How Quran was preserved?

There are hundreds of religions flourishing around the world: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Bahaism, Babism, Zoroastrianism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Jainism, Confucianism etc. And each of these religions claim that their scripture is preserved from the day it was revealed (written) until our time. A religious belief is as authentic as the authenticity of the scripture it follows. And for any scripture to be labeled as authentically preserved it should follow some concrete and rational criteria.

Imagine this scenario:

A professor gives a three hour lecture to his students. Imagine still that none of the students memorized this speech of the professor or wrote it down. Now forty years after that speech, if these same students decided to replicate professor's complete speech word for word, would they be able to do it? Obviously not. Because the only two modes of preservation historically is through writing and memory.

Therefore, for any claimants to proclaim that their scripture is preserved in purity, they have to provide concrete evidence that the Scripture was written in its entirety or memorized in its entirety from the time it was revealed to our time, in a continuous and unbroken chain. Otherwise, there is a genuine possibility that the written scripture may loose its purity through unintentional and intentional interpolations due to scribal errors, corruption by the enemies, pages getting decomposed etc, and these errors would be concurrently incorporated into subsequent texts, ultimately loosing its purity through ages.

Now, of all the religions mentioned above, None of them fit the required criteria, except one: This unique scripture is the Qur'an - revelation bestowed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) 1,400+ years ago, as a guidance for all of humankind.

Lets analyze the claim of the preservation of the Quran...

Memorization

In the ancient times, when writing was scarcely used, memory and oral transmission was exercised and strengthened to a degree now almost unknown. However, the Qur'an was preserved by memory and still is. Writing was only a secondary way of preserving it. Numerous companions (i.e. at least dozens-upon-dozens) memorized the entire Qur'an, and hundreds memorized parts of it. The Arabs at the time were an oral society.

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh): The First Memorizer

It was in this 'oral' society that Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) was born in Mecca in the year 570 C.E. At the age of 40, he started receiving divine Revelations from the One God, Allah, through Archangel Gabriel. This process of divine revelations continued for about 22.5 years just before he passed away.

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) miraculously memorized each revelation and used to proclaim it to his Companions. Angel Gabriel used to refresh the Quranic memory of the Prophet each year.

"The Prophet (Pbuh) was the most generous person, and he used to become more so (generous) particularly in the month of Ramadan because Gabriel used to meet him every night of the month of Ramadan till it elapsed. Allah's Messenger (Pbuh) use to recite the Qur'an for him. When Gabriel met him, he use to become more generous than the fast wind in doing good." (Transmitted by Ibn Abbas, collected in Sahih Al-Bukhari)

"Gabriel used to repeat the recitation of the Qur'an with the Prophet (Pbuh) once a year, but he repeated it twice with him in the year he (Prophet) died." (Transmitted by Abu Hurayrah, collected in Sahih Al-Bukhari, 6.520)

The Prophet himself use to stay up a greater part of the night in prayers and use to recite Quran from memory.

Prophet's Companions: The First Generation Memorizers

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) encouraged his companions to learn and teach the Quran:

"The most superior among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it" (Jalal al-Din Suyuti, 'Al-Itqan fi-ulum al-Quran, Vol. I p.124)

Some of the companions who memorized the Quran were: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Ibn Masud, Abu Huraira, Abdullah bin Abbas, Abdullah bin Amr bin al-As, Aisha, Hafsa, and Umm Salama.

Abu Bakr, the first male Muslim to convert to Islam used to recite the Quran publicly in front of his house in Makka.

The Prophet also listened to the recitation of the Qur'an by the Companions: 'Allah Apostle said to me (Abdullah bin Mas'ud): "Recite (of the Quran) to me". I said: "Shall I recite it to you although it had been revealed to you?!" He Said: "I like to hear (the Quran) from others". So I recited Sura-an-Nisa' till I reached: "How (will it be) then when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these people?"' (4:41) 'Then he said: "Stop!" Behold, his eyes were shedding tears then'.

Many Quranic memorizers (Qurra) were present during the lifetime of the Prophet and afterwards through out the Muslim world.

