Below is the original article that was published in MuslimSG at here.
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By Muhammad Haniff Hassan
We are on the cusp of Ramadan. It is very timely for Muslims to reflect on the Qur’an as an important pillar of their faith. Ramadan is deeply connected to the Qur’an because, “It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false.” (The Qur’an, 2:185).
In this regard, Muslims are encouraged to continuously seek knowledge to underpin their strong conviction in their faith. Only through curiosity and the active search for knowledge can we instill in ourselves the definitive belief that the Qur’an carries the words of Allah ta’ala revealed to Prophet Muhammad to guide mankind on how to live life in this world as He will.
In this context, our search for knowledge must encompass rational argument and rigourous scientific academic studies, not simply limited to a few verses of the Qur’an. Given the current highly complex, interconnected globalised environment, Muslims, especially the youths must grapple with highly nuanced challenges and contestation to their belief system that cannot be addressed by simply deploying theological arguments, such as:
- How can one be sure that the Qur’an is indeed the words of God?
- How can one be sure that the Qur’an today represents the same Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad 1500 years ago? Is this logical or rational?
Fortunately, the Qur’an has been a focus of academic studies for centuries with rich academic studies that support Muslims’ belief in the Qur’an. This article highlights several excellent studies with the hope that they may strengthen Muslims’ faith in the Qur’an that contributes more clarity in our conviction of Islam.
· The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments[1]
This book was authored by the late Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa Al-`Azami, a scholar with a PhD on hadith studies from University of Cambridge.[2] His book, Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature[3] and On Schacht’s Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence[4] are regarded as a seminal contribution to the academic study of religions.
Al-`Azami’s body of work thoroughly refutes Orientalist scholars like Joseph Schacht, who questions the authenticity of hadiths being attributed to the Prophet (pbuh) and challenges the validity of hadiths as the second source of Islam, after the Qur’an.
In The History of the Qur’anic Text, Al-`Azami sought to prove that the Qur’an in the Muslims’ hand today is the authentic copy of what was revealed to the Prophet (pbuh) and was preserved from corruption and changes as promised by Allah ta`ala.[5] Al-`Azami demonstrated this through an extensive historical study of the Qur’an from its revelation, to compilation period, and its distribution from the past up to the current contemporary time. Utilising his expertise in hadith studies, the author proved that the Qur’an is preserved via sanad system developed by hadith scholars. The author also made comparison studies from various copies of the Qur’an kept in various museums and universities all over the world.
· Structure and Qur`anic Interpretation: A Study of Symmetry and Coherence in Islam’s Holy Text[6]
Raymond Farrin authored Structure and Qur`anic Interpretation: A Study of Symmetry and Coherence in Islam’s Holy Text. Farrin is a professor of Arabic in the the Department of Arabic and Foreign Languages at the American University of Kuwait. In this book, Farrin disproves the opinion of some Western scholars who claim that the Qur’an today cannot be the authentic copy from the Prophet’s period. They claim that it was notes about the Qur’an from individuals gathered together during the compilation period. The main argument of this view points to the random and unstructured character of the Qur’an.
Farrin, however, demonstrates that the Qur’an is, in fact, systematically written, organised and structured, although it is only obvious through a methodological study. Based on the structure that the author reconstructed in the book, he concluded that it is impossible for the Qur’an to originate from compilation of works from different individuals.
Farrin concludes that the Qur’an’s unique, coherent, and consistent structure could only mean that it comes from one single source who is very wise and intelligent. However, Farrin abstains from making conclusion if that single source is the Prophet or God and leaves the issue for Muslim scholars.
· The Collection of the Qur’an: A Reconsideration of Western Views in Light of Recent Methodological Development[7]
The late Harald Motzki, was a prominent internationally acclaimed professor in hadith studies in Nijmegen University (Radboud Universitet Nijmegen) in the Netherlands. The German-trained Islamic scholar is known for his work on the transmission of hadith. He authored an article titled The Collection of the Qur’an: A Reconsideration of Western Views in Light of Recent Methodological Development.
In this article, Motzki rejected the Orientalists’ claim that the Qur’an’s copy in Muslims hand cannot be authentic from the original revelation to the Prophet because it was compiled long after the Prophet’s death and the history and hadith reports about the compilation too cannot ascertained its link with the Prophet’s period. They claim that actual existence of the Qur’an’s copy was traced to the period much later than the claim made by Muslim scholars – the period of `Uthman, the third caliph after the Prophet, who recompiled and standardised the Qur’an’s copy known as the mushaf `Uthmani (the `Uthman copy) from which subsequent Qur’an copies were based on till contemporary period. Thus, the argument they put forth was that the Qur’an is a book written or fabricated by various parties such as rulers and clerics in later periods for various interests.
