Philosophy Now Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vstGbZkjUcw

On June 8, 2020, Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, a renowned Muslim cleric in the US, well known for his talks on the Qur'an's perfect preservation, was asked by Mohammad Hijab, a popular Muslim YouTuber to answer whether he believed the Qur'an was perfectly preserved, and whether the Qira'at and Ahruf differences (i.e. the later addition of dots above and below the letters, and the vowels) were problematic for its preservation.

Jay decided to take the roughly 25-minute section of the interview where Qadhi tried to respond to these questions and unpack them for the rest of us, suggesting that Qadhi made quite a number of interesting admissions, some of which he may regret later on.

These are the admissions which Qadhi made:

• 1) The subject of Ahruf and Qira'at is probably the most difficult question for modern Muslim scholars like himself to answer.
  
  2) This question, and others posed by Western scholars caused him to go through a crisis when he was studying for his PhD at Yale University.
  
  3) He was rescued from this crisis by returning to what he had been taught since childhood, that the Qur'an must be the 'Word of Allah' because it is self-evident.
  
  4) It is not the place for the uneducated Muslims to question Qira'at and Ahruf, since this is a question which should be left to the experts, the Ulemma, who have been discussing it for 1,000 years.
  
  5) Yet, even the best Muslim scholar on the subject for the last 1,000 years, Ibn al-Jazari, who spent 30 years studying the Qira'at, and compiled 90 books on this subject, is not accepted by scholars today, proving that even the best still don't know how to defend it.
  
  6) Today, "the Western level of knowledge is leaps and bounds above what it used to be just 100 years ago", and this is causing a dilemma within Muslim scholarly circles.
  
  7) The Traditional Understanding of the Ahruf and Qira'at in the Muslim world simply cannot answer the pressing questions being asked by Western Academics today in the West.
  
  8.) What's more, Qadri admits, "It's very clear that the standard narrative on the subject has holes in it", yet he doesn't himself know how to fill those holes.
  
  9) This issue of Qira'at has troubled the Umma (believers) from the very beginning, proving that this is not a new problem.
  
  10) "Because of these problems, the issue of Ahruf and Qira'at should only be discussed among those who are familiar with the science", even though for the past 1,000 years they have discussed it without coming to any satisfactory conclusions, which caused Qadhi his crisis 25 years ago.
  
  11) Yasir Qadhi admitted he had never brought this topic up himself, and that he has never lectured about this issue, though numerous times he said that to understand it, take his course. Not very convincing...
  
  12) He went on to say that this question should never be brought up in public, and those Muslims who did were "idiots".
  
  13) When asked by Muhammad Hijab whether he could write on a blank piece of paper a perfect Quran today, which would parallel the original Medinan Qur'an, would it follow the Hafs, or another Qira'at version (there are 37 so far); he tried desperately not to answer the question.
  
  14) In desperation, when pushed by Hijab, he admitted that all of the different Qira'at versions of the Qur'an (Hatun now has 37 in London) would be acceptable, because the Hadith said so, and the Qur'an promised that the Qur'an would be perfectly preserve (see Surah 15:9).
  
  15) In the end Qadhi simply fell back on his favourite mantra on the subject, claiming fervently, "The Qur'an is the uncreated speech of Allah, the Qur'an is preserved, the Qur'an is known, the Qur'an is Mutawatir (the succession of narration), all of the Qira'at are the Qur'an, all are authentic, leave it at that. Beyond this requires background information, so take my class."

It seems to me that he is still in crisis, and Muslims everywhere should now wonder that if he is the best they have on the subject, how then are they going to be able to continue this charade, claiming that the Qur'an is perfectly preserved? If they really believe it, then they will have to do a better job than simply sides-stepping the issue, and falling back on a memorized mantra.

• 1. Muslims all over the world claim the Quran in their hand is the perfect copy from Allah i.e. the verses are presented verbatim as revealed to Muhammad. They claimed Allah [all powerful] had ensured of this same Quran is maintained for all Muslims. This is the basis Muslims claim that Islam is the Perfect religion for a real God, i.e. Allah.
  
  2. If their Quran is the verbatim -word for word- as reveal to Muhammad, then all the Qurans in the hands of all Muslims should be the same.
  
  3. But then, we have from above, "1. the subject of Ahruf and Qira'at is probably the most difficult question for modern Muslim scholars like himself to answer."
  
  4. The fact is the presence of the issues Ahruf and Qira'at in the various Quran held by Muslims all over the world, turn out there are 37 different Qurans [with different meanings] instead of one SAME Quran. More different Qurans are likely to be discovered in the future.
  
  5. Point is the difference are not minor but create different meanings in the different meanings. Earlier, when a few different Qurans were discovered, the Muslims' defense was the difference are only about dots and hyphens, punctuation marks, etc. thus insignificant. But now there are 37 different Qurans with differences that present glaring different meanings to the verses.
  
  6. The empirical evidences of 37 different Qurans with different verses and meanings thus question the claims in 1 above thus shaking the faith of Muslims.
  This point to the likelihood that the Quran was man-made and not from an all powerful God. This also question whether there is a real Allah.