'At the battle of Yamama, many memorizers of the Quran were martyred. 'Narrated Zaid bin Thabit al Ansari, who was one of those who use to write the Divine Revelations: Abu Bakr sent me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra were killed). Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said: "Umar has come to me and said, the people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be some casualties among the Qurra (those who memorized the entire Quran) at other place..."' (Al-Bukhari, 6.201)

Over the centuries of the Islamic Era, there have arisen throughout the various regions of the Islamic world literally thousands of schools devoted specially to the teaching of the Quran to children for the purpose of memorization. These are called, in Arabic, katatib (singular: Kuttab). It is said that the Caliph 'Umar (634-44) first ordered the construction of these schools in the age of the great expansion.

Second Generation Memorizers:

"...Quranic schools were set up everywhere. As an example to illustrate this I may refer to a great Muslim scholar, of the second Muslim generation, Ibn 'Amir, who was the judge of Damascus under the Caliph Umar Ibn 'Abd Al-Aziz. It is reported that in his school for teaching the Quran there were 400 disciples to teach in his absence." ((Ibn al Jazari, Kitab al-Nash fi al-Qir'at al-Ashr, (Cairo al-Halabi, n.d._ vol. 2, p. 254, also Ahmad Makki al-Ansari, al-Difa' An al-Qur'an. (Cairo, Dar al-Ma'arif, 1973 C.E.), part I, p.120)

Memorizers in Subsequent Generations:

The Number of Katatib and similar schools in Cairo (Egypt) alone at one time exceeded two thousand. (Labib as-Said, the Recited Koran, Translated by Bernard Weiss, M.A.Rauf, and Morroe Berger, The Darwon Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1975, pg.59)

Currently both in the Muslim and non-Muslim countries thousands of schools with each instructing tens of hundreds of students the art of memorizing the entire Quran. In the city of Chicago itself, there are close to 40+ Mosques, with many of them holding class for children instructing them the art of Quranic memorization.

Further Points of Consideration:

* Muslims recite Quran from their memory in all of their five daily prayers.
* Once a year, during the month of Fasting (Ramadan), Muslims listen to the complete recitation of the Quran by a Hafiz (Memorizer of the entire Quran).
* We could get together a handful of Hafeezs of Qur'an today and they could produce the whole Qur'an from collective memory without flaw.
* It's a tradition among Muslims that before any speech or presentation, marriages, sermons, Quran is recited.

Conclusion:

Quran is the only book, religious or secular, on the face of this planet that has been completely memorized by millions. These memorizers range from ages 6 and up, both Arabic and non-Arabic speakers, blacks, whites, Orientals, poor and wealthy.

Thus the process of memorization was continuous, from Prophet Muhammad's (Pbuh) time to ours with an unbroken chain.

"The method of transmitting the Quran from one generation to the next by having the young memorize the oral recitation of their elders had mitigated somewhat from the beginning the worst perils of relying solely on written records..." (John Burton, An Introduction to the Hadith, p.27. Edinburgh University Press: 1994)

"This phenomenon of Quranic recital means that the text has traversed the centuries in an unbroken living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be handled as an antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant past. The fact of hifz (Quranic Memorization) has made the Qur'an a present possession through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it a human currency in every generation never allowing its relegation to a bare authority for reference alone" (Kenneth Cragg, The Mind of the Qur'an, p.26. George Allah & Unwin: 1973)

Written Text of the Quran

Prophet's Time:

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) was very vigilant in preserving the Quran in the written form from the very beginning up until the last revelation. The Prophet himself was unlettered, did not knew how to read and write, therefore he called upon his numerous scribes to write the revelation for him. Complete Quran thus existed in written form in the lifetime of the Prophet.

Whenever a new revelation use to come to him, the Prophet would immediately call one of his scribes to write it down.

