Gateway to Greatness: March 2010

Topic: -

A ridicules Point of View of Brother Mark against the Holy Quran

By: - Prof. Khalid Mahmood Arif

Dar-e-Arqam College Sargodha

CONTENTS

Topic Page No

Preface 03

Different Objections on Holy Qur’an by Brother Mark 05

Presentation of the Holy Qur’an 06

All the sects are agreed on the protection and perfection of the Holy Qur’an 07

The Holy Qur’an offer’s itself 08

Different readings of the Holy Qur’an 09

Islam is conveying the errors 10

Tactics of hiding the faith 11

Different Qur’anic texts 12

Original Qur’an is not in the whole Islamic State 13

Holy Qur’an’s authenticity 14

Qur’an in the whole 17

Objections of the Muslims against other books and religions 18

Errors in original Arabic text of the Qur’an 19

Variation in translation of different Arabic words 20

Muslim scholars are ignorant of ‘7 Forms’ 21

‘7 Readings’ are accepted as the ‘7 Ahruf’ 22

Hazrat Usman(R.A) burnt the copies of the Holy Qur’an except one 23

Avoid early discussions and details on the Holy Qur’an for Islam’ survival 24

Discrepancies in graphic Manuscript of Hazrat Usman(R.A) 25

Islam and the Muslims accepted the corruption in the Holy Qur’an 26

Conclusion 27

(3)

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Preface

Orientalists have a splendid work on Islam, Islamic History and Civilization, life of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W), in the fields of Holy Quran, Hadith and on Fiqah. They have many positive works but most of their work presents the untrue and negative picture of Islam and Muslims. General impression about the Orientalists is that they are neutral during their research and search the truth with a great struggle. They spread reports in great deal that their objective is search for the truth.

The background of their research on Islam is very clear in the light of their own books. When we studied their books we got that they are burning in the fire of revenge against the Muslims. They think that the Muslims occupied the Bait-ul-Muqaddas(the Dome of the Rock) and from that Muslims started aggression against the Christians. But despite the facts Christians always provoke their nation against Islam and Muslims. After that the series of crusade started. Which is also the cause of the instigation nature of the Christians? So that Christians adopt the stand of crusade is not over to live the enmity against the Muslims in the minds of their nation or in the minds of their Christian brothers.

The main objective of the topic under discussion is that I want to present the objections of Brother Mark in his book The Perfect Quran on The Holy Quran published in 1999 at the pages 01 t0 40. The purpose of the topic is not giving the answers of these objections, because many Muslim scholars already given the answers of these objections in detail.

I am thankful to my worthy teacher Prof. Feroz U Din Shah to gave me a opportunity to collect the objections from the book of Brother Mark to gave the chance to my Muslim brothers who are very much inspired by everything came from west and gave it much importance. I tried to unveil the face of these western scholars who are actually not remained neutral when they have a research on Islam and its true teachings.

Some objections of Brother Mark on the Holy Qur’an

Brother Mark has many objections on the Holy Qur’an in his book the Perfect Qur’an. Which are as follows:-

1. Misinformation of Muslims:

In his point of view Muslims are not ready to accept that there are many mistakes in the Holy Qur’an. Because Muslim scholars mislead them about the Holy Qur’an and the Gospel as well as he said in the Foreword.

Yet our friends in Islam seem preconditioned against hearing. They seem caught behind a veil of misinformation both concerning the Qur’an and the Gospel. (1)

2. Beliefs of Muslims about Qur’an, Heaven and Hell:

The writer objected the concepts of Muslims about their different beliefs on the Holy Quran, Heaven and Hell. In his point of view all these beliefs are very weak as he said in Foreword:

The purpose is simply to present evidence to meet the claims made by many in Islam concerning the Gospels, the Qur’an and Islam. Some are looking for clarity on these matters knowing that Heaven and Hell and Judgement Day are a reality and they put their hope in God that others (even the weakest) will help them by pointing the Way.(2)

3. Most of the Muslims didn’t know Arabic:

He said that most of the Muslims don’t have a command on Arabic text. Most of the Muslims don’t have any know how in Arabic. Because Arabic is not their mother language and Muslims recite the Holy Quran without the command on the meaning of the different orders of the Allah Almighty, as he wrote in foreword:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.1

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.1

Concerning the content on the Arabic side, it is written to record the evidence on a simple level since most readers, indeed most in Islam, don’t ‘know’ Arabic at all. When there has been more than a simple presentation of actual letter comparison the writer has consulted some who are knowledgeable in the language to ensure the accuracy. Such persons have read the entire text. Do not be ‘outwitted’ about the overall value of what is found herein. (1)

4. Presentation of the Holy Qur’an:

The writer objected the authenticity of the Holy Qur’an and in his point of the claim of the Muslims of perfection of the Holy Quran is baseless as he said in Introduction:

The followers of Islam proclaim openly their Belief that the Qur’an is ‘the Word of Allah’, Perfect and Preserved. Some even use the phrase ‘read Al-Qur’an the Last Testament’. But do any of these perspectives truly represent the Qur’an? (2)

5. Different Versions of the Holy Qur’an:

The writer has the opinion that there are different versions of the Holy Qur’an. As he mentioned that there are different texts of the Holy Qur’an like the Turkish or the Warsah texts.

