[15:9] Indeed, we have sent down the reminder, and indeed, we are surely protectors of it.
[41:41] Indeed, those who have disbelieved in the reminder when it has come to them, and indeed, it is surely a powerful scripture.
[41:42] The falsehood cannot come to it before of it, nor after of it, a revelation from Wise, Praiseworthy .
Many of us are just aware of such divine preservation of the Quran and believe that it is a guarantee from the Almighty God that the invisible force will protect it from entering any extraneous materials into it or the invisible force will come down to protect it when any extraneous materials are attempted to inject into it that we should not worry about it. They could not even think of any human errors because of its oral and written transmission side by side while the printing mistakes are not given any attention. This review may help us to find the correct answer of the question: “What does this perfect preservation of the Qur’an exactly mean?” if God wills. While we know that the Quran undergoes a series of changes down to its oral and written transmission since its revelation and collection:
Revelation
The Quran preserved in a Master Tablet (lawheen mahfuzin) at God, was placed into prophet Muhammad’s soul in the special night known as the Night of Power (laylat al-qadr) in 13 B.H (609 A.D.) when he, the soul not the body was taken to the highest horizon. Then, the angel Gabriel helped the prophet release a few verses of the Quran at a time, from his soul to his memory over the time period of 23 years to place the whole Quran into his memory as well as read it piece by piece to the people around him:
Original Quran preserved at God
[85:21] Indeed, it is a glorious Quran.
[85:22] Preserved in a Master Tablet.
A copy of the whole Quran placed into prophet’s soul
[53:8] He drew nearer by moving down.
[53:9] Until He became as close as possible.
[53:10] He then revealed to His servant what was to be revealed.
[44:3] Indeed, we have sent it (the scripture) down in a blessed night, for we are to warn
[44:4] In it (the blessed night), every matter of wisdom is clarified.
[97:1] Indeed, we have sent down it (the Quran) in a Night of the Power.
[97:2] Do you know what a Night of the Power?
Gabriel mediated to bring a few verses of Quran at a time into prophet’s memory
[2:97] Say, “Anyone who opposes Gabriel should know that he has brought down this (Quran) into your heart, in accordance with God’s will, confirming previous scriptures, and providing guidance and good news for the believers.”
[17:106] We have released the Quran in pieces, in order for you to read it to the people over a period of time, and it was sent down gradually.
Prophet recited a few verses of the revealed Quran to the contemporary people at a time
[18:27] You (Muhammad) shall recite what has been revealed to you of your Lord’s scripture. None can change His words, and you will not find any refuge other than Him.
[29:45] You (Muhammad) shall recite what has been revealed to you of the scripture, and observe the Contact Prayer. Indeed, the Contact Prayer prevents from the evil and the vice but the remembrance of God is certainly the greatest while God knows everything you do.
Collection of the Revealed Quran
The Prophet wrote down and memorized the verses just released into his mind and also have them memorize by some of his associates (sahaba in Arabic, singular form is sahaby) who believed with him. When the Prophet died, he left the complete Quran written down with his own hand in the chronological order of revelation, along with specific instructions as to where to place every verse. The divine instructions recorded by the Prophet were designed to put the Quran together into its final format as we see it today. Hence, Prophet Muhammad was the first to write down the Quran revealed to him, and when he died, the whole Quran was completely written, although not in one book, but rather on pieces of woods, papers, palm leaves, bones…etc. It was the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr who collected the pieces of Quran and bundled them together into one. The manuscript on which the Qur’an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr and then with Umar (the second Khalifa), and after him, it remained with Hafsa, ‘Umar’s daughter and one of the Prophet’s wives.
Prophet wrote Quran and recorded other divine instructions by his own hand
[25:5] And they said, “Tales from the past that he (Muhammad) wrote down while these were dictated to him morning and evening.”
