robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)

Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or
pregnancy or confession…. Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him. 19
Sura 33 of the Qur'an, according to another hadith, was originally 127 verses longer than it is in the
canonical text. In this hadith, Muhammad's wife Aisha is made to say: “Surat al-Ahzab [that is, sura 33]
used to be recited in the time of the Prophet with two hundred verses, but when Uthman wrote out the
codices he was unable to procure more of it than what there is today.” 20 Aisha asserted that the sura
originally included a verse mandating stoning: “The fornicators among the married men (ash-shaikh) and
married women (ash-shaikhah), stone them as an exemplary punishment from Allah, and Allah is Mighty
and Wise.” 21
Still another hadith records an occasion on which a venerable Muslim in the city of Basra reminisced
about a lost sura of the Qur'an: “We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to
(Surah) Bara'at.” 22 Surah Bara'at (Surat al-Bara'a), more commonly known as Surat at-Tauba
(Repentance), is the Qur'an's ninth sura, and it contains the book's fiercest exhortations to jihad warfare
(9:5, 9:123, etc.), including jihad against Jews and Christians (9:29). But the old man could recall little of
the lost sura: “I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of 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 stomach of the son of Adam but dust.’ We used to recite a sura similar to one of the Musabihat,
and I no longer remember it, but this much I have indeed preserved: ‘O you who truly believe, why do you
preach that which you do not practise?’ [Qur'an 61:2] (and) ‘that is inscribed on your necks as a witness
and you will be examined about it on the Day of Resurrection [Qur'an 17:13).’” 23 Significantly, the only
two verses of this sura that this man is made to recall are both found elsewhere in the Qur'an; they could
have been added into the Qur'anic text after these hadiths were produced to assert their divine origin.
Other hadiths have the caliph Abu Bakr, seeing the loss of sections of the Qur'an as a looming crisis
that threatened the still-nascent Muslim community, ordering one of Muhammad's secretaries to collect the
various portions of the holy book to keep it from being lost. The scribe he summoned was Zayd ibn
Thabit, the same one featured in the story of Muhammad and the blind man. This hadith has Zayd explain
the way he recorded the prophet's revelations and helped him communicate with the local Jewish leaders:
“The Messenger of God ordered me to study for him the script of the Jews [kitab al-yahud, which can
also be translated as “Book of the Jews”], and he said to me, ‘I do not trust the Jews with regard to my
correspondence’ [i.e., correspondence with the Jews, written in their script]. Not even half a month
passed until I used to write for him, and they wrote to him, I would read their letter.” 24
Zayd was chosen to collect the Qur'an, this hadith explains, because he had already memorized the
entire book. Of course, if Zayd really had memorized the entire Qur'an, Abu Bakr would not have needed
him to track down various people who had retained particular sections of the Qur'an and collect what he
found; Zayd could have simply written it down.
In any case, the hadith recounts that Zayd refused the caliph's request: Muhammad himself had never
tried to collect the Qur'an together, so why should they do what the “good example” (Qur'an 33:21) had
not done? In response, Abu Bakr and Umar, who would soon succeed him as caliph, insisted that
collecting the Qur'an was a matter of necessity—thus advancing a justification for this religious
innovation under the guise of traditionalism. Zayd reluctantly agreed to undertake the project: “By Allah!