(THE 31 DIFFERENT ARABIC QUR’ANS)

Found and purchased in Middle Eastern Arab market places in the last 4 years

RASM DEFINED

Definition: The Arabic skeletal script

-          These are the letters without the diacritical marks (dots above and below the letters)

-          These are the letters without any vowelization

l   Fathah = ah

l   Dhammah = oo

l   Kasrah = ii

Samarkand Manuscript

An example of early RASM

Sana’a Manuscript

Notice: There are no diacritical marks, and no vowelization

(Early 8th century)

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF EARLY RASM

Note: In this text (The Topkap? Manuscript – 749 AD) you can see the beginnings of diacritical marks

‧                They have been pencilled in red

‧                Thus, they could have been added at a later date

AN EARLY SHI’ITE RASM

Notice: Ali’s Qur’an (according to Tradition)

‧                Still with no diacritical marks

So, why were diacritical marks and vowels needed? Let us see…

28 Arabic letters without dots in the 7th century

The 6 Unique Arabic letters

‧                Of the 28 consonantal letters, 6 are unique letters

‧                The other 22 need dots to distinguish them

Take for example a smiley face:

‧                Add a dot above, and it becomes a ‘nuun’

‧                Add two dots above, and it becomes a ‘taa’

‧                Add three dots above, and it becomes a ‘thaa’

Now take that same smiley face:

‧                Add a dot below, and it becomes a ‘baa’

‧                Add two dots below, and it becomes a ‘yaa’

Now when we put them all together…

‧                ‘nuun’

‧                ‘taa’

‧                ‘thaa’

‧                ‘baa’

‧                ‘yaa’

You can get five different letters with the same smiley face, depending on how many of the five dots you use (and where)!

What about in a simple word?

‧                If we use the same 3 smiley faces, connected together: (???)

‧                When we add dots and vowels above and below the line, we can produce 19 different words!

Note: 19 different words! 

‧                So, if these dots change the meanings of the words, then they also change the meanings of the sentences

‧                which can affect the subsequent theology as well…

‧                Thus, the diacritical marks and vowels are absolutely IMPORTANT!

THE VARIANT QUR’ANS

Taken from Hatun’s 31 Qur’ans

Hatun’s graph

Counted variants of just 23 Qur’ans

Note the authors, the dates, & the variant numbers

‧       Each of the authors wrote their Qur’ans in the 8th and the 9th centuries

‧       ’Hafs’ was created in the 9th century

‧       The others had thousands of variants, from that of ‘Hafs’

‧       So, why was ‘Hafs’ chosen over the other 30 – 36?

Readers & Transmitters vs HAFS

THE VARIANT VERSES

59,766 taken from Hatun’s 31 Qur’ans

Sura1:4*

Sura 2:10*

Significance: Are they doomed because they lie, or because they accuse others of lying?

Sura 2:58

Significance: Who forgives sin? Is it ‘we’ [god?], or are they arbitrarily forgiven?

Sura 2:140

Significance: Who knows better than Allah, you or the others?

*Hafs: ‘you’ is plural

Sura 2:219

Significance: So, is drinking wine and gambling a great sin, or plenty of sin?

* Is it something which is big, or something which is much?

Sura 2:271*

Significance: Does Allah remove our misdeeds, or do we remove our misdeeds?

* Can we (either this is Allah plural, or humans) do what is reserved for Allah alone?

Sura 3:37

Significance: Did Allah put Zachariya in charge of Mary, or did Zachariya take charge himself? * Is the action here done by Allah, or by Zachariya?

Sura 3:79

Significance: Do believers TEACH THE BOOK, or do they simply KNOW THE BOOK?

* Many people can KNOW a book, but are not capable of TEACHING it.

Sura 3:83

Significance: Up to now the verses are all using THEY, but Warsh changes it to YOU?

* Is this a PLURAL form or a 2nd MASCULINE SINGULAR form – who seeks & returns?

Sura 3:146*

Significance: Did the Prophets simply FIGHT, or were they KILLED?

* If I were a prophet, I would rather FIGHT, than be KILLED, as the former survives.

Sura 6:115*

Significance: Is the WORD of God fulfilled, or the WORDS of God fulfilled?

*The singular Hafs WORD doesn’t agree with the plural form in the 2nd sentence!

Sura 7:57*

Significance: Does the wind BEAR GOOD NEWS, or does it SCATTER rain clouds?

* It seems the wind has two completely different functions here?

Sura 7:144

Significance: Does Moses have MANY MESSAGES from Allah, or just ONE MESSAGE?

* Problem of confusing the plural and singular tenses.

Sura 7:161

Significance: Does Allah FORGIVE OUR SINS, or ARE THEY AUTOMATICALLY FORGIVEN?

* Who forgives sins, Allah or another source?

Sura 9:66*

Significance: Will the hypocrites be forgiven & punished or were they forgiven?

*It looks like a student completely changed the tense later on, suggesting later tampering.

Sura 10:2*

Significance: Is revelation to a man the work of a magician, or a work of magic?

*There’s a confusion concerning whether it is a man or an action happening here.

Sura 18:36*

Problem: Will the companion find a better place or a place better than two others?

* Who are the two others (in Warsh) of whom he will be better?

Sura 37:130

Significance: Does only Elias or his whole family get blessed?

*I am sure his family would like to know, would not you?

Sura 38:45*

Problem: Are there 3 listed slaves of Allah, or just one?

* I am afraid Al Bazzi does not know how to count.

Sura 43:19*

Problem-1: Are the angels slaves of Allah, or simply in the presence of Allah?

Problem-2: Is it the slaves, or those in Allah’s presence, who will be made females?

*If I were an angel, I would prefer being in God’s presence, than his slave.

*If I were an angel, I would prefer if only the slaves were made females thank-you.

Sura 46:15*

Problem: Are men supposed to do good or be beautiful to their parents?

*As a parent, I would prefer my son to be good, rather than be good looking.

Sura 47:4

Significance: Are we rewarded for being killed, or simply fighting?

*Given the choice I would prefer simply fighting to being killed!

Sura 49:6*

Problem: Do we verify a bad person’s news, or stand firm?

*Verifying news is more practical than just standing still and doing nothing.

Sura 98:6*

Problem: Are we Christians the worst creatures, or are we innocent?

*What are innocent Christians, Jews, and polytheists doing in hell?

Conclusions:

Hatun has found 31 out of 37 possible Qira’at collections

‧            She has located 59,766 differences between just 23 of these collections

‧            Many of these differences not only change the text, but in some cases even change the theology, so they are not trivial, as Muslims like to contend

‧            The one finally chosen in 1924 (the Hafs) was created 144 years after Uthman

‧            Do not these roughly 60,000 differences suggest massive human interventions?

‧            Yet, these are not the only variants…there are even more damaging Consonantal variants, which we will now look at

 بيت