Read Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins Online
Authors: Robert Spencer
Other hadiths have the caliph Abu Bakr, seeing the loss of sections of the Qur'an as a looming crisis that threatened the still-nascent Muslim community, ordering one of Muhammad's secretaries to collect the various portions of the holy book to keep it from being lost. The scribe he summoned was Zayd ibn Thabit, the same one featured in the story of Muhammad and the blind man. This hadith has Zayd explain the way he recorded the prophet's revelations and helped him communicate with the local Jewish leaders: “The Messenger of God ordered me to study for him the script of the Jews
[kitab al-yahud
, which can also be translated as “Book of the Jews”], and he said to me, ‘I do not trust the Jews with regard to my correspondence’ [i.e., correspondence with the Jews, written in their script]. Not even half a month passed until I used to write for him, and they wrote to him, I would read their letter.”
24
Zayd was chosen to collect the Qur'an, this hadith explains, because he had already memorized the entire book. Of course, if Zayd really had memorized the entire Qur'an, Abu Bakr would not have needed him to track down various people who had retained particular sections of the Qur'an and collect what he found; Zayd could have simply written it down.
In any case, the hadith recounts that Zayd refused the caliph's request: Muhammad himself had never tried to collect the Qur'an together, so why should they do what the “good example” (Qur'an 33:21)
had not done? In response, Abu Bakr and Umar, who would soon succeed him as caliph, insisted that collecting the Qur'an was a matter of necessity—thus advancing a justification for this religious innovation under the guise of traditionalism. Zayd reluctantly agreed to undertake the project: “By Allah! If they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an.”
Nonetheless, a hadith depicts him going to work conscientiously: “I started locating Qur'anic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuzaima two Verses of Surat-at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else.”
25
Khuzaima was an early Muslim who accosted Zayd when he heard his version of sura 9 recited and informed him: “I see you have overlooked (two) verses and have not written them.”
26
Zayd duly added them.
If Khuzaima hadn't been present, apparently those two verses (9:128–29) would not have been included in the Qur'an. That loss would not have been significant to Islamic doctrine or devotions, but it does bear witness to how the Hadith explain and obliquely justify what must have been evident to many ninth-century believers: that their religion and even their holy book were going through extensive changes.
The process of collecting the Qur'an was random and disorganized enough for one Muslim to warn in a hadith: “Let none of you say, ‘I have acquired the whole of the Qur'an.’ How does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur'an has disappeared? Rather let him say, ‘I have acquired what has survived.’”
27
This hardly conforms with confident pronouncements that the Qur'an “has been as it is, unaltered, unedited, not tampered with in any way, since the time of its revelation.”
Even Aisha, Muhammad's favorite wife, known by the honorific Mother of the Believers, is made to testify indirectly to the haphazard quality of the Qur'an's collection. She recalled that “amongst what was sent down of the Qur'an was ‘ten known sucklings make haram’—then it was abrogated by ‘five known sucklings.’ When the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, it was what is now recited of the Qur'an.”
28
In another version, while discussing “fosterage which (makes marriage) unlawful,” Aisha said: “There was revealed in the Holy Qur'an ten clear sucklings, and then five clear (sucklings).”
29
Here Aisha referred to the Islamic doctrine that an unmarried male and female may lawfully be alone together—in, for example, a workplace environment—only if she becomes his foster mother by suckling him a specified number of times. According to Aisha's word in these hadiths, this doctrine was originally in the Qur'an itself.
Another hadith has Aisha ordering one of her servants, Yunus, to write out a copy of the Qur'an. She instructed him: “When you reach this ayat [‘sign,’ or verse of the Qur'an] let me know, ‘Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and stand obedient to Allah’” (Qur'an 2:238). When Yunus reached that point, Aisha dictated an amended version of the verse to him: “Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and the asr prayer [the ‘afternoon’ prayer] and stand obedient to Allah.” Aisha explained: “I heard it from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”
30
Signs that the Text Has Been Altered
Islamic tradition does not provide the only evidence that changes were made to the wording of the eternal book of Allah. Although manuscript evidence is scarce, on close scrutiny the text of the Qur'an offers telling indications that it has been altered. This evidence makes it extraordinarily unlikely that the text was the product of one man, whether a historical person named Muhammad or someone else; rather, it indicates that the text has undergone extensive revision, consistent with the likelihood that it was developed over time by a series of people.
The pioneering Qur'anic scholar Richard Bell (1876–1952) closely examined the Qur'anic text and identified numerous signs that the
text had been changed. Lack of continuity and inherent contradictions are two of the most common indications. One curious passage Bell highlighted comes in a polemic against the Jews and Christians (2:116–21):
116. And they say, “God has taken to Him a son.” Glory be to Him! Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; all obey His will—
117. The Creator of the heavens and the earth; And when He decrees a thing, He but says to it “Be,” and it is.
118. And they that know not say: “Why does God not speak to us?, Why does a sign not come to us?” So spoke those before them as these men say; their hearts are much alike. Yet We have made clear the signs unto a people who are sure.
119. We have sent thee with the truth, good tidings to bear, and warning. Thou shalt not be questioned touching the inhabitants of Hell.
