WEBVTT

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So now that we have been talking about different

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codices and extra surahs, there is another issue

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we have to look at honestly. When Muslims say

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the Quran is one book, do they all even read

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exactly the same Arabic text? Or are there recognized

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differences right inside the tradition? Let me

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start with a very striking story from the life

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of Umar ibn al -Khattab. Imagine this situation.

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Umar is in the mosque. He hears another companion

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reciting the Quran. in a way he has never heard

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before. Not just a different voice or rhythm,

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but different wording. His reaction is so intense

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that he almost attacks the man during prayer.

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This is recorded in Sahih al -Bukhari, Volume

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6, in the section on the virtues of the Quran.

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In Sahih al -Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 61, Hadith

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514, it says the following. Narrated Umar ibn

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al -Khattab. I heard Hisham ibn Hakim reciting

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Surah Al -Furqan during the life of the Messenger

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of Allah. I listened to his recitation and noticed

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that he recited in several ways that the Messenger

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of Allah had not taught me. I was about to jump

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on him while he was praying, but I controlled

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myself until he finished. When he completed his

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prayer, I took hold of him by his cloak and pulled

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him and said, Who taught you this Surah which

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I heard you reciting? He replied, The Messenger

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of Allah taught it to me. I said, You have spoken

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falsely, for the Messenger of Allah taught it

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to me in a different way. Then I dragged him

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to the Messenger of Allah and said, I heard this

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man reciting Surah Al -Furqan in a way that you

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did not teach me. The Prophet said, Release him,

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O Umar. Then he said to Hisham, Recite, O Hisham.

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So he recited in the way I had heard him. The

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Prophet said, It was revealed in this way. Then

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he said, So I recited in the way he had taught

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me. The Prophet said, It was revealed in this

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way. This Quran has been revealed to be recited

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in seven different ways. So recite from it whatever

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is easier for you. That is Sahih al -Bukhari,

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Volume 6, Book 61, Hadith 514. So what do we

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learn from that? First, Umar and Hisham were

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both Qurayshi Arabs, from the same tribe as Muhammad.

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speaking the same general dialect. Second, their

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differences were not just trivial. Umar considered

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them serious enough that he was ready to accuse

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Hisham of error and even lie. Third, Muhammad

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settled the dispute by saying that the Quran

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was revealed in seven different ways and that

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both forms of recitation were acceptable. This

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idea of seven ways, often called the seven Ahruf,

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appears again in another hadith. In Sahih al

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-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 61, Hadith 513. There

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is a report from Abdullah ibn Abbas. It says,

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Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas. The Messenger of

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Allah said, Gabriel recited the Quran to me in

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one way. I asked him to read it in another way,

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and he did. I continued asking him, and he recited

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it in several ways, until he finally recited

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it in seven different ways. That is Sahih al

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-Bukhari, Volume 6. Book 61, Hadith 513. So at

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this point you might ask, are those seven ways

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simply different tribal dialects? Many modern

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Muslims say yes, but that explanation runs into

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problems. For one thing, as I just mentioned,

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both Umar and Hisham were Quraishi. They were

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not from different tribes with radically different

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dialects. And for another thing, we saw earlier

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that in Sahih al -Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 61,

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Hadith 510 When Uthman set up the standardization

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committee, he told the three Qurayshi men working

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with Zayd ibn Thabit, If you disagree with Zayd

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on any point in the Qur 'an, then write it in

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the dialect of Quraysh, because the Qur 'an was

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revealed in their tongue. So if the Qur 'an was

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revealed in the tongue of Quraysh and both of

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these men were Qurayshi, then the differences

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Umar heard were not just regional dialect issues.

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They appear to be alternative wordings within

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the same general dialect. Now, fast forward a

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few centuries. What did Muslim scholars do with

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this idea of multiple accepted readings? Around

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the 4th Islamic century, a scholar named Ibn

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Mujahid, who died in the year 324 after the Hijrah,

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tried to put some order on the chaos of different

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recitations. He formally recognized seven primary

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readings. each associated with a master reciter

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and a region. So seven were as follows. Nafi

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from Medina, Ibn Kathir from Mecca, Ibn Amir

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from Damascus, Abu Amr from Basra, and three

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from Kufa, Asim, Hamza, and Al -Qasai. Each of

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these readings then had students and transmitters

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who passed on slightly different versions. But

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Ibn Mujahid's seven became a kind of benchmark.

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Over time, however, Not all of those seven became

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equally popular. Two particular transmission

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lines became dominant in the Muslim world. One

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is the reading of Warsh, who transmitted the

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recitation of Nafi from Medina. The other is

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the reading of Hafs, who transmitted the recitation

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of Asim from Kufa. Today, most printed Qur 'ans

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in the world use the Hafs reading, especially

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in the Middle East and much of Asia. while the

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Warsh reading is more common in parts of North

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and West Africa. Scholars like Samuel Green,

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in his written work comparing the Hafs and Warsh

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transmissions, have documented that the differences

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between these approved readings are not simply

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matters of accent or melody. They include differences

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at the level of letters, differences in diacritical

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marks such as dots, and differences in vowels

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that affect the meaning of words. In some cases,

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the wording of a verse changes in a way that

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shifts nuance or even content. So let me bring

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this home with a question. If the Qur 'an was

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revealed in seven different ways, as the hadith

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in Sahih al -Bukhari says, and if early companions

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like Umar reacted strongly when they heard different

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wordings, and if later scholars like Ibn Mujahid

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had to standardize which readings were allowed,

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and if even among those standard readings like

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Hafs and Warsh, There are differences in letters

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and vowels that affect meaning. Then can we honestly

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say that there has always been one single uniform

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Arabic text of the Quran, identical in every

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detail across all times and places? The reality

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is that the history of the Quran's recitation

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and text is more complex than the simple slogan

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that many Muslims use today. The seven Aruf and

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the multiple Chirat show that variation and flexibility

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were built into the tradition from the beginning.

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Later efforts to narrow that variation to a few

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approved readings tell us that the early diversity

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was real enough to require control and limitation.

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For someone honestly investigating Islam's claim

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of a perfectly preserved and unchanging scripture,

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the hadith about seven different ways of reciting

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the Quran, the later history of the canonical

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readings, and the documented differences between

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them all need to be factored into the picture

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they show us that what muslims call the one quran

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has in fact existed in multiple accepted forms

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both in wording and in recitation from very early

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on