6. Differences between the Sects:

The writer discussed the differences between the different sects among the Muslims. In his point of view these sects have some serious differences as he mentioned in the introduction:

The present writer is aware that extreme differences exist, not only between the Sunni and Shi’a [to quote a Shi’a scholar to a Sunni is like quoting a Roman Catholic to a Protestant, and vice versa] but between the followers of the Madhabs and those known as the la-Madhabis (those who reject restriction to the four Madhabs) including the so-called Salafiyyah sect. (3)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.1

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.2

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.3

7. All the Sects are agreed on the perfection and protection of the Holy Qur’an:

The writer mentioned the differences between the different sects but he acknowledged that they are very much clear about the perfection and protection of the Holy Qur’an and they think that the Holy Qur’an is same as revealed on the heart of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) by the Allah Almighty as he mentioned in the introduction:

All these have been used, for, although knowing these groups differ in many areas, when it comes to a stand for the Qur’an anyone in these groups holds it as of Divine origin and they make the same statements concerning beliefs about its ‘Perfection and Protection’. (1)

8. Claims of Islam about the Holy Qur’an:

He said in preface that Islam is the only religion on this earth which presents its teachings so strongly before the whole world and for this he gave the following quotation from books of Muslim scholars as follows:

"Muhammad (May peace be upon him) is the last of the Prophets; his followers are the last of the Ummahs, the Qur’an is the last revealed Book of Allah, and the Shari’ah of Islam is the last of Shari’ahs. On the Day of resurrection, however, the holy Prophet would occupy the highest place of eminence among the Prophets and his Ummah would be distinguished from the other Ummahs."(2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.3

2. Shahih Muslim, Vol.2, P. 405, footnote no 1126. (The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.4)

9. The Holy Qur’an offers itself:

He also discussed that the Holy Qur’an offer’s itself before the mankind some fourteen centuries ago as he mentioned in preface of his book as follows:

But, the Qur’an only offers a narrow range of testing to prove its authenticity, and the question does come to mind that even if someone did offer ‘a Surah like it’, would most in Islam be knowledgeable enough about Arabic to make such an assessment? Anyway, simply on the grounds of their beliefs no devout follower of Islam would acknowledge that another piece of literature could equal the Qur’an. (1)

10. The Holy Qur’an is different:

By giving the examples from the Muslim Historian and scholars books he objected the authenticity of the Holy Qur’an in this way:

And, considering that this ‘test’ was offered to the People of the Book, like the Jews of Muhammad’s day, who asked "Muhammad, are you sure this Qur’an came from God? As for us, we do not see it is arranged like the Torah is?"(2)

11. Limited resources of the Muslims:

The writer mentioned that the Muslims have limited resources to have the truth about the perfection and protection of the Holy Qur’an as he discussed it in the preface as follows:

Further, as to the ability of later generations to ‘test’ the Qur’an in other ways, if we were frank with one another we might both concede that more often than not through the centuries outsiders and followers of Islam alike have had a rather shallow perception of the state of the Arabic texts of the Qur’an.(3)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.4

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.4

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.4

12. Different readings of the Holy Qur’an:

The writer of book under discussion presented the different readings of the Holy Quran as different books as he added in preface of his book:

The only inkling of possible differences seemed to be evidence for differences exists far back in its history and this only surfaces in what ancient scholars had recorded as ‘the Companion readings’, said to come from the different Codices of the Companions. Sometimes the reports about the Codices are claimed to represent only ‘personal notebooks’ and not the ‘original’ Qur’anic texts or even their ‘readings’. Were there actually different ‘original’ texts? Islam itself seemed divided. (1)

13. Inconsistency in Islam’s proclamation:

In the point of view of the writer the Muslims don’t have the clear and true picture about the officially published Arabic text of the Holy Qur’an otherwise their point of should be changed as he mentioned:

Even, on the topic of the Qur’an’s ‘perfection’ most people have been unaware of any inconsistency in Islam’s proclamation, nor had they been made aware of anything in the officially published texts of the Qur’an (Arabic) which would lead them to come to another conclusion. (2)

14. Islam is under the veil:

Surprisingly writer having the glasses of enmity of the Islam and the Muslims said that Muslim scholars hide the teachings of the Islam and not told the truth to the world. He said that Muslim scholars published many books about the different teachings of Islam. He quoted as:

Today, however, Islam has set out to tell the World about itself. Learned Islamic scholars are publishing in-depth books on deeper levels of evidence about the Qur’an in which the works of classical Islamic scholars are quoted. (3)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.5

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.5

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.5

15. Islam is conveying the errors:

The writer claimed that only the Muslims are claiming having the Divine truth and others don’t have the original source as he quoted:

As to the self-confident attitude which arises from all this, to a people claiming that they alone have retained adherence to the Divine truth, and that everyone else has not only distorted, but in fact completely rewritten their history, Beliefs and ‘Book’, there is no room for accepting the least evidence that in fact it is Islam which is conveying error. (1)

16. Contradiction between sects:

The writer discussed in detail the contradictions among the different sects of the Muslims especially between Shi’a and Sunni’s. He gave many examples from books of both the sects like:

"Contrary to the universal and basic teachings of all religions, Shiaism teaches its followers to conceal their faith and hide their beliefs. Two of their basic beliefs known as ‘Kithman’ and ‘Taqiyya’ are primarily designed to achieve just such a purpose. The belief in ‘Kithman’ commands the Shias to conceal their religion from the non-Shias. The following two Hadith from the sixth Shia Imam clearly elaborate this point:
Imam Jafar Sadiq (R) said: "One, who exposes something from our religion is like one who intentionally kills us." {Ft. #1 Usool al Kafi, p.88}
Imam Jafar Sadiq (R) said: "You belong to a religion that whosoever conceals it, Allah will honour him and whosoever reveals it, Allah will disgrace him." {Ft. #2, Ibid, p.522}
Furthermore the belief in ‘Taqiyya’ commits the Shias to put up a hypocritical show and to act in such a way that the non-Shias may never be exposed to the real Shiaism. It even allows them to tell a lie if their intention is to hide their religion from the non-Shias. The following Shia Ahadis testify clearly to this effect:
Imam Jafar Sadi (R) said: "Associate your opponents only outwardly and oppose them inwardly." {Ft. #1, Usool al Kafi, p.244}
Zararah narrates that I asked a certain question to Imam Baqar (R). He gave me its answer. Another person then asked the same question and the Imam gave him a different answer. Later a third person asked the same question, but the Imam’s answer this time was different from the previous two answers. I then asked him: "O, the son of the Messenger (S)! The two persons who just came here to ask you questions were from Iraq and were Shias, yet you gave them contradictory answers". The Imam then answered: "O Zararah! This is good for me as well as for you and this will help us survive and prosper". {Ft. #2 Ibid, p.37). (2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.7

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.8, 9

17. Tactics of hiding the faith:

The writer has the view that the Muslims are in habit of hiding their faith from other religions and their followers and they use different tactics to hide their original faith as well as religion. For this he quoted different examples from the Islamic history like Battle of Siffien as follows:

Perhaps the best example is the ‘outwitting’ of Ali by the opposing leadership at ‘the Battle of Siffien’. At ‘the Battle of Siffien’ those who opposed Ali began to lose and so devised a method to gain time. They held their Qur’ans (said by some to be 500) up on the tips of their spears and cried out that the Qur’an should be the decider of the dispute. It was impossible for Ali to oppose this since many of his own soldiers agreed with this proposal. Both sides chose a man to represent them at the bargaining table some months later. These two came to the agreement that they would appear before the people and each would tell how his leader had relinquished his claim to the caliphate, and that there would be another chosen. After Abu Musa, Ali’s representative, had stood up and declared the resignation of Ali from the caliphate, the representative of Mu’awiya, Amr ibn As, stood up and thanked him and declared that Mu’awiya would remain as the caliph! What is more amazing is that everyone is said to have accepted it, and only small altercations ensued! Ali lost his place as ruler because he was ‘outwitted’! (1)

As he quoted a example from the Sahih Muslim (no 2328)

"`Ali said: Whenever I narrate to you anything from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) believe it to be absolutely true as falling from the sky is dearer to me than that of attributing anything to him (the Holy Prophet) which he never said. When I talk to you of anything which is between me and you (there might creep some error in it) for battle is an outwitting." (Vol. 2, p. 523f). (2)

18. Different additions of the Bible:

He objected the Muslims that they are continuously blaming the Christians about the original Bible as he quoted in this way:

An example which is often used in modern times is to say that Christians have different ‘versions’ of the Bible - and imply by this that Christians are always creating

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.9,10

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.10

new Bibles with new messages’. This is done despite knowing that the word ‘version’ is merely a reference to a translation - something not in its original language. (1)

19. Different Qur’anic texts:

The writer has his point of view that the Muslims have different Arabic texts in the whole world in which Qur’an is written. He considered different personal diaries of the Shahbi’s as other copies of the Holy Qur’an.

A typical example of an ‘outwitting’ is for someone to say that you can’t really tell if there are differences in the Arabic text IF you don’t know Arabic. (2)

20. Muslim Scholars are confusing others:

In his point of view of followers of Islam are hiding something about the authenticity of the Holy Qur’an and also confusing the others as he quoted:

It becomes obvious that the claims concerning the Qur'an are just other ‘outwittings’. Yet people will try every means to confuse others. The real question is "Why?" What is hidden behind such actions? (3)

21. Present Qur’an is not original:

The writer has the view that the present Qur’an is corrupted and faulty and present copies of the Holy Qur’an not the exact copies of the Holy Qur’an revealed on the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). He quoted in this way:

But, is this so? And, more importantly, is every Qur’an really an exact copy of the ‘original’? And, does the ‘oral tradition’ about the content of the Qur’an confirm the content of the manuscripts? Certainly all this should be so if Islam’s claims are true. After all, one change in the Qur’an will make it

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.11

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.12

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.13

corrupt, and Islam will be broken, and the reasons it is said to have been needed as a ‘replacement’ for the first Books will be shown false. (1)

22. Original Quran is not in the whole Islamic state:

In the point of view of Brother Mark the original Quran is only present in cities like Mecca, Medina, Ankara or Tashkent in time of 3^rd Caliph Hazrat Usman (R.A). He stated as follows:

In fact, most followers of Islam seem to have been taught that an ‘original’ Qur’an is in Mecca, or Medina, or even in Ankara or Tashkent. But, is this so? And, more importantly, is every Qur’an really an exact copy of the ‘original’? And, does the ‘oral tradition’ about the content of the Qur’an confirm the content of the manuscripts? (2).

