The Myth of Qur’anic Preservation

One of Islam’s most repeated claims is that the Qur’an has been perfectly preserved — word-for-word, letter-for-letter — exactly as revealed to Muhammad in the 7th century.

“Not a word has been changed,” Muslims proudly assert.
“The same Qur’an is recited today all over the world.”

This is a central pillar of Islamic apologetics.
But it’s also a myth — one that crumbles under the weight of history, manuscript evidence, and even Islamic tradition itself.

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📖 The Claim

The Qur’an declares:

“Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur’an and indeed, We will be its guardian.”
— Qur’an 15:9 (w)

Muslims interpret this as divine preservation — that God Himself protected the Qur’an from any alteration.

But that’s not what history — or the early Islamic sources — tell us.

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📜 The Evidence: Not a Single Qur’an

1. The Sana’a Manuscripts

Discovered in Yemen in 1972, the Sana’a manuscripts date to the 7th–8th century and contain:

• Textual variations

• Erased and overwritten verses

• Differences from the modern standard (Hafs) Qur’an

They prove that Qur’anic text was edited, not divinely frozen in time.

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2. The Hafs vs Warsh Versions

Two of the most widely used recitations today are:

• Hafs: Used in most of the Muslim world

• Warsh: Used in parts of North and West Africa

These are not just pronunciation differences — they involve:

• Different words

• Different spelling

• Sometimes even different meanings

Example:

Hafs (Qur’an 2:184) — “a ransom [as substitute] of feeding a poor person”
Warsh — “a ransom [as substitute] of feeding poor people”

Singular vs plural. One meal or many? The rulings change.

If the Qur’an is “one,” why does it exist in multiple versions?

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3. Missing Verses and Forgotten Chapters

Even early Islamic sources admit changes:

Aisha (Muhammad’s wife) said:
“The verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, and they were in the paper under my bed. When the Prophet died… a goat came in and ate the paper.”
— Sunan Ibn Majah 1944 (w)

Also:

Umar (2nd Caliph) said:
“If people did not say ‘Umar has added to the Book of Allah,’ I would write the verse of stoning with my own hand.”
— Sahih Bukhari 6830 (w)

These are not modern critiques. They come straight from Islamic sources, acknowledging verses were lost, forgotten, or removed.

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4. Uthman’s Qur’an Burning Project

Third Caliph Uthman ibn Affan famously:

• Collected various Qur’anic fragments

• Ordered all other versions to be burned

• Standardized one version — by force

If there was only one Qur’an, why did Uthman need to destroy others?
And what did those destroyed versions contain?

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🧼 Apologetics Debunked

“The differences are only in dialect.”
→ No. Some differences change theology, rulings, and meaning.

“The Qur’an has been preserved in memory.”
→ Then why the panic to standardize a written version — and why burn others?

“These variations are part of divine wisdom.”
→ Divine wisdom that required revision, censorship, and goats eating verses?

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🎯 Final Word

A book that requires burning, editing, and erasure is not “perfectly preserved.”

The myth of Qur’anic preservation:

• Ignores manuscript evidence

• Contradicts Islamic history

• Collapses under its own apologetics

If the Qur’an was truly preserved, it would not exist in variant readings, with missing verses, and contradictory accounts of how it was compiled.

A book that changed cannot be from a God who claims it never would.