Hafs Warsh 10 Qurans

abrar

Do not read it with any prejudice but read it objectively. I have no intention to offend anyone nor to incite any hatred against anyone. It is my intention to point out the difficulties being faced by those researching Quran?s authenticity.

A comparative analysis of the Warsh, Hafs and progressive muslim Qurans.
I have carried out an extensive research on the subject matter of Quranic versions and textual styles. I have come to the conclusion that The Almighty has protected the Quran from abrogation. Progressive muslims approach of using intellectual goodness of classical Arabic to present the blend of 10 Qurans (historical copies like Tashkent and Gold Qurans cannot be used as absolute standards for comparison as any history expert always doubts the absolute credibility of historical sources as we cannot confirm the intentions of those behind historical sources simply because it is the source with which we are figuring out about them. Hadees were rejected by truth seekers due the same reason.) in their progressive translations is producing no visible enlightenment but ironically it is doing just the opposite. i.e. planting the seeds of doubts and skepticism in the minds of readers about the authenticity of the Quran. Most readers are not experts of classical Arabic so they cannot appreciate this matter in a scholarly way. They may get encouraged to explore the subject of divine authenticity by researching code 19 extensively which is being encouraged by progressive muslims in their latest translation of Quran available for download on this website (free minds). Any well informed mathematician or reader who has experimented with number puzzle games, number series and number patterns would not even care about researching code 19 extensively because they are well aware of mathematical juggling skills which can prove to be amusing. Whole number multiples of prime number 19 which is central to code 19 mathematical games can prove to be convincing to a person not well informed about whole numbers, real numbers, rational numbers, and irrational numbers.
I found the following points to be most useful to illustrate my idea.
You can't prove or disprove verses in a Scripture through mathematical equations. The Almighty never mentioned anything about the number 19 being a "Miraculous Number". So what? He decided to put 19 guards or angels on the gates of hell;
What in the world does this have to do with the quantity of the Verses of Quran and their validity?! Each one of Angels is assigned a fixed number doesn't make the prime number 19 miraculous! It means that each one of them is assigned what we call today a "head count".
Where we will end up if we begin to attach special mystical meanings to numbers as a basis for believing in the Quran.
How about the number 4? Did you know that the words "Allah", "Muhammad", "Jesus", and "Moses" are written in 4 letters in Arabic? "Allah" is written as "A L L H". "Muhammad" is written as "M H M D". "Jesus" is written as "E E S A". "Moses" is written as "M O S A". How about making the number 4 as a miraculous number in and remove all of the verses in Quran in which reference number is not a multiple of 4?
Allah Almighty never said that the number "19" is the number that the Quran is based on. This is nothing miraculous but a number pattern that can be figured out by anyone expert in numerical mathematics and having some know how about computer programming and also statistical analysis.

Further, it is significant to note that main argument of code 19 claimers relies on computer which they use as an instrument of unraveling the Quran?s mathematical code, as perceived by them. They have also distorted a verse of the quran.
?And when the punishment has been deserved by them, We will bring out for them a creature from the Earth, it will speak to them that the people have been unaware regarding Our revelations?Chapter 27 verse 82 ?the message? by progressive muslims.
Code 19 claimers translate this verse as
?At the right time, we will produce for them a creature, made of earthly materials, declaring that the people are not certain about our revelations.?
They interpret computer as a creature of God made up of earthly materials, silicon chips manufactured by humans. This is in contradiction with the following verse of Quran,
? O mankind, an example is being cited so listen to it those you call upon besides God will not create a fly even if they all gathered to do so. And if the fly takes anything from them, they will not be able to return it from him. Weak is both the seeker and the sought! ? chapter 22 verse 73 ?the message? by progressive muslims.

The task of creating living creature is the sole task of the Almighty and even if whole humanity combine their efforts they cannot ?create? living creature out of dead materials.

I can write more to illustrate this concept but is it of any use to discuss on such an unscholarly matter? You can have fun if you learn number tricks of mathematics and surprise people by telling them their chosen number in their heads! You must have heard about magic number guessing tricks by high school students. It is really fun! Here is a trick for amusement

The person has to do all calculations secretly in his head without telling you.

Ask a person to choose a numerical value of money in his head but not tell you.
Tell him to add similar amount of money of a friend in his chosen value of money.
Tell him to add your own any chosen value of money e.g 20 to the value he reaches after step 2.
Tell him to give half of the sum to charity.
Tell him to return the money value of his friend because he had a fight with him.
Surprise him by revealing that the amount left is 10( secret It has always got to be the half of the value you tell him to add in step 3)

Example He chooses 30 in step 1.
He adds 30 to 30 and gets 60 in step 2.
He adds your 20 to 60 and gets 80 in step 3.
He gives half of 80 to charity and is left with 40 in step 4.
He returns the money i.e. of his friend and is left with 10 in step 5.

In step 6 you surprise him by your magic revealing 10 which has
always got to be half of the amount you told him to add in step 3.

You can try this simple trick by using decimals and other numbers so that it becomes increasingly difficult for someone to figure out the secret of your trick. So you notice the halving effect which can be really fun to amuse people not well aware of mathematics of numerical and their interesting effects. I know a lot more numerical tricks which I use even to impress mathematicians by surprise before they figure the secrets out finally. These are Juggling methods by simple mathematical operations like multiplication, subtraction, addition and division which deceive the mind into thinking its special but in reality it is based on simple mathematics, with which even a high school nerd could have fun with great ease. I wanted to give an outline of such 19 code fantasy world based on multiplying and dividing by 19.

I got carried away on code 19 discussion. I think that it was crucial to understanding the background of the progressive muslim translation which is questioning divine authenticity by pursuing with 10 Qurans. Brother Layth?s book titled ?which Quran? has provided a comparison between the two most prominent versions of Quran namely Hafs and Warsh. These matters seem to be the most important of all because authenticity is central to the path of God Alone. I would like to explain these matters in the light of my research.

Chapter 1 verse 4

?King of the Day of Judgment.? Progressive muslim translation of 14.

14 in Hafs version is read as ?MaAliki? (Master) / In Warsh it is ?Maliki? (King). Owner, King, possessor and master are the same concepts which only vary in their linguistic style and mean the same. A king is the owner and master of his kingdom. A possessor is a king of his dominion of possessions and also the master of his possessions. A master is the possessor of his possessions and is also the king of his dominion of his possessions. The God is the master of the day of judgment that means He is the possessor of that day. The God is the King of the day of judgment that means He is the master of the dominion of that day. Progressive muslim translation prefers to use Warsh ?Maliki?.
Even if they had used ?MaAliki? of Hafs they would not have undermined any information or meaning of the verse. They just made an unnecessary exaggeration which casts doubts on authenticity of the verse by stating that it is in the best essence of goodness of scripture. Why did they focus irrelevantly on a fact of no value? Do they want to use their intellectual goodness to work for preservation of a corrupted scripture by manipulating variations of harmless linguistic style? Why do they want to magnify such matters of no value in reality? Would it not have been better if they would have just stuck themselves with Hafs for convenience? It would not have been harmful even if they had stuck with warsh for convenience. But is it not harmful to focus on matters of no value at all for the sake of creating differences? Has the Almighty lost control of preserving the scripture ? How can progressive muslims prove that not a single verse is missing from current editions of Qurans ?

Chapter 2 verse 125

?And We have made the Sanctuary to be a model for the people and a security. And they took the model of Abraham to make the oath of allegiance. And We had entrusted to Abraham and Ishmael You shall purify My Sanctuary for those who visit, those who are devoted, and for those who kneel and prostrate.?Progressive muslim translation of 2125.

2125 in Hafs is ?WatakhIzu? (You take) / In Warsh it is?WatakhAzu? (They took). Progressive muslims have chosen warsh. If we stick with warsh in this case the Almighty is saying that pious people followed the model of Abraham to make the oath of alliance. If we stick with Hafs in this case the Almighty is saying that in order to be pious we must follow the model of Abraham which was the model of pious people. Now we must note that pious people share their qualities of being pious. So does it make a difference if we say that piousness is specific to the referred pious people only? Now this stress does not change any information , command, law or any concept or view. By stressing on such invisible so called defects don?t we exaggerate irrelevantly? It is obvious that the message of all prophets of the Almighty was the same. Why strive for so called intellectual excellence when it achieves nothing other than cast doubts on authenticity ?

Chapter 2 verse 140

?Or do you say that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Patriarchs were all Jewish or Nazarene?? Say ?Are you more knowledgeable or is God?? Who is more wicked than one who conceals a testimony with him from God? God is not unaware of what you do.? Progressive muslim translation of 2140.

