Miscellany on the Quran’s Haphazard Structure
Table of Contents
In this post I will be sharing various hadiths on the Quran appearing as a man on the last day to dispute with Allah, as well as its variant readings and textual corruptions.
The Talking Quran
Chapter on the virtue of following the Qur’an, the reward contained in acting upon it, and the punishment contained in neglecting it.
Abu Ubayd narrated to us, he said: Hushaym narrated to us, he said: Ziyad ibn Mikhraq narrated to us, from Abu Iyas, from Abu Kinanah, from Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari, may Allah have mercy on him, that he said:
“Indeed, this Qur’an will be either a reminder for you, or a reward for you, or a burden of sin upon you. So follow the Qur’an, and do not let the Qur’an follow you. For whoever follows the Qur’an, it will lead him down to the gardens of Paradise; and whoever is followed by the Qur’an, the Qur’an will strike the back of his neck until it casts him into the Fire of Hell.”
Abu Ubayd narrated to us, he said: Isma‘il ibn Ibrahim narrated to us, from Ziyad ibn Mikhraq, from Abu Iyas, from Abu Kinanah, from Abu Musa, with the same wording exactly.
Abu Ubayd narrated to us, he said: Hushaym narrated to us, he said: Muhammad, the client of Quraysh, informed us, he said: I heard Abu Kinanah narrating from Abu Musa, with the same wording.
Abu Ubayd narrated to us, he said: Hajjaj narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, he said: I was informed from Anas ibn Malik that he said: The Messenger of Allah said:
“The Qur’an is an intercessor whose intercession is accepted, and a disputant whose testimony is believed. Whoever has the Qur’an intercede for him on the Day of Resurrection will be saved, and whoever has the Qur’an dispute against him on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will cast him into the Fire upon his face.”
Abu Ubayd narrated to us, he said: Hajjaj narrated to us, from Sharik, from ‘Asim ibn Bahdalah, from al-Musayyib ibn Rafi‘, from ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, with the same wording, but he did not attribute it to the Prophet.
Abu Ubayd narrated to us, saying: Abu Nuʿaym narrated to me, from Bashīr ibn Muhājir, who said: ʿAbdullāh ibn Buraydah narrated to me, from his father, who said:
“I was with the Messenger of Allah, and I heard him say:
‘Indeed, the Qur’an will meet its companion on the Day of Resurrection like a pale man, and it will say: “Do you recognize me?” He will say: “I do not recognize you.” It will say: “I am your companion, the Qur’an, which caused you to thirst during the midday heat, and kept you awake during your nights. Every merchant pursues his trade, and today I am behind every trade.”’
Abu ‘Ubayd narrated to us, saying: Hajjāj narrated to us, from Shu‘bah, from ‘Āsim, from Dhakwān, from Abū Hurayrah, that he said: “Excellent is the intercessor, the Qur’an.” He said: Shu‘bah said: “And I think he said: ‘It says on the Day of Resurrection: O Lord, adorn him. So he is given the crown of honor. Then it says: O Lord, increase him. So he is clothed with the garment of honor. Then it says: O Lord, be pleased with him, for there is nothing after Your pleasure. He said: Then He is pleased with him.’”
Abu ‘Ubayd narrated to us, saying: ‘Amr ibn Tāriq narrated to us, from Ibn Lahī‘ah, from Khālid ibn Yazīd, from Sa‘īd ibn Abī Hilāl, from Bashīr ibn al-Muharrar, from ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Uthmān ibn al-Hakam, that Marwān ibn al-Hakam heard Ka‘b al-Aḥbār mention the reciter of the Qur’an, and he said: “When he is raised, the Qur’an will speak and say: ‘O Lord, this servant of Yours was eager to follow me and act according to me, so grant him his reward.’ He said: Then he will be clothed with the garment of honor and crowned with the crown of dignity. Then Allah will say: ‘Are you pleased with what I have given this servant of Mine?’ The Qur’an will say: ‘O Lord, I am not satisfied with what You have given him.’ So he will be given blessing in his right hand and eternity in his left hand. Then Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will say: ‘Are you pleased with what I have given this servant of Mine?’ He will say: ‘Yes.’”
Abu ‘Ubayd said: “This is only his reward; as for the Qur’an itself, it is the Speech of Allah.”