[25:6] Say, “This (Quran) was sent down by the One who knows the secret in the heavens and the earth. He is Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Uthman’s Edition
The Uthman’s edition is the oldest available Quran in Kufic script written during the reign of Khalifa `Uthman, which is also called Tashkent and Turkish edition as the copies made by Uthman, two still exist to our day, one is in the city of Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and the other one is in Istanbul (Turkey). Nineteen years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, a number of scribes were appointed to make several copies of the Quran to be dispatched to the new Muslim lands. The copies were to be made from the collected Quran remained with Hafsa, written by Muhammad’s own hand. During rewriting of the Quran, every single verse in the Qur’an was verified by a multiplicity of witnesses except the last two verses of Sura 9. Towards completion of rewriting, one of the scribes suggested adding those two verses to the end of Sura 9 (Revelation Order 113) to honor the prophet and the majority of scribes agreed despite Ali’s protest. Ali protest is documented in many references but the classic reference Al Itqaan Fee ‘Ulum Al Quran by Jalaluddin Al-Suyuty, Al-Azhareyyah Press, Cairo, Egypt, 1318 AH, page 59 is mention-worthy. Thus, the Word of God was distorted just after 19 years of the death of Prophet Muhammad and the whole world was deprived of the pure Quran. However, Uthman returned Hafsa’s copy of the Quran to her, which was later burned by Marwan b. Hakam (d.65/684), the first peacetime ruler after the end of 50-year war between two parties of Muslims known as the Battle of Karbala.
The consequences of this horrendous crime were: (a) `Uthman was assassinated and `Ali was installed as the fourth Khalifa, (b) a 50-year war erupted between the new Khalifa and his supporters on one side, and the Mohammedans, distorters of the Quran on the other side, and (c) `Ali was martyred, and eventually his family, the prophet Muhammad’s family, except for some women and children, were killed. But the distorters of the Quran finally won the war, and the “official” history that came to us represented the victors’ point of view. This apparent victory for God’s enemies was, of course, in accordance with God’s will. In just two decades after the Prophet’s death, the idol worshipers who were defeated by the Prophet in the conquest of Mecca (632 AD) reverted to idolatry but this time their idol was the Prophet himself. Such idol worshipers obviously did not deserve to possess the pure Quran. Hence, the blessed martyrdom of the true believers who tried to restore the Quran, and the apparent victory for the distorters of God’s word.
The first peace time ruler after this lengthy and disastrous war was Marwan Ibn Al Hakam (died 65 AH/684 AD). One of the first duties he performed was to destroy the original Quran, the one that was so scrupulously written by the Prophet’s own hand, “fearing it might become the cause of new disputes” can be found in `Ulum Al-Quran, by Ahmad von Denffer, Islamic Foundation, Leicester, United Kingdom, 1983, Page 56.
Egyptian (Standard) Edition
The Muslim scholars gathered in Cairo, Egypt, in 1918 and decided to write a standardized edition of the Quran that avoids all the obvious scribes’ errors in different editions of the Quran floating in the world and to standardize the numbering of the suras and verses of the Quran. They depended mainly on the oral transmission of the Quran to correct all the contradictions seen in the different Rasm (Orthography) and numbering of different Qurans. Their decisions were to write the Quran with the choice of deleting some letters, adding some, or replacing some with a short stroke mark, like a dagger alif (alef) or a tashkeel including adding and replacing even whole words. In 1924, they produced the edition of the Quran that later became the standard edition around the world.
By comparing the Egyptian edition to the oldest available Quran, the Tashkent Quran that there have been found many human errors in the Tashkent Quran that has to be corrected when the Egyptian edition was made. The errors were obvious because the Quran has always been completely memorized and kept in its oral transmission to these days and can be verified against any written book. The human errors in Uthman’s copy of the Quran shows that the scribes were no more than human beings who made mistakes and their writings are not holy writings.
Since several letters of the Arabic alphabet share the same shapes, and since vowels are not clearly indicated, some reform was needed to avoid confusion, and a system of Naqt or I’jam (letter-pointing), and Tashkeel (vowel indication) as developed used in the scripting and the symbols added to letters of the alphabet to indicate different pronunciation than the letters are usually given as shown below:
Fig 1: Diacritical marks (Tashkeel)
The following images show the same two verses of Sura 7 shown earlier Kufic writing in modern Arabic writing. The red line is added to mark that part of verse 86 that appears in the image while the red square is added to mark the beginning of the verse 87:
Fig 2: Simple Kufic writing
Fig 3: Modern Arabic writing
The pure Quran
God designed and perfected the Quran in the Arabic language and sent it to the world with an incontrovertible proof of divinity, which was hidden from us about 1400 years. In fact, 19 is the prophetic sign to support His messenger who has been chosen to fulfill His prophecy as God did in the case of previous prophets and messengers while Moses was given nine miracles. Therefore, the message that has been sent with this messenger is to unveil the “Mathematical literary composition of Quran” supported by a great miracle, the number 19 for his acceptance to the people. However, 19 is also the code of Quran, which serves as the common denominator of any numbers derived through the numerical analysis of Quran. However, the acceptance of the messenger because of the fulfillment of prophecy would be a subject of the people who will be witnessing it. In fact, this message is a reminder as well as warning for the people of the whole world irrespective of their religious faiths/groups to bring them back to the religion given by God, which is Submission (Islam).
