Orientalist Ignorace Regarding Qur'anic Sources

The basic ignorance of non-Muslim "experts" on Islam doesn't seem to end. If they just swallowed their pride and studied with some qualified scholars, they would save themselves embarrassment. In 1300-year-old Islamic note may solve mystery, they make the unremarkable observation that perhaps the Qur'an was originally written without diacritical marks so that its written form would support variants in recitation. First of all, this is common knowledge. Had these experts read books written hundreds of years ago, they would have known this already. Secondly, there was not just one canonical mushaf (a printed Qur'an) written under Uthman's guidance, but at least five. A necessary but insufficient condition for an established Qur'anic variant is that it must agree with one of these masahif (sing. mushaf). This presents the possibility that, in addition to leaving out diacritical marks to accomodate multiple variants, Uthman's scribes also produced masahif that varied more significantly in order to allow for variants that could not be combined simply by omitting diacritical marks. For example, in the variants of Nafi`, the word هو does not appear in ayah 24 of surah 57 whereas it does appear in the most common variant of Hafs. It is very difficult to imagine that this entire word would have been reduced to a diacritical mark.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the word "Qur'an" means "recitation." As every qualified Qur'anic reciter knows, Qur'anic recitation never was and never will be taken from the mushaf alone. Rather, the mushaf is an aid. Authentic Qur'anic recitation only comes from the mouth of someone who has memorized the Qur'an at the hands of a teacher with an unbroken chain of transmission returning to the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). There are at least 20 major variants in Qur'anic recitation, and within these major variants are many minor variations. If all the printed Qur'ans in the world were to be burned or altered, Muslims would still be able to reproduce all variations. Truly, Allah has revealed the Qur'an and it is He Who protects it. Alhamdulillah.