Exposing Islam

Part 4 – Missing Verses

What the Sources Admit Was Lost

When Islam’s Own Records Admit God’s Words Disappeared

The Preservation Claim Revisited

Muslims repeat it like a creed:

“Not a word of the Qur’an has been lost or changed since it was revealed.”

In Parts 1–3, we’ve already seen cracks in this claim — from contradictions between Qur’an and hadith, to variant Qur’ans, to the doctrine of abrogation.

But in this part, we take a sledgehammer to the core of the narrative.
We’re going to look at Islam’s own sources that openly admit certain Qur’anic verses no longer exist — not because they were “replaced” (naskh), but because they were forgotten, destroyed, or otherwise lost.

If even one verse is missing, the claim of perfect preservation collapses.
Here, we’ll see multiple verses — and even whole surahs — gone.

What the Qur’an Says About Loss

The Qur’an itself claims divine protection:

Surah 15:9 – “Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur’an and indeed, We will be its guardian.”

If Allah is the “guardian” of the Qur’an, how could any verse go missing?
Either this verse is false, or Allah failed to protect his book — both fatal problems for Islamic theology.

Islam’s Own Records of Missing Verses

1. The Stoning Verse

One of the most famous missing verses is about stoning adulterers to death.

Sahih al-Bukhari 6829 records Umar ibn al-Khattab (second caliph) saying:

“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…”

Problem for Islam: Umar openly states this was revealed Qur’an — yet it’s not in any Qur’an today.
Excuse used by apologists: They claim it was abrogated in recitation but not in ruling (naskh al-tilawah).
Rebuttal: “Abrogated in recitation but not ruling” is a desperate, ad hoc category invented to explain away the embarrassment of missing text while still enforcing the law.

2. The Breastfeeding an Adult Verse

Yes, this one is as strange as it sounds.

Sunan Ibn Majah 1944:

“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.”

Problem: If a goat can eat God’s eternal word, that word isn’t very eternal.
Apologist spin: The verse was abrogated, and the goat just happened to eat the paper.
Rebuttal: The hadith does not say it was abrogated; it says it was revealed and then lost.

3. The Surah Equal to al-Bara’ah

Sahih Muslim 2286:

“We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to Surah Bara’ah, then I forgot it, but I have remembered from it: ‘If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the belly of the son of Adam except dust…’”

Problem: This was an entire surah — gone.
Rebuttal to apologist claim of abrogation: The hadith says “I forgot it,” not “it was abrogated.” Forgetting means human failure, not divine plan.

4. Surah al-Ahzab’s Original Length

Musnad Ahmad 5:132 records Ubayy ibn Ka’b:

“Surah al-Ahzab was similar to Surah al-Bara’ah in length, and I forgot most of it, except for the verse: ‘O Prophet, verily We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good news and a warner…’”

Today, Surah al-Ahzab has 73 verses. Surah al-Bara’ah has 129 verses. That’s roughly half the length — meaning dozens of verses are missing.

Early Muslim Scholars on Missing Material

Al-Suyuti (Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an, Vol. 2, p. 25): Records multiple examples of verses and even surahs not preserved in the current Qur’an.
Ibn Abi Dawud (Kitab al-Masahif): Lists variant codices with content absent from today’s Qur’an.
Ibn Umar is reported to have said: “Let none of you say, ‘I have acquired the whole of the Qur’an.’ How does he know what all of it is, when much of the Qur’an has disappeared? Rather let him say, ‘I have acquired what has survived.’”

Muslim Apologetic Responses

When faced with these hadith, Muslim apologists often try three tactics:

1. “They were abrogated in recitation.”

Problem: This is not mentioned in the original reports; it’s a later theological patch.
Rebuttal: If God wanted them removed, why do companions describe them as forgotten or eaten by animals?

2. “These are weak hadith.”

Problem: Many of these reports are in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, the most authentic collections in Sunni Islam.
Rebuttal: If these can’t be trusted, why trust anything else in the same collections?

3. “The meaning remains in other verses.”

Problem: Preservation is about the exact words, not general themes.
Rebuttal: By that logic, Bible verses paraphrased elsewhere would mean the Bible is “perfectly preserved” — a standard Muslims reject for Christians.

Theological Consequences

Qur’an 15:9 Is False – If God promised to preserve the Qur’an but verses are missing, the promise failed.
No Superior Preservation to the Bible – Muslims mock Christians for manuscript variants, but Islam’s own history shows lost material.
Sharia’s Legitimacy is Undermined – Laws like stoning are enforced based on missing verses preserved only in hadith — not the Qur’an.

The Bigger Picture

Missing verses strike at the very heart of Islamic claims:

If verses can vanish, then the Qur’an is not “eternal and unchangeable.”
If companions could forget or lose parts, oral transmission is unreliable.
If the Qur’an needs hadith to “restore” lost rulings, then hadith, not Qur’an, becomes the ultimate authority — contradicting Islam’s own self-image.

Conclusion

Islam’s earliest and most respected sources admit it: parts of the Qur’an are gone.
Not because Allah “replaced” them, but because humans forgot them, lost them, or goats ate them.

This isn’t a smear from outside Islam — it’s the testimony of Islam’s own companions, preserved in Islam’s most trusted books.
The claim that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved crumbles under the weight of its own history.

Next in the series: Part 5 – Qur’anic Creation Contradictions