WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.940 So building on everything we have just walked 00:00:01.940 --> 00:00:05.059 through about Abdullah ibn Masud and Ubay ibn 00:00:05.059 --> 00:00:08.039 Kab, there is a really important tension we need 00:00:08.039 --> 00:00:10.939 to face, honestly. And it boils down to this 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:14.140 simple question. Can the Quran, as Muslims understand 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:17.480 it today, really be both absolutely complete 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:20.260 and divinely inspired in the way they usually 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:24.100 claim? Or do the historical facts force a choice 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:27.210 between those two ideas? Let us start with what 00:00:27.210 --> 00:00:30.410 we have already seen about Ubay ibn Kab. In the 00:00:30.410 --> 00:00:33.890 early sources, he is not a minor figure. In Ibn 00:00:33.890 --> 00:00:36.909 Sad's great biographical work called Kitab al 00:00:36.909 --> 00:00:41.710 -Tabaqat al -Kabir, Volume 2, page 441, there 00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:44.570 is a report where Anas ibn Malik says that the 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:47.189 Prophet declared, The best reader of the Qur 00:00:47.189 --> 00:00:50.409 'an among my people is Ubay ibn Kab. Because 00:00:50.409 --> 00:00:53.350 of that, later Muslims even gave him the title 00:00:53.350 --> 00:00:57.369 Sayyid al -Qurra. meaning the master of the readers. 00:00:57.710 --> 00:01:00.789 So if anyone in that early period knew what Quranic 00:01:00.789 --> 00:01:04.629 style sounded like, it would be Ubay. Then, in 00:01:04.629 --> 00:01:07.730 Jalal al -Din al -Suyuti's book Al -Itqan Fi 00:01:07.730 --> 00:01:13.750 Ulum al -Quran, on pages 152 through 154, we 00:01:13.750 --> 00:01:16.790 saw that Ubay's codex contained two additional 00:01:16.790 --> 00:01:21.230 surahs, known as Surah al -Khal and Surah al 00:01:21.230 --> 00:01:24.069 -Hafd. These are short prayers that sound very 00:01:24.069 --> 00:01:27.510 much like Quranic chapters. Suyuti tells us that 00:01:27.510 --> 00:01:30.010 these two surahs were written in the codex of 00:01:30.010 --> 00:01:33.329 Ubay ibn Kab, that they began with phrases like, 00:01:33.629 --> 00:01:37.430 O Allah, we seek your help, and O Allah, we worship 00:01:37.430 --> 00:01:40.430 you. He also says that these surahs were found 00:01:40.430 --> 00:01:43.510 in the codex of Ibn Abbas and were read by Abu 00:01:43.510 --> 00:01:47.530 Musa as well. That is Al -Itqan fi Ulum al -Quran, 00:01:47.810 --> 00:01:53.379 pages 152 to 154. Yet these two surahs are not 00:01:53.379 --> 00:01:56.239 part of the Uthmanic codex that Muslims use today. 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:59.319 So here is the tension. If the current Quran 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:02.659 of today, based on Zayd ibn Thabit's redacted 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:06.200 codex, is complete and perfectly preserved, then 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:09.580 by definition, those two extra surahs in Ubayy's 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:13.439 collection must not be genuine revelation. At 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:16.400 the same time, modern Muslims also believe the 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.689 Quran's own challenge about its uniqueness. In 00:02:19.689 --> 00:02:22.909 Quran chapter 2 verse 23, in the translation 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:26.069 of Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, it says, And 00:02:26.069 --> 00:02:28.189 if you are in doubt concerning that which we 00:02:28.189 --> 00:02:31.590 reveal unto our slave, meaning Muhammad, then 00:02:31.590 --> 00:02:34.710 produce a surah of the like thereof, and call 00:02:34.710 --> 00:02:37.889 your witnesses besides Allah, if you are truthful. 00:02:38.229 --> 00:02:41.710 That is Surah Al -Baqarah, chapter 2, verse 23, 00:02:42.069 --> 00:02:45.419 as translated by Pickthall. The idea is that 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:47.960 no one can produce a chapter equal to the Qur 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.900 'an in style and substance. Now put those pieces 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:54.699 together. Ubay ibn Kab, the man whom the hadith 00:02:54.699 --> 00:02:57.680 calls the best reciter of the Qur 'an, believed 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.080 that there were two surahs which he treated as 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.419 Qur 'an, which are not in Zayd's codex and not 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:06.419 in the modern Mushaf. If those