In his article, Motzki concluded that the basis of this claim itself is problematic. He offered arguments that the Qur’an’s existence could be traced to the early period of Islam supporting the Muslim scholars’ claim.[8]
· Forgotten Witness: Evidence for the Early Codification of the Qur’an[9]
Motzki’s findings are further reinforced in another article written by the late Estelle Whelan titled, Forgotten Witness: Evidence for the Early Codification of the Qur’an.
Whelan concluded, “The different types of evidence cited here all thus lead to the conclusion that the Muslim tradition is reliable, at least in the broad outline, in attributing the first codification of the Qur’anic text to Uthman and his appointed commission. The Qur’an was available to his successors as an instrument to help weld the diverse peoples of the rapidly expanding empire into relatively unified polity.”[10]
Many scholars who make comparative studies of different qira’at and manuscripts of the old Qur’an view that the high consistency between qira’at and the texts found in the Qur’anic copies proves that the Qur’an is preserved from the early period via oral tradition and written copies.
· The Value of the Hafs and Warsh Transmissions for the Textual History of the Qur’an[11]
Adrian Brockett, in a book chapter titled The Value of the Hafs and Warsh Transmissions for the Textual History of the Qur’an, argues,
“…if the Qur’an has been transmitted only orally for the first century, sizeable variations between texts such as seen in the hadith and pre-Islamic poetry would be found, and of it had been transmitted only in writing, sizeable variations such as in the different transmission of the original document of the Constitution of Medina would be found. But neither is the case with the Qur’an. There must have been a parallel written transmission limiting variation in the oral transmission to the graphic form, side by side with a parallel oral transmission preserving the written transmission from corruption.”[12]
· Investigation on the Author’s Style and the Authenticity of the Holy Qur’an[13]
Halim Sayoud is a Professor of Electronics Engineering in the Department of Electronics & Computer Science at the USTHB University, Algeria. He authored a book titled Investigation on the Author’s Style and the Authenticity of the Holy Qur’an.
Sayoud attempts to prove that the Qur’an is indeed the words of God revealed to the Prophet (pbuh) and not written by him – which is a belief held by all Muslims. The author makes comparative analysis between texts sampled from the Qur’an and hadith in recognised hadith compilation books. Sayoud used a method known as stylometry with the help of computer and artificial intelligence technology. Stylometry analyses similarities in style and language. Stylometry is often used to attribute authorship to anonymous or disputed documents.[14] From the experiments, Sayoud concluded that the language and style of Qur’anic verses are distinct from the language and style found in hadiths. Thus, it is impossible that both come from the same source i.e., the Prophet. To further prove his conclusion, the author points to various samples of Qur’anic verses that contain scientific facts discovered only in modern time and therefore impossible to be known by people during the revelation period because of the absence of technology i.e., the development of foetus in woman’s womb and the expansion of universe.
· The Bible, the Qur’an and Science[15]
The consistency of the Qur’an with modern science can also be found in two earlier works by Maurice Bucaille in his book titled, The Bible, The Qur’an and Science as well as Gary Miller’s book titled, The Amazing Qur’an.
Bucaille was a French doctor and a specialist in the field of gastroenterology who was appointed as the family physician of Faisal of Saudi Arabia in 1973. His book, The Bible, The Qur’an and Science, contained multiple references to the Qur’an, relating science and Qur’an in which Bucaille concluded that the Qur’an is a divine revelation and that it was not written by any man.[16] Bucaille’s book gave rise to a movement called Bucailleism, which tries to relate modern science with religion, especially Islam.[17]
· The Amazing Qur’an[18]
Gary Miller’s contribution to the study of Qur’an and science is articulated in his book titled, The Amazing Qur’an. Miller is a Canadian mathematician and a theologian who concluded that no author in the world has the courage of writing a book free of errors, but the Qur’an says, on the contrary that it has no error and also challenges you to find the errors. Miller provides a fascinating study on various topics found in the Qur’an such as miraculous nature of bees, the exactness of time zones, and many more interesting facts found in the Qur’an, now backed by modern science.
