robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)
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same vari<strong>an</strong>t, along with other departures from the c<strong>an</strong>onical text. 18<br />
Hafs, Warsh, <strong>an</strong>d Other Vari<strong>an</strong>ts<br />
The edition of the Qur'<strong>an</strong> published in Cairo in 1924 has won wide accept<strong>an</strong>ce as <strong>an</strong> accurate reflection<br />
of the Uthm<strong>an</strong>ic text. But little known even among Muslims is the <strong>exist</strong>ence of <strong>an</strong> entirely separate <strong>an</strong>d<br />
officially s<strong>an</strong>ctioned m<strong>an</strong>uscript tradition. The Warsh tradition of the Qur'<strong>an</strong>ic text predominates in<br />
western <strong>an</strong>d northwest Africa; the Cairo Qur'<strong>an</strong> represents the more common Hafs tradition.<br />
Most of the differences between the Hafs <strong>an</strong>d Warsh traditions are ones of orthography, some of which<br />
c<strong>an</strong> be signific<strong>an</strong>t. There are also several inst<strong>an</strong>ces of small but unmistakable divergences in me<strong>an</strong>ing. In<br />
Qur'<strong>an</strong> 2:125, for example, the Hafs text has Allah comm<strong>an</strong>ding the Muslims: “Take the station of<br />
Abraham as a place of prayer.” The Warsh tradition, however, has no imperative, saying merely: “They<br />
have taken the station of Abraham as a place of prayer.” 19 In Qur'<strong>an</strong> 3:13, Allah recalls of the Battle of<br />
Badr that there was “one army fighting in the way of Allah, <strong>an</strong>d <strong>an</strong>other disbelieving, whom they saw as<br />
twice their number, clearly, with their very eyes.” At least so goes the Hafs text. In the Warsh, the pronoun<br />
is different, so that the text reads “whom you saw” rather th<strong>an</strong> “whom they saw.” 20 In the Hafs Qur'<strong>an</strong>,<br />
sura 3:146 asks, “And with how m<strong>an</strong>y a prophet have there been a number of devoted men who fought?”<br />
The Warsh question is signific<strong>an</strong>tly different: “And with how m<strong>an</strong>y a prophet have there been a number of<br />
devoted men who were killed?” 21<br />
In recent decades, numerous other Qur'<strong>an</strong>s have been published that differ markedly in orthography<br />
from the Cairo text. 22 In 1998 the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur'<strong>an</strong> released <strong>an</strong><br />
edition. In this Saudi edition, the Fatiha calls Allah “Master of the Day of Judgment” (1:4). The word<br />
malik me<strong>an</strong>s “master” with a long alif (a). With a short alif, however, the word me<strong>an</strong>s “king.” “King of<br />
the Day of Judgment” is exactly how some other texts of the Qur'<strong>an</strong> render this verse, including a text<br />
published in Ist<strong>an</strong>bul in 1993. 23<br />
At least one vari<strong>an</strong>t in modern Qur'<strong>an</strong>s involves a flat contradiction. The Hafs tradition presents Qur'<strong>an</strong><br />
3:158 this way: “And if you die, or are slain, lo, it is certainly to Allah that you are gathered.” On the<br />
other h<strong>an</strong>d, a Qur'<strong>an</strong> published in Tehr<strong>an</strong> in 1978 asserts: “And if you die, or are slain, lo, it is not to<br />
Allah that you are gathered.” 24<br />
None of these divergences in me<strong>an</strong>ing (even the contradiction) is so signific<strong>an</strong>t as to affect Islamic<br />
doctrine or practice. But the very <strong>exist</strong>ence of discrep<strong>an</strong>cies, like the m<strong>an</strong>y hints of a Christi<strong>an</strong> Syriac<br />
substratum, suggests that the Qur'<strong>an</strong> is the product of m<strong>an</strong>y h<strong>an</strong>ds <strong>an</strong>d that its text was at one point<br />
considerably more fluid th<strong>an</strong> Islamic orthodoxy acknowledges. In <strong>an</strong> examination of Islam's <strong>origins</strong>, this<br />
fluidity becomes a matter of no small signific<strong>an</strong>ce. Like so much else about the accepted story of how<br />
Islam beg<strong>an</strong>, the st<strong>an</strong>dard Islamic account of how the Qur'<strong>an</strong> came about falters in the face of the facts.<br />
Once it becomes clear that the Qur'<strong>an</strong> was not a single unified text in every time <strong>an</strong>d place in which it<br />
was distributed, the responsible histori<strong>an</strong> has no choice but to look for alternative expl<strong>an</strong>ations for the<br />
Qur'<strong>an</strong>'s <strong>origins</strong>.