2140 in Hafs is ?Taquluna? (You Say) / In Warsh it is ?Yaquluna?(They Say). Progressive muslims have chosen Hafs. In case of Hafs The Almighty is addressing Jews and Nazarenes directly ?You? by pointing them out on their misconceptions, so they are being addressed and referred. In case of Warsh The Almighty is addressing the Jews and Nazarenes by referring to them by ?they?. Does being ultra linguistic cause any change in reference, information and meaning ? Is it not irrelevant to get so concerned about such invisible differences ? What would you research by pointing out differences between ?you? and ?they? other than doubting authenticity? Does it really matter?

Chapter 2 verse 259

?Or the one who passed through a town, where all its inhabitants had passed away. He said ?How can God possibly resurrect this after its death?? So God put him to death for one hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said ?How long have you stayed here?? He said ?I have stayed here a day or part of a day.? He said ?No, you have stayed here for one hundred years! Look at your food and drink, they have not changed, but look at your donkey! And We will make you a sign for the people; and look at the bones how We grow them, then We cover them with flesh.? So when it was clear to him what happened, he said ?I now know that God is capable of all things!? 2259 progressive muslim translation.

2259 in Hafs ?NunshiZuh? (We grow them) / In Warsh it is?NunshiRuha? (We spread them). Progressive muslims have chosen Hafs. If you see the meaning of the word ?spread? in Microsoft Encarta 2005 dictionary tools it is ?to separate things by stretching or pulling, so that they become far apart? It is suitable to describe bones as being separated by stretching (growing) so that they become apart. Grow is more traditional way of saying but even ?spread? does not change information or meaning.

Chapter 3 verse 81

?And God took a covenant from the prophets ?For what I have given you of the Scripture and wisdom, then a messenger will come to you authenticating what is with you. You will believe in him and support him.? He said ?Do you testify, and agree to this burden??, they said ?We testify.? He said ?Then bear witness, and I am with you bearing witness.? 381 progressive muslims translation.

381 in Hafs is ?AtayTukum? (I have given) / In Warsh it is?AtayNakum? (We have given). Progressive muslims are with Hafs. It is important to note that The God refers to Himself by ?I? and ?We? throughout the Quran. If you have read old English literature you should realize that ?We? was used by people of high ranking to refer to themselves with high respect. It was a royal word for referring to oneself. In many languages throughout the world it is used as a royal word for personal reference. In Urdu/Hindi film Mughle Azam based on the life of famous Mughal Emperor Akbar the great (lived in 1556-1605 AD and ruled most of present day south Asia from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalayas to the Godavari River according to Microsoft Encarta 2005), character Akbar constantly uses ?Hum? meaning ?We? referring himself. Now this difference does not make any difference in any form to be worried about. It is just a linguistic style and no point of extra focus. We must not exaggerate or be fussy about unnecessary matters. Divine authenticity has been maintained and no one should try to disprove it by being extra conscious about harmless linguistic style.

Chapter 3 verse 144.

?And Mohammed is but a messenger, like many messengers that have passed before him. If he dies or is killed will you turn back on your heels? And whoever turns back on his heels, he will not harm God in the least. And God will reward the thankful.? 3144 progressive muslims translation.

3146 in Hafs is ?QAtala? (Fought) / In Warsh it is ?QUtila? ( Killed). Progressive muslims have chosen Hafs. Now if Muhammad is killed he would certainly die wouldn?t he? If Muhammad fought would anyone turn back on his heels? Future is unknown so would Muhammad know for sure that he wouldn?t get killed even if he fought? The God says in Chapter 46 verse 9 ?Say ?I am no different from the other messengers, nor do I know what will happen to me or to you. I only follow what is inspired to me. I am no more than a clear Warner? 469 progressive muslims translation.
What is the benefit of concentrating on difference in linguistic style?
Does differentiating reveal any new information, concept or thought provoking material?

Chapter 6 Verse 96

?Initiator of morning and Maker of the night to reside in; and the sun and the moon for counting. Such is the measure of the Noble, the Knowledgeable.? 696 progressive muslims translation.

Progressive muslims have chosen Warsh. In Hafs the Arabic word ?Jaala? means ?made? instead of "maker". The God is the maker of the night and has made the night to reside in. What difference does it make to stress on such kind of harmless variation in linguistic style? Is it enough to challenge divine authenticity? At other place it is mentioned ?And We made the night as a covering?? 7810 progressive muslims translation. Is it useful to argue on such trivial differences?

Chapter 7 Verse 57

?He is the One who sends the winds to be dispersed between His hands of mercy; so when it carries a heavy cloud, We drive it to a dead town, and We send down the water with it and We bring forth fruits of all kind. It is thus that We will bring out the dead, perhaps you will remember.? 757 progressive muslims translation.

757 in Hafs is ?Bushra? (Good News) / In Warsh it is ?Nushra? (To Disperse). Now if we read ?good news? then it fits well with the main message of the verse. Even if we read ?dispersed? it fits well with the mechanism of the winds. It is obvious that winds get ?dispersed?. The context, meaning and information does not change with harmless linguistic variation.

I have thoroughly studied other differences in writing format of classical Arabic of various Quranic versions, similar pattern of harmlessness is maintained. Sometimes there are omissions of letters like a letter ?Wa? meaning ?And? or letter ?Fa? meaning ?then?and other times there is a difference in dialects (Arabic language was developing at the time of revelation) and other lingual format differences which do not distort any meaning, concept, or information standard of Quran. To force oneself to deliberately find differences in meaning, concept, and information by any means possible such as striving for digital accuracy to an atomic scale without taking into account the nature of linguistic variation is a recipe for becoming proud of one?s value in compare to that of the divine in disguise of seeking divine pleasure.

Chapter 75 from Verse 16 to 19

?Do not move your tongue with it/Quran to make haste.
It is for Us to gather it/Quran and relate/read/recite it/Quran.
So when We relate/read/recite it/Quran, you shall follow its/Quran?s revelation.
Then it is for Us to clarify it/Quran.? Progressive muslims translation 7516-19.
The Arabic word for recited/related/read (past tense) is ?QuriA? in 8421 and the Arabic word for recite/relate/read (present tense) is ?Iqra? in 961.

In chapter 87 verse 6 to 7 The Almighty says ?We will convey/read/recite to you, so do not forget. Except for what God wills, He knows what is declared and what is hidden.? Progressive muslim translation.

Prophet Muhammad is being addressed in these verses. So it can be concluded that Whatever slight linguistic variation that occur are in line with the Divine inspiration. No chance for human abrogation.

We have noticed that there is no logical fallacy in either Hafs or Warsh. Divine authenticity is maintained with negligible variation in harmless linguistic style. What if someone spends a lifetime figuring out the words with digital accuracy and hoping that someday the scripture would finally become divinely authenticated through his and other?s conscious efforts? Is such an anxiety on a trivial matter justified? The enlighteners are certainly not going to reveal new information, concept or way of thinking by such techniques instead they are just going to waste precious time and waste other?s efforts as well. They cannot even prove for sure that all the verses of Quran are in pure form today without slightest deletion in the past 1400 years simply by their belief in essence of goodness of the scripture. We have to trust The God when He says in chapter 15 verse 9, ?Indeed it is We who have sent down the Reminder/Quran, and indeed it is We who will preserve/protect it.? 159 progressive muslims translation.
In Chapter 17 verse 88 The God says, ?Say ?If all the humans and the Jinn were to gather to bring a Quran like this, they could not come with its like, even if they were helping one another.? 1788 progressive muslims translation.
In Chapter 41 from verse 40 verse 45 the issue of Divine authenticity is being explained by The God Himself.
?Surely, those who distort Our revelations are not hidden from Us. Is one who is thrown into Hell better, or one who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection? Do whatever you wish; He is Seer of everything you do.? Verse 40
?Surely, those who have rejected the Reminder when it came to them; and it is an Honourable Scripture (Quran).? Verse 41
?No falsehood could enter it (Quran), presently or afterwards; a revelation (Quran) from a Most Wise, Praiseworthy.? Verse 42
?What is being said to you is the same that was said to the messengers before you. Your Lord has forgiveness, and a painful retribution.? Verse 43
?And had We made it a non-Arabic compilation, they would have said ?If only its verses were made clear!? Non-Arabic and Arabic, Say ?For those who believe, it is a guide and healing. As for those who disbelieve, there is a deafness in their ears, and they are blind to it. These will be called from a place far away.? Verse 44.
?And We have given Moses the Scripture, but it was disputed in. And had it not been for your Lord's predetermined decision, they would have been judged immediately. Indeed, they harbour many doubts about it.? Verse 45.
Progressive muslims translation 4140-45.