'Some people visited Zaid Ibn Thabit (one of the scribes of the Prophet) and asked him to tell them some stories about Allah's Messenger. He replied: "I was his (Prophet's) neighbor, and when the inspiration descended on him he sent for me and I went to him and wrote it down for him..." (Tirmidhi, Mishkat al-Masabih, No. 5823)

Narrated by al-Bara': There was revealed 'Not equal are those believers who sit (home) and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah' (4:95). The Prophet said: 'Call Zaid for me and let him bring the board, the ink pot and scapula bone.' Then he (Prophet) said: 'Write: Not equal are those believers...' (Bukhari, 6.512)

Zaid is reported to have said: 'We use to compile the Qur'an from small scraps in the presence of the Apostle' (Suyuti, Itqan, I, p.99)

'The Prophet, while in Madinah, had about 48 scribes who use to write for him' (M.M.Azami, Kuttab al-Nabi,Beirut, 1974)

Abdullah Ibn 'Umar relates:... 'The Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) said: "Do not take the Qur'an on a journey with you, for I am afraid lest it should fall into the hands of the enemy"' (Muslim, III, NO. 4606, also 4607, 4608; Bukhari, 4.233)

During the Prophet's last pilgrimage, he gave a sermon in which he said: 'I have left with you something which if you will hold fast it you will never fall into error - a plain indication, the Book of God (Quran) and the practice of his Prophet...' (Ibn Hisham, Sira al-nabi, p.651)

'Besides the official manuscripts of the Quran kept with the Prophet, many of his companions use to possess their own written copies of the revelation'. (Suyuti, Itqan, I, p.62)

'A list of Companions of whom it is related that they had their own written collections included the following: Ibn Mas'ud, Ubay bin Ka'b, Ali, Ibn Abbas, Abu Musa, Hafsa, Anas bin Malik, Umar, Zaid bin Thabit, Ibn Al-Zubair, Abdullah ibn Amr, Aisha, Salim, Umm Salama, Ubaid bin Umar'. (Ibn Abi Dawud: Masahif, p.14)

'The best known among these (Prophet's Scribes) are: Ibn Masud, Ubay bin Kab and Zaid bin Thabit' (Bayard Dodge: The fihrist of al-Nadim: A Tenth Century Survey of Muslim Culture, New York, 1970, pp.53-63)

'Aisha and Hafsa, the wives of the Prophet had their own scripts written after the Prophet had died' (Muwatta Imam Malik, Lahore, 1980, no.307, 308, translation by M. Rahimuddin)

Conclusion:

The complete Quran was written down in front of the Prophet by several of his scribes and the companions possess their own copies of the Quran in the Prophet's lifetime. However the written material of the Quran in the Prophet's possession were not bounded between the two covers in the form of a book, because the period of revelation of the Qur'an continued up until just a few days before the Prophet's death. The task of collecting the Qur'an as a book was therefore undertaken by Abu Bakr, the first successor to the Prophet.

Written Quran in First Generation:

At the battle of Yamama (633 CE), six months after the death of the Prophet, a number of Muslims, who had memorized the Quran were killed. Hence it was feared that unless a written official copy of the Quran were prepared, a large part of revelation might be lost.

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit al-Ansari, one of the scribes of the Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra (memorizers of the Quran, were killed). Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said: "Umar has come to me and said, the people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle) of Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be some casualties among the Qurra at other places, whereby a large part of the Quran may be lost, unless you collect it (in one manuscript, or book)...so Abu Bakr said to me (Zaid bin Thabit): You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness) and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript)'...So I started locating the Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who know it by heart)..." (Bukhari 6.201)

Now, a committee was formed to under take the task of collecting the written Quranic material in the form of a book. The committee was headed by Zaid bin Thabit, the original scribe of the Prophet, who was also a memorizer of the complete Quran.

'...Zaid bin Thabit had committed the entire Quran to memory...' (Labib as-Said, The Recited Koran, translated by Bernard Weiss, et al. 1975, p.21.)

The compilers in this committee, in examining written material submitted to them, insisted on very stringent criteria as a safeguard against any errors.

1. The material must have been originally written down in the presence of the Prophet; nothing written down later on the basis of memory alone was to be accepted. (Ibn Hajar, Fath, Vol. IX, p.10)

2. The material must be confirmed by two witnesses, that is to say, by two trustworthy persons testifying that they themselves had heard the Prophet recite the passage in question. (ibid., p.11)

They could have done it from memory, but just to be safe, they collected all of the parts of the written Qur'an just to be doubly sure.

