From Asad Zaman 
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Miracle of Quran (No Numbers!)
Date: Thu Jul 11 10:08:33 EDT 1996


Attention to numerology causes inattention to the many real and 
undeniable miracles of the Quran. One of these is especially 
important since it shows how we can establish the validity of the
Quran. Since the Quran is a unique book, and Allah himself has
promised to guard it, He has also fulfilled his promise in a unique
way, such that the preservation of Quran can be demonstrated to all:
there is no need of deep scholarship, archaic texts, carbon-dating,
all esoteric techniques generally beyond the reach of the public.

Before beginning, let me point out that because of the unique nature
of the proof, it will require some thought on part of the reader to
see its validity. An analogy is that the proof of the four-color
theorem given recently broke the problem into a very large but
finite set of cases, and then used the computer to deal with the
cases individually. This was a first proof of its type and it took
a while for the mathematical community to examine, understand, and
accept the proof.

The average Muslim sees the proof of the preservation of the Quran
once every year, when the entire Quran is recited in the prayers of
Taraweeh by a Hafiz (one who knows the entire Quran by heart). Most
often in the audience there are additional Huffaz (plural of Hafiz)
who listen, and occasionally correct the person who is reciting the
Quran. This is a visible demonstration of two key facts:
A: It is possible to memorize the entire Quran cover to cover.
B: Although individual memory can be unreliable, collectively the
   memory of a group of Huffaz is very trustworthy.
   
Because of the presence of hundreds of thousands of Huffaz throughout
the world, the preseveration of the Quran AT THIS TIME is completely
independent of written copies. Anybody who has experienced Taraweeh
with a reliable Hafiz can testify that if all written records of the
Quran were destroyed, we would without any difficulty reconstruct
the entire Quran by assembling a few Huffaz and asking them to 
put it together. This is a MIRACLE of the QURAN. There is no
other book for which this claim can be made. There is no other
book for which, continuously throughout the ages, there have been
thousands of people who have had the entire book in their hearts.
As Allah has explicitly promised in the Quran, Allah T'aala has 
made the Quran easy to remember. The Quran has been preserved
because it has been printed on the HEARTS of people, not just on
paper. 

From these easily observable facts, plain to everybody, how can we
argue that the Quran has been preserved? The argument is simple. 
The state of affairs now is the same as it was at the time of the
prophet. The Quran was preserved in the hearts of numerous
companions, and collectively recited in Taraweeh prayers since
the days of Khalif Umer Farooq.  When there are numerous Huffaz
spread throughout the world, it is impossible to suppress 
variant readings, should such exist. We note the variety of 
the Sunnah of the Prophet which has been preserved among the
Muslims. Some make eight rakat, some twelve, some twenty. 
These represent various ways that the prophet himself
used to pray. Nearly of the variants of the sunnah and all
of the differences arising among the Sahabah have been faithfully
preserved and are considered as legitimate in one Madhhab or the
other. This is why the differences are a mercy for the Ummah. 
Just seeing that there are all these differences, but NONE in
the Quran, is enough to show us that none could have existed 
from the earliest time. If any difference existed, it would
have been preserved, just as the variant sunnah's of the
Prophet (s.a.w.) have been preserved.

All praise is for Allah Subhanuhu wa T'ala for providing us with
an easy and satisfying demonstration for the validity of the
Quran, thereby fulfilling His promise to preserve the Quran,
which not only includes the text of the Quran, but the proof
of its validity.

My answer for the authenticity of the gospel along similar lines of reasoning.

Back to the Answering Islam Home Page