???And Say ?I believe in all that God has sent down from Scripture?.? 4215 progressive muslims translation.
?And those who debate about God, after they had been answered, their argument is nullified at their Lord. They have incurred a wrath, and will have a severe retribution.? 4216 progressive muslims translation.

We must note that The God Himself is giving answers about the debate in Quran. Those having scepticism for the sake of negligible cosmetic (done to make something seem better but having no real value, is the meaning of the term ?cosmetic? in Microsoft Encarta dictionary tools 2005) gains would not refrain from the debate of authenticity. The debate only helps in making an average truth seeker?s solid beliefs softer through misinterpretation of the subject of authenticity by hysterical approach of scholars who would even become critical on the difference between Arabic fonts if it does not sound ultra digitally accurate to them. Can these scholars digitalise everything by atomic accuracy? They use binary machine language of the computer as a methodology to test Quran?s authenticity instead of human linguistics. I think if Sunnis and Shiites are provided with such bizarre information then they would get more victimised by misinterpretation then they already are. These days the world is full of misinformation and misinterpretation. Why those ultra digital scholars want to concentrate on ways that makes matters worse for those average people who cannot evaluate their ultra digital research in a scholarly way? Are they trying to show who is slightly more smarter than the other? Have they become so blindly proud of their goodness that they want to find ways of helping The Almighty keep His promise of maintaining authenticity of the Quran? Code 19 and comparison of 10 Quranic versions has proven to be an appealing method of helping The Almighty fulfill His promise which only humans can achieve or else The Almighty would have trouble in keeping His promise of preserving the Quran. Surely The Almighty revealed the Quran 1400 years ago and will preserve it till the end of this world irrespective of anybody?s efforts to make it digitalised or distort it by abrogation. Whatever anybody does, it would not make any difference. Hysteric scholars confuse average people by distorting the linguistic meaning in the light of their digital conquest. Can anybody get worried about a digitally accurate value of square root of 2 or pi in circle geometry? They are irrational numbers and you may keep on calculating after the decimal point and keep on calculating with a super computer forever but you will never reach a really accurate answer to satisfy your goal of attaining exact digital accuracy without any logical round offs. I want to quote following Verses of Quran as a conclusion for my research.

?Whoever is guided is guided for himself, and whoever is misguided is for his own loss. And no person shall carry the load of another, and We were not to punish until We send a messenger.? Chapter 17 verse 15 progressive muslims translation.

?O you who believe, you are responsible for yourselves; none who are misguided can harm you if you are guided. To God is your return, all of you, and then He will inform you of what you have done.? Chapter 5 verse 108 progressive muslims translation.

Layth

Salam,

While I applaud all the efforts that went into this post, I must state that it is simply promoting a lets put our head in the sand approach.

That different writings of the Quran exist is a fact, that a different verse split exists is a fact...

A muslim builds his/her faith in God not by the ink on paper, but by the signs all around us in heavens and earth that are a testimony to God day and night.

What would Abrar rather have...A muslim who is unaware of textual variations and who has his faith shaken once confronted with these facts sooner or later, or, a Muslim who has studied and understood these differences and still beleives in the divinity of the Quran and believes that the Message is indeed protected and not the ink on paper that may be changed.

It is the Message (Al-Zikr) that God has pledged to preserve...Not the ink on paper.

Finally, your post has made a statement that this site encourages study/exploration of 19. While you may have an adversity to the issue of 19 as some people so, you should note that this site encourages the study of everything (texts, physical evidence, archeology, history, math, science, etc.) and is not limited to one aspect.

abrar

Dear Warner,
The theme of the article you have presented shows that some scholars have no scholarly knowledge of Quran. They are not aware of comprehensive comparisons between various versions of Quran. They have believed in overheard information about the diffrences in various versions of Quran. Quran has the highest standard of literary language in the world. It uses both literal and figurative style which may cause confusions for those who are not at home with linguistics. Such scholars and readers who have a tendency towards hopelessness want everything to seem obvious without pondering, reflection and appreciation.
In chapter 9 verse 11 the God says "If they repent, and they honour the oath of allegiance, and they contribute towards betterment, then they are your brothers in the system. We explain the revelations for a people who know."I cannot locate the verse number in which I remember the God is telling believers not to ask too many questions about Quran which would create trouble, the God makes any matter seem plain to anybody he pleases. It is best explained in chapter 24 verse 35 " God is the Light(guider) of the heavens and the Earth. The example of His light(guidance) is like a concave mirror within a lamp, the lamp is within a glass, the glass is like a radiant planet, which is lit from a blessed olive tree that is neither of the east nor of the west, its oil nearly gives off light(guidance) even if not touched by fire. Light(guidance) upon light(guidance), God guides to His light(guidance) whom He pleases. And God sets forth parables for the people, and God is aware of all things." I understand by this verse that in order to stay on the right path one has not be furious, he has to be calm, peaceful and relaxed and rely on the goodness of his heart which will keep on being guided in the way God pleases. One should not get carried away by knowledge alone but should evaluate knowledge in the light of wisdom in a very peaceful and relaxed way. And one thing should be clear that the 100% meaning of Quran is known to the God alone and not even the prophet but one has to believe in all Quran even if he cannot simplify everything. Every person is in the process of aquiring knowledge from birth to death. And the world is in the process of aquiring knowledge since the begining of mankind and will keep on aquiring knowledge till the last day. progress and elightenment is a constantly ongoing process.
The God says in chapter 3 verse 7 "He is the One who sent down to you the Scripture, from which there are governing verses; they are the essence of the Scripture; and others which are similar. As for those who have disease in their hearts, they will follow what is similar from it seeking to confuse, and seeking to derive an interpretation. But none know its interpretation except God and those who are well founded in knowledge, they Say ?We believe in it, all is from our Lord.? And none will remember except the people of understanding. "

abrar

Peace and greetings

Dear Layth,
I resepect your views but I think you have misunderstood.

You said "I must state that it is simply promoting a lets put our head in the sand approach."
I do not believe in hiding from facts. One must be aware of as many facts as possible. But it is also a fact that interpretation of facts depends on the individual's wisdom and knowledge that varies from person to person. People should also be presented with logical interpretations of facts instead of just "facts" which could lead to misunderstanding. What if we start researching scientifically the abilities of prophet sulaiman and magic competition between prophet moses and pharo's magicians? faithfreedom.org can cause a great harm in muslim countries if it is not banned. You already know the I.Q level of people in most muslim countries. Would not we have a hard time explaining to people when they have already misinterpreted facts according to their wisdom and knowledge?

You also said "That different writings of the Quran exist is a fact, that a different verse split exists is a fact... 'My reply is that it is a fact that unseen realities mentioned in Quran are myths in the light of modern science. If you start researching for each and every why of every thing without utilising wisdom then you are no more human than a computer.

You said "A muslim builds his/her faith in God not by the ink on paper, but by the signs all around us in heavens and earth that are a testimony to God day and night. "This is supported by the God from Quran. In chapter 5 verse 69 the God says, "Surely those who believe(muslims/believers); and those who are Jewish, and the Sabiens, and the Nazarenes, whomever of them believes in God and the Last Day and does good work; then they will have nothing to fear nor will they grieve."
In chapter 2 verse 256 the God says, "There is no compulsion in the system(religion/way of life); the proper way has been made clear from the wrong way. Whoever rejects evil, and believes in God, then he has grasped the most solid branch that will never break. God is Hearer, Knower."

Of course not only muslims but the whole of humanity build their faith in God not by the ink on paper, but by the signs all around them in heavens and earth that are a testimony to God day and night.

You said "It is the Message (Al-Zikr) that God has pledged to preserve...Not the ink on paper."Of course it is the message. Ink does inform about the message in physical terms but if it gets a bit wavy or spread out the message is still protected and the variation of ink has not changed any information of the message. Why get involved in an argument about the digital accuracy of the ink when it has caused no confusion about the information of the message?

You said "you may have an adversity to the issue of 19 as some people so, you should note that this site encourages the study of everything (texts, physical evidence, archeology, history, math, science, etc.) and is not limited to one aspect."
I agree that it is the key to sharing of knowledge but evaluations and interpretations on such issues should also be stressed and there should be an encouragement towards well informed study.