'The manuscript on which the Qur'an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with Umar (the second successor), till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, 'Umar's daughter (and wife of the Prophet)' (Bukhari, 6.201)

This copy of the Quran, prepared by the committee of competent companions of the Prophet (which included Memorizers of the Quran) was unanimous approved by the whole Muslim world. If they committee would have made an error even of a single alphabet in transcribing the Quran, the Qurra (memorizers of the Quran) which totaled in the tens of hundreds would have caught it right away and correct it. This is exactly where the neat check and balance system of preservation of the Quran comes into play, but which is lacking for any other scripture besides the Quran.

Official written copy by Uthman

The Quran was originally revealed in Quraishi dialect of Arabic. But to facilitate the people who speak other dialects, in their understanding and comprehension, Allah revealed the Quran finally in seven dialects of Arabic. After Prophet Muhammad's demise, Islam spread beyond Arabia. During the caliphate of Othman, some 15 years after the Prophet's death, the Caliph learnt that, due to regional and geographical factors, non-arabs in the other territories were reading and reciting the Quran, which is in Arabic, with different accent and pronunciation. Taking present day differences in pronunciation as an example, we see Australians pronouce certain English words differently from the English people ("day", for instance, is pronounced as "dai".) Caliph Othman therefore acted swiftly to prevent the differences in pronunciation and accent from getting wider. After consultation with leading authorities, he formed a committee comprising the former scribes of the Quran to produce a standard copy in the Quraishi dialect, the dialect in which the Quran was revealed to the Prophet and was memorized by his companions, to use it by other races or dialect groups so that when they read the Quran, the accent and intonation would be the same as that made by the man who received it - Prophet Muhammad. This was done by inserting "accent" marks so that a muslim of any race, from any country and of any educational level would be able to read the Quran with the correct accent even though he may not understand the Arabic language. This standard copy of the Quran was then used as a prototype in making copies of the Quran for distribution to other principle cities. Thus this compilation by Uthman's Committee is not a different version of the Quran (like the Biblical versions) but the same original revelation given to the Prophet by One God, Allah.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to Uthman at the time when the people of Sham (Syria) and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Armenia and Azherbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their differences in the recitation of the Quran, so he said to Uthman, 'O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and Christians did before'. So Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, 'Send us the manuscripts of the Quran so that we may compile the Quranic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you'. Hafsa sent it to Uthman. 'Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, 'Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, Said bin Al-As and Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Quran, then write it in their (Quraishi) tongue'. They did so, and when they had written many copies, Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied and ordered that all the other Quranic materials whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt..." (Bukhari, 6.510)

Again a very stringent criteria was set up by this Committee to prevent any alteration of the Revelation.

1. The earlier recension (Original copy prepared by Abu Bakr) was to serve as the principal basis of the new one. (Ibn Hajar, Bath, IX, p. 15)

2. Any doubt that might be raised as to the phrasing of a particular passage in the written text was to be dispelled by summoning persons known to have learned the passage in question from the Prophet. (Suyuti, Itqan, Vol.I, p.59)

3. Uthman himself was to supervise the work of the Council. (ibid., p.59)

When the final recension was completed, Uthman sent a copy of it to each of the major cities of Makka, Damascus, Kufa, Basra and Madina.

The action of Uthman to burn the other copies besides the final recension, though obviously drastic, was for the betterment and harmony of the whole community and was unanimously approved by the Companions of the Prophet.

Zaid ibn Thabit is reported to have said: "I saw the Companions of Muhammad (going about) saying, 'By God, Uthman has done well! By God, Uthman has done well!" (Naysaburi, al-,Nizam al-Din al-Hasan ibn Muhammad, Ghara'ib al-Quran wa-ragha'ib al-furqan. 4 vols. To date. Cairo, 1962)

Another esteemed Companion Musab ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas said: "I saw the people assemble in large number at Uthman's burning of the prescribed copies (of the Quran), and they were all pleased with his action; not a one spoke out against him" (Ibn Abi Dawud, p.12)

Ali ibn Abu Talib, the cousin of the Prophet and the fourth successor to the Prophet commented: "If I were in command in place of Uthman, I would have done the same" (Zarkashi, al-, Badr al-Din, Al-Burhan fi-ulum al-Quran, Cairo, 1957, Vol. I, p. 240.)