He said:
‘Then he will be given kingship in his right hand and eternity in his left hand, a crown of dignity will be placed upon his head, and his parents will be clothed in two garments the people of this world could not match. They will say: “Why have we been dressed in this?” It will be said: “Because your child took hold of the Qur’an.” Then it will be said to him: “Recite and ascend through the levels of Paradise and its chambers.”’
He said:
‘So he will continue ascending as long as he recites, whether rapidly or with measured recitation.’”
Ibn Masud’s Downsized Quran, the 7 Ahruf & 10 Qiraat
Abu ʿUbayd narrated to us; Ḥajjāj narrated to us, from al-Layth ibn Saʿd, from ʿUqayl, from Ibn Shihāb, from Salamah ibn Abī Salamah, from his father, from the Prophet, who said: “The Qur’an was revealed upon seven.” Then he mentioned the like of that and added: “And the account of what came before you, and the account of what will come after you.”
Abu ‘Ubayd narrated to us; he said: and Hajjāj narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, regarding His saying, the Exalted:
And none knows its interpretation except Allah and those firmly grounded in knowledge; they say, “We believe in it.” [Āl ‘Imrān: 7]
He said: “Those firmly grounded in knowledge know its interpretation and say, ‘We believe in it.’”
And according to a view other than that of Mujāhid, it was said: “Their knowledge ended at the point where they said:
We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord. [Āl ‘Imrān: 7]”
Abu ʿUbayd narrated to us, and Muḥammad ibn Kathīr narrated to us, from al-Awzāʿī, from Ḥassān ibn ʿAṭiyyah, who said: Abū al-Dardāʾ said:
“Were a verse from the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to confound me, and I could find no one to explain it to me except a man at Birk al-Ghumād, I would travel to him.”
He said: “It is the farthest point of Hajar in Yemen.”
Abū ʿUbayd the traditionist said: “It is Buraq with the ḍammah [on the bāʾ], but the correct form is Birk with the kasrah [on the bāʾ], and al-Ghumād with the ḍammah of the ghayn.”
Abu ‘Ubayd narrated to us, and Ismā‘īl ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us, from Ayyūb, from Ibn Sīrīn, who said: I was informed that Ibn Mas‘ūd said: “If I knew that there was anyone whom the camels could carry to a place who was more recent than me in witnessing the final review, I would go to him, or I would make the effort to go to him.” (Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224), Virtues of the Qur’an, 41 Book: The Virtue of the Qur’an, Its Characteristics, and Its Etiquette: https://app.turath.io/book/12524)
The most likely, and God knows best, is the first view, and that this was in what the Qur’an was revealed in in several letters. For the pleasing statement among the scholars of the Salaf, which is indicated by the generality of the hadiths and the readings of the Companions, is that the codex that Uthman gathered the people on is one of the seven letters, and it is the final presentation, and that the six letters are outside of this codex, and that in the seven letters the word was different, even though the meaning was not different or contradictory. (Ibn Taymiyyah, The Book of the Drawn Sword Against the One Who Insults the Messenger: https://shamela.ws/book/7344/127#p2)
Among the problems with this principle is what Imam Fakhr al-Din mentioned, saying: It was reported in some old books that Ibn Mas'ud denied that Surah Al-Fatihah and the two protective surahs (Al-Mu'awwidhatayn) from the Qur’an, and it is extremely difficult because if we say: that the continuous transmission was present in the era of the Companions, with that being from the Qur’an, then denying it necessitates disbelief.
And if we say: it was not present in that time, then it follows that the Qur’an is not continuous in origin. He said: Otherwise, it is highly probable that this view is falsely attributed to Ibn Mas'ud, and this resolves this dilemma. Similarly, Judge Abu Bakr said: It is not authentically reported from him that it is not part of the Qur'an, nor has it been preserved from him. He only erased it and removed it from his copy of the Quran because he denied that it was written, not because he denied that it was part of the Quran, because the Sunnah with him was that nothing should be written in the copy of the Quran except what the Prophet ordered to be included in it, and he did not find that he had written that, nor did he hear him order it.
Al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Al-Muhadhdhab: The Muslims are unanimous that the two protective surahs (Al-Mu'awwidhatayn) and Al-Fatihah are part of the Qur'an, and that whoever denies any part of them is an unbeliever. What was reported on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud is false and not authentic.
