and another would bring it written on pottery, and another would bring it written on a palm cup – meaning a leaf – and another would bring it written on leather. And whoever came [with any piece whatsoever], they took it from him, and made it up together into an acceptable codex. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd did not accept that. So each one of them wrote his own codex. They did not make them public for fear of Abū Bakr. And Abū Bakr wrote [supporting] that codex to the rest of the people and the regions. It was recited during Abū Bakr’s lifetime and the lifetime of ʿUmar.192
[83] When ʿUmar was killed, he handed over that codex to Ḥafṣa, while he was crying out in his own blood.193 Ḥafṣa was Muḥammad’s wife, so he said to her: “Keep this codex and do not show it to anyone. Someone told me that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Ibn Masʿūd composed two codices and I am afraid that they will reveal these [codices] after [my death] and make this one invalid. So this one will remain in your possession, and if the people disagree about the Qurʾan, then recite from this codex.” When ʿUmar died and ʿUthmān came to power, he issued a different codex than Abū Bakr’s codex. ʿUthmān did not have the same prestige as ʿUmar, so ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib disclosed the codex to his children and his faction.
[84] ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd disclosed a codex, and Zayd ibn Thābit also disclosed his codex. The people used to read in all of these codices. They disagreed about the Qurʾan, to the extent that one man would encounter another man and he would say to him: “I do not believe your part of the Qurʾan.” So all of these codices remained publicly different until Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam’s caliphate. He went to Ḥafṣa, the daughter of ʿUmar – Muḥammad’s wife – and he said to her: “The people have disagreed about the Qurʾan just as you know, so hand over the codex to me which ʿUmar the Commander of the Believers handed over to you, so I can induce the people toward it and I will ban everything else.”194 She replied: “My father promised God that I should not hand it over to anyone.” So he did not stop until she handed it over to him, after he promised her that he would return it to her. Then he threw it into the fire along with the codices of ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ibn Masʿūd, and Zayd ibn Thābit. He destroyed all of them by fire and produced this codex for the people, which is in their possession until today.195 Thus, those who did this with their Qurʾan – who are viewed among the rest of their opposing groups as a joke and whimsical – are not concerned with [such a corruption], but rather claim that the Torah and the Gospel have been changed in a particular passage, while they say it is true – and testify through it – in another passage! But they do not comprehend or understand.
128 The Latin version has the title: “On the disciples of Muḥammad and the discordant establishment of the [text of the] Qurʾan.” Although there are no direct parallels or evidence of use of the Letter (Risāla) of the Christian polemicist al-Kindī (early 9th c.), he also critiques the compilation of the Qurʾan as well.
129 This phrase refers to the seven styles, or methods of recitation (‘letter’ indicating each particular method) in which the Qurʾan was said to have been revealed.
130 The Islamic interpreter Ibn Mujāhid (d. 936) discussed the historical development of the Qurʾanic text and used these names as authoritative sources for each of his seven readings of the Qurʾan. See Claude Gilliot, “Creation of a Fixed Text,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qurʾān, ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 41–57, esp. 50–51. On the Islamic justification for seven readings, see Samad, Ibn Qutaybah’s Contribution to Qurʾānic Exegesis, 51–60.
131 Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Naʿīm al-Laythī (d. 785); ei2, 7:878. 132 Abū ʿAmr Zabbān ibn al-ʿAlāʾ (d. 770); EI2, 1:105. 133 Ḥamza ibn Ḥabīb (d. 772); EI2, 3:155. 134 Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ḥamza al-Kisāʾī (d. 805); EI2, 5:174. 135 ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najjūd (d. 745); EI2, 1:706.
136 Abū Maʿbad ibn Kathīr (d. 738); EI2, 3:817.
137 ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir (d. 736); EI2, 3:704.
138 ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (d. 653); EI2, 3:873.
139 Zayd ibn Thābit (d. ca. 665) was a scribe and compiler for the Qurʾan according to Islamic tradition. He was said to have edited the text after Muḥammad’s death and played an editorial role in its canonization under the first three caliphs.
140 ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (d. 644) was the second caliph after Muḥammad; EI2, 10:818.
141 ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (d. 656) was the third caliph and reputed to have proclaimed an official version of the Qurʾan and ordered others destroyed; EI2, 10:946.
142 The Arabic text is probably a corruption of his full name ʿĀmir ibn Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī (d. 721 or later), an early narrator of hadith.
143 These figures were important in Islamic accounts concerning the editorial stages of the compilation of the text of the Qurʾan.
