For Muslims the preservation of the Quran is essential to their faith. For years Muslims have been claiming there’s only one Quran, and that you will not find any variations in “letters”, “dots”, “vowels”, “sound”. This means if any one of these are proven to be not true Islam is false because this would mean the Quran has not been preserved.

Recently Muslim scholar Dr. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi had an interview on Muhammad Hijab’s channel in which Hijab asked Qadhi a series of questions regarding the preservation of the Quran. Qadhi was reluctant to answer the pressing questions concerning Ahruf and Qiraat. Hijab asked if Qadhi was given a blank Mus’haf (Codex) would he be able to write down word for word what’s currently in the Quran, and which Quran would he use? Would he use the Hafs, Warsh, Qalun etc. Qadhi then diverts and says this is not a simple answer.

The Seven Ahruf and Multiple Qiraat – A Quranic Perspective

Ubayy b. Ka’b reported: I was in the mosque when a man entered and prayed and recited (the Qur’an) in a style to which I objected. Then another man entered (the mosque) and recited in a style different from that of his companion. When we had finished the prayer, we all went to Allah’s Messenger and said to him: This man recited in a style to which I objected, and the other entered and recited in a style different from that of his companion. The Messenger of Allah asked them to recite and so they recited, and the Apostle of Allah expressed approval of their affairs (their modes of recitation). And there occurred in my mind a sort of denial which did not occur even during the Days of Ignorance. When the Messenger of Allah saw how I was affected (by a wrong idea), he struck my chest, whereupon I broke into sweating and felt as though I were looking at Allah with fear. He (the Holy Prophet) said to me: Ubayy, a message was sent to me to recite the Qur’an in one dialect, and I replied: Make (things) easy for my people. It was conveyed to me for the second time that it should be recited in two dialects. I again replied to him: Make affairs easy for my people. It was again conveyed to me for the third time to recite in seven dialects. And (I was further told): You have got a seeking for every reply that I sent you, which you should seek from Me. I said: O Allah! forgive my people, forgive my people, and I have deferred the third one for the day on which the entire creation will turn to me, including even Ibrahim (for intercession). — Sahih Muslim 1787

Its expressed in the above Hadith that the Quran was “revealed” to Muhammad in seven ahruf, this caused confusion and problems for Muslims. Sources prove that the variations between these renditions of the Quran disturbed Muhammad’s companions.

We have a disagreement between the Muslims as to how they should recite the Quran. It was different to what they were used to reciting and brought the issue to Muhammad. At that time Muhammad had them recite which was different from the other recitation, this cased denial in the Muslims mind and because of this Muhammad “struck” his “chest”. Typical how Muslims resort to violence when frustrated which is what we’re seeing now as the problem with the “perfect preservation” of the Quran continues to crumble.

Here are some quotes from Muslim scholar Dr. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi on the preservation of the Quran: note how his messaged changed from the Quran being perfectly preserved, no change in letters and words, to now there are changes in letters, words and Harakat.

“So the Caliph Uthman standardized the copies of the Quran. And therefore, from his time up until our time there has never been two copies of the Quran that are different even in one letter or one word and this is because of the farsightedness of the Caliph Uthman” — Dr. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi

It’s known that in order for the Quran to be “standardized” Uthman burned manuscripts of the Quran which were different from the one he had. There was a battle and the men who memorized the Quran had recited the Quran differently, out of fear Hudhaifa came to Uthman about the differences in the recitations, with Uthman burning any competing copies.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to Uthman at the time when the people (Muslims) of Syria and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azarbaijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the Muslims of Syria and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur’an, so he said to ‘Uthman, “O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and the Christians did before.” So ‘Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, “Send us the manuscripts of the Qur’an so that we may compile the Qur’anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you.” Hafsa sent it to ‘Uthman. ‘Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, ‘Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, Said bin Al-As and ‘AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. ‘Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, “In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur’an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur’an was revealed in their tongue.” They did so, and when they had written many copies, ‘Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. ‘Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. … (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 6, bk. 61, no. 510)

More contradicting statements from Yasir Qadhi, in the first quote Qadhi says “there has never been two copies of the Quran that are different even in one letter or one word”. Once again in the following quote he continues to say “there’s only one Quran there are no various versions”.

“ah and the Quran ah there’s only one Quran there are no various versions or whatnot its one standard copy of the Quran across the Muslim world…and uh there’s really not been any variants versions of the Quran the Quran is the Quran for all sects and schisms and groups of Islam…and we also all Muslims take pride in the fact that there is but one Quran there’s no variants of the Quran” — Dr. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi

Now in the next two quotes he changes his tune and admits there’s “slight differences in pronunciation slight differences in letters”, but remember he said before “there has never been two copies of the Quran that are different even in one letter or one word”. Now he’s telling us there’s been “changes in letters and words”.

“And when we say the various different ways to recite the Quran we’re not talking about different voices or different styles we’re talking about slight differences in pronunciation slight differences in letters. Especially those who have been exposed to some of our brothers who live Algeria or Morocco or other north African countries they recite the Quran in a slightly different way. Not just a voice or not just a speaking style but also changes in letters and words and Harakat” — Dr. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi

“The standard narrative has holes in it” — Dr. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi

Muslims need to wake up and realise that the so called “perfect preservation of the Quran” is completely bogus and cannot be defended. Our lost Muslim friends are all welcomed to come to the One who can perfectly preserve their soul. The Lord Jesus said:

John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand.

That’s true perfect preservation from the One who created all things. Come to Christ and live Muslims, He’s waiting for you with open arms. Instead of adhering to the “holes in the narrative” you need to come to the One who has Holes in His hands and feet.