23. Blind faith of the Muslims:

The writer has the view that Muslims have a blind faith on each and everything came from the Divine or from the Holy Prophet and even they think that the Holy Quran is the only authentic book in this world as he sated:

"But," some will say, "the God of Abraham, Allah, has, in the Qur’an, declared that it cannot be tainted, and we believe Allah’s Word." The belief that the Word of the God of Abraham can be believed is indeed true. The question is, does the Qur’an truly belong in this category, or have the people who believe it to be so simply been misled by a ‘blind faith’? (3)

24. Every Muslim convinced that his Qur’an is the eternal word of the God:

Brother Mark having the idea that every Muslim of the world thinks that he has the eternal message of the Allah as he follows:

We realise that every true follower of Islam is convinced that his Qur’an IS the eternal, unchanged Word of the God of Abraham, and that he is walking on the True Way. After all, only on this basis has he felt confident to speak against other religions and their Books. But, does the Qur’an truly deserve such a designation, and the unswerving loyalty of the people of Islam? Do the facts about the Qur’an prove them right concerning their own beliefs? (4)

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.15

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.15

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.16

4. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.16

25. Holy Qur’an’s authenticity:

The writer quoted that the authenticity of the Holy Quran is questionable. He said:

In such an environment, we see that the Qur’an was thus declaring itself able to stand the most rigorous test that could be produced in the earth, and prove itself to be of Heavenly origin. And it still is today, say its adherents. Although a test by ‘comparing Arabic Qur’ans’ is not in the Qur’an, it is completely in line with the mind of the Qur’an - openness to examination. Surely this would be the challenge in the heart of the True God. And, is it not the boast of the people of Islam that ‘not one letter has changed’ in 1400 years because Allah (the God of Abraham?) promised it? (1)

26. Qur’an is corrupted:

He objected the authenticity of the Holy Qur’an and said that present Qur’an is not fulfilled the word of Allah that we will guard and quoted in his book as:

Simple logic tells us that the True God can be trusted, and that His promises can be relied upon. And it is only simple logic that leads us to compare Arabic Qur’ans since in Islam’s own claims the Qur’an’s authenticity depends entirely on its text being the same forever in order for it to stand. Thus this is perhaps the only way by which a follower of Islam would be able to acknowledge any problems in the Qur’an’s authenticity. If indeed the Qur’an has never been defiled, then this will be very easy to identify. On the other hand, it will also be easy to tell if the Qur’an has failed to uphold it’s claim that "We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)." (Q15:9), and has become corrupt. (2)

27. Giving examples from the books of the Muslim scholars about the protection of the Holy Quran:

The writer gave many examples from the books of the Muslim Scholars about the Divine protection and perfection of the Holy Quran like Von Denffer as follows:

While the Books of the Old and New Testament, for example, were written, edited and compiled over long periods, sometimes centuries, the text of the Qur’an, once revelation had ceased, has remained the same to this day. “(Ulum al-Qur’an, Von Denffer, p.44; emphasis added)( 3)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.17

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.17

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.18

He followed with the examples from the books of Sayyid Maududi and Dr. Kamal Omar as:

"David’s Zabur, the Torah and the Injil exist with the Jews and Christians, but the Qur’an informs us that people have changed and added to these books and God’s words have been mixed up with texts of their own making. This corruption and pollution of the Books has been so large and so evident that even the Jews and Christians themselves admit that they do not possess their original texts, and have only their translations, which have been altered over many centuries and are still being changed....The original texts of most of the former Divine Books were lost altogether, and only their translations exist today. The Qur’an, on the other hand, exists exactly as it was revealed to the Prophet; not a word - nay, not a syllable of it - has been changed. It is available in its original text and the Word of God has been preserved for all time." (Towards ... Islam, Maududi, p.74f; emphasis added) (1)

"Let us turn to the books in the Bible - but they too do not clearly speak on the matter. Why are they silent on such a vital subject? May be that the translated versions we have been referring to have seriously departed from the original theme! About the text and the languages wherein these texts were initially compiled the people are completely ignorant --- the original text stands completely lost. This situation has made the translators less cautious and the ordinary reader is powerless to detect the contaminating material. These books which bring charges of illicit sex intercourse, drinking and idolatry, etc. against the Divine Messengers are bound to be defective in many essential teachings and are probably products of some perverted human minds. In these books certain Divine material has been purposely intermixed or introduced in such a clever manner that the ignorant world is taking them as books of religion! Now let us turn to the Qur’an of the Muslims for which it is well known that its text has allowed no human hand to contaminate it and it maintains its original language-text-purity in in all its famous translations." (Deep into the Qur’an, Dr. Kamal Omar,p.23f)(1)
He carries on with the examples from the Sahih Muslim and book of Sayyid Maududi as follows:

"This difference is understandable before the compilation of the Qur’an by Hadrat ‘Uthman (Allah be pleased with him), but after this standard compilation one cannot conceive of even the slightest difference or alteration since it was done with the utmost care on the basis of the recitations of numerous Huffaz and authenticated by the whole body of the then living Companions. Noone showed any difference and there was a complete agreement on the genuineness and purity of its text. This goes to prove that any word or expression which does not correspond fully to the text of Mushaf Uthmani is not authentic and reliable." (Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2, p. 394, Footnote # 1103 by translator Abdul Hamid Saddiqi) (2)

"The Qur’an, which is now in use all over the world, is the exact copy of the Qur’an which was compiled by the order of Hadrat Abu Bakr and copies of which were officially sent by Hadrat `Uthman to different places. Even today many very old copies are found in the big libraries in different parts of the world and if anyone has any doubt as to whether the Qur’an has remained absolutely safe and secure against every kind of change and alteration, he can compare any copy of the Qur’an with any of these copies and reassure himself. Moreover, if one gets a copy of the Qur’an from a bookseller, say, of Algeria in Africa