Manuscript Evidence : Early Qur'anic Manuscripts in our Possession:

Most of the early original Qur'an manuscripts with us now date from after the 2nd century. There are however a number of odd fragments of Qur'anic papyri which date from the 1st century as mentioned in Die Entstehung des Qur'an. There is also a complete Qur'an in the Egyptian National Library on parchment made from gazelle skin which has been dated 68AH.

Narrations differ as to how many copies were directly ordered and sent out by the Caliph 'Uthman, but they range from four to seven. It seems certain from various Muslim historical sources that several were lost, through fire amongst other things. There are four copies that are attributed to Uthman.

1) The Tashkent manuscript.

It seems that the copy in Tashkent also known as the Samarkand manuscript may be the "Imam" manuscript which Uthman kept for himself and was killed while reading it. A book has been written called Tarikh al Mushaf al Uthman fi Tashkent by Makhdun in which he gives a number of reasons for the authenticity of the manuscript;


1. The mushaf is written in a script used in the first 50 years of Hijra.

2. It is written on parchment made from gazelle.

3. There are no diacritical marks which is indicative of early manuscripts.

4. It does not have the vowelling marks which were introduced by Du'ali who died in AH68 suggesting that it is earlier than this.

The Kufic Script

To begin with the quote of a Muslim, al-Kalkashandi, he maintains (Kitab al-A'sha 3/p.15) that Kufic is said to have been the earliest script from which the others developed, he writes: "The Arabic script (khatt) is the one which is now known as Kufic. From it evolved all the present pens."

The terms that came to be applied to these scripts by early Arabs themselves could not have the chronological significance that some later Arabs and most Western writers have put to them. For is it the case that the name of a thing (e.g. Kufic) necessarily indicates its ultimate origin? The fact is that the script which later came to be known as Kufic has its origin far earlier than the founding of the town of Kufah. Atiq Siddiqui writes: "The Kufic or the angular variety of the Arabic script, has been traced about a hundred years before the foundation of the town Kufa, 638CE (AH17) to which place the style owes its name." [Siddiqui, The Story of Islamic Calligraphy, p.9] That is to say, the town was founded in AH17, and the Kufic style originated 100 years before that time! This conclusion is agreed upon by other writers; we read in The Splendour of Islamic Calligraphy: "However, Kufic script cannot have originated in Kufa, since that city was founded in 17/638, and the Kufic script is known to have existed before that date." [Sijelmasi and Khatibi, The Splendour of Islamic Calligraphy, p.97]

Dating of the origins of this script agree with early coin and rock inscriptions which have been commented upon by Western writers, some of them being:

31 A. H.

Tombstone of Abdar-Rahman ibn Khair al-Hajari

Nabia Abbott writes: "The earliest Muslim inscription, the tombstone of Abdar-Rahman ibn Khair al-Hajari, dated 31/652 . . . It is certainly not Makkan and can safely be considered as poor Kufic." [Abbott, Rise and Development, p.19]

Pre-93 A. H.

The milestone, dated from the time of the Caliph Abdal-Malik (reign 685 - 705CE), written in Kufic script. [see Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, p.44]

107 A. H.

Umayyad coin, minted in Damascus, inscribed in early Kufic script. The inscription reads: "There is none worthy of worship but Allah, He is One and has no partner" [British Museum, Room 34]

108 A. H.

Umayyad coin, minted at Wasit, Iraq, inscribed in early Kufic script. The inscription reads: "There is none worthy of worship but Allah, He is One and has no partner" [British Museum, Room 34]

2) The Topkapi manuscript.