Ibn Hazm said in Al-Muhalla: This is a lie against Ibn Mas’ud and it is fabricated. What is authentically reported from him is the reading of Asim on the authority of Zirr on his authority, which includes the two protective surahs and Al-Fatihah.
Ibn Hajar said in his commentary on Al-Bukhari: It has been authentically reported from Ibn Mas’ud that he denied this, and Ahmad and Ibn Hibban reported from him that he did not write the two protective surahs in his copy of the Quran.
Abdullah ibn Ahmad included in his additions to Al-Musnad, and Al-Tabarani and Ibn Mardawayh narrated, on the authority of Al-A’mash, on the authority of Abu Ishaq, on the authority of Abd Al-Rahman ibn Yazid Al-Nakha’i, who said: Abdullah ibn Mas’ud used to erase the two chapters of refuge (Al-Mu’awwidhatayn) from his copies of the Quran and say: They are not from the Book of God.
Al-Bazzar and Al-Tabarani narrated from another source on his authority that he used to erase the two protective surahs from the Qur’an and say: The Prophet only commanded that one should seek refuge with them, and he did not recite them. Its chains of transmission are authentic.
Al-Bazzar said: None of the Companions followed Ibn Mas’ud in that, and it is authentic that the Prophet recited them in prayer.
Ibn Hajar said: The statement of whoever said that it was a lie against him is refuted, and criticizing authentic narrations without a basis is not acceptable. Rather, the narrations are authentic, and the interpretation is possible.
He said: The judge and others have interpreted it as a denial of the writing, as mentioned previously. He said: It is a good interpretation, except that the explicit narration that I mentioned refutes that, as it states: “And he says: They are not from the Book of God.” He said: It is possible to interpret the phrase “Book of God” as referring to the Quran, thus completing the aforementioned interpretation. He said: But whoever considers the context of the mentioned paths will rule out this group.
He said: Ibn al-Sabbagh answered that he did not have a definitive opinion on that matter, then an agreement was reached after that, and the gist of it is that they were both widely transmitted in his time, but they were not widely transmitted in his view. End quote.
Ibn Qutaybah said in his book "Mushkil al-Qur'an" (The Difficulties of the Qur'an): Ibn Mas'ud thought that the two chapters of refuge (al-Mu'awwidhatayn) were not part of the Qur'an because he saw the Prophet reciting them for protection for al-Hasan and al-Husayn. So he stuck to his assumption and did not say that he was correct in that and that the Muhajirun and Ansar were wrong. He said: As for his omitting al-Fatihah from his copy of the Qur'an, it was not because he thought that it was part of the Qur'an. It is not from the Qur’an, God forbid! But he went to the point that the Qur’an was only written and compiled between the two tablets for fear of doubt, forgetfulness, addition, and omission, and he saw that this was safe in Surat Al-Hamd because of its brevity and the obligation for everyone to learn it.
To the one who receives it from him or by writing it down, relying on what he has memorized and what is in his heart, as God Almighty said: {We will make you recite, so you will not forget, except what God wills. Indeed, He knows what is declared and what is hidden.}
I said: And his omission of Al-Fatihah from his copy of the Quran was reported by Abu Ubaid with a sound chain of transmission, as mentioned earlier in the beginning of the nineteenth type.
Second warning
Al-Zarkashi said in Al-Burhan: The Qur’an and the Qira’at are two distinct realities. The Qur’an is the revelation sent down to Muhammad for clarification and as a miracle, while the Qira’at are the differences in the wording of the aforementioned revelation, whether in the letters or their manner of pronunciation, such as softening, strengthening, and other aspects. The seven Qira’at are considered mutawatir (transmitted by numerous reliable sources) by the majority. It has also been said that they are merely well-known.
Al-Zarkashi said: The truth is that it is transmitted through multiple chains of narrators from the seven imams. As for its transmission through multiple chains of narrators from the Prophet there is a question about it, because their chain of narrators for these seven readings is found in the books of readings, and it is the transmission of one person from another.
I said: There is a view to that, as will come, and Abu Shama excluded – as has been mentioned previously – the words in which there is disagreement among the reciters.