120. Never will the Jews be satisfied with thee, neither the Christians, not till thou followest their religion. Say: “God's guidance is the true guidance.” If thou followest their caprices, after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou shalt have against God neither protector nor helper.
121. Those to whom We have given the Book and who recite it with true recitation, they believe in it; and whoso disbelieves in it, they shall be the losers.
Bell points out that all the polemical assertions in verses 116 and 117 answer the claim in verse 120, that the Jews and Christians will never be satisfied with the Muslim believers until they convert to their religions. He suggests that these verses were inserted later and were originally intended to follow verse 120.
31
It also appears that verses 118 and 119 introduce some other argument, against those who demand miracles of the Muslim prophet, whose only miracles are the verses of the Qur'an themselves. As presented in the Qur'an we know today,
these verses unaccountably interrupt the polemic against the People of the Book. The passage reads much more logically in this order:
120. Never will the Jews be satisfied with thee, neither the Christians, not till thou followest their religion. Say: “God's guidance is the true guidance.” If thou followest their caprices, after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou shalt have against God neither protector nor helper.
116. And they say, “God has taken to Him a son.” Glory be to Him! Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; all obey His will—
117. The Creator of the heavens and the earth; And when He decrees a thing, He but says to it “Be,” and it is.
121. Those to whom We have given the Book and who recite it with true recitation, they believe in it; and whoso disbelieves in it, they shall be the losers.
Bell also sees considerable manipulation of the text in this passage from sura 4:
23. Forbidden to you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your father's sisters, and your mother's sisters, and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and your mothers-in-law, and your step-daughters who are under your protection, born of your women unto whom you have gone in—but if you have not gone in unto them, then it is no sin for you—and the wives of your sons who spring from your own loins. And (it is forbidden to you) that you should have two sisters together, except what has already happened in the past. Lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
24. And all married women (are forbidden to you) save those captives whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful to you are all beyond those mentioned,
so that you seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those of whom you seek content by marrying them, give them their portions as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what you do by mutual agreement after the duty has been done. Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise.
25. And whoever is not able to afford to marry free, believing women, let them marry from the believing maids whom your right hands possess. Allah knows best your faith. You proceed one from another; so wed them by permission of their folk, and give them their portions in kindness, they being honest, not debauched nor of loose conduct. And if when they are honorably married they commit lewdness, they shall incur the half of the punishment prescribed for free women. This is for him among you who fears to commit sin. But to have patience would be better for you. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
26. Allah would explain to you and guide you by the examples of those who were before you, and would turn to you in mercy. Allah is Knower, Wise.
32
Bell posits that “the marriage laws in Sura IV are a clear case of alternative continuations”—that is, an instance in which an editor simply tacked on his addition to an already complete passage, doing nothing to address the resulting contradictions. The first verse above, says Bell, “lays down the forbidden degrees of relationship, and reproduces the Mosaic list with some adaptation to Arab custom.” This was deliberate, Bell argues, as indicated by verse 26: “Allah would explain to you and guide you by the examples of those who were before you.” But, Bell continues, “at a later time…some relaxation appeared necessary.” Thus verse 25 was added, “allowing marriage with slaves,” and finally verse 24, which “gives ample liberty.”
Bell points out that the similar endings of verse 24 (“Allah is ever Knower, Wise”), the first part of verse 25 (“Allah knows best your
faith”), and the latter part of verse 25 (“Allah is Knower, Wise”) provide evidence that “substitutions have been made.”
33
Repeating whole phrases as taglines may have been an attempt to make sense out of what would otherwise be the most awkward of rhyme schemes—an attempt to make poetry out of prosaic, didactic material.
34
Of course, many passages in the Qur'an can be adduced in which such recurring taglines are the only unifying aspect. The Qur'an, as we have seen, is remarkably devoid of context.
35
Islamic spokesmen in the West frequently argue that those who point out the book's violent and hateful passages are taking them out of context, but there is hardly any context to begin with. Nonetheless, when one encounters discussions of a subject that is interrupted and then resumed, it is not unreasonable to suspect that the textual integrity of the passage has been compromised. Such interruptions appear fairly often in the Qur'an. Another example is Qur'an 2:221–242. For seventeen straight verses this passage discusses women, marriage, and divorce, but suddenly verses 238 and 239 interrupt the discussion to exhort the Muslims to maintain regular prayers and instruct them on how to maintain prayers while in fear of an enemy. Then, just as suddenly, the passage returns to the subject of divorce. Those two intervening verses, 238 and 239, have nothing to do with what came either before or after.
In short, both close analysis of Quran'ic passages and Islamic tradition itself raise serious doubts about the textual integrity of the Qur'an. But when it comes to critical evaluation of the Qur'an, there are much larger questions.
A Book in Pure and Clear Arabic (with Some Non-Arabic Thrown In)
T
he twentieth-century translator of the Qur'an Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, an English convert to Islam, once declared that the Qur'an in Arabic was an “inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy.”
1
Pickthall would not have dared to claim the same about any translation of the Muslim holy book, including his own English translation. For Muslims, the Arabic of the Qur'an is essential, such that in any other language, the book may contain the meaning of the Qur'an but is no longer truly the Qur'an.