Many Muslims today have tremendous faith in the preservation of the Quran, and often hold to a very simplistic view that the text has not only escaped corruption, but even textual variants. This article will demonstrate both the obvious reality of textual variants, and also evidence that the Quran contained sections during the time of Muhammad, which are now missing, or altered.
To begin, note that Muhammad gave a list of four men that he regarded as his best Quran reciters. One of these was a man named Ubai bin-Kab:
Sahih al-Bukhari 4999
Narrated Masriq:
Abdullah bin Amr mentioned Abdullah bin Masud and said, I shall ever love that man, for I heard the Prophet saying, "Take (learn) the Qur'an from four: Abdullah bin Masud, Salim, Mu'adh and Ubai bin Ka'b."
Yet Umar (586-644 AD), the Second Caliph, stated that Ubai recited a different Quran than the one that they had at the time:
Sahih al-Bukhari 5005
Narrated Ibn Abbas:
Umar said, "Ubai was the best of us in the recitation (of the Qur'an) yet we leave some of what he recites." Ubai says, "I have taken it from the mouth of Allah's Apostle and will not leave for anything whatever."
This is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 4481.
Most Muslims today assert that the Quran was assembled by a man named Zaid bin Thabit under Uthman (576-656 AD), the Third Caliph. According to narrations collected 200 years after the fact by Muhammad al-Bukhari (810-870 AD) - which is significant, as some critical scholars such as Stephen Shoemaker put the compilation of the Quran during the time of Abd al-Malik (646-705 AD), and maintain that Bukhari's accounts are fictional - Uthman ordered that other versions of the Quran were to be destroyed (Sahih al-Bukhari 4986-87). This allegedly took place after the Quran had been compiled originally by Zaid bin Thabit under Abu Bakr (573-634 AD), the First Caliph.
However, another one of the men that Muhammad gave in Sahih al-Bukhari 4999 as one of his top four Quran reciters, Abdullah bin Masud, disliked the version compiled by Zaid bin Thabit, from which all modern Qurans descend, and told people to keep their old copies of the Quran instead of accepting Zaid's recension:
Jami at-Tirmidhi 3104
Their disagreement was brought to Uthman, so he said: "Write it as At-Tabut, for it was revealed in the tongue of the Quraish." Az-Zuhri said: "Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utbah informed me that Abdullah bin Mas'ud disliked Zaid bin Thabit copying the Musahif, and he said: "O you Muslim people! I am removed from recording the transcription of the Mushaf and it is overseen by a man, by Allah, when I accepted Islam he was but in the loins of a disbelieving man" - meaning Zaid bin Thabit - and it was regarding this that Abdullah bin Mas'ud said: "O people of Al-Iraq! Keep the Musahif that are with you, and conceal them. For indeed Allah said: And whoever conceals something, he shall come with what he concealed on the Day of Judgement (3:161). So meet Allah with the Musahif."
A Mushaf (plural Musahif) is a written copy of the Quran. A form of the above narration is also found in Sahih Muslim 2462.
From the above, it seems at least two of the four people than Muhammad declared to be the best Quran reciters, would come to disagree with the version compiled by Zaid bin Thabit under Uthman. If their own versions were identical to Zaid's, then disdain for Zaid's version would make no sense. Therefore, two of Muhammad's best Quran reciters had different Qurans to the one used by most Muslims today.
Kithab al-Masahif is a book that was written in the ninth century by the son of the compiler of Sunan Abi Dawud, one of the six canonical Hadith collections.
In it, Ibn Abi Dawud writes the following about the Battle of Yamama (632 AD), which led to Abu Bakr deciding to compile the Quran. During this battle, many Huffaz - those who had a large portion of the Quran memorized - died, and Ibn Abi Dawud states that there were passages of the Quran known only amongst those who died, and not found with anyone after them:
Ibn Abi Dawud - Kithab al-Masahif
Zuhri reports, "We have heard that many Qur'an passages were revealed but that those who had memorized them fell in the Yemama fighting. Those passages had not been written down, and following the deaths of those who knew them, were no longer known; nor had Abu Bakr, nor Umar nor Uthman as yet collected the texts of the Qur'an. Those lost passages were not to be found with anyone after the deaths of those who had memorized them.