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.18

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.19

in the West and compares it with a copy obtained from a bookseller, say, of Java in

the East, one will find both copies to be identical with each other and also with the

copies of the Qur’an made during the time of Hadrat `Uthman. If even then anyone

has any doubt left in his mind, he is advised to take any copy of the Qur’an from

anywhere in the world and ask anyone, out of the millions who know the Qur’an by heart, to recite it word for word from the beginning to the end. He will find that the recitation conforms word for word to the written text. This is a clear and irrefutable proof of the fact that the Qur’an which is in use today is the same Qur’an which was presented to the world by Muhammad (Allah’s peace be upon him). A sceptic might entertain a doubt about its revelation from Allah, but none can have any doubt whatsoever regarding its authenticity and immunity and purity from any and every kind of addition or omission or alteration, for there is nothing so authentic in the whole human history as this fact about the Qur’an that it is the same Qur’an that was presented by the Holy Prophet to the world." (The Meaning of Qur’an, Maududi, as in the Introduction, The Holy Qur’an, p. xxxv, Islamic Foundation U.K., 1975)(1)

The writer continued by giving examples as follows:

"The Present Qur’anic Text is exactly as the Prophet left it.
The work of collecting the written manuscripts of the Qur’an was thus carried out by Abu Bakr after the death of the Holy Prophet, and ‘Uthman did nothing but order the necessary number of copies to be made from Abu Bakr’s collection. ... The copies made by his orders were recognised as true copies by the whole Muslim world....
The purity of the text of the Qur’an is thus conclusively demonstrated. The collection of Abu Bakr was a faithful reproduction of the revelation as reduced to writing in the presence of the Holy Prophet, and agreed every whit in text as in arrangement, with the Holy Qur’an as preserved in the memories of the Companions; the copies circulated by ‘Uthman were true and faithful copies of Abu Bakr’s collection, and these copies have admittedly remained unaltered through the thirteen hundred years that have since elapsed." (Introduction, The Holy Qur’an, Maulana Muhammad Ali, p. xlvi) (2)

"Not one letter has changed!"; the same speaker, Dr. Jamal Badawi, declared that "the protection of the Qur’an as a book" is an accurate prophecy that has been fulfilled. (Cambridge University Debate, 1994; attended by the author) (3)

He wants to make Muslims confused by giving more examples from books of their scholars as:

"Letters and Wovels (sic) counted: How much care has been devoted by Muslims to safeguard the Qur’an from any possible alteration may be seen from the fact that they counted not only the Ayats and Ruku, but every single

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.20

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.21

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.22

letter of the alphabet; and every single sign of wovel (sic) has been meticulously counted and recorded. For example, we know that there are 48872 [alif] and 11428 [ba] and so on. Also we know that the Qur’an has 53243 Fatha ( ) and 1258 Tashdid ( ) [i.e. shadda]." (Qur’an and Hadith, Seyyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi, p. 37f; emphasis added). (1)

28. Qur’an in the whole:

The writer comparing the Holy Quran with other books and he objected the authenticity of the Holy Quran and compared it with other Holy books. He said:

Strangely, although the Qur’an which Islam claims as ‘the Word of Allah’ challenges others, "Produce your proof if you are truthful" (Q2:111), it is only the last group cited above, the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, who even acknowledge that it is not enough for Islam itself to simply make verbal claims, but that such claims must also be upheld by "a rational proof for the validity of the text, not a blind emotional argument". The context of this statement makes it quite clear just how vitally important this is:

Throughout history, there have been messengers and prophets, men sent from the Creator, bringing laws and revelation on how man should conduct his life. They were given miracles which proved to mankind that they were bringing revelation. A miracle is something which goes against the laws of nature. For example Prophet Musa (Moses) had a stick which parted the Red Sea. Prophet Isa (Jesus) had the ability to cure the sick by just touching them.
The miracles performed by the above prophets were only miracles for that specific period of time. But how do we know these messengers existed or that such miracles really occurred? In fact, how do we know that they are not just legends or fables?
Thus such events are not proof for us because they cannot be validated by themselves. So, what miracle do we have right now to convince the mind and guide man through his life?

The Arguments
There are many texts available today claiming divine status from God. But is the guidance contained in them in its original form...? Any text claiming to be divine must not contain contradictions, discrepancies or adulterations since this would question the perfection of God and the validity of the text. If we apply this acid test to these ‘divine books’, we find that none except the Qur’an fulfill the above criteria.
Many religions contain aspects of the same truth (since messengers have come to each nation) but this truth has been tampered with by man. Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the Word of God. Muslims believe that ... it has kept its authenticity, i.e. nothing has been removed or added to it by any man since it was revealed.
But as we could not believe in the Creator, God (Allah [swt]), until we become intellectually convinced, similarly the ‘divine’ message must be examined and proved. There needs to exist a rational proof for the validity of the text, not a blind emotional argument." (The Islamic Belief, ibid.; emphasis added)(2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.22

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.24

29. Objections of the Muslims against other books and religions:

Brother is blaming the Muslims that are habitual of objecting the other Holy books and religions. He said:

And the followers of Islam while maintaining they possess an abundance of ‘proof’ for Islam’s "purity and truthfulness" accuse others of deliberately making "falsehood appear true": (1)

30. Islam’s texts and great scholars in direct opposition:

The writer is presenting his point of by giving the examples of Muslim scholars in his own sense and quoted Ibn Khaldun as follows:

Arabic writing at the beginning of Islam was, therefore, not of the best quality nor of the greatest accuracy and excellence. It was not (even) of medium quality, because the Arabs possessed the savage desert attitude and were not familiar with crafts.
One may compare what happened to the orthography of the Qur’an on account of this situation. The men around Muhammad wrote the Qur’an in their own script which, was not of a firmly established, good quality. Most of the letters were in contradiction to the orthography required by persons versed in the craft of writing.... Consequently, (the Qur’anic orthography of the men around Muhammad was followed and became established, and the scholars acquainted with it have called attention to passages where (this is noticeable).
No attention should be paid in this connection with those incompetent (scholars) that (the men around Muhammad) knew well the art of writing and that the alleged discrepancies between their writing and the principles of orthography are not discrepancies, as has been alleged, but have a reason. For instance, they explain the addition of the alif in la ‘adhbahannahU "I shall indeed slaughter him" as indication that the slaughtering did not take place ( lA ‘adhbahannahU ). The addition of the ya in bi-ayydin "with hands (power)," they explain as an indication that the divine power is perfect. There are similar things based on nothing but purely arbitrary assumptions. The only reason that caused them to (assume such things) is their belief that (their explanations) would free the men around Muhammad from the suspicion of deficiency, in the sense that they were not able to write well. They think that good writing is perfection. Thus, they do not admit the fact that the men around Muhammad were deficient in writing." (Muqqadimah, ibn Khaldun, vol. 2, p.382). (2)

31. Mistakes in Arabic Texts by the writers(Katbeen Wahi):

Brother Mark said, Muhammad’s scribes couldn’t write properly and so they not only made mistakes in the Arabic texts, but the texts actually say “No” when they should say “yes”?! He concludes as:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.26

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.26-27

Then one couldn’t think for a moment that men who couldn’t write well would only make a couple of spelling mistakes. And indeed, as we will see, they did not. (1)

32. Errors in original Arabic Text of the Qur’an:

In the writer’s point of view there are many errors in original Arabic text of the Holy Qur’an. He is misquoting the great scholar Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah as under:

Lastly I must bring into relief the case of the word la ( ), which in four or five cases is only l ( ) without the final alif. The word la means no, and the word l means certainly. It is horrible to think when it is meant "the believers certainly shall assemble unto God" and "the unbelievers certainly shall assemble in the hell", and the unfortunate ignorant reader unintentionally says "not" instead of "certainly". We will point out these passages in our second list" (Orthographical Peculiarities In The Text Of The Qur’an, M. Hamidullah, Islamic Order (Karachi), Vol. 3, no. 4, 1981, p.78; article received from Islamic Foundation U.K. as per citation in Ulum al-Qur’an, p.60; emphasis added).(1)

33. Islam defends itself by lame excuses:

The writer having the point of view that Islam always defends itself by lame excuses and with week arguments. He said,

While it is traditional for Islam to defend itself with simply the statement, "this does not represent the ‘ijm (concensus)", it will be apparent to anyone who examines Islam’s own evidence, that Islamic scholars have admitted these matters from the beginning. As we will also see, those cited above are not alone in what they have documented. They are not rebels but realists. (2)

34. Early Arabic text is different:

The writer said that almost every Muslim acknowledges the extreme incompleteness of the written Arabic language at the time of Holy Prophet (S.A.W). He misquoted Ahmed Von Denffer as:

"The script used in the seventh century, i.e. during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, consisted of very basic symbols, which expressed only the consonantal structure of a word, and even that with much ambiguity. While today letters such as ba, ta, tha, ya, are easily distinguished by points, this was not so in the early days..." (Ulum, p.57) (3)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.27

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.28

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.29

35. Variations in translation of different Arabic words:

The writer by giving examples from the article of Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah and English translations of the Holy Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Muhammad Murmaduke Pickthal is suggesting that there are different variations in translations of different Arabic words.

36. ‘7 Forms’ are much different from each other:

The writher is confused by the seven different forms or Sabah Ahruf in which the Holy Quran revealed. He gave such examples in favour of his point of view as follows:

(1)

In his thinking the issue of seven forms or readings is not as simple or straightforward as its look like.

37. ‘7 Forms’ (Sabah Ahruf) were lost:

The writer is also objecting the authenticity of the seven forms (Sabah Ahruf) by mentioning that seven readings were lost. He said,

It is plain not only that the scholars were aware that there was no actual record of what the ‘7 Forms’ were, but that there was so much ‘evidence’, that the greatest early (classical) Islamic scholars did not find evidence for just ‘7 Forms’, but for so many ‘types’ (‘35 sayings’) that they found themselves unable to conclude what the content of the ‘7 Forms’ was! As we will see, it was either accept everything as ‘possibly’ of the 7 Forms’, or else admit that the ‘7 Forms’ were LOST!! (2)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.34

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.35-36

38. Muslim scholars are ignorant of ‘7 Forms’:

The writer having the view that the Muslim scholars are totally ignorant of ‘7 Forms’ and they are continuously lying to prove it. He tried to prove his objection by misquoting the examples from the books of different Muslim scholars especially from the Ahmed Von Denffer’s book “An Introduction to Qur’anic Sciences”.

39. ‘7 Ahruf’ become Unknown to the Muslims:

He tried hard to prove this objection and said,

But, what brought Islam to this point of confusion? The reasons are tied up with the proliferation of ‘readings’ which occurred in the generations following the death of Muhammad. The statements on this matter indicate clearly that while certain scholars later tried to check this by selecting several readings to represent ‘the Qur’an’, and sought to prohibit the use of others, in fact there was also a mindfulness among the scholars that what the people were transmitting as ‘readings’ were NOT the ‘7 Ahruf’!(1)

40. ‘7 readings’ are attached with the ‘7 Ahruf’:

The writer said that the people of different provinces in the Islamic state have different recitations like the people of Basra used the recitation of Abu ‘Amr and Ya’qub and in Kufa the recitations of Hamzah and ‘Asim. In Sham they used that of Ibn ‘Amir and in Mecca that of Ibn Khathir. In Medina that of Nafi’ was used.

