Quran and the Orientalists

"The story of how the Quran came to be preserved is drawn entirely from the authentic Ahadith (the recorded sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him). Some orientalist critics, however, claim that the narrations in the Hadith collections cannot be trusted due to their being recorded by "Muslim sources". These orientalists ignore the fact that news and social history have always been uncovered through eye-witness reports, and that early Muslim scholars have developed some of the most rigorous criteria to scrutinize such reports for authenticity [1].

The majority of what we know of the life of the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions are from mutawaatir reports (reported by many different reliable narrators, who all independently verify the same account). This continuing and dynamic science (now over thirteen centuries old) has produced highly accurate reports of Muslim history.

Through this science, thousands of scholars have repeatedly analyzed the Ahadith collections in order to identify and filter out any fabrications. The accusation that most Muslim scholarship has been based on forgery would necessarily implicate that all the geographically scattered scholars of the first four centuries of the Hadith collection, who belonged to varied and competing schools of thought, collaborated together in a mutual conspiracy - an idea which neither appeals to reason nor the fact that such scholars were renowned for their piety and integrity of character.

A number of orientalists (such as Ignaz Goldziher [2]) have been attached to the theory that certain variations in some of the reports make the entire story of the Quran's codification dubious. Yet other scholars have pointed out that these differences are often reconcilable due to the context of each narration (contexts which, incidentally, are also recorded in Ahadith collections), and the time of narration (some referring to earlier instances, such as prior to the completion of the entire Quran [3]).

Muslim scholars also note that the number of memorizers was great for any given portion of the Quran and therefore if any error had been made in Uthman's codification, someone would have pointed it out. Furthermore, the majority of the reports indicate that the text of Uthman's codification is mutawaatir - ie. transmitted and agreed upon by many people [4].

Despite such defective theories, many orientalists themselves have admitted like Gibb that "It seems reasonably well established that no material changes were introduced and that the original form of Mohammed's discourses (pbuh) were preserved with scrupulous precision" [5]. John Burton, at the end of his substantial work on the Quran's compilation, says with reference to criticisms made of different readings narrated in Ahadith that "No major differences of doctrines can be constructed on the basis of the parallel readings based on the Uthmanic consonantal outline, yet ascribed to mushafs other than his. All the rival readings unquestionably represent one and the same text. They are substantially agreed in what they transmit..." [6]. He further states that the Quran as we have it today is "the text which has come down to us in the form in which it was organized and approved by the Prophet (pbuh).... What we have today in our hands is the mushaf of Muhammad (pbuh)." [7].

Kenneth Cragg describes the transmission of the Quran from the time of revelation to today as occurring in "an unbroken living sequence of devotion" [8]. Schwally concurs that "As far as the various pieces of revelation are concerned, we may be confident that their text has been generally transmitted exactly as it was found in the Prophet's legacy" [9].

The Institute for Koranforschung, for example, in the University of Munich (Germany), collected over 42,000 complete or incomplete ancient copies of the Quran. After around fifty years of research, they reported that there was no variance between the various copies, except the occasional mistakes of the copyist which could easily be ascertained. This Institute was unfortunately destroyed by bombs during WWII [10].

Thus, due to the efforts of the early companions, with Allah's assistance, the Quran as we have it today is recited in the same manner as it was revealed. This makes it the only religious scripture that is still completely retained and understood in its original language. Indeed, as Sir William Muir states, "There is probably no other book in the world which has remained twelve centuries [now fourteen] with so pure a text" [11].

The evidence above confirms Allah's promise in the Quran:

" We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption.)" (Quran15:9).

The Quran has been preserved in both oral and written form in a way no other book has, and the oral and written form serve as a check and balance to prove the authenticity of the Quran." [12] 

References

[1] This includes a continuous chain of reporters, each reporter's memory skills and record of honesty, evidence that they were there at the time of the event, as well as textual consistency with the Qur'an and other established Ahadith.

[2] Ignaz Goldziher, Muslim Studies II, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1971

[3] For an example of this, see the discussion of the variance in the manuscripts of some Companions in footnote 41, p.48 in Von Denffer, Ulum al-Qur'an, The Islamic Foundation, UK, 1983

[4] Bilal Philips, Usool at-Tafseer, Sharjah: Dar al-Fatah, 1997, p.159

[5] H.A.R. Gibb, Mohammedanism, London: Oxford University Press, 1969, p.50

[6] John Burton, The Collection of the Qur'an, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977, p. 171

[7] John Burton, The Collection of the Qur'an, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977, p.239-40

[8] Kenneth Cragg, The Mind of the Qur'an, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1973, p.26

[9] Schwally, Geschichte des Qorans, Leipzig: Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung,1909-38, Vol.2, p.120

[10] Mohammed Hamidullah, Muhammad Rasullullah, Lahore: Idara-e-Islamiat, n.d., p.179

[11] Sir William Muir, Life of Mohamet, London, 1894, Vol.1, Introduction

Source:

[12] http://www.ilaam.net/Articles/AuthenticQuran.html