Sh. Ammar Khatib Profile picture
Aug 30, 2020 52 tweets 9 min read Read on X
@PhDniX @AbuSafiyah1 @AverageJoeHamON
@JosephLumbard
@pillar6741

I was asked for my feedback on the issue of the preservation of the Qur'an. Image
First, I purposely don't comment on everything I read or everything people bring to my attention. Unfortunately, some people don't want to truly have a meaningful conversation.
I will discuss some of the Important points mentioned in the thread.
Before I begin, I would like to thank our friend @PhDniX for his efforts in trying to clarify some of the most complex issues in the field. He does that while trying his best to stay neutral and respectful of other views.
1. All these issues that people keep bringing up were known to the early Muslim community and they never were an issue for them. After all, it was the Muslim scholars who documented all the Sahabah readings that differ from the 'Uthmanic Mushafs.
2. Is it possible to prove that every single reading is attributable to the prophet?

I already addressed this issue in this thread:
@PhDniX said the following:
"The point of faith is that the hundreds of different readings generated by these readers all were at one point uttered by the prophet. There's just no way to prove that...
it's possible, and in some cases even likely that he pronounced some words in variant ways... but which ones?"
This is related to the question of wether or not all the variations were recited by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ?
I usually like to use the terms recited/taught/approved for a reason.
In some cases, only general approval of the Prophet is required to validate a reading.
Can you imagine if the Arabs who spoke with the dialect of Imalah would seek the permission of the Prophet every single time a new Surah/verses were revealed?!
I personally think the dialect-based readings which are many only required a general approval of the Prophet.
Examples:
الفتح
الإمالة
التقليل
الإشمام...
السراط
الصراط
الزراط
رسْلنا
رسُلنا
البُيوت
البِيوت
Etc...

The differences in this category don't have any impact on the meaning.
This was all under the license of the 7 ahruf. The main purpose of this kind of permission was to make the Qur'an more accessible and easier to recite and memorise since the Arabs at that time spoke with many different lughat (dialects).
For more details on this part, please refer to the section:
"Were all variations recited by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ?"
in my published paper on Yaqeen:
yaqeeninstitute.org/ammar-khatib/t…
3. Did all Muslim scholars agree on the understanding of the concept of preservation of the Qur'an?

Short answer:
No. Some scholars were flexible regarding this issue while other scholars were more strict.
Some people keep bringing up the issue of lost ahruf/abandoned ahruf (the ahruf that were not included in the 'Uthmanic Mushafs)... they're implying that the Qur'an we have today is incomplete.
These people fail to understand the whole concept of the license of the 7 ahruf and the fluidity in how the Qur'an was recited.

Many early scholars didn't have any issues with the theory of abandoned ahruf. I have explained this in many threads.
The Prophet said that this Qur'an was revealed in 7 different ahruf, so recite whichever one is easy for you.
He also said that each one of the 7 ahruf is sufficient.
(فأيُّما حَرْفٍ قَرَؤُوا عليه فقَدْ أَصَابُوا)
(فَاقْرَؤُوا ما تَيَسَّرَ منه)
When we want to discuss what the preservation of the Quran means, we go back to the scholars of Islam. Muslim scholars have known about these variant readings of companions for centuries and never said it compromised the preservation of the Quran in the slightest.
What's next? Are people going to start asking if we have audio recordings of the Prophet teaching all these different readings!
Even if we somehow discover a Qur'anic manuscript of the entire Qur'an which dates back to the Prophet and it agrees with the 'Uthmanic Mushafs,
skeptics will still say: okay but this still doesn't prove that the Qur'an is divine = from Allah...

The point is that this type of discussions with radical skeptics is pointless.

I always say that for the radical skeptic, no amount of proof will ever be sufficient.
"Even if We had sent them the angels, made the dead speak to them, and assembled before their own eyes every sign they demanded, they still would not have believed, unless God so-willed, but most of them are ignorant [of this] )."

Qur'an: 6:111
"Had your Lord so willed, all ˹people˺ on earth would have certainly believed, every single one of them!
Would you then force people to become believers?"

