METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
Absolute authenticity of the Qur’ān
The Qur’ān has also emphatically declared that it is a ‘mighty’ Book that is ‘full of power’. It is not only uncorrupted, but also incorruptible, since no evil or falsehood can ever approach it from any direction in order to corrupt it:
“Verily, they who are bent on promptly rejecting (i.e., denying the truth of) this (Divine) message as soon as it reached them – Let them know that that this is Mighty Book.
“No evil or falsehood can ever penetrate it (to corrupt its text) either openly, or even by stealth, [since it is] bestowed from on High by One Who is truly Wise, ever to be Praised.”
(Qur’ān, Fussilāt, 41:41-42)
Hence, whenever a reader finds a conflict between the Qur’ān and what is located in previous revealed scriptures, such a reader would be well advised to compare the authenticity and integrity of the competing revealed texts that are in contradiction with each other, in order to locate the Truth. Failure to adopt such a methodology for resolving the problem of such contradiction can result in consequences fatally injurious for the quest for Truth.
The Qur’ān has repeatedly declared that it is uncorrupted and incorruptible:
“Praise is due to Allah Who has bestowed this divine Book from on High upon His servant (i.e., Prophet Muhammad (s)) and has not allowed (and will not allow) any corruption (of the text).”
(Qur’ān, al-Kahf, 18:1)
This declaration conveys a warning concerning the authenticity and integrity of the texts of revelations which preceded the revelation of the Qur’ān. And again:
“Behold, it is We Ourselves who have bestowed from on High, step by step, this (Divine) message (to remind mankind of Truth) and, behold, it is We who shall truly guard it [from all corruption of the text].”
(Qur’ān, al-Hijr, 15:9)
We remind our readers that this defiant declaration of divine protection of the text of the Qur’ān was made more than fourteen hundred years ago, and all that was needed to destroy the claim of the Qur’ān to be Truth, was for someone to introduce changes or variations (however small) to the text of the Qur’ān, either during the twenty-three years of the periodic dictations of passages of the text by Nabī Muhammad (s) as the revelations came down to him, or over the long period of time which has elapsed since the dictations were completed. Any change or variation in the text of the Qur’ān, regardless of how small it might be, would have immediately invalidated its claim of divine protection.
Those who would attempt to change the text of the Qur’ān would, however, find themselves faced with an insurmountable difficulty. The Qur’ān is the only book we know of whose text has been preserved, not only in a written form, but has also been preserved in the memory of millions who have memorized it word-for-word and letter-for-letter. Even if every single copy of the Qur’ān were to be destroyed, or even if a printing press were to print copies of the book with typographical errors (as now happens), it can easily be rewritten when recited from memory in a syntactically and grammatically correct form by such people. This can be done even by those millions of non-Arabs who have memorized the Arabic text of the Qur’ān, although many of them do not know the Arabic language.
to be continued .....
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