Layth

Peace Abrar,

You said "I must state that it is simply promoting a lets put our head in the sand approach."
I do not believe in hiding from facts. One must be aware of as many facts as possible. But it is also a fact that interpretation of facts depends on the individual's wisdom and knowledge that varies from person to person. People should also be presented with logical interpretations of facts instead of just "facts" which could lead to misunderstanding. What if we start researching scientifically the abilities of prophet sulaiman and magic competition between prophet moses and pharo's magicians? faithfreedom.org can cause a great harm in muslim countries if it is not banned. You already know the I.Q level of people in most muslim countries. Would not we have a hard time explaining to people when they have already misinterpreted facts according to their wisdom and knowledge?

Not sure I agree with that...People are all given the mind, eysight and hearing to find out truth from falsehood...Presenting the facts does not deter from the conclusions that people can reach on their own That God exists, that they must do good work at all time.

You also said "That different writings of the Quran exist is a fact, that a different verse split exists is a fact... 'My reply is that it is a fact that unseen realities mentioned in Quran are myths in the light of modern science. If you start researching for each and every why of every thing without utilising wisdom then you are no more human than a computer.

It is not Gods will that changes occur to His word, neither in the Quran nor in any other Scripture from Him...Rather, it is human sloppiness as well as sometimes hidden agendas that causes the word of God to be amdended or even distorted...By pointing out the obvious, the next logical step is to conduct more detailed research/study until the ultimate Quran written by Mohammed`s hand is found, or, that a unification of the Quran occurs based on sound study and all other copies removed/eradicated.

Of course not only muslims but the whole of humanity build their faith in God not by the ink on paper, but by the signs all around them in heavens and earth that are a testimony to God day and night.

Yes, that is what I want people to undertsand...Our father Abraham did not find God in a book, he found him in the creation of the elements all around him.

You said "It is the Message (Al-Zikr) that God has pledged to preserve...Not the ink on paper."Of course it is the message. Ink does inform about the message in physical terms but if it gets a bit wavy or spread out the message is still protected and the variation of ink has not changed any information of the message. Why get involved in an argument about the digital accuracy of the ink when it has caused no confusion about the information of the message?

Because the discussion and knowledge that there are differences is a fact of our reality...We cannot wish it away because we are fearful that people would be weak to the knowledge, we can expose it to all and conclude, as you have done, that the message is preserved and that is what matters.

abrar

Peace and greetings

Dear Layth,

I agree with you about the freedom of information but In my view the more important aspect of information is its effect on majority of the people. The information should have a direction which does not mean that undesirable or inconvenient information is kept hidden but more focus should be given to the quality of information and not quantity. Directing the information(not hiding) in a sensible way is more beneficial than collecting terabytes of information and stressing that quantity alone would increase understanding without having a direction. From the begining of mankind to the present times, information is continously increasing in quantity but quality remains universal throughout the ages i.e heart's goodness. Most people get easily distracted by disorganised information without having an idea about its direction. More stress should be placed on the organisation of information and not on collection alone.

You said "By pointing out the obvious, the next logical step is to conduct more detailed research/study until the ultimate Quran written by Mohammed`s hand is found, or, that a unification of the Quran occurs based on sound study and all other copies removed/eradicated."

Goal for an "ultimate Quran" is a search according to good intentions of the heart but this goal is "unrealistic" because those holding such views are not satisfied by the subject matter of quran completely and they have expection for something more. They become blind to logical interpretation and have doubts because they are overconcious about archetectural style accuracy without using the concept of linguistic accuracy. If we start researching in such a way then it may require many centuries to figure out about the word of God. According to my knowledge such research is being encouraged by scholars who are trying hard to prove that Quran is just a cultural development and they are also encouraging muslim scholars for such a research.
The modern research to analyse Quran http//www.iran.ru/eng/koran.php
I have thoroughly read the information in the link which clearly supports your arguments but I have also thoroughly read the criteria for credibility of historical sources at
http//www.terrace.qld.edu.au/academic/socenv/junhistory/reliab.htm

http//www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/ancient/alexfake.html

You cannot assume history to be the criteria for your arguments because we have not witnessed it and anyone could have done anything who knows? There is no need of unification of Qurans because of the expalnations i have given you in my post.

abrar

Peace and greetings,

Dear Warner,
I have read your article and the person who has written the article lacks logical understanding so his article is full of logical fallacies.

"a rational proof for the validity of the text, not a blind emotional argument". in chapter 3 "produce proof". Is it not emotional to be rational after all according to rationality that humans are just animals with limbs and smarter intelligence than other mammals. The concept of Just/fair evaluation of data is rationality or is it just an emotion? Is Following knowledge made up of data and information in the light of justice a mere emotion? Is the thirst for rationality a
mechanical concept or an emotional one? Does anything other than human has a thirst for rationality? Would you call thirst for Rationality mere rationality? How do you exactly disconnect a human from emotions? By giving somekind of numbness drug? What is morality? Is it rationality? Is it not rational to treat human as an animal since he is just a mortal object and here are many? How do you exactly define blindness? do'nt you write the word "blindness" when you "feel"(emotional) unjustified in the light of obejective knowledge? Can you rationally disconnect from emotions without being numb? You probably do not know the difference and similarities between the terms subjectivity, objectivity, rationality, emotions, and feelings.

"The miracles performed by the above prophets were only miracles for that specific period of time. But how do we know these messengers existed or that such miracles really occurred? In fact, how do we know that they are not just legends or fables?" in chapter 3 "produce proof"
Is it not a miracle that human body temperature remains within narrow defined limits? Is flying into the air not a miracle for past generations? Is television not a miracle for previous generations?

When something is mysterious does it not remain miraculous until objective reasons are discovered? Do you know about telekinetics? It is the psychic ability of the human mind to move and bend objects but it is harmful to practice? You can visit the following links for information of

telekinetics

http//www.geoza.com/system/psychics/telekin.htm

"So, what miracle do we have right now to convince the mind and guide man through his life?"A person writing such words seems to have no faith in someone who is all knowledgable and all wise. This person thinks that everything is known and boring so has no regards for

appreciation of the universe which is full of miraculous phenomena. Everything that is science is a miracle for those who appreciate and for hopeless ones anything mysterious or beyond the reasoning of present day science is just magic. How do you explain by your obvious science free of unexplained mysterious magic that some people have a natural immunity to HIV virus.
Go to the link below

http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060818180225.htm

Albert Einstien was the greatest of all scientific geniuses who believed in God. He appreciated God's universe as nothing less than a miracle. A 12th-century Jewish philosopher, physician, scientist, and rabbi, Feit says that "the best way to develop a love and appreciation for God is by studying the works of his hand. There are certain blessings that a religious Jew makes every day. Some of them have to do with the fact that the sun rises and sets regularly, that all of the stars travel in their right orbits, and that all of our physiological functions work appropriately.
With my knowledge of human physiology, I have a very different, and I think enhanced, appreciation when I make that blessing in the morning."

Here is the full article about science vs.faith which i am pasting because the link does not work anymore.

When Science and Religion Collide or Why Einstein Wasn't an Atheist
News Scientists talk about why they believe in God.

