Exposing Islam

Part 1 – Contradiction Between Qur’an and Hadith on Preservation

When Islam’s “Perfect Preservation” Claim Collapses Under Its Own Sources

The Preservation Claim

From the pulpit to the street corner, Muslims around the world repeat a mantra:

“The Qur’an you hold in your hands today is exactly the same as when it was revealed to Muhammad — every word, every letter, perfectly preserved.”

It’s one of Islam’s most powerful talking points. No other major world religion makes such a bold assertion about the absolute textual purity of its scripture. For many Muslims, this is the primary proof of Islam’s divine origin.

But there’s a problem. When we examine Islam’s own sources — the Qur’an, the hadith collections, and the earliest Islamic historians — we find a direct contradiction between the Qur’an’s claim and the historical record.

What the Qur’an Says About Preservation

The Qur’an insists that God’s words are incorruptible and eternal:

Surah 6:115 – “The Word of your Lord has been perfected in truth and justice. None can change His words…”
Surah 18:27 – “…None can alter His words, and you will find no refuge besides Him.”

If these verses mean what they plainly say, then every word revealed to Muhammad should still be intact today — no loss, no change, no variation.

What the Hadith Admit Happened

Now we turn to the hadith — the recorded traditions of Muhammad’s sayings and actions, which Muslims accept as authoritative. Here’s where the preservation narrative begins to crumble.

1. Lost Verses Due to Forgetting

Sahih Muslim 2286:

“We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to Surah Bara’ah, then I forgot it…”
A companion of Muhammad admits entire passages were forgotten. If forgetting was possible, perfect preservation was already impossible.

2. Lost Verses Eaten by a Goat

Sunan Ibn Majah 1944 (also in Musnad Ahmad):

“…The verse of stoning and the verse of breastfeeding an adult ten times were revealed, and they were written on a paper and kept under my bed. When the Messenger of Allah died and we were preoccupied with his death, a goat entered and ate it.”

This isn’t an obscure fringe source — it’s recorded in respected hadith collections Muslims still use. The “goat verse” incident means divinely revealed text disappeared permanently.

3. Umar’s Testimony About Missing Verses

Sahih al-Bukhari 6829:
Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph, said:

“Allah sent Muhammad and revealed the Book to him, and among what He revealed was the verse of stoning. We recited it, understood it, and memorized it. Allah’s Messenger did carry out the punishment of stoning, and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, someone will say, ‘We do not find the verse of stoning in the Book of Allah,’ and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed…”

Here, Umar openly admits a Qur’anic verse was once there but is no longer present in the Qur’an.

The Contradiction

Qur’an’s claim: God’s words cannot be changed, altered, or lost.
Hadith evidence: Verses were forgotten, destroyed, or removed.

Both cannot be true. If the Qur’an’s own companions admit verses went missing, then the claim of perfect preservation is false by Islam’s own testimony.

Historical Confirmation From Early Islamic Scholars

Classical Islamic historians and Qur’anic scholars themselves acknowledged this uncomfortable reality:

Al-Suyuti (Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an, Vol. 2, p. 25) records multiple missing verses and surahs.
Ibn Abi Dawud (Kitab al-Masahif) lists variant codices and missing passages from the earliest Qur’ans.
Al-Tabari (in his tafsir) confirms the existence of verses that companions claimed were lost.

These are not Western critics — they are Muslim scholars preserving the historical record.

Muslim Apologetic Responses

When confronted with this evidence, apologists usually offer one of three defenses:

“Those verses were abrogated.”
They argue that God allowed certain verses to be “removed” as part of His plan.
- Problem: Abrogation (Qur’an 2:106) still contradicts the claim of eternal, unalterable words. Removal is alteration.
“The hadith are weak or fabricated.”
They claim the goat story and missing verse reports can’t be trusted.
- Problem: Many of these reports are in Sahih collections (Bukhari, Muslim) which Muslims consider authentic in law and doctrine.
“Preservation means preserving the message, not every word.”
They redefine preservation as thematic rather than textual.
- Problem: This is a modern reinterpretation. Early Muslims understood preservation to mean literal words, as shown by their memorization and fixation on exact recitation.

Why the Defense Fails

If even one verse of the Qur’an was lost, then:

The Qur’an’s own claim of being perfectly preserved is false.
The Muslim claim that “not a letter has changed” collapses.
Trust in the entire text’s reliability is undermined — because how can we know what else went missing?

This isn’t speculation. The loss of text is recorded by the same tradition that transmits the Qur’an itself.

The Bigger Picture

This single contradiction creates a cascade of theological problems:

If verses were lost, then Islam’s claim of having a perfect revelation unlike Judaism or Christianity is baseless.
The doctrine of isnad (chains of transmission) for the Qur’an is shown to be fallible, just like for the hadith.
The claim that “God protects His revelation” (Qur’an 15:9) is historically falsified — unless that verse itself is a later insertion.

Conclusion

Islam’s most repeated boast — that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved — cannot survive Islam’s own evidence.
The Qur’an says God’s words cannot be changed. The hadith, early Islamic scholars, and the historical record all say: They were.

If preservation fails, the foundation crumbles. And that’s just Part 1.

Next in the series: Part 2 – Variant Qur’ans and the Myth of a Single Perfect Text