He said,

This makes everything about the ‘7 readings’ of the Qur’an ‘questionable’ in relation to what is asserted was the ‘original Qur’an’, the ‘7 Ahruf’.(2)

He concluded with:

But, further to this was the acknowledgement among some that there was a need to be looking for some way to ‘link’ the ‘7 readings’ with the ‘7 Ahruf’, even if it was only

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.36

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.37

to say that in some way the ‘7 Ahruf’ should be "looked for" among the ‘7 readings’. (1)

41. ‘7 readings’ are accepted as the ‘7 Ahruf’:

Brother Mark by objecting the authenticity of ‘7 Ahruf’ said:

Since the misplaced ‘7 Ahruf’ could not be admitted to be ‘forever lost’, there had to be some assertion that they ‘might still be found’ amongst what was in use, and so all and sundry readings were accepted as the ‘7 Ahruf’!! (2)

42. 35 versions of ‘7 Ahruf’:

The writer said that there are some more versions of ‘Ahruf’. He said:

One is left with the image of a religion which while purporting ‘perfect knowledge of the Qur’an’ has in fact fallen to relying solely upon searching amongst debris to scratch for remnants of its Divinely kept ‘Book’.

The Qur’an is seen to be merely just another Hadith. In fact a great mass of Ahadith, which, while needing to be transmitting an absolute reality of the ‘7 Ahruf’ (what are asserted to be "the exact Words of God"), now is found to transmit ‘35’ versions and no-one is to quibble - because it ‘is’ part of the ‘7 Ahruf’! This Hadith should be rejected!!(3)

43. Who removed ‘6 Forms’ (Ahruf) from Use:

The writer raised a question who removed the ‘6 Ahruf’ from use and only one has been used by the Muslims.

44. Islamic Scholars are divided on the text of the Qur’an:

The writer said that Hazrat Usman (R.A) had burnt all but one because the ‘7 Ahruf’ were 7 texts. Islamic scholars are divided, having no certain historical knowledge about the text of the Qur’an, but only conjecture to follow. He said:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.38

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.38

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.38

Was it Gabriel, or was it `Uthman some 18 years later? This also shows even more ignorance about the Qur’an’s history for it means that Islamic scholars are divided over what caused the actions of Caliph `Uthman. (1)

45. Hazrat Usman (R.A) burnt the copies of the Holy Qur’an except one:

The writer to prove his point of view is claiming and misquoting that:

Islam’s ‘history’ claims that in 30 AH, some 18 years after Muhammad’s death, during Caliph ‘Uthman’s reign, there was much contention amongst certain followers of Islam concerning the recitation of the Qur’an¹. It is recorded that he commanded copies to be made of one consonantal symbol text, and sent these to the centres of the Islamic empire with the command that all texts that varied from those copies were to be burnt.(2)

46. Error crept into the written text of the ‘1 Ahruf’:

The writer is presenting his this point of view as follows:

Those who believe the other version, that 6 out of the ‘7 Forms’ were withdrawn at the Final Review, are faced with the equally problematic choice that the admitted variations in writing were either because the people did not obey immediately, OR, at a later time error crept into the written text of the ‘1 Form’ of the Qur’an which remained at the time of Muhammad’s death! However, it must then be accepted that such error would of necessity been in the Companions’ texts in order for them to be burnt! (3)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.39

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.40

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.41

47. Avoid early discussion and details on the Holy Qur’an for Islam’s survival:

The writer discussing it as follows:

Therefore it has become not only convenient but necessary for Islam’s survival, to avoid discussing early details about the Qur’an, such as what Tabari recorded about the accusation made between the various groups that the other’s version was ‘heresy’, and claim that the followers of Islam in Iraq and Syria were simply "non-Arabic speaking", a people ignorant of how to pronounce the Arabic text of the Qur’an. The claim is then made that it was to correct this that `Uthman sent them a complete and ‘official’ transcript of the Qur’an. However, it is obvious that this would never have alleviated a problem like error in pronunciation, since, as was earlier noted, the ability to distinguish such things was not yet available and the written text was a bare consonantal symbol text, and nothing else!(1)

48. Present copy of the Holy Qur’an is not exact manuscript of Hazrat Hafsah(R.A):

The writer said that there is no original copy of the Hazrat Hafsah’s manuscript present in this world. He is arguing in this way:

One must not bypass the fact that the burning of Hafsahs copy to avoid further contentions means that ‘UTHMAN DID NOT IN FACT MAKE ‘AN EXACT COPY’ OF HAFSAH’S MANUSCRIPT, as some claim. If he had, there would have been no need to burn it. Rather, according to Islam’s stand, it would have contained a conglomeration of the ‘7 Forms’, something that might bring nostalgia to the people who learned the Qur’an from specific teachers. According to Islam’s theology, there might also have been some abrogated sections. (2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.42

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.42

49. Discrepancies in the graphic Manuscript of Hazrat Usman’s:

The writer is objecting the Holy Qur’an in another way as follows:

The claim that `Uthman issued ‘perfect copies’ of a single text to all points of the Islamic empire should surely guarantee Islam’s claim to having a perfectly uniform consonantal symbol text in its Arabic Qur’an’s world-wide, whether that be attributed to Divine promise or `Uthman’s human intervention.(1)

This is just the first manuscript copy, and already corruption was readily visible to Caliph ‘Uthman. Again, since only the consonantal symbol text could be written down, it is obvious that what ‘Uthman saw were consonantal symbol errors, corruption in the ‘graphic form’. But, how far did he look, and how many did he find? Did he find 5, 10, 500, or 1000 errors? And, what kind of corruption did he find? Were there symbols missing, or just symbols added? And, what about the other manuscripts? Were they also found to be corrupted? (2)

50. Muslim scholars acknowledge the corruption in the Holy Quran:

The writer by misquoting many Muslim scholars in the proof of his objection as follows:

"Books Composed About Discrepancies of the [Qur’anic] Manuscripts
The Discrepancies between the Manuscripts of the people of al-Madina, al-Kufa, and al-Basrah, according to al-Kisai; book of Kalaf, Discrepancies of the manuscripts; Discrepancies of the People of al-Kufa, al-Basrah and Syria concerning the Manuscripts, by al-Farra’; Discrepancies between the Manuscripts, Abu Da’ud al-Sijistani; book of al-Mada’ini about the discrepancies between the manuscripts and the compiling of the Qur’an; Discrepancies between the Manuscripts of Syria, al-Hijaz, and al-Iraq, by Ibn Amir al-Yahsubi; book of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Al-Rahman al-Isbahani about discrepancies of the manuscripts." (Fihrist, p.79, emphasis added)(3)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.43

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.43

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.43, 44

51. Islam and Muslim’s accepted the corruption in the Holy Qur’an:

Brother Mark said in the favour of above mentioned objection as follows:

The question must also be asked as to whether Islam has since corrected the errors in these texts, for, if it did not, then it means that it has accepted as ‘Qur’an’ several ‘corrupt’ manuscripts that are not ‘perfect copies’ of any one of the ‘7 Forms’, and it has thus ascribed Divine authority to the corrupted texts of Caliph ‘Uthman by continuing to propagate them rather than correct them. The present Qur’ans of necessity are all ‘corrupt’. (1)

52. Variations in the vowels between the Hafs and Warsh ‘Reading’:

The writer said:

As one would expect, between two differing ‘readings’ there are variations in vowelling, obtained by the varying application of the short vowel signs of fatha (the short stroke representing short ‘a’), kasra (stroke underneath for a short ‘i’), and damma (sign for a short ‘u’), things the Arabs admit were invented for writing in later times. (2)

52. Consonantal symbol discrepancies in the text of in different manuscripts of Medina and Kufa:

The writer has given some examples of texts in the above mentioned objection. We quoted some of these here:

Q2:259 nunshizuhA ( ) / nunshiruhA ( ) [diacritics give ra and za];
-Q2:140 taqUlUna ( ) / yaqUlUna ( ) [diacritics give ta and ya]. (3)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.44

2. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.47

3. The Perfect Qur’an, Brother Mark. Page No.48

Conclusion

It’s a worth mentioning that at first the Holy Qur’an compiled under the supervision of Holy Prophet (S.A.W). Which is completely without any chance of any type of corruption and errors? The revelation in ‘7 Readings’ doesn’t mean that the Holy Quran was compiled in seven different ways. ‘7 Readings’ or ‘7 Ahruf’ only meant 7 different ways of recitation of the Holy Qur’an. Different Arab tribes like Muzr, Nuzaar and Huzaal have quite different pronunciations and uttering and intonation of different words is different from each other. So, for the time being and for the preaching of Islam Holy Prophet (SA.W) allow the Muslims recite the Holy Qur’an in their own intonation and pronunciation. In this way they are familiar with the Quresh’s pronunciation. Because the Holy Qur’an reveled in the Quresh’s language and pronunciation. So it is mandatory to recite the Holy Qur’an in the pronunciation and intonation of Quresh. In this way the Holy Qur’an recited in only in one pronunciation. The 3rd Caliph Hazrat Usman (S.A.W) made copies from the Mushf and send its copies in different provinces. Mushf is the same copy of Hazrat Hafsa’s copy which was compiled in the life of Holy Prophet under his supervision. So, for Hazrat Usman (R.A) had burnt all the incomplete Qur’anic copies to avoid the differences among the Muslim community.

All the ‘7 Readings’ are proved by the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). Because’ there were no dots in Mushf Usmani. Therefore the recitation of the Holy Qur’an in the ‘7 Readings’ is allowed.

The differences in different pronunciations are not meant that there are literal differences in the Holy Qur’an. There is not truth in the different versions of the Holy Qur’an nor does it exist in the mind of the Mulims and same exist in the mind of Hazrat Usman (R.A). So he never objected the continuous recitations.

Nobody among the Muslims is convinced by the literal recitation of the Holy Qur’an.

Gateway to Greatness

Monday, March 29, 2010

GREAT PEOPLES

Monday, March 22, 2010

GOLDEN WORDS

Sunday, March 21, 2010

GOLDEN WORDS

Saturday, March 13, 2010

TRUTH OF LIFE

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A SILENT PRAYER

MOTHER

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A ridiculus point of view of Brother Mark against the Holy Quran

Search This Blog

Followers (Join Us and Post your Articles & Comments)

Blog Archive

Contributors

Monday, March 29, 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Subscribe To

Search This Blog

Followers (Join Us and Post your Articles & Comments)

Blog Archive

Contributors