By Gordy Slack

November/December 1997 Issue

How has religion held up under the scrutiny of modern science? Not well, according to
evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who believes the only reason religion is still with us at all is not because it has inherent worth but because it's as catching and incurable as any virus (see "Religion Is a Virus&quot. Others beg to differ.
In his day, Albert Einstein said, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." More recently, a Nature survey of American scientists found about 40 percent of them to be religious. How do these scientists reconcile their understanding of the physical world -- of evolution, for example -- with their religious beliefs? To explore these and other questions, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences sponsored interviews with more than 30 top scientists from a variety of fields. Here are a few of their responses Francisco J. Ayala, a professor of genetics and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Irvine, was ordained a Catholic priest at just about the time he began studying genetics. Since then, his career has been primarily occupied by science. Ayala says he is a materialist insofar as he holds that "nothing in the natural world is left out" of science's powers of description. But, he adds, in the same way that a complete physical description of Picasso's Guernica would not begin to convey what the painting says about man's inhumanity, a scientific description of the world does not begin to explain life's meaning. "In terms of fulfilling the human spirit, there is a lot to be said about the world, whether it is the physical world or the living world, that is completely outside the realm of science," Ayala says. "Science and religion are dealing with different dimensions of reality, different levels of experience. Anybody who thinks that everything in the world can be explained in a reductionistic, materialistic way is just naive." Applying the criteria of scientific truth to religious claims is to make what philosophers call a categorical mistake, says Ayala. "In a sonnet Shakespeare may refer to his beloved as a rose. A scientist could say, 'This guy is an idiot. A woman is not a rose.' Of course the idiot would be the one who made that comment. Shakespeare knows she is not a rose! But that doesn't mean that describing his beloved as a rose is not telling the world a lot about what he thinks about her, and what she is like, and what love is like." Kenneth S. Kendler, a professor of psychiatry and human genetics at the Medical College of Virginia, also struggles not to mix up his religion (Judaism) and his science. Like knowledge and wisdom, he says, they have different foundations. "The two don't use similar methods, don't have similar goals, and in some substantial ways don't conform to one another," he says. "Maybe the best way to put it is to say that they complement one another. They really don't conflict, but they don't entirely exist on the same plane. Knowledge is something that is ultimately testable -- wisdom comes in many varieties."
Arno Penzias, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1978 for his part in the discovery of the background radiation that constituted the first material evidence for the big-bang theory, does not look for direct evidence of God's existence in the world. To the contrary "If God created the universe," says Penzias, who is Jewish, "he would have done it elegantly. The absence of any imprint of intervention upon creation is what we would expect from a truly all-powerful Creator.
You don't need somebody diddling around like Frank Morgan in The Wizard of Oz to keep the universe going. Instead, what you have is half a page of mathematics that describes everything. In some sense, the power of the creation lies in its underlying simplicity." {publish-page-break} But for Carl Feit, an Orthodox Jew and professor of biology at Yeshiva University, science is itself a spiritual practice. Invoking Maimonides, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher, physician, scientist, and rabbi, Feit says that "the best way to develop a love and appreciation for God is by studying the works of his hand. There are certain blessings that a religious Jew makes every
day. Some of them have to do with the fact that the sun rises and sets regularly, that all of the stars travel in their right orbits, and that all of our physiological functions work appropriately. With my knowledge of human physiology, I have a very different, and I think enhanced, appreciation when I make that blessing in the morning." Brian Cantwell Smith, a renegade computer scientist and philosopher who recently left Stanford for Indiana University, agrees that religion and science are not entirely separable. Smith (who says he "probably" doesn't believe in God) quotes his father, theologian Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who told him that to be religious is "to find the world significant." The younger Smith explains "It is not an etymological accident that 'significance,' in English, means 'importance.' From what I can tell from having studied intentional systems, 'truth' and other values cannot, in fact, be wholly pulled apart." The problem, he says, is that while science has always taken truth seriously, it has traditionally left values of beauty and goodness pretty much untouched. However, Smith sees the current work being done in mathematics, computer science, philosophy, and cognitive science as increasingly shedding light on the relationships between beauty, goodness, and truth in a way that may lead to a reintegration of these three values, thanks to a rigorous "study of significance." Smith says "One of my most basic metaphysical commitments is that truth, beauty, and goodness are not completely separable. Just as the physicists claim that gravity, charge, mass,
etc., weren't separate in the first moments of the universe, I don't think God made the world with truth, beauty, and goodness fully separated out, either. In fact, I think the idea that they are independent is our idea -- and not necessarily the greatest idea, at that. You can see this in modern software design. Whether programs work well, whether they're beautiful, and whether they're right in practice -- these things aren't all that separable." According to Lindon J. Eaves, a professor of human genetics and psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia and an Anglican priest, "There's a large degree of identity between the love of God and the love of truth. And the same kind of rules and passions that we bring to the issue of loving God, the scientist embodies in his passion for truth. "What keeps the scientist working long hours into the night?" asks Eaves. "Well, maybe there's a truth out there that will be beautiful when we find it." Carl Feit concurs. "I think that fundamentally the impetus for the two quests is the same," says Feit. "Religion and science are two ways of looking at the world, and each helps guide our search for understanding. Profoundly religious people are asking the same questions as profound scientists Who are we? And what are we? What's the purpose? What's the end? Where did we come from? And where are we going? We have this need, this desire, this drive, to understand ourselves and the world that we live in."

Gordy Slack is the associate editor of California Wild, a natural history magazine.

"Lastly I must bring into relief the case of the word la ( ), which in four or five cases is only l ( ) without the final alif. The word la means no, and the word l means certainly. It is horrible to think when it is meant "the believers certainly shall assemble unto God" and "the unbelievers certainly shall assemble in the hell", and the unfortunate ignorant reader unintentionally says "not" instead of "certainly". We will point out these passages in our second list" (Orthographical Peculiarities In The Text Of The Qur?an, M. Hamidullah, Islamic Order (Karachi), Vol. 3, no. 4, 1981, p.78; article received from Islamic Foundation U.K. as per citation in Ulum al-Qur?an,
p.60; emphasis added)." The point of making of such an argument is to like making fuss about how an english language etter "D" should be pronounced in arabic and then disregarding the language as inferior if it does not make sense. laam alif or a single laam with a mark of standing fatha over it means the same. If the way of pronunciation is not clarified then it is not justified to term that as abrogation. Do you know about the shorthand writing? If you do'nt then go to the link below

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand

How do you know that the person who wrote single laam alif really meant it instead of laam ? He might have a quick way of writing. Do you know that if a standing fatha over single laam is supposed then it would mean the same ? If you do not believe in quickness then it must have been his style of saying the same as laam alif.
"mundireen () means "those who warn, i.e., the prophets", and mundhareen (), which is written alike, and in the absence of the marking of the vocalization sign it is impossible to distinguish, means "those who have been warned, i.e., the infidels".
If a person is too unfamiliar with arabic then it is understandable but where is the intellectual power of the language of those at home with classical arabic? Is a scholar and a layman similar in their use of language?

"Obviously, any written text would have constituted only a very basic consonantal symbol outline"Are you sure how each and very language comes into being? can you invent one of your own?
It is your subjective generalisation.

"If God so willed , He could make you all one People But He leaves straying Whom He pleases, and He guides Whom He pleases but ye Shall certainly be called to account For all your actions."
Of course God is not playing with dice as if he gets surprised by future events or something escapes him. Nothing is out of His grip and reach. It is he who rewards, punishes, makes circumstances and helps out in whichever way he pleases. Go sit next to God if you want to explore this phenomena scholarly and tell Him how to get pleased. What I can do is think with my mind i.e future is unknown to me, have to do good, ask forgiveness for mistakes and worry about myself and my responsibilities towards others and not other people's way of thinking. Would a psychiatrist worry how to make an insane person sane by psychotherapy? Would'nt it cause waste of words and mind? God has made the person insane and not the person. Nothing can escape God, everything happens with his will. But if a human starts figuring out how then it would be better to lie down alone in a jungle and hope for death because everything is happening with God's will and it is not the person's fault? If you start exploring such issues how long would you be sane for? do you have to make God lesser in decision making, just to remain sane?
The arguments presented in this article is of a similar nature when atheists try to prove mathematically that God does not exist.

abrar

Peace and greetings,

Absolute predictions on the basis of scientific analysation of secondary scientific evidence can prove to be invalid. Consider the case for the predictions of astronomers about the composition of comet before NASA took first hand evidence in their stardust spacecraft mission launched in February 1999, collected particles from the coma of Comet Wild 2 in January 2004, and returned the samples to Earth in a capsule in January 2006. Before this research astrnomers using their scientific knowledge of secondary evidence based on their hypothesis believed in a fictious composition of comets. American astronomer Fred L. Whipple proposed in 1949 that the nucleus, containing practically all the mass of the comet, is a ?dirty snowball? conglomerate of ices and dust. Major proofs of the snowball theory rest on various data. For one, of the observed gases and meteoric particles that are ejected to provide the coma and tails of comets, most of the gases are fragmentary molecules, or radicals, of the most common elements in space hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. According to NASA there is no evidence for carbonate minerals and silicate minerals that contain bound water. To date, these materials do not seem to exist or at least be common in comet Wild 2 sampled by Stardust. Analysis of the large particles that traveled all the way to the button of the tracks has revealed a remarkable range of minerals. Some of these particles contain minerals the form only at extremely high temperatures - temperatures that could not have existed where the comets formed. Some of these minerals are similar to "refractory" materials that formed in the hottest, innermost regions of the disk of gas and dust that formed the Sun and planets. If these minerals in the comet are from our solar system then they probably formed close to the young Sun and were transported all the way from inside the orbit of Mercury past the orbit of Neptune.
This is NASA's report on their findings of the Stardust mission