Conclusion
These books written by various scholars from diverse backgrounds, expertise and worldviews reinforces the undeniable truth that the Qur’an is the true word of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We have come to understand that the Qur’an today can be traced to the master copies compiled by Caliph `Uthman and known as mushaf `Uthmani. The rigourous and meticulous academic study ranging from comparative analysis to stylometry calculations clearly show that the Qur’an was not written by Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime of by individuals after his death. The Qur’an has complex structure and unique features are beyond the capability of humans during its period of revelation.
This is an invitation to deepen our appreciation of the pure and infinite wisdom in the Qur’an. It is hoped that Muslims can take the opportunity in the coming holy month of Ramadan to read some of the studies mentioned above as part of their personal endeavour to enliven the blessed month. (The studies are also accessible online via links provided in the footnote
[1]See Muhammad Mustafa Al-`Azami (2010), The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments, London: Turath Publishing, at https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryOfTheQuranicTextFromRevelationToCompilationDr.M.M.AlAzami (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[2]See Mohammad Najeeb Qasmi (2015), “Muhammad Mustafa Al-`Azami & His Contributions to Hadith”, IlmGate, 1 Oktober, di https://www.ilmgate.org/mawlana-muhammad-mustafa-azami/ (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[3]See Muhammad Mustafa Al-`Azami (2002), Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, at https://archive.org/details/StudiesInHadithMethodologyAndLiteratureByShaykhMuhammadMustafa (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[4]See Muhammad Mustafa Al-`Azami (2004), On Schacht’s Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, Lahore: Suhail Academy, at https://ia804705.us.archive.org/17/items/OnSchachtsOriginsOfMuhammadanJurisprudenceByM.M.Azami/On_Schachts_Origins_of_Muhammadan_Jurisprudence.pdf (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[5]See the Qur’an, 15:9.
[6]Raymond Farrin (2014), Structure and Qur`anic Interpretation: A Study of Symmetry and Coherence in Islam’s Holy Text, Oregon: White Cloud Press, at https://archive.org/details/structure-and-quranic-interpretation-a-study-of-symmetry-and-coherence-in-islams-holy-text-1 (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[7]Harald Motzki (2001), “The Collection of the Qur’an: A Reconsideration of Western Views in Light of Recent Methodological Development”, Der Islam, pp. 1-34, at https://www.academia.edu/14756861/_The_Collection_of_the_Quran_A_Reconsideration_of_Western_Views_in_Light_of_Recent_Methodological_Developments_in_Der_Islam_78_2001_1_34 (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[9]Estelle Whelan (1998), “Forgotten Witness: Evidence for the Early Codification of the Qur’an”, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Jan-Mar, 118:1, at https://islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/articles/Whelan-1997-Forgotten-Witness-Evidence-Early-Codification-Quran.pdf (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[10]Ibid., p. 13,
[11]Adrian Brockett (1988), “The Value of the Hafs and Warsh Transmissions for the Textual History of the Qur’an”, Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an, edited by Andrew Rippin, Oxford: Clarendon Press, at https://archive.org/details/241186042rippinapproachestothehistoryoftheinterpretationofthequranpdf (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[12]Ibid., p. 44,
[13]See Halim Sayoud (2021), Investigation on the Author’s Style and the Authenticity of the Holy Quran, T.tpt: EDT-Scholarpage, di http://sayoud.net/Book_Quran_Authenticity_New.pdf (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[14]See “Stylometry”, Cambridge Dictionary online, at https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stylometry (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[15]See Maurrice Bucaille (2021), The Bible, the Quran and Science, Kuala Lumpur: Dar al Wahi, at https://www.islamicstudies.info/literature/bible-quran-science.pdf (accessed on 23 January 2024); (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[16]Why I embraced Islam (no date), The Islamic Bulletin Newsletter, issue no. 6, pp. 8-10, at https://islamicbulletin.org/en/newsletters/IB_6/8-9/ (accessed on 23 January 2024); The story of Maurice Bucaille’s inspiring conversion to Islam (2013), Arab News, 1 March, at https://www.arabnews.com/news/443500 (accessed on 23 January 2024).
[17]Ziauddin Sardar (1997). “Islamic Science, the contemporary debate”, Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, Dordrecht: Kluwer Publishing, p. 456.
[18]Gary Miller (1994), The Amazing Quran, Jeddah: Abul-Qasim Publishing House, at https://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_The_Amazing_Quran.pdf (accessed on 23 January 2024).