Fulfillment of the prophecy related to producing of a creature from earth
[27:82] And when the punishment has come upon them, we have brought for them a creature from the earth to speak to them that the people have been with our revelations do not ascertain.
Fulfillment of the prophecy related to sending of a messenger
[3:81] And God had taken a covenant from the prophets that whatever I have given you of scripture and wisdom, then a messenger has come to you confirming that which is with yourselves. That you shall believe in him and that you shall support him. He said: “Have you affirmed and taken My covenant on that?” They said: “We have affirmed.” He said: “Then you shall bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.”
[33:7] And we had taken from the prophets their covenant, and from you (O Muhammad), and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, son of Mary. And we had taken from them a solemn covenant
Allegory related to the instruction of removing extraneous from our garment
[74:1] O you the hidden one,
[74:2] stand and warn.
[74:3] And glorify your Lord.
[74:4] And purify your garment (Quran)
[74:5] And get rid of the uncleanliness (extraneous).
[74:6] And do not be greedy.
Built-in Quran’s Mathematical System
[74:30] Over it is nineteen
[74:31] And we have not made guardians of the Fire except angels, and we have not made their number except a warning for those who disbelieved, that it may ascertain those who have been given the scripture (Jews and Christians) and may increase faith of those who have believed (Muslims), and may not doubt those who have been given the scripture (Jews and Christians) and the believers (Muslims). And that may say those in their hearts there is a disease (hypocrites) and the disbelievers, “What did God mean by this allegory?” Thus that God lets go astray whomever He wills and He guides whomever He wills. And none knows your Lord’s soldiers except He. And it (hiya) is not except a reminder (dhik’raa) for the human race.
[74:32-34] Nay, (I swear) by the moon, the night as it passes and the morning as it shines.
[74:35] Indeed, it is undoubtly one of the greatest (reminders).
[74:36-37] A warning for the human race. For whoever among you wishes to advance, or to stay behind.
The prophecy in the Quran to send a messenger after delivering all the scriptures has been fulfilled followed by the fulfillment of the prophecy to produce an earthly creature, i.e., the computer that has intelligence to compute most accurate calculations faster than human being. Here what we see in the prophecy that such tool is required to unveil the Quran’s built-in numerical system by God’s leave for the authenticity of the Quran to bring people back to His revelations presenting physical proofs. It is noted that it takes more than a century to build this tool to prepare the way for His messenger so that he can serve as a preacher of the scientifically and technologically advanced community as we know that there is no coincidence as per God is concern but everything takes place according to His master plan. If we understand the relationship of the fulfillment of these two prophecies reflecting on the warning given in one of the prophecies, we may find God’s wisdom to guide us to the straight path when the majority of us are away from His revelations and His religion becomes man-made ones.
Having modern Arabic Quran correcting many human errors in the oldest available Quran is a God’s will to have a pure Quran. The errors were obvious because the Quran has always been completely memorized (54:17) and kept in its oral transmission, even to these days that facilitated to make those corrections can be verified against any written book. However, certain human errors were also needed to be corrected in the Egyptian edition including other modern Arabic Quran using the Quran’s built mathematical system subject to the fulfillment of the two prophecies in the Quran (27:82, 3:81). The corrections that have been made are: (1) correcting spelling of a few words because of orthography including replacing of “Saad” with “Seen” in 7:69 and spelling out of initial Nun with two Nuns prefixed to Sura 68, and (2) removing of 2 injected verses at the end of Sura 9.
29 suras prefixed with 14 sets of the Quranic initials are a major physical proof of the Quran’s mathematical composition used to correct the presence of such human errors in the new Quran (Egyptian, King Fahd and Syrian editions) as the initials occur at certain frequencies in the relevant suras of the Quran.
