[KENNETH MATIBA]

Among other problems for the veracity of the Qur'an are the differing versions, even in Muhammad's day. Bukhari's Hadith reports: "Ibn Abbas asked, 'Which of the two readings of the Qur'an do you prefer?' The Prophet answered, 'The reading of Abdallah ibn Mas'ud.' Then Abdallah came to him, and he learned what was altered and abrogated." Another Bukhari Hadith claims that: "Umar was sitting with Abu Bakr and was speaking (to) me. 'You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you of telling lies or of forgetfulness. You used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript).' By Allah, if Abu Bakr had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would have been easier for me than the collection of the Qur'an. I said to both of them, "How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?""

The Qur'an wasn't, therefore, as Allah claims--a book memorialized on heavenly tablets--but was instead comprised of an evolving text. The oldest Qur'ans differ from one another and from today's version. The original written copies were devoid of the diacritical points, so most words had to be chosen and their meaning interpreted two centuries after the Qur'an was revealed orally. It's not pure Arabic as Allah claims, and there are a plethora of foreign words. There are also missing words, wrong words, and meaningless words, as well. And most importantly, the leading authority of the initial script of the Qur'an, studying the oldest fragments says: "One out of every five verses is indecipherable - meaningless in any language."

Excerpts from Prophet of Doom

From chapter 10, "Muddled Message"

In exposing Islam I have erred on the side of the Qur'an and Hadith. That is to say, I have been nearly as repetitious as they have been. By bringing the doctrine's most holy books together chronologically and placing them in the context of time and place, the evidence piles up one confession at a time. The truth ultimately becomes undeniable. Therefore, I will continue to present their scriptures as completely as your endurance allows. By observing a consistent pattern of behavior, you will be able to render an accurate assessment.

In this light, let's dissect the 52nd surah, kissing cousin to the 56th. Qur'an 52.1 "I call to witness Tur (Mount Sinai) and a Scripture Book inscribed, written on a fine parchment scroll unrolled, and the House ever-peopled, and the roof raised high, and the sea kept filled. The Islamic spirit is trying to pull a fast one. The House wasn't "ever-peopled." As you will discover in the "Source Material" appendix, there is no archeological or historical evidence to show that Mecca even existed before the sixth century. Therefore, Islam's formation is based upon a lie, because without people it would have been impossible to pass on any semblance of Islamic ritual from Abraham to Qusayy.

Elsewhere in the Qur'an, we're told that the "Book" was chiseled on Memorial Tablets, not inscribed on perishable parchment scrolls. But that's the least of the Qur'anic headaches. It claims, as Maududi confirms, that it was first written before creation, and that it was passed down and maintained in its original form - verbatim. "The Qur'an that you are bent upon belying is unchangeable: 'It is inscribed in the Preserved Tablet, which cannot be corrupted in any way.'"

Since the Qur'an's claims regarding its origin and nature are essential to our understanding, I'd like to explore this matter more completely. Allah's "book" says of itself: Qur'an 012:001 "These are verses of the immaculate Book, a clear discourse." Immaculate means perfect, flawless - inerrant. Yet we've already discovered scores of errors, big and small. Qur'an 012:003 "Through the Qur'an We narrate the best of histories." Yet it is devoid of history. It doesn't even provide any context. Qur'an 2.1 "This is a book free of doubt." That is true, but not in the way it was intended. Qur'an 010:037 "This Qur'an is such a writing that none but Allah could have composed it. It confirms what has been revealed before." Not only would the behavior in the Islamic heaven be illegal in every state save the brothels of Nevada, the Qur'an contradicts rather than confirms the prior revelation it says is inspired. What's more, the writing quality is an embarrassment. While lecturing on creation, Allah's prophet professed, "All that was going to be was written on the memorial Tablet before anything else was created." And that is particularly odd since everything we have read thus far has been fixated on one man's quest for gold and glory. Said another way: the Qur'an's revelations temporal and they only serve Muhammad.

The reason I bring this to your attention is to scuttle the Islamic claim that the Qur'an is a perfect reflection of the original tablet inscribed in heaven. The earliest Qur'anic writings all differ with each other, and they conflict with the present version. Coins from 685 A.D. have inscriptions that don't match today's surahs. The scripture inside the Dome of the Rock (691 A.D.) also varies. Further, the earliest copies of the Qur'an were written without vowels and the diacritical dots that modern Arabic uses to determine what letter is intended. It wasn't until the late eighth century, more than a hundred and fifty years after Muhammad's death, that Islamic scholars added diacritical marks to clear up countless ambiguities. In doing so, they chose the letters and vowels - and thus the current words, punctuation, and meaning. They translated what was essentially code into the gibberish we are reading today.

Then there is the problem of the parchments themselves. The oldest fragments date to the eighth century, not the seventh. They were found in a pager grave on the loft rafters of the Mosque of Saria'a in 1972. Aberrations from the accepted text abound, including the order of the verses, textual variations, and artistic embellishments. Gerd Puin, the leader of the German team analyzing the scrolls said, "Revisions are very clearly written over earlier, washed-off versions. What the Yemeni Qur'ans suggest is an evolving text rather than the word of God revealed in its entirety to the Prophet Muhammad." Puin went on to declare: "The Qur'an claims for itself that it is 'mubeen.' or clear, but if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn't make sense. A fifth of the Qur'anic text is incomprehensible. This is what has caused the anxiety regarding translation. If the Qur'an is not comprehensible, if it can't even be understood in Arabic, then it's not translatable into any language." This stark reality is frightening to orthodox Muslims who parrot their prophet's claim that the Qur'an has been preserved perfectly - unchanged and inerrant - just as Allah wrote it.