Concerning the Topkapi manuscript there is an interesting clause in the Treaty of Versailles Article 246: "Within six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, Germany will restore to his majesty King of Hijaz, the original Qur'an of Caliph Uthman."

It seems that the manuscript reached Istanbul but not Medina. Sheikh Mohammed Shaibanee from the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society in Kuwait certainly considers it as Uthmanic. Mohammed Hamidullah also seems to agree but with more caution. Martin Lings, amongst others, considers it second century. The reason for this late attribution is the development of the writing style (not script) and its comparative sophistication suggests a later period that the first century.

3) The Islamic Museum in Istanbul.

This again does not seem to be an original Uthmanic manuscript, but the oldest copy from the original. It is written in Makki script, and is almost certainly before the end of the first century.

4) Hussain mosque in Cairo.

This is the oldest of all the manuscripts, and is either original or an exact copy from the original with similarity to the Madini script.

There are also other Qur'ans attributed to Uthman.

Ibn Nadim and Ibn Ain Aba claim that Ali ibn Abi Talib wrote three Qur'ans of which there is one in Dar al Qutb, Najaf in Iraq and it has written on it "Ali ibn Abi Talib wrote it in the year 40H", one in Egypt and one in Iran. It seems almost impossible that the Iman Riba manuscript in Iran is actually written by the hand of Ali because the script, although developed at his time, would not have been learnt by him since the dissentions in his rule kept him too busy to be able to learn such an art. It is however possible that he ordered someone else to write it.

The most significant Qur'an attributed to Ali ibn Talib is that in the Hussain Mosque in Egypt. The writing is early Kufic, it has many similarities to Madini, which is the form of writing that Ali would have used. It could well be Ali's own writing.

There is also existing Qur'anic writings attributed to Hassan and Hussain and Zain al Abideen (sons of Ali ibn Talib). There are also other copies such as the one attributed to Hajjaj ibn Muwawiya dated AH49 and Ukba ibn Amir dated AH52 in Turkey. More information on this topic can be found in Tarikh al Khatim al Arabi of Dr Salah ud Din al Munjid from where these details have been extracted.

It is also worth mentioning that there is no deviation in these manuscripts from the Qur'an in our possession today.

The "Institute fur Koranforschung" of the University of Munich, Germany, had collected and collated some 42,000 complete or incomplete copies of the Qur'an, gathered from all over the world. After some fifty years of study they reported that in terms of differences between the various copies there were no variants, except occasional mistakes of copyists which could easily be ascertained. The institute was destroyed by American bombs during the Second World War.

Conclusion:

It can now be proclaimed, through the evidences provided above, with full conviction and certainty that the Prophet memorized the entire Quran, had it written down in front of him through his scribes, many of his companions memorized the entire revelation and in turn possess their own private copies for recitation and contemplation. This process of dual preservation of the Quran in written and in the memory was carried in each subsequent generation till our time, without any deletion, interpolation or corruption of this Divine Book.

Sir Williams Muir states, "There is otherwise every security, internal and external, that we possess the text which Muhammad himself gave forth and used" (Sir Williams Muir, Life of Mohamet, Vol.I. Introduction)

Sir William Muir continues, "There is probably no other book in the world which has remained twelve centuries (now fourteen) with so pure a text" (ibid)

This divine protection provided to the Quran, the Last Reveled Guide to Humanity, is proclaimed by One God in the Quran:

"We (Allah) have, without doubt, send down the Message; and We will assuredly Guard it (from corruption)" (Quran - Chapter 15, Verse 9) ('We' is the plural of Majesty, and not the Christian plural of trinity)

Compare this divine and historical preservation of the Quran with any literature, be it religious or secular and it becomes evident that none possess similar miraculous protection. And as states earlier, a belief is as authentic as the authenticity of its scripture. And if any scripture is not preserved, how can we be certain that the belief arising out of this scripture is divine or man made, and if we are not sure about the belief itself, then our salvation in the hereafter would be jeopardized. Thus this above evidence for the protection of the Quran from any corruption is a strong hint about its divine origin. We request all open hearted persons to read, understand and live the Quran, the 'Manual for Mankind'.
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