Qur'an: 10:99
4. Received the following question:

"How do we as Muslims understand the meaning of the preservation of the Holy Qur'an...I am honestly trying to understand it as a Muslim"
I often hear the statement that the Qur'an was preserved harakah-by-harakah and letter-by-letter = meaning that every single valid reading of the Qur'an was preserved and included in the 'Uthmanic Mushafs.
Let's now examine the above statement:

1. The Harakat (Fathah, Dhammah and Kasrah) were a later invention. So definitely they were NOT around since the time of the Prophet and when 'Uthman and his committee copied the Mushafs.
2. As I explained before, many early Muslim scholars were of the opinion that the 'Uthmanic Mushafs didn't include all the 7 ahruf because they were optional.
This means that some Ahruf were left out during the time of 'Uthman.
The famous ten readings we know today represent only a limited assortment of the variations that existed prior to the ʿUthmanic codex.
In the light of the above explanation, it is incorrect to say that the Qur'an was preserved harakah-by-harakah and letter-by-letter.
As Muslims, we believe that the Qur'an is the book of Allah that was sent to Prophet Muhammad as the final revelation to humanity.
We have enough data to prove that the Qur'an has been preserved since the time of 'Uthman.
Further back than him, we don't have Qur'anic manuscripts that date back to the time of the Prophet which can confirm the authenticity of the 'Uthmanic Mushafs.
However, We have the Qur'anic oral tradition where we recite and rehearse the Qur'an daily the same way as we were taught by our teachers. This unbroken tradition was practiced since the time of the Prophet.
The successively transmitted uninterrupted living oral tradition has always been the primary factor in establishing the validity of one’s recitation.
We also believe that the license of the 7 ahruf came from Allah. This is supported by the hadiths about the 7 ahruf.
So we have the following:
- The hadiths concerning the license of the 7 ahruf.
- The oral tradition.
- The Qur'anic manuscripts which attest to the authenticity of the 'Uthmanic text.

This is what the statement of (word-by-word preservation of the Qur'an) is based on.
That should be sufficient for us as Muslims.
I received some inquiries about point #4

I said the following:
"It is incorrect to say that the Qur'an was preserved harakah-by-harakah and letter-by-letter".
However, I explained what I mean by saying that.
I discussed it in the light of two things:
1. The history of the invention of Harakat.
2. The issue of wether or not the 'Uthmanic Mushafs contained all the 7 ahruf.
I think the statement is not correct because it doesn't take into account the above points.
Anyways, It all depends on the intended implications of such statement.
All scholars agree that the Qur'an was preserved. However, what that entails is a matter of disagreement among scholars. As I said before, many scholars were flexible on the issue of the 'Uthmanic Mushafs not containing all the ahruf.
The problem is that people use these different statements concerning the preservation of the Qur'an and some might not know the implications of such statements.
I received the following question from @PhDniX in another thread: Image
I think it's difficult to define the concept of the preservation of the Qur'an without addressing the following points:
1. The meaning of the 7 ahruf.
2. What did the Prophet teach and what did he approve?
3. Was the entire Qur'an written down during the life time of the Prophet.
4. Did the 'Uthmanic Mushafs contain all the 7 ahruf or not?
5. Were the differences between the 'Uthmanic Mushafs scribal errors?

To discuss all of the above in detail, this would require writing a paper.
However, generally speaking...
- I go with the opinion that not every single reading had to be preserved. Thus, the 'Uthmanic Mushafs didn't contain all valid readings which used to be recited before the standardization of the text.
- I also explained before that there was some fluidity in the way the Qur'an was recited. I explained in my published paper what qualifes under the categories of was taught or what was approved.
- There are other alternative theories like the theory of Dr. Dutton, who makes a good argument. However, I respectfully don't agree with it.
Clearly his version is more flexible than mine and I think it can be tested against the data.
- Also, we disagreed on the issue of the differences between the 'Uthmanic Mushafs...
This is why I usually avoid discussing this issue in details because it's relevant to many other topics which might require further analysis. It's better addressed via publications rather than the inherently limiting short form of Twitter.
Some people are commenting that I have many threads and they're claiming all I'm doing is obfuscating.