Ibn al-Hajib made an exception for what was related to performance, such as lengthening, inclination, and realizing the hamza.
Others said: The truth is that the basic principle of lengthening and inclination is widely transmitted, but the method of pronunciation is not widely transmitted due to differences in its manner. This is what al-Zarkashi said. He said: As for the different types of pronunciation of the hamza, they are all widely transmitted.
Ibn al-Jazari said: We do not know of anyone who preceded Ibn al-Hajib in this, and the imams of the principles, such as Judge Abu Bakr and others, have stated that all of this is continuous transmission, and this is correct because if the continuous transmission of the wording is established, then the continuous transmission of the manner of its performance is established because the wording does not exist except with it and is not valid except with its existence.
Third warning
Abu Shama said: Some people thought that the seven readings that exist now are the ones that were intended in the hadith, and this is contrary to the consensus of all the people of knowledge. Rather, this thought is only held by some ignorant people.
Abu al-Abbas ibn Ammar said: “The one who transmitted these seven readings did not do so properly, and he confused the matter for the general public by making everyone with limited insight think that these readings are the ones mentioned in the hadith. I wish that if he were to limit himself, he would have reduced the number of readings from seven or added more to remove the ambiguity.”
And it also happened to him in limiting himself to two narrators for each imam that whoever heard the reading of a third narrator other than them would invalidate it, even though it may be more famous, more correct, and more apparent. And perhaps someone who does not understand exaggerated and made it wrong or declared it an unbeliever.
Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi said: These seven are not specific enough to be permissible, so that no other readings are permissible, such as the readings of Abu Ja`far, Shaybah, al-A`mash, and others like them, for these are like them or above them.
And this is what more than one of them said, including Makki, Abu Al-Ala’ Al-Hamadhani, and others among the leading reciters.
Abu Hayyan said: "There are only a very small number of well-known readings in the book of Ibn Mujahid and those who followed him. For example, Abu Amr ibn al-Ala' had seventeen narrators who transmitted from him, and then he listed their names. Yet in Ibn Mujahid's book, he only mentioned al-Yazidi, and ten people transmitted from al-Yazidi. So how could he only mention al-Susi and al-Duri when they have no [relevant readings]?" An advantage over others! Because all share in order, in mastery, and in participation in receiving.
He said: I do not know a reason for this except what has been decreed regarding the deficiency of knowledge.
Makki said: Whoever thinks that the readings of these reciters, such as Nafi' and 'Asim, are the letters.
The seven mentioned in the hadith have made a grave error. He said: It follows from this that whatever deviates from the reading of these seven, from what has been established from the imams and others, and agrees with the script of the Mushaf, is not considered Qur’an. This is a grave error, for those who compiled the readings from among the early imams, such as Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam and Abu Hatim Al-Sijistani, Abu Ja`far al-Tabari, and Isma`il al-Qadi mentioned doubles of these, and the people were at the head of the two hundred in Basra on the reading of Abu Amr and Ya`qub, in Kufa on the reading of Hamza and Asim, in the Levant on the reading of Ibn `Amir, in Mecca on the reading of Ibn Kathir, and in Medina on the reading of Nafi`.
They continued in this way, and when he was at the head of the three hundred, Ibn Mujahid established the name of Al-Kisa’i and omitted Ya’qub. He said: The reason for limiting it to seven – even though there are imams of recitation who are greater than them in stature and whose like are more numerous than their number – is that the narrators from the imams were very numerous. So when ambitions waned, they limited themselves to what conformed to the script of the Qur'an, to what was easy to memorize and by which the recitation could be accurately transmitted. So they looked to those who were known for their trustworthiness, integrity, and long-standing tradition. The age in adhering to the reading and agreeing to take from him, so they singled out one imam from every region, and they did not leave with that the transmission of what the imams other than these were upon of the readings, nor the reading with it, such as the reading of Yaqub, Abu Ja`far, Shaybah and others.
He said: Ibn Jubayr al-Makki wrote a book on the readings before Ibn Mujahid, limiting himself to five, choosing an imam from each region. He limited himself to this because the copies of the Quran that Uthman sent were five to these regions. It is also said that he sent seven: these five, one to Yemen, and one to... the two Bahrains, but since no news was heard of these two copies, and Ibn Mujahid and others wanted to observe the number of copies, they replaced two readers from the Bahrain and Yemen copies, with whom the number was completed, and that happened to coincide with the number that the news came with, and that happened to those who did not know the origin of the issue and did not have intelligence.