This, I understand, was one of the considerations which impelled them to pursue the Qur'an during the reign of Abu Bakr, committing it to sheets for fear that there should perish in further theatres of war men who bore much of the Qur'an which they would take to the grave with them on their fall, and which, with their passing, would not be found with any other.
The above passage is corroborated by narrations in Sahih al-Bukhari 4679 and 4986, which mention the battle of Yamama as the impetus for Abu Bakr to compile the Quran.
Next, in Sahih Muslim 1050, it is narrated that one of Muhammad's companions, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, brought into his court 300 skilled Quran reciters. He then warns them not to let their hearts harden, and explains to them that during the time of Muhammad, they used to recite two Surahs delivered by Muhammad which are not in the Quran today.
It is known that these two chapters have been lost, because Abu Musa gives some of the verses from them that he can remember, and they are not a part of the Quran that Zaid bin Thabit compiled:
Sahih Muslim 1050
We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara'at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it:" If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust."
And we used so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it: "Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practice" and "that is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection."
So, two chapters of the Quran, which were recited as having been sent from Allah during the time of Muhammad, no longer exist. The chapter that he said resembles the first is Bara'at, also called At-Tawbah, and is 129 verses long.
Note that the first part of the second reference quotes Surah 61:2, but the second part of the reference is nowhere in that Surah. And, those familiar with the Quran know that Muhammad repeats some things over a dozen times. Therefore, it would seem that there is early testimony that two chapters of the Quran are genuinely lost, as they do not appear in any modern Quran.
Next, in Sunan Ibn Majah 1944, Aisha states that there were verses revealed by Muhammad that are not in the Quran anymore, because a sheep ate them:
Sunan Ibn Majah 1944
It was narrated that 'Aishah said:
"The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, 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 in and ate it."
Some of the verses referred to above, about "breastfeeding an adult", taught that a woman breastfeeding a man ten times made marriage between them unlawful.
Another narration bolsters the fact that a modified form of this commandment was definitely recited as part of the Quran before the death of Muhammad:
Sahih Muslim 1452a
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that it had been revealed in the Holy Qur'an that ten clear sucklings make the marriage unlawful, then it was abrogated (and substituted) by five sucklings and Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) died, and it was before that time (found) in the Holy Qur'an (and recited by the Muslims).
This is also narrated in Sahih Muslim 1452b, and Sunan an-Nasai 3307.
The passage in question is not in any modern Quran, even though it had been revealed as part of the Quran, was abrogated to reduce the number of breastfeedings required to five, and then was recited in the modified form during the time of Muhammad.
In addition, the "verse of stoning" mentioned in Sunan Ibn Majah 1944 are elsewhere testified to have been recited as part of the Quran, and now lost:
Sahih al-Bukhari 6830
Allah sent Muhammad with the Truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married person (male & female) who commits illegal sexual intercourse), and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book,' and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. And the punishment of the Rajam is to be inflicted to any married person (male & female), who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if the required evidence is available or there is conception or confession.
And then we used to recite among the Verses in Allah's Book: 'O people! Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers, as it is disbelief (unthankfulness) on your part that you claim to be the offspring of other than your real father.'
This is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 6829, Sahih Muslim 1691a, Sunan Ibn Majah 2553, Sunan Abi Dawud 4418, and Jami at-Tirmidhi 1432.
The verse of stoning adulterers is not found in the modern Quran. Also, note that Ibn Abbas mentions another lost verse in the second part of this Hadith ("Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers..."), which is not found in any modern Quran either.
It is worth noting on this point that Umar even stated that if he were not afraid that people would accuse him of adding to the Quran, he would have written the verse of stoning in the Quran himself, because it was once part of the Quran, and they practiced stoning during and after Muhammad:
Musnad Ahmad 197
Abdur-Rahman bin Awf narrated that Umar bin al Khattab addressed the people and he heard him say:
Some people say: what is this stoning? In the Book of Allah it mentions flogging. But the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stoned [adulterers] and we stoned [them] after him. Were it not that some people would say that 'Umar added something to the Book of Allah that is not part of it, I would have written it the way it was revealed.
