AboutDrs. Kersten Expertise Islamic History Islamic Philosophy Contemporary Islamic Thought Jihad Doctrine Islam in Southeast Asia Sufism Mysticism Political Islam Islam in the Netherlands Progressive Muslims Moderate Muslims Contemporary Muslim Thinkers Islamic Studies Islamicists or Islamologists
Experience Tertiary educator and academic researcher. Contributing Author to a textbook on world religions (Linda Chisholm (ed.) VISIONS OF SERVICE. New York: IPS-L Press, 2004).
Degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies, as well as Southeast Asian Studies; Sworn translator of Arabic.
More than fifteen years experience as an expatriate studying, working and teaching in four countries on three different continents.
Academic and journalistic writings have appeared in learned journals, current affairs periodicals, and the news media in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
I was posed a difficult question by a friend today, and I did not wish to relay wrongful information. Although I have been taught that the Qur'an has never been changed since its original form from when it was revealed to mankind, I have never been given the facts and the truths behind it to confirm the validity of this concept.
How can we know that the Qur'an has not been altered in any way from the time it was revealed?
Answer This is a very difficult and contentious question, because the issue of the status of the Qur'an touches on the very core of Islamic teaching.
From a doctrinal point of view, and this is for the believers the most important, the position is that the Qur'an was indeed transmitted unchanged since its revelation. I will not address the other difficult question closely connected with the issue: whether the Qur'an is eternal or whether it was created. This is a matter that is even disputed among Muslims.
However, next to the doctrinal point of view there is the scholarly historical question: How can we know for certain that the Qur'an was transmitted unchanged? There is indeed no proof that this is the case. In fact there is evidence indicating that the text has undergone some change.
First of all there is the order of Suras in the Mushaf, which differs from the sequence of revelation. Secondly, even official Islamic history teaches that the Qur'an was not put into writing in its entirety until the time of the Fourth Righteous Caliph, Uthman, (644-656CE). Since we do not have any surviving Mushaf from the period we cannot even be sure about that.
In more recent years discoveries in Yemen of Mushafs which are not identical to the ones in circulation now, give an indication that the Qur'an text did not reach its final stage in the days of the Prophet or Companions, but only in a later stage in history
However, be aware that I am talking about the Qur'an text, not the message it contains.
I realize this answer may not be entirely satisfactory to you, and from a believer's point of view even offensive. But I am giving you this information from the position of an academic scholar of Islam.