Answer: I open threads based on the requests of many followers.
If some people are worried that reading my threads might make them see the truth, feel free not to read them.
I'm still receiving questions about how a Muslim should understand the preservation of the Qur'an.

Generally speaking, preservation of the Qur'an means the following:
1. Safeguarding the text from human corruption and changes (tahrif).

2. Every Surah that is recited in the mushaf today was approved by numerous senior companions of the Prophet, led by the third Caliphate 'Uthman.
3. The 'Uthmanic text is the basis for all Qur'anic readings.

4. The Sahabah learned the Qur'an directly from the Prophet or from other Sahabah who learned directly from him...
If we as Muslims don't trust the companions, then we are already lost since they were the transmitters of both the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

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More from @ShAmmarKhatib1

Jan 9, 2023
Good thread. I have a few comments:

1. It seems like many non-specialist Muslims believe that these Mushafs were the actual 'Uthmanic Mushafs…this can be corrected gently and I think Marijn did an excellent job of commenting on that part.
I also encourage people to follow two giant Muslim scholars of Quranic Manuscripts:
Dr. Ghanim Al-hamad & Dr. Bashir Al-Himyari and also read the books of Dr. M M Al-A’zami.
2. Regarding the illiteracy of the Prophet (PBUH), we actually have a minority of scholars in the Islamic tradition who believe that the Prophet learned reading & writing after he received revelation. Ibn Hajar has a good discussion on this topic in Fath Al-Bari: Image
Read 9 tweets
Oct 30, 2021
It seems like some people are confused after reading this thread.
I suggest reading the entire original thread for better understanding.

I will clarify a few things here.
1. The Qur'an was revealed in stages:
"˹It is˺ a Quran We have revealed in stages so that you can recite it to people at intervals; We have sent it down little by little".
Qur'an: 17:106
Read 10 tweets
Oct 27, 2021
The history of writing the Qur'an in a few lines (according to the Islamic tradition):

1. The entire Qur'an was written down during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad. However, these writings were unbound and scattered.
2. Those scattered writings were then collected into a master volume called ṣuḥuf during Abu Bakr's caliphate.

3. Making copies of the ṣuḥuf
and make people adhere to one unified text (the 'Uthmanic Mushafs).
This final stage took place during the Caliphate of Uthman.
Note:
In stage 1 & 2, there were no restrictions in reading the Qur'an. Muslims read the Qur'an according to their dialects & the way they were taught.
However, in stage 3, Muslims had to adhere to the 'Uthmanic text (the 'Uthmanic Mushafs).
Read 4 tweets
Jul 24, 2021
I have been receiving questions about this.
I personally don't agree with this conclusion. Classical scholars are of the opinion that these differences were intended. Thus, they cannot be called "scribal errors".
It is true that we see scribal errors in Qur'anic manuscripts all the time. However, we are not talking about some random Qur'anic manuscripts. The 'Uthmanic Mushafs were the official copies of the government. This project was led by the third Khalifah himself.
I'm assuming calling these differences " scribal errors" means that it was not intended in the first place, but not that it is an invalid reading.
Read 13 tweets
Feb 7, 2021
I was asked by @rashrashii to comment on this thread.
The main topic I will be commenting on is whether or not Ibn Al-Jazari was of the view that Tawatur is a must condition for Qira'at to be accepted.
The statements of Ibn Al-Jazari in his book Munjid Al-muqr'in can be contradictory.

Why? let's examine some of his statements in this book which he wrote in his early youth.
In this statement, Ibn Al-Jazari talks about the three conditions for a reading to be accepted as a Mutawatir reading. He clearly stated Tawatur as one of the 3 conditions.
Read 26 tweets
Oct 2, 2020
I was asked about this thread. I will be commenting on some of the issues mentioned here.
1. We have reports about the companions seemingly criticizing or denying a Qur’anic reading.
The Sahabah were always strict in accepting a reading if they were not familiar with it.
They were so cautious and a dispute occurred when they suspected a variation in reading that was not taught or approved by the Prophet PBUH.
Read 49 tweets

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