This is also narrated in Musnad Ahmad 352.
Finally, in Kitab Fada'il-al-Quran, written in the ninth century by Abu Ubaid, two interesting quotes are attributed to Ibn Umar and Aisha:
Abu Ubaid - Kitab Fada'il-al-Quran
[Ibn Umar said]: "Let none of you say, 'I have learned the whole of the Koran,' for how does he know what the whole of it is, when much of it has disappeared? Let him rather say, 'I have learned what remains thereof.'"
[A'isha said]: "Surat al-Ahzab (33) used to be recited in the time of the Prophet with two hundred verses, but when Uthman wrote out the codices he was unable to procure more of it than there is in it today [73 verses]."
Notice Aisha mentions that Surah 33 has lost about 127 verses. Could the one mentioned by Ibn Abbas in Sahih al-Bukhari 6830 ("Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers..."), which seems to resemble the theme of certain parts of that chapter (Surah 33:4-5, 33:40), be one of them?
Regardless, both of these quotations attest to the fact that parts of the Quran were lost. Yet, Muslim apologists living over 1,000 years ensure both Muslims and non-Muslims alike that, contrary to these narrations, the Quran has been immaculately preserved.
Consider which is more likely:
It is not easy to see an incentive for the early accounts to fabricate flaws in their own scripture. However, it is very easy to see an incentive for later Muslims to downplay or deny these flaws.
The issue of variations in the oral recitation of the Quran, called Qira'at, of which there are 10 official schools, goes back to the time of Muhammad (Sahih al-Bukhari 4991-92, Sahih Muslim 819a, 820a-b, 821a), and refutes the notion that God has given and preserved only a single Arabic Quran, as is often believed by Muslims.
The version of the Quran used by most Muslims today is in the tradition of a man named Hafs ibn Sulayman (706-796 AD), which takes after the Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud Qira'at. The final version of this tradition was canonized in 1924, in Cairo, Egypt. The second most popular Quranic text, used mostly in Northern Africa, is in the tradition of Warsh, which takes after the Nafi al-Madani Qira'at.
These two Arabic texts have ~5000 textual variants, which include entirely different words in some verses. They are not merely differences in diacritical marks, or different pronunciations of the same word used in different dialects of Arabic. The words themselves are different, in some cases.
What follows are some examples of this, gathered from The Critical Quran by Robert Spencer:
| Verse | Hafs | Warsh |
|---|---|---|
| 1:4 | "Master of the day of judgment" | "King of the day of judgment" |
| 2:10 | "Because they lie" | "Because they accuse of lying" |
| 2:119 | "And you will not be asked" | "Do not ask" |
| 2:125 | "Take as a place of prayer" | "They took as a place of prayer" |
| 3:79 | "You are teaching the book" | "You know the book" |
| 3:146 | "Fought" | "Were killed" |
| 4:5 | "A means of support" | "Valuable" |
| 7:57 | "He who sends the winds bearing good news" | "He who sends the winds as scatterers" |
| 18:36 | "Better than this" | "Better than both of them" |
| 21:4 | "He said" | "Say" |
| 21:112 | "He said" | "Say" |
| 37:130 | "Peace be upon Eliases" | "Peace be upon the family of Eliases" |
| 43:24 | "He said" | "Say" |
| 46:25 | "Nothing could be seen" | "You could see nothing" |
| 47:4 | "Those who have been killed" | "Those who fought" |
| 72:20 | "Say" | "He said" |
| 98:6 | "Created beings" | "Innocent ones" |
The above is merely a partial comparison of two Qira'at. There are dozens more (30+) used historically in the Muslim world, to some extent.
Therefore, the idea that the Quran has somehow escaped the fate of all widely-used ancient texts - that of textual variants - is false, and those who repeat such a claim are demonstrating ignorance, or deceitfulness.
The text of the Quran that exists today is contested, and missing portions of the original Quran, according to early Islamic sources. Although the Quran was composed by one man in just 23 years, it was still not preserved, despite Muslim claims to the contrary.