He thought that what was meant by the seven letters were the seven readings. The fundamental principle is the soundness of the chain of transmission in hearing, the correctness of the form in Arabic, and conformity to the script. The most authentic readings in terms of chain of transmission are those of Nafi’ and ‘Asim, and the most eloquent of them are those of Abu ‘Amr and al-Kisa’i.
Al-Qarrab said in Al-Shafi: Adhering to the reading of seven reciters to the exclusion of others has no basis in tradition or Sunnah. Rather, it is a collection made by some later scholars, which spread and gave the impression that it is not permissible to add to that, but no one has said that.
Al-Kawashi said: Everything whose chain of transmission is sound, whose form is correct in Arabic, and which agrees with the script of the Imam’s Qur’an is one of the seven explicitly stated. Whenever one of the three conditions is missing, it is an anomalous one.
The scholars of this field strongly refuted those who believed that the well-known readings were limited to those found in works like al-Taysir and al-Shatibiyyah. The last to explicitly state this was Sheikh Taqi al-Din al-Subki, who said in his commentary on al-Minhaj: “The scholars said: It is permissible to recite in prayer and elsewhere using the seven readings, but not the anomalous ones. The apparent meaning of this suggests that readings other than the seven well-known ones are not permissible.”
The anomalous ones. Al-Baghawi reported the agreement on the reading with the reading of Yaqub and Abu Ja`far along with the seven well-known readings, and this statement is the correct one.
He said: Know that what is outside the seven well-known ones is of two kinds: some of it is contrary to the script of the Qur’an, and there is no doubt that it is not permissible to read it, neither in prayer nor in anything else.
Some of these readings do not contradict the script of the Quran, but their recitation is not widely known. Rather, they have come down to us through an unreliable and obscure chain of transmission. This also demonstrates the prohibition against reciting them. Others, however, are widely known. The imams of this matter have been reading it in the past and present, so there is no reason to prohibit it. This includes the reading of Yaqub and others.
Al-Baghawi said: The most reliable person in this matter is a reciter, a jurist, and a master of all sciences. He said: And this is the detailed explanation regarding the anomalous readings of the seven, for there are many anomalous readings from them. End quote.
His son said in “Man’ al-Mawani’”: We only said in “Jam’ al-Jawami’” that the seven are transmitted through multiple chains of narration, then we said in “al-Shadhdh” and “al-Sahih” that it is what is beyond ten, and we did not say: “and the ten are transmitted through multiple chains of narration” because there is no disagreement about the transmission of the seven. So we mentioned first the place of consensus, then we added to it the place of disagreement. He said: On the basis that the statement that the three readings are not continuous is extremely weak and it is not valid to say it on the authority of someone whose statement is considered in religion, and they do not contradict the script of the Qur’an. He said: I heard my father strongly condemn some of the judges, and it reached him that they had forbidden the recitation of the Quran in that way. One of our companions once asked his permission to recite the seven readings, and he said: I have given you permission to recite the ten readings. End quote.
And he said in response to a question posed to him by Ibn al-Jazari: The seven readings that al-Shatibi limited himself to, and the three that are the readings of Abu Ja'far, Ya'qub, and Khalaf, are transmitted through multiple independent chains of narration and are known by necessity to be part of the religion. And every letter that is unique to one of the ten is known by necessity to be part of the religion as having been revealed to the Messenger of God. There is no denying this. Only an ignorant person would know anything about that. (Al-Jalal Al-Suyuti, The Book of Mastery in the Sciences of the Qur'an: https://shamela.ws/book/11728/267)
Further Reading
The Quran Testifies To Its Own Textual Corruption
The Seven Ahruf and Multiple Qiraat – A Quranic Perspective
The Irreparable Loss of Much of the Quran
The Compilation and Textual Veracity of the Quran, [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Excursus]
The Third Caliph’s Abuse of the Quran’s Greatest Compiler
TALKING QURAN: IBN FAROOQ’S LIES EXPOSED
Answering Islam – Sam Shamoun Theology Newsletter
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