Scientists have long thought of comets as cold, billowing clouds of ice, dust and gases formed on the edges of the solar system. But comets may not be so simple or similar. They may prove to be diverse bodies with complex histories. Comet Wild 2 seems to have had a more complex history than thought. "We have found very high-temperature minerals, which supports a particular model where strong bipolar jets coming out of the early sun propelled material formed near to the sun outward to the outer reaches of the solar system," said Michael Zolensky, Stardust curator and co-investigator at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. "It seems that comets are not composed entirely of volatile rich materials but rather are a mixture of materials formed at all temperature ranges, at places very near the early sun and at places very remote from it." One mineral found in the material brought back by Stardust is olivine, a primary component of the green sand found on some Hawaiian beaches. It is among the most common minerals in the universe, but scientists were surprised to find it in cometary dust. Olivine is a compound of iron, magnesium and other elements. The Stardust sample is primarily magnesium. Along with olivine, the dust from Wild 2 contains high-temperature minerals rich in calcium, aluminum and titanium. Stardust passed within 149 miles of comet Wild 2 in January 2004, trapping particles from the comet in an exposed gel. Its return capsule parachuted to the Utah desert on Jan. 15 2006. The science canister with the Wild 2 sample arrived at Johnson on Jan. 17. Samples have been distributed to approximately 150 scientists for study. "The collection of cometary particles is greater than we ever expected," said Stardust Deputy Principal Investigator Peter Tsou of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The collection includes about two dozen large tracks visible to the unaided eye." The grains are tiny, most smaller than a hair's width. Thousands of them appear to be embedded in the glass-like aerogel. A single grain of 10 microns, only one-hundredth of a millimeter (.0004 inches), can be sliced into hundreds of samples for scientists. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Stardust mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operated the spacecraft.

We can conclude that blind reliance on secondary sources of evidence can lead to fictious conclusions. You must know that exactly how the Pyramids in Egypt were built remains a mystery to explain for the archaelogists because the explanations are not in line with the technologies that were available to ancient Egyptians at that time.

I am pasting an article on pseudoarchaelogy from

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoarchaeology

For more information please visit the above mentioned link.

Pseudoarchaeology (also called fantastic archaeology) is pseudoscientific archaeology, i.e. the interpretation of material remains and sites (which are not necessarily genuine) using methodology that is not part of the established scientific method. Archaeological theories, sites, site excavations and publications which do not conform to standard accepted archaeological methedology generally fall under the category of pseudoarchaeology.Pseudoarchaeology can be practised intentionally or unintentionally. Archaeological frauds and hoaxes are considered intentional pseudoarchaeology. Genuine archaeological finds may be unintentionally converted to pseudoarchaeology through unscientific interpretation.Pseudoarchaelogy is frequently motivated by nationalism or a desire to prove a particular religious, historical, political or anthropological theory. In many cases, an a priori conclusion is established, and fieldwork is undertaken explicitly to corroborate the theory in detail.Practitioners of pseudoarchaeology often rail against academic archaeologists and established scientific methods, claiming conventional science has overlooked critical evidence.

Examples

Notable examples of nationalistic or chauvinistic pseudoarchaeology include Piltdown Man, forged possibly to ensure that the earliest hominid was English, supposed Viking artifacts (Kensington Runestone and Viking Altar Rock), and speculation on pre-Columbian contact between Egypt and the Maya. The latter philosophy is often linked with ancient astronaut theory and the antiquated theory of the Moundbuilders as examples of racist pseudoarchaeology. Examples of religiously-motivated pseudoarchaeology include repeated "discoveries" of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat or neighboring mountain ranges, and use of questionable artifacts such as the Los Lunas Decalogue Stone as proof for the presence of a pre-Columbian Semitic culture In America. Pseudoarchaeology that is labelled as such due to unconventional or scientifically suspect methodology includes Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki expedition, the published work of Barry Fell, and Dr. Virginia Steen-McIntyre's circular dating of Hueyatlaco spearheads ().

Other pseudoarchaeological topics include lost continents such as Atlantis or Lemuria,
contested by mainstream archaeologists and historians as lacking critical physical evidence and general historical credibility.There are a number of legitimate archaeological sites that have long been the focus of a disproportionate amount of unscientific speculation which is often described as pseudoarchaeology. Among these are Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, Etruscan inscriptions, pre-Columbian European relics in the Western Hemisphere, Easter Island, Teotihuacan, Palenque, Chichen Itza, the Nazca lines and the stone spheres of Costa Rica.

Relativist and post-modern responses

Researchers accused of pseudoarchaeology often respond to such allegations research by noting that many scientific truths are frequently ridiculed when they are first proposed.Archaeologists schooled in Marxism and Critical Theory argue that scientific thought can support contemporary ideology by taking advantage of scientists' status as 'experts'. Incorporation of postmodernism into archaeological theory has led some archaeologists (e.g. Bettina Arnold, Bruce Trigger) to explore the role of archaeology in state formation and to reexamine archaeologists' status as neutral investigators of the past. The growth of Cultural Resources Management, wherein archaeology is used to guide political decisions, does little to refute these ideas.Most archaeologists attempt to distinguish their research from pseudoarchaeology by pointing to differences in research methodology, including recursive methods, falsifiable theories, peer review, and a generally systematic approach to collecting data. Few see themselves as unwitting cogs in a wider conspiracy, and many strive to make their work relevant to contemporary society.

History

Though the archaeological report given by Socrates Scholasticus (died c. 380), in his
Ecclesiastical History, of St Helena's discovery of the True Cross may make her the patron saint of pseudoarchaeology to skeptics, it is clear that the manipulation of archaeological sites and "finds" to assist propaganda and pseudohistory is not a phenomenon simply of modern historicist culture. In the mid-2nd century, those exposed by Lucian's sarcastic essay Alexander the false prophet prepared an archaeological "find" in Chalcedon to prepare a public for the supposed oracle they planned to establish at Abonoteichus in Paphlygonia"in the temple of Apollo, which is the most ancient in Chalcedon, they buried bronze tablets which said that very soon Asclepius, with his father Apollo, would move to Pontus and take up his residence at Abonoteichus. The opportune discovery of these tablets caused this story to spread quickly to all Bithynia and Pontus, and to Abonoteichus sooner than anywhere else."
At Glastonbury Abbey in 1191, at a time when King Edward I desired to emphasize his
"Englishness" a fortunate discovery was made the coffin of King Arthur, unmistakably identified with an inscribed plaque. Arthur was reinterred at Glastonbury in a magnificent ceremonial attended by the king and queen.British archeologists for some time argued that the use of masonry in and around Great Zimbabwe could not have been accomplished by native Africans, and was therefore attributed to Arabs or Jews. A similar racial motive has been argued against claims that megalithic sites
in the new world were created by White Europeans.

warner

Peace be with you Abrar

Thanks for the explanation. I understood some of the arguments in the article are
Childish although some seems to carry weight. With my lack of Arabic knowledge any argument by someone who knows Arabic is formidable.

It will do lot of good if you can write a really detailed refutation of each point of the article , maybe in another thread so others can join in for the discussion, since this article can throw doubt in a person about the preservation of the Quraan.

Also what is your opinion on the 7 th century Quraans and documents found buried in the tomb/grave in the mosque in Sanaa , Yemen.

abrar

Peace and greetings,

Dear Warner,

This is a fact that currently christianity is the world's fastest growing religion in terms of number of new converts per year according to well reputed sources which collect statistical data about world religions. They are achieving much of the success through their distorted biblical archaeology in which the objective is to interprete any archaeological fact by any means according to their bible. Arab christians are working hard to use their arabic knowledge to carry out pseudoarchaeological research to discredit Quran. They have even made a joke of producing their own Quran. Check it out at the following link

http//www.islam-exposed.org/

Below is a section of the article about biblical archaeology which can make anything seem true by archaeological means. In my view a drive towards pseudoarchaeology.

"The purpose of Biblical archaeology is the clarification and illumination of the Biblical text and content through archaeological investigation of the Biblical world," wrote J.K. Eakins in an essay (1977) in Benchmarks in Time and Culture .

Bryant G. Wood wrote, "The purpose of Biblical archaeology is to enhance our comprehension of the Bible, and so its greatest achievement, in my view, has been the extraordinary illumination of the... time of the Israelite monarchy" (in Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June, 1995, p. 33).