The injection of the two false verses to the end of Sura 9, i.e., 9:128-129 was in accordance with God’s will as the allegorical instruction of removal of them through his chosen one is confirmed in the Quran. There are many logical reasons and historical facts as evidences of the injection of these 2 false verses in Sura 9 while (1) the conspicuous absence of the opening Bismallah from sura 9, (2) every single verse in the Qur’an was verified by a multiplicity of witnesses during rewriting of Quran except the last two verses of Sura 9, (3) how Meccan verses are found in the Medinan sura, and (4) it has always been a question for many until recently that if the copies available to Marwan B. Hakam were the same like Muhammad’s own copy that Hafsa’s had, it would be no problem. These copies differed and caused M.B. Hakam a lot of political unrest, therefore he ended this turmoil by burning the only copy left for the Muslims by the prophet Muhammad for covering up the addition of two false verses in sura 9 as was discovered later are noteworthy. But here are the counts of total number of verses in the Quran including the most important words in it confirm such insertion per Quran’s built-in mathematical system to eliminate any trace of doubt from our hearts:
- The count of the total number of verses in the Qur’an, is 6348 when the last two verses of Sura 9 are included, and 6346 (19x334) when these two verses are excluded.
- The count of the most important word in Qur’an, the word ALLAH, is 2699 when the last two verses of Sura 9 are included, and 2698 (19x142) when these two verses are excluded.
- The count of the word ELAH (god) is 96 when these two verses are included, and 95 (19x5) when these two verses are excluded.
- The count of the word RABB (Lord) is 970 with the two statements, and 969 (19x51) without them.
- The count of the word RAHEEM (merciful) is 115 when the two statements are included and 114 (19x6) when they are excluded.
- The count of the word RASOOL (messenger) is 115 with the two verses and 114 (19x6) without them.
- The word ANFUS (Selves) occurs 153 times when the two statements are included, and 152 (19x8) when they are excluded.
- The word TAWALLOW occurs 20 times when these two verses are included; 19 times when they are excluded.
- The frequency of the word TAWAKKALT (I Trust) is 58 when the two statements are counted, and 57 (19x3) when they are not counted.
- The word ‘ARSH (Throne or Dominion) occurs 20 times when the two false verses of Sura 9: are counted, and 19 times without them.
There are 10 crucial violations of Qur’an’s mathematical code, and all 10 violations are located in the last two verses of Sura 9. Is it coincidence? Of course not to them who have intelligence. Thus, the world has a verifiable Quran to have an exact version of the revealed Quran, and now we know exactly what it looks like, exactly how many letters it contains, exactly what extraneous materials have been injected and what distortions have taken place, either inadvertently or purposely.
Conclusion
The revealed Quran is divinely protected means the correct Qur’an, the complete Qur’an, continues to exist even without being lost a single letter. The Quran’s literary excellence reinforced with its mathematical composition is beyond imitation by any of His creatures, even all humans and jinns band together (17:88). Therefore, the Quran’s mathematical system is to guard every letter and every aspect of the Quran to assure the believers that there is no human intervention, and no falsehood in the Quran, and is a protected book by its Designer as promised. It is noteworthy that the world now has the pure verifiable Quran but all the human errors in the early writings of the Quran did not change the message of the Quran and were easily detectable. After all, the Quran is a message to the world to worship God alone, and not just another pretty book of literature.
The addition of these false verses is in accordance with God’s master plan. Even the people who had the Quran with the additional two verses did not lose any information. The original Quran is still preserved. The mathematical composition of the Quran which was destined to be unveiled 1400 years after the Quran’s revelation proved the impossibility of such tampering, and exposed the hypocrites. However, such injection is not acceptable to the majority Muslims except a sacrilege to the Quran due to their rejection of the message sent with the messenger supported by a great miracle, the number 19.
We know that the Quran undergoes a series of changes that occurs through oral and written transmission without missing any single message from it. Is it not a perfect preservation of Quran? However, God has given us tools in the Quran to detect any distortion or slightest change if it occurs in its way as well as to eliminate any disputes or misinterpretation through unveiling of the physical facts to confirm that every element of the Quran is from God including the arrangement of suras in the composition (Mus’haf), sura names and revelation order of suras despite their revelation with intermission. Finally, what God let us know that He keeps the Quran, which is Holy and intact, and from it He will guarantee for us the accuracy of future copies of the revealed Quran.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (12/9/2016).