Has the quran been perfectly preserved?

 


Now, we hear this from Muslims, don't we?


"The Quran has been perfectly preserved right down to the letter ever since the time it was the prophet (PBUH)!"


Okay, but is this claim backed up by authentic historical accounts of Islam? Let's find out.


Let's see what two of the most authentic Islamic sources say about the perfect preservation of the Quran.


As we read in Sahih Muslim, Hadith number 2286 :


Abu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad reported on the authority of his father that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari sent for the reciters of Basra. They came to him and they were three hundred in number. They recited the Qur'an and he said:


You are the best among the inhabitants of Basra, for you are the reciters among them. So continue to recite it. (But bear in mind) that your reciting for a long time may not harden your hearts as were hardened the hearts of those before you. We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara'at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it:" If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust." And we used so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it:"Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise" (61:2) and" that is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (17:13).


Sahih Muslim 1050 

In-book : Book 12, Hadith 156 

USC-MSA web (English) : Book 5, Hadith 2286  (deprecated)

Sahih Muslim


Notice what Abu Musa al-Ash'ari says in this hadith.


He had forgotten two chapters of the Quran! One of them was as long as surah bara'at ie chapter 9 of the Quran. 


Chapter 9 of the Quran today has 129 verses. This means a Quran chapter with 129 verses had been already forgotten except for one verse of it! That's a lot of forgotten verses if you ask me.


Then he talks about a chapter that resembles a chapter of Musabbihat. What are the Musabbihat chapters?


Musabbihat chapters are chapter 57, chapter 59, chapter 61, chapter 62, and chapter 64. According to some scholars, they also include chapter 87 and chapter 17.


I can't say for sure what Abu Musa means by "resembles" but since he was basically talking about the LENGTH of the chapter the last time, let's assume this was in reference to the LENGTH of a Musabbihat chapter.


Chapter number number of verses

17                            111

57                              29

59                              24

61                              14

62                              11

64                              18

87                              19   


Alright, as you see, the length of a Musabbihat chapter can vary from 11 verses to 29 verses, or even up to 111 verses if you consider all seven of the said chapters. This means a Quran chapter with up to 111 verses lost from the quran!


This means, from this ONE hadith alone, we have evidence of up to TWO THIRTY NINE verses lost from the quran!


Sure, on the lower end, that'd be only ONE THIRTY NINE verses, but for a book with only 6,236 verses this is still a lot of lost verses!


Let's see what we find on Sunan ibn Majah, hadith number 1944.


It was narrated that 'Aishah said:


"The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed

[1], and the paper was with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah died, we were preoccupied with his death, and a tame sheep came in and ate it." 


[1]: <i>These verses were abrogated in recitation but not ruling. Other ahadith establish the number for fosterage to be 5.</i>


Hasan (Darussalam)


English : Vol. 3, Book 9, Hadith 1944 

Arabic : Book 9, Hadith 2020

Sunan Ibn Majah


So Aisha, Muhammad's wife, the "mother of the faithful," is telling about two verses that were lost from the quran.


Now, to be fair, these two verses could have been from one or both of the two chapters Abu Musa was referring to, but it's equally likely to have been from completely different two chapters as well.


This means from 139 upto TWO FORTY ONE verses lost from the quran, according to these two hadiths alone!


And by the way, these two hadiths are from some of the most authentic hadith collections ie books that are second ONLY to the quran, in authenticity.


Throw out these two hadith books, and quran is all alone, and since Quran is not compiled in chronological order, it can mean anything. More about that in upcoming articles, hopefully.


Online sources to the hadiths given above 👇


https://sunnah.com/muslim/12/156


https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah/9/100


So, there you have it. Between 139 to TWO FORTY ONE verses lost from the quran, according to just two hadith.


What else can we find out about Islam?


Stay tuned!

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