In a statement of a more nuanced opinion of Biblical archaeology, Robert I.Bradshaw notes, "It is virtually universally agreed that the purpose of biblical archaeology is not to 'prove' the Bible, however ...in as much as archaeology sheds light on that history it is important to biblical studies"

The American archaeologist William Dever contributed to the article "Archaeology" in The Anchor Bible Dictionary (see Anchor Bible Series). There he assessed several negative effects of the close relationship that has existed between Syro-Palestinian archaeology and the Biblical archaeology of the Holy Land, which have especially caused American archaeologists in this field to lag behind the new "processual archaeology" in the region, generally considered "Underlying much of the skepticism in our own field , one suspects, was the assumption (albeit unspoken, or even unconscious) that ancient Palestine, especially Israel in the biblical period, was unique?somehow 'superhistorical' not governed by the normal principles of cultural evolution," and he claims "...the 'new archaeology' of the 1970s-1980s became pass? before we had even caught up with it" (p 357).

Dever finds that Syro-Palestinian archaeology in American institutions has been treated as a subdiscipline of Biblical studies. American archaeologists in this region were expected to try "to provide historical validation for episodes in the biblical tradition." According to Dever, "he most na?ve is that the rationale and purpose of "biblical archaeology" (and, by extrapolation, Syro-Palestinian archaeology) is simply to elucidate the Bible, or the lands of the Bible" (p 35

Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology, William G. Dever writes

Until about a generation ago Biblical achaeologists spoke confidently about William Foxwell Albright's "archaeological revolution". It would assuredly enhance our understanding and appreciation of the Bible and its timeless message-which was thought to be absolutely essential to our cherished Western culture condition. The Bible and the "Christian West," as formerly conceived, are fighting for their lives. Not only has modern archaeology not helped to confirm the earlier tradition, it appears to some to be part of the process to undermine it. This is a not-so-well kept secret among professional archaeologists.
The failure of the "archaeological revolution" means tryng to occupy the beleaguered middle ground, neither extreme skeptics or naive credulists. The clock cannot be turned back to the time when archaeology allegedly "proved the Bible." Archaeology as it is practiced today must be able to challenge, as well as confirm, the Bible stories. Some things described there really did happen, but others did not. The Biblical narratives about Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon probably reflect some historical memories of people and places, but the "larger than life" portraits of the Bible are unrealistic and contradicted by the archaeological evidence. Some of Israel's ancestors probably did come out of Egyptian slavery, but there was no military conquest of Canaan, and many, if not most, of the Israelites throughout the Monarchy were polytheists. Monotheism may have been an ideal of Bible writers. Archaeology cannot not decide what the supposed events described in the Bible mean. That decision is left up to each individual. Archaeology cannot decide this question; it can only sharpen our focus.(Dever, 2006).

As far as records from yemen are concerned so there is a lot of pseudoarchaeological research going on and christoph luxenberg who is considered as a german scholar is a passionate biblical archaeologist and is actually an arab christian of lebanon who has craftly played with arabic family of languages to support his passionate research of discrediting the Quran. Even western scholars have criticised christopher luxenburg for the lack of an etymological dictionary of the Semitic languages that meets the strictest contemporary standards.

Here is what an atheist said about the research of arab christian christoph luxenburg who has disguised himself as an innocent german scholar.

"I don't like Luxemberg's book or theory for no other reason than its needlessly complex. The Koran can easily be discredited simply by looking at the myths and doctrines it claims are divine. Its nothing more than a mystic amalgamation, like Mormonism... or for that matter, Judaism and Christianity.Islam is the worst of them all"

Here is the scholarly response to chritoph luxenburg's research by the experts of classical arabic

The title of this book announces a new 'reading' of the Qur'an and the subtitle promises 'a contribution to the decoding of the language of the Qur'an.' The author's theses are summarised succinctly in his 'resum?' (pp. 299-307) the Qur'an is not written in Arabic but in an 'Aramaic-Arabic mixed language' which was spoken in Mecca at the time of Muharnmad. Mecca was 'originally an Aramaic settlement'. This is 'confirmed' by the fact that the name makkah is really Aramaic m?kkQ?, 'low'. This mixed language was recorded, from the beginning, in a defective script, i.e., without vowel signs or the diacritic points which later distinguish b, t, n, y, etc. The author denies the existence of a parallel oral tradition of Qur' an recitation. Classical Arabic comes from somewhere else (but we are not told where). The Arabs could not understand the Qur'an, known to them as it was only from defectively written manuscripts, and reinterpreted these documents in the light nf their own language. The proposed 'Aramaic reading' of the Qur'an allows us to rediscover its original meaning.

It might be useful to distinguish straight away what is new and what is not new in these theses. Muslim scholars of the classical period debated already the question of whether or not there is 'non-Arabic' (Aramaic, Persian, etc.) linguistic material in the Qur.an, whereby at least the more broad-minded authorities were content that there was; since God created all languages there is no reason why He should not have used words from different languages in His revelation. Modern linguistic scholarship established, certainly by the middle of the 19th century, that the Arabic language, both in the Qur'an and in other texts, contains a significant number of loan-words from several dialects of Aramaic (Syriac, Babylonian Aramaic, etc). Aramaic was the principal cultural language of the area between the Sinai and the Tigris for more than a millennium and it exercised a considerable influence on all the languages of the region, including the Hebrew of the later portions of the Old Testament. The Arabs participated in the civilisation of the ancient Near East, many of them were Christians or Jews, so there is nothing surprising about the fact that they borrowed heavily from Aramaic. But this does not make Arabic a 'mixed language'. What is new in Luxenberg's thesis is the ciaim that large portions of the Qur'an are not grammatically correct Arabic, but need to be read as Aramaic, inflectional endings and all. The Qur'an is thus not (grammatically) Arabic with Aramaic loan-words, but is composed in a jargon that mixes structural elements of two different languages. We shall examine the plausibility of this thesis in due course.

The second principal component of the author's argumentation is that, since the later Muslims were unable to understand the Aramaic-Arabic jargon of their sacred book, they were forced arbitrarily to add diacritic signs to the text so as to make it into halfway comprehensible (classical) Arabic, thereby inventing a supposed oral tradition to justify this new reading. To rediscover the 'original' meaning we need to disregard the diacritical signs in the traditional text and find some other reading. This line of argument is also not new. It has been pursued in recent years in a series of articles by the North American Arabist J. A. Bellamy as well as in a (particularly bad) book by the German theologian G?nter L?ling; strangely, none of these are mentioned in Luxenberg's bibliography. This too will be discussed in the course of the present review. In any case, a book that announces already in the preface (p. ix) that its author has chosen not to discuss 'the whole of the relevant literature' because this literature' makes hardly any contribution to the new method put forward here' is one that poses, from the outset, questions about its own scholarly integrity.

But let us look at a few examples of the author's 'new method'. Because of the technical linguistic nature of this discussion I will use a consistent Semitist system of transliteration (in bold) and transcription (in italics) for both Syriac and Arabic, a system differing both from the one used by the author of the book under review and from that otherwise followed by this journal.

One of the main planks of Luxenberg's theory of the 'Aramaic-Arabic mixed language' is the contention that in a number of Qur'anic passages the final aleph of an Arabic word stands not for the Arabic accusative ending -an, but for the Aramaic ending of the determinate state ( -? in the singular or -? in the plural). On p. 30 the author discusses Q. 1124 and Q. 3929, where the 'current Qur'an' ('der heutige Koran&#039 has hal yastawiy?ni maQalan, 'are the two similar as an example?', the last word being an accusative of specification (tamy?z). The author thinks that the meaning is improved if is taken to be a 'transcription' of the Syriac plural mtl' (maQl?) and that the sentence consequently means 'Are the examples similar ?'. Translated into modern Arabic' ('ins heutige Arabisch ?bertragen&#039, the Qur'anic sentence would then (supposedly) be hal yastawiy?ni l-maQal?ni. Most first-year students of Arabic are sure to know that this is neither classical nor modern Arabic, but simply wrong. But even without this lapsus, it can hardly be claimed that the 'Syro-Aramaic reading' offers any improvement in the understanding of the Qur'anic passages.

On p. 37 the author discusses Q. 6161 innan? had?n? rabb? 'il? sir?tin mustaq?min d?nan qiyaman, which, if d?nan qiyaman is in fact an accusative of specification, would need to be translated by something like 'verily, my Lord has directed me to a straight path in accordance with a firm religion', or, if we assume a mixed construction (had? construed first with the preposition 'il? and then with double accusative), it could mean '..... to a straight path, a firm religion'. Our author's proposal is that the syntactical difficulty of the latter rendering could be alleviated by taking not as an Arabic accusative but as Syriac dyn' qym' (d?n? kayy?m?), which he translates as 'a firm belief' ('feststehender, best?ndiger Glaube&#039. But in so doing the author overlooks the fact that, unlike Arabic d?nun, Aramaic d?n? does not actually mean 'belief, religion', but only 'judgement, sentence'. Arabic d?n, in the meaning 'religion', is not borrowed from Aramaic but from Middle Persian d?n (Avestan da?n?-).

