Preservation of the Holy Qur’an

Whilst explaining the following verse of Sura Al-A‘la:

سَنُقْرِئُكَ‭ ‬فَلَا‭ ‬تَنْسٰى‬‬

“We shall teach thee [the Quran], and thou shalt forget [it] not.” [Ch.87: V.7]

Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) states:

“The meaning of this verse is ‘We shall teach you the Quran, which you shall not forget till the Day of Judgment and this will continue to remain in the same form as it is today.’ This claim is testified by even the staunchest opponents of Islam who openly accept that the Holy Quran has remained preserved in the exact same form as it was first presented by the Holy Prophet (sa).

“[Theodore] Nöldeke, Sprenger and William Muir have all acknowledged in their books that apart from the Holy Quran they cannot categorically and definitely say this about any other scripture that it exists in the same form today as the founder of its religion had originally presented it. It is only the Holy Quran regarding which it can be conclusively said that it exists in the exact same form today as it was first presented by the Holy Prophet (sa) to his companions. Since they do not believe that the Holy Quran is a book revealed by God Almighty as they claim that it was written by the Holy Prophet (sa) himself, therefore they do not say that it remains preserved in the exact same form as it was revealed, but nonetheless, they do say that this book remains in the exact form as it was first presented by Muhammad (sa). For example, Sir William Muir writes in his book, The Koran, that all the various proofs grant assurance to one’s heart that the Quran which we read today is exactly the same, word-for-word, which the Prophet (sa) would recite to the people.

Sir William Muir then further writes in his book, Life of Mahomet [sic]:

“‘What we have, though possibly created and modified by himself, is still his own’.

“Similarly, he further writes:

“‘We may upon the strongest presumption affirm that every verse in the Quran is genuine and unaltered.’

“Then, Nöldeke, who is a German orientalist, writes:

“‘Slight clerical errors there may have been, but the Koran [sic] of Othman [sic] contains none but genuine elements, though sometimes in a very strange order. Efforts of European scholars to prove the existence of later interpolations in the Koran [sic] have failed.’

“In short, even the European writers have acknowledged that there is absolutely no doubt with regard to the physical preservation of the Holy Quran. In fact, it is word for word and letter for letter, the exact same book as Muhammad (sa) recited before the people.”

(Tafsir-e-Kabir, Vol. 9, pp. 421-422)