144 Here he is referring to Q 1: al-Fātiḥā.
145 Q 114.
146 Q 113.
147 This hadith is found in the Arabic original with English translation in Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Mājah, English Translation of Sunan Ibn Mâjah, 5 vols., ed. Abū Ṭāhir Zubayr ʿAlī Zaʾī (Riyadh: Darussalam, 2007), 1:169 (Book 1, #138). There are several other traditions lauding the readings and codex of Ibn Masʿūd. See for instance al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 5:70–71 (Book 62, #3758, 3760); and 91 (Book 63, #3806). This hadith is also quoted in al-Kindī; see Tartar, “Dialogue islamo-chrétien sous le calife al-Maʾmūn,” 111.
148 Q 39:6. 149 Q 70:9.
150 Q 12:31.
151 Q 75:17–19.
152 In this section the text has several lacunae. However, Ibn Rajāʾ seems to be arguing that Ibn Masʿūd’s method of praying was not the same as other early Muslims, showing there was no consensus or strong memory about the practices of Muḥammad even in matters that were performed daily such as prayer. Perhaps this is a reference to Ibn Mājah, Sunan Ibn Mâjah, 2:60 (Book 5, #890).
153 The Zutt were a nomadic people of northwestern Indian descent who were settled in the Middle East by the Arabs. In this section, Ibn Rajāʾ is arguing that Ibn Masʿūd is an unreliable and contradictory transmitter of traditions about Muḥammad or verses from the Qurʾan. He cites two traditions related to the Night of the Jinn, one of which indicates that he followed Muḥammad there and witnessed some miraculous events, and another account in which he admits he was not there. Ibn Rajāʾ’s larger point is to illustrate the differences among Muslims in reciting the Qurʾan and recording its content in order to demonstrate its human origins.
154 Ibn Rajāʾ took these contradictory accounts from Ibrāhīm al-Naẓẓām as seen in Ibn Qutayba, Taʾwīl mukhtalaf al-ḥadīth, 27; Ibn Qutayba, Traité des divergences, #37e. For allusions to his presence there, see Abū Dāwūd, Sunan Abu Dawud, 1:47, 71 (Book 1, #39, 84).
155 In this version, Ibn Masʿūd states he was not present at the Night of the Jinn; see Abū Dāwūd, Sunan Abu Dawud, 1:71 (Book 1, #85); and Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1:562 (Book 4, #1007).
156 Q 1.
157 Q 114.
158 Q 113.
159 Q 20:15.
160 This passage is in reference to the creation of the alleged ʿUthmānic codex, and the comments Ibn Rajāʾ cites are from the fabrication of hostile legends between the Ahl al-Bayt and the Umayyads.
161 Q 50:19.
162 Q 62:9.
163 On Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam (d. 685), the fourth Umayyad caliph, who led another editorial stage in the formation of the text of the Qurʾan see EI2, 6:621–623.
164 On Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Nuʿaym (Naʿīm) al-Laythī (d. 785), see Sezgin, GAS, 9–10; EI2, 7:878.
165 In this section, Ibn Rajāʾ is using iʿrāb to refer to the case endings and noun declensions in the Arabic and how they are vocalized and inflected in the recitation of the Qurʾan.
166 Abū ʿĀmr ibn al-ʿĀlāʾ (d. 771) was a Basran Qurʾan reciter and known as a transmitter of one the seven different versions of the vocalized text.
167 Abū ʿUmar ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir (d. 736), EI2, 3:704.
168 ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najjūd (d. 745) transmitted of one of the seven readings of the Qurʾan; EI2, 1:706.
169 On al-Kisāʾī, see EI2, 5:174.
170 This quotation is not in the Qurʾan because the answer to this rhetorical question is no.
171 See Swanson, “Būluṣ ibn Rajāʾ,” 545.
172 Q 15:9.
173 Q 9:1.
174 This is al-Fātiḥa Q 1. Ibn Rajāʾ often denotes sūras by their opening word or phrase.
175 We know that Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj Abū Bakr al-Qammāḥ (fl. 980) and Ibn Qudayd (d. 924) were connected as successive transmitters of Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam’s Futūḥ Miṣr; see Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, The History of the Conquest of Egypt, North Africa and Spain: Known as the Futūḥ Miṣr of Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, transl. Charles Torrey (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922), 10. This passage demonstrates that Ibn Rajāʾ studied with Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj Abū Bakr al-Qammāḥ.