On pp. 39ff. the author connects the problematic Qur' anic term han?fun with Aramaic hanp?, 'pagan', and specifically with the Pauline doctrine of Abraham as the paradigm of salvation for the gentiles. I have recently argued along similar lines in a lecture delivered in the summer of the year 2000 and eventually published in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 65 (2002), pp. 16-25, but differently from 'Luxenberg' I did not fail to mention that the same suggestion had been made long ago both by Margoliouth and by Ahrens, nor did I commit the absurdity of claiming (as our author does on p. 39) that Arabic is a 'Wiedergabe' of Syriac hnp', despite the fact that the Arabic form has an -i-, of which there is no trace in Syriac.

But in the eyes of our author, the Aramaic suffixes -? and -? are 'represented' in the Qur'an not only by alif, but also by ha'. Thus Arabic (xal?fatun) is 'the phonetic transcription' of Syriac hlyp' (hl?f?). Unfortunately, no reasonis given for why, in this 'phonetic transcription', the Aramaic laryngeal h is not 'transcribed' by the phonetically identical Arabic laryngeal h, but by x.

On p. 35 the author discusses the Qur'anic word for 'angels' (plural), for which the traditional reading is mal?'ikatun. The author thinks that this is really the Syriac word for 'angels', which he spells, in Syriac script, (correctly) as ml'k', and which he transcribes (wrongly) as mal?k?; in fact, the correct Syriac vocalisation is malax? (the first aleph being left over from the older form *mal'ax- ) In any case, neither the Syriac spelling, nor the correct vocalisation, nor even the author's erroneous vocalisation explains the -y- of the Arabic plural. The author then goes on to claim that the postulated 'Syro-Aramaic pronunciation' of the Qur'anic plural is made certain ('gesichert&#039 by the 'modern Arabic of the Near East mal?yk?. This is a big jumble. In fact, the Arabic singular mal'akun or malakun is in all likelihood borrowed from Aramaic mal'ax- or malax-, but the plural mal?'ikatun is a perfectly regular Arabic formation, and is represented graphically by , with the usual Qur'anic defective spelling of internal -a-. The cited 'modern Arabic' (more correctly Levantine) form is the expected dialectal reflex of the classical pausal form mal?'ika(h), with palatalisation ( 'imalah) of the final -a to -e (I see little justification for the transcription with long -e), and has nothing to do with the Syriac plural malax?.

But once the 'mixed-language' status of the Qur'an has been postulated, the author evidently thinks it possible to take any Arabic word that vaguely resembles something in Syriac and to determine its meaning not from the Arabic but from the Syriac lexicon. Thus on pp. 196ff. the very ordinary Arabic verb daraba, 'to beat', is quite arbitrarily said to derive from the Syriac verb traf, which, among other things, means 'to beat, to move, to shake (wings), etc.' Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacum, p. 290, compares the Arabic verb tarafa, 'to repel'. It seems unlikely that the Aramaic root should also have anything to do with Arabic daraba; the correspondences d/t and b/p(f) are certainly not the norm in Semitic cognates and would be perhaps even more surprising in the case of a loan-word. But this difficulty does not stop the author from assigning the meanings of the Syriac word to the various occurrence of daraba in the Qur'an.

Then, on p. 283 the author claims that the Arabic verb taga, 'to rebel, tyrannise, etc.' has, apart from the secondary , nothing Arabic about it', but is a 'borrowing' from Syriac ta. He then picks out of a Syriac dictionary the meaning 'to forget' and assigns this to the Qur'anic instances of taga. But the fact that the Arabic root has gayn where the Aramaic has ayin shows very clearly that the Arabic word is not borrowed from Aramaic, but that they are good Semitic cognates. Anyway, the usual meaning of Syriac t`a is 'to err, to be led into error, etc.', although it can also mean 'to forget'. So even if the Arabic verb were a borrowing from Syriac there would still be nothing compelling about the new meaning assigned to it by our author.

I shall quote one last example of the author's 'Syro-Aramaic reading' of the Qur'anic text. In Q. 9619 the last word of the sura is (i)qtarib, which has until now always heen understand to mean 'draw near' (imperative). But our author thinks it means 'take part in the eucharist' ('nimm an der Abendmahlliturgie teil&#039, since iqtaraba is 'without doubt borrowed' ('ohne Zweifel .... entlehnt&#039 from the Syriac verb eQkarrab, which besides meaning 'to draw near', also means more specifically 'to (draw near to the altar to) receive the eucharist'. In support of this he quotes (on p. 298, in the wake of some editorial mishap twice) a passage from the Kitabu 1-'agani) in which the Arabic verb taqarraba is used unambiguously to mean 'receive the (Christian) eucharist'. But this alleged confirmation scuppers the author's argument. The (actually well-known) Christian Arabic technical term taqarraba is indeed a calque on Syriac eQkarrab, with the same stem formation, i.e., D-stem with prefix t(a)-. There is no good reason to assume that the same Syriac verb was 'borrowed' a second time as the (differently formed) stem iqtaraba.

The examples that I have quoted could be expanded manyfold, but they are perhaps enough. They illustrate what is actually the less controversial, or in any case less fantastical part of the author's line of argument, the part, namely, in which he applies his 'Syro-Aramaic reading' to the actual traditional text of the Qur'an. But this book goes a lot further. Having established (as he thinks) that the Qur'an is composed in an Aramaic-Arabic 'mixed language' the author proceeds to juggle the diacritic points of the traditional text to create an entirely new Qur' an which he then attempts to decipher with the help of his (as we have observed, often very shaky) knowledge of Syriac. I do not really think that there is very much point in discussing this aspect of the book. There is no doubt that, without the diacritical points, the Qur'an is indeed an extremely obscure work and that the possibility of repointing affords virtually limitless opportunities to reinterpret the scripture, in Arabic or in any other language that one chooses. I think, however, that any reader who wants to take the trouble to plough through Luxenberg's 'new reading' of any of the numerous passages discussed in this book will concede that the 'new reading' does not actually make better sense than a straight classical Arabic reading of the traditional text. It is a reading that is potentially attractive only in its novelty, or shall I say its perversity, not in that it sheds any light on the meaning of the book or on the history of Islam.

It is necessary, in conclusion to say a little about the authorship, or rather the non-authorship, the pseudonymity of this book. An article published in the New York Times on 2nd March 2002 (and subsequently broadly disseminated in the internet) referred to this book as the work of 'Christoph Luxenberg, a scholar of ancient Semitic languages in Germany'. It is, I think, sufficiently clear from this review that the person in question is not 'a scholar of ancient Semitic languages'. He is someone who evidently speaks some Arabic dialect, has a passable, but not flawless command of classical Arabic, knows enough Syriac so as to be able to consult a dictionary, but is innocent of any real understanding of the methodology of comparative Semitic linguistics. His book is not a work of scholarship but of dilettantism.

The NYT article goes on to state that 'Christoph Luxeuberg is a pseudonym', to compare him with Salman Rushdie, Naguib Mahfouz and Suliman Bashear and to talk about 'threatened violence as well as the widespread reluctance on United States college campuses to criticize other cultures'. I am not sure what precisely the author means with 'in Germany'. According to my information, 'Christoph Luxenberg' is not a German but a Lebanese Christian. It is thus not a question of some intrepid philologist, pouring over dusty books in obscure languages somewhere in the provinces of Germany and then having to publish his results under a pseudonym so as to avoid the death threats of rabid Muslim extremists, in short an ivory-tower Rushdie. Let us not exaggerate the state of academic freedom in what we still like to call our Western democracies. No European or North American scholar of linguistics, even of Arabic linguistics, needs to conceal his (or her) identity, nor does he (or she) really have any right to do so. These matters must be discussed in public. In the Near East things are, of course, very different.

You must realise that some fanatic arab christian scholars are making use of their classical arabic for their own passions and are hiding behind pseudoarchaeology.
The article(you suggested) of this christian fellow is no surprise as many of his other fellows are working round the clock to produce even better work than him. These fanatic christians(arab christians) mislead those unfamiliar with classical arabic by playing crafty games with their classical arabic knowledge but their arguments become conjectures when you learn more about classical arabic.

abrar

Peace and greetings,

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