Exposing Islam

Part 2 – Variant Qur’ans and the Myth of a Single Perfect Text

When “One Qur’an” Becomes 26 — and Counting

The Myth That Holds the Religion Together

Ask almost any Muslim what makes Islam unique and you’ll hear a confident claim:

“Every Muslim in the world reads the same Qur’an, in the same language, word for word, letter for letter — exactly as it was revealed to Muhammad.”

This “One Perfect Qur’an” talking point is repeated from the mosque pulpit, in street dawah, and on YouTube channels.
It’s used to contrast Islam with Christianity — accusing Christians of having “thousands of Bible versions” while Muslims supposedly have one unchanged book.

But here’s the reality:
When you look beyond the slogans and examine the manuscripts, the oral traditions, and the printed editions, the myth falls apart.
There isn’t one Qur’an. There are many Qur’ans.

What the Qur’an Claims About Itself

The Qur’an insists its revelation is uniform and consistent:

Surah 39:28 – “[It is] an Arabic Qur’an, without any crookedness…”
Surah 41:42 – “Falsehood cannot approach it from before it or from behind it…”

If these verses are taken literally, there should be one single, fixed text, unchanged from Muhammad’s time to ours.

What Islamic History Records

Islamic tradition itself says something very different.

Multiple Codices in Early Islam

According to Islamic sources, after Muhammad’s death different companions had their own personal codices of the Qur’an:

Ibn Mas’ud — one of the earliest companions, who learned directly from Muhammad, reportedly rejected Surah 1 (al-Fatihah) and the last two surahs (al-Falaq and an-Nas) from his mushaf.
Ubayy ibn Ka’b — had extra surahs not found in today’s Qur’an, such as Surat al-Khal and Surat al-Hafd.
Abu Musa al-Ash’ari — recorded having a mushaf with different surah arrangements and wordings.

These weren’t fringe figures — they were among the most respected reciters of the Qur’an in early Islam.

Source: Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif; al-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an.

Uthman’s Standardization and the Burning of Qur’ans

Around 20 years after Muhammad’s death, Caliph Uthman ibn Affan faced a crisis:
Muslims in different regions were reciting the Qur’an differently, leading to disputes.

Sahih al-Bukhari 4987 records what happened next:

Hudhaifa bin al-Yaman came to Uthman… and said, “O Chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book as Jews and Christians did.”
So Uthman sent a message to Hafsa, saying, “Send us the manuscripts of the Qur’an so that we may compile the Qur’anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you.”
…Uthman returned the manuscripts to Hafsa and sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.

Think about that:

If there was already one perfect Qur’an, why the need to burn all the others?
The only reason to destroy texts is if they differ.

The Modern Problem: The Qira’at

Muslim scholars today admit that there are multiple accepted Qur’ans — they call them qira’at (readings).
These are not just differences in pronunciation; they often involve different words, grammatical structures, and meanings.

Examples of Qira’at Differences

Qur’an 2:184
- Hafs reading: fidyatun ta‘āmu miskīn – “a ransom of feeding a poor person” (singular)
- Warsh reading: fidyatun ta‘āmu masākīn – “a ransom of feeding poor people” (plural)
  Impact: This changes the number of people to feed as a ransom payment.
Qur’an 3:146
- Hafs: qātil – “fought”
- Warsh: qutil – “was killed”
  Impact: Changes the meaning from active fighting to being killed.
Qur’an 57:24
- Hafs: al-ghaniyyu al-hamīd – “The Rich, The Praiseworthy”
- Warsh: al-ghaniyyu al-hamīdu – slight grammatical change, altering the syntax.

Number of Recognized Qira’at

The Islamic scholarly tradition recognizes 10 canonical qira’at (each with two narrators) and additional non-canonical ones.
In printed form today, at least 26 different Arabic Qur’an versions are known — each authorized in different parts of the Muslim world.

Source: Dr. Shady H. Nasser, Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur’an.

Muslim Apologetic Responses

When confronted with this, apologists typically respond with:

1. “They’re all the same Qur’an — just different dialects.”

Problem: Many differences go beyond dialect and involve actual meaning changes that can affect Islamic law.

2. “Uthman’s burning was to preserve unity, not because of errors.”

Problem: Unity-preservation only makes sense if differences existed in the first place — which contradicts the “one unchanged Qur’an” claim.

3. “God revealed the Qur’an in seven ‘ahruf’ (modes).”

Problem: Even Muslim scholars don’t agree on what the ahruf actually were, and the seven modes had to be reduced to one to prevent chaos.

Why the Differences Matter

Islamic theology teaches that the Qur’an is verbatim the speech of God. If there are differences in words, there are differences in God’s speech — and that is no small issue.

Practical consequences:

Legal Rulings: Singular vs. plural in 2:184 changes the number of people you must feed for breaking a fast.
Historical Meaning: “Fought” vs. “was killed” changes the record of early Islamic battles.
Theological Understanding: Different readings can alter attributes of God or the interpretation of a verse.

The Manuscript Evidence

Early Qur’anic manuscripts like the Sana’a Palimpsest show textual differences from the modern Qur’an.
These are not just missing diacritical marks — some involve different words, altered word order, and missing verses.

Source: Gerd Puin’s research on the Sana’a manuscripts (Yemen).

The Bigger Picture

The “one perfect Qur’an” myth survives because:

Most Muslims have never compared different Arabic editions side by side.
Dawah preachers never mention the manuscript and qira’at differences to their audiences.
Public discussion of variant Qur’ans is often discouraged in Muslim-majority societies.

But the evidence is out in the open for anyone willing to look — and once you see it, the claim collapses.

Conclusion

The slogan “one Qur’an, perfectly preserved” is marketing — not history.
From the earliest codices to the 26+ printed Qur’ans in use today, Islam’s own history shows a messy, human process of collection, editing, standardization, and suppression of differences.

If the Qur’an truly is the literal, eternal word of God, which version is it?
And if you can’t answer that without qualifying, hedging, or redefining preservation, the myth is already broken.

Next in the series: Part 3 – Abrogation: God Changes His Mind