176 ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Khalaf ibn Qudayd (d. 924) was a teacher for the Egyptian historian al-Kindī.
177 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam (d. 871) was a Maliki Egyptian jurist and author of the work Futūḥ Miṣr. See Sezgin, GAS, 355–356; EI2, 3:674.
178 On Mālik ibn Anas, see Sezgin, GAS, 457–464.
179 A close version of this hadith is found in Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 4:462–463 (Book 29, #4418). This report is also found in Mālik ibn Anas, Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ: The Recension of Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī (d. 234/848): A Translation of the Royal Moroccan Edition, ed. Mohammad Fadel and Connell Monette (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019), 712 (Arabic Book 41 Ḥudūd, hadith 1512). This verse is also mentioned by al-Kindī; see Tartar, “Dialogue islamo-chrétien sous le calife al-Maʾmūn,” 115–116.
180 Q 65.
181 Q 2.
182 Q 2.
183 In today’s numbering, Q 2 contains 286 verses.
184 Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (d. 714); EI2, 3:39.
185 The Latin translation conflicts with the Arabic here, stating that al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf “removed/detraxit” 85 verses from the Qurʾan. According to an Islamic hadith report from Ibn Abī Dāwūd (d. 929) in his Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif, he made 11 orthographical changes to the consonantal text. See Omar Hamdan, “The Second Maṣāḥif Project.” The changes are also mentioned in more detail by al-Kindī; see Tartar, “Dialogue islamo-chrétien sous le calife al-Maʾmūn,” 117.
186 I have not identified Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. Possibilities include the Egyptian Shāfiʿī qāḍī Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Kinānī (878– 955), known as Ibn al-Ḥaddād (Sezgin, GAS, 497); and the hadith collector Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (917–1012), known as Ibn Jumayʿ al-Ghassānī, who traveled around Iraq, Syria, Persia, and Egypt (Sezgin, GAS, 220).
187 ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Baghawī (d. 929) is connected with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal as one of his transmitters. See Sezgin, GAS, 175.
188 Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 855) is well-known for his hadith collection known as the Musnad. See Sezgin, GAS, 502–509; EI2, 1:272.
189 The transmission line below and dates to suggest that this name was left out accidentally by the scribal transmitter. Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna (d. 811/814) was a Meccan transmitter of hadith found in all six canonical collections. See Sezgin, GAS, 96; EI2, 9:772.
190 Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 778); Sezgin, GAS, 518–519; EI2, 9:770.
191 On Nāfiʿ ibn ʿUmar, see EI2, 7:876.
192 This hadith is close to that narrated in al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 6:424–425 (Book 66, #4986).
193 Presumably, this refers to the moments after he was stabbed and just before his death by assassination.
194 Ḥafṣa died in 665, while Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam was caliph 684–685, so the historical dates of this encounter are problematic in the sources.
195 According to the Islamic sources regarding this story, they explain that Abū Bakr and ʿUmar originally asked Zayd ibn Thābit, a former scribe of Muḥammad, to collate together the verses from believers in the community. After their deaths, this collection passed into the possession of Ḥafṣa bint ʿUmar, daughter of ʿUmar and wife of the deceased Prophet. Later, ʿUthmān consulted this collection as the basis for his codex, which was again edited by Zayd ibn Thābit. Then he had all variant versions of the Qurʾan ordered to be burned. Some scholars are dubious of the double collection legend, regarding the ʿUthmānic codex or later as perhaps the earliest attempt at a collection and canonization of a text. The Ḥafṣa codex story is somewhat different in al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 6:425–426 (Book 66, #4987). See also Harald Motzki, “Muṣḥaf,” in EQ, 5 vols., ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Leiden: Brill, 2001–2006), 3:463–466; and Marco Schöller, “Post-Enlightenment Academic Study of the Qurʾān,” in EQ, 4:187–208.
It’s time to now proceed to the finale in the series: A Coptic Convert Exposes Muhammad Pt. 5.
FURTHER READING
THE IMPERFECTLY PRESERVED QURAN
The Incomplete and Imperfect Quran
The Compilation and Textual Veracity of the Quran
Challenge to the Muslims Concerning the Quran [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Excursus]
The Irreparable Loss of Much of the Quran
The Quran Testifies To Its Own Textual Corruption
The Seven Ahruf and Multiple Qiraat – A Quranic Perspective
ALLAH’S AMAZEMENT AND LAUGHTER
QURANIC VARIANTS AND PREDESTINATION
A QURANIC VARIANT THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Answering Islam Blog 