two surahs really 00:03:06.419 --> 00:03:09.340 were genuine revelation, then the current Qur 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:12.610 'an is incomplete. Because it is missing chapters 00:03:12.610 --> 00:03:15.789 that God actually sent down that would destroy 00:03:15.789 --> 00:03:18.909 the claim of completeness and perfect preservation 00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:22.289 But if those two surahs were not genuine revelation 00:03:22.289 --> 00:03:25.870 then what follows it means that prayers which 00:03:25.870 --> 00:03:29.009 were written in Quranic style preserved in respected 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:32.310 codices and Accepted as Quran by the greatest 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:35.789 reciter among the companions were in fact human 00:03:35.789 --> 00:03:39.500 compositions in that case Someone did produce 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:42.099 surahs that were close enough to Quranic quality 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:45.259 to convince the very expert whom the Prophet 00:03:45.259 --> 00:03:48.439 himself singled out as the best reader. That 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:51.439 undercuts the Quran's own challenge that no one 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:54.159 can produce anything like it. So from either 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:56.960 direction there is a problem. If Ubay was right 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.599 about those two surahs, then the modern Quran 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.860 is incomplete. If Ubay was wrong about those 00:04:02.860 --> 00:04:05.599 two surahs, then the Quran's claim in chapter 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:09.099 2 verse 23 about the impossibility of imitating 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:12.500 a surah is seriously weakened, because the best 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:15.180 reciter in the early community could not tell 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:18.480 the difference. And remember, Ubay was not some 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.759 uneducated villager. The hadith and early histories 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.819 consistently describe him as a foremost expert 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:28.379 on the content and recitation of the Quran. Ibn 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:30.860 Usad calls him the best reader among the people. 00:04:31.269 --> 00:04:34.529 Suyuti records extra surahs tied to his text. 00:04:34.790 --> 00:04:38.089 Umar acknowledges that he was the best in recitation, 00:04:38.350 --> 00:04:40.850 even while admitting that the community chose 00:04:40.850 --> 00:04:44.089 to leave aside some of what he recited. So the 00:04:44.089 --> 00:04:47.189 dilemma is sharp. If you insist that the current 00:04:47.189 --> 00:04:50.670 Zayd Uthman text is absolutely complete, then 00:04:50.670 --> 00:04:53.089 you must say that the master of the readers, 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:57.129 Ubay ibn Kab, was deeply mistaken about what 00:04:57.129 --> 00:05:00.250 counted as Quran. But if someone of his caliber 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:03.269 could be mistaken, then the criterion for recognizing 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:06.430 a true surah is not as clear and supernatural 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:09.889 as many Muslims claim. On the other hand, if 00:05:09.889 --> 00:05:12.990 you honor Ubay's testimony and treat his extra 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.310 surahs as genuine, then you must admit that the 00:05:16.310 --> 00:05:19.389 modern Quran is missing inspired material and 00:05:19.389 --> 00:05:22.389 is therefore not complete. That is why I call 00:05:22.389 --> 00:05:26.009 this section, Complete or Inspired, You Cannot 00:05:26.009 --> 00:05:28.949 Consistently Have Both. in the way the popular 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:32.209 Muslim narrative states it. The historical evidence 00:05:32.209 --> 00:05:35.790 from Ubay's Codex forces you to choose. Either 00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:38.529 the book is complete and the greatest early expert 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:41.529 was wrong about its contents, or the greatest 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:44.769 early expert was right, and the book as we have 00:05:44.769 --> 00:05:48.470 it today is missing chapters and cannot honestly 00:05:48.470 --> 00:05:51.529 be described as perfectly preserved from the 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:54.230 time of Muhammad down to our own day.