The suspicion of the story of Uthman ibn Affan changing the copies of the Qur’an

 This is a series of scholarly responses to the Christians’ doubts about the infallibility of the Holy Qur’an. They said ,

“How can you say that your book is protected from change when you have a narration that says that the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, changed a verse in the Qur’an?”

They cited as evidence what Abu Ubaid narrated in Fadhail al-Quran :
Abu Ubaid said: Hajjaj told us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn Abi Humayd told me, on the authority of Humaydah bint Abi Yunus, who said: My father read to me, when he was eighty years old, in Aishah’s copy of the Qur’an: “Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O you who have believed, send blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation. And upon those who send blessings on him with a worthy salutation.” ( The first rows) She said: Before Uthman changed the copies of the Qur’an . He said: Ibn Jurayj said: And Ibn Abi Humayd informed me, on the authority of Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz and others, something similar to that in the copy of Aisha’s Qur’an . ” ( 1)

In response to this slander, I say:

First: The narration is not authentic :
The chain of transmission includes an unknown woman and a weak man whose hadith is rejected.
Muslims do not accept in their religion anything but an authentic hadith, and five conditions must apply to it , which are:

1- The chain of transmission must be continuous.
2- The narrators must be just.
3- The narrators must be precise.
4- The absence of anomalies.
5- Absence of the defect.

Imam Abu Amr bin Al-Salah said:
{ As for the authentic hadith: it is the hadith with a chain of transmission that is connected by the transmission of a just and accurate narrator from a just and accurate narrator to the end, and it is not anomalous or defective . } (2) The defects of the narration:



The first defect : Humaydah bint Abi Yunus is unknown .
This woman was not documented by any of the scholars of criticism and authentication.

Sheikh Akram Ibn Muhammad Al-Athari said:
{ Humaida bint Abi Yunus Al-Ansariyyah, a freed slave of Aisha, from the second generation, I did not know her, and I did not find a biography for her, and Sheikh Shaker did not know her before me (5393), and Sheikh Al-Turki did not mention her biography in his investigation of ((Tafsir Al-Tabari)) (4/345) in anything..}. (3)

So, Humaida is unknown, and the narration of the unknown is rejected and unacceptable to us.

Imam Abu Amr Ibn Al-Salah said:
{ The unknown is just from both the apparent and the hidden, and his narration is not acceptable to the majority}. (4)

Imam Ibn Kathir said :
{As for the vague one who was not named, or the one who was named but his identity was not known, then he is one whose narration is not accepted by anyone we know of.} (5)

The second defect : Ibn Abi Hamid is a denier of hadith. Imam Al-Dhahabi said: Hammad bin Abi Hamid Al-Madani , who is Muhammad bin Abi Hamid Al-Ansari. Weak . Al-Bukhari said: He is a denier of hadith. Ibn Ma’in said: His hadith is nothing. Al-Nasa’i said: He is not trustworthy. (6) So the chain of transmission is weak and invalid. Note: Abu Ubaid mentioned another way of narrating the hadith, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn Abi Humayd informed me, on the authority of Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz and others, something similar to that in Aisha ’s Mushaf . Although this chain of narration is free from the anonymity of Humaydah, and he mentioned instead Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz, who is trustworthy and reliable, it is still weak and strange because it includes Ibn Abi Humayd, and this is considered confusion on the part of this Ibn Abi Humayd. Second: Another book that mentions the narration : I cannot fail to point out that this narration, the subject of our research, was mentioned by Imam Ibn Abi Dawud in his book “Al-Masahif” with the same chain of transmission mentioned by Abu Ubaid. (7) The book’s researcher, Dr. Muhibb al-Din Abd al-Subhan Wa’iz, ruled that the narration is weak, so it is narrated with the same weak chain of transmission. Note: Some Christians prove the authenticity of the narration by the fact that al-Suyuti mentioned it in his two books al-Durr al-Manthur and al-Itqan! And this, by Allah, is a great tragedy, because people think that listing the references that mention the narration, even if they are without a chain of transmission, indicates its authenticity! But that is okay, because whoever believes that the Lord Almighty is a sheep can be so foolish and foolish. Allah is far above what the disbelievers say. Third: If the narration is authentic, then it has a good interpretation: I say that assuming that this narration is authentic, then it has a good interpretation and does not contain this meaning that came to the mind of the Christian who raised the doubt. Because it is known that when our master Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) collected the copies of the Qur’an, he dropped in this collection everything that had been abrogated in the last presentation. This is because Zayd ibn Thabit was the one who collected the Qur’an and he was the one who attended the last presentation in which Gabriel informed the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of what had been abrogated from the Qur’an. So if this addition mentioned in the narration under discussion was in Aisha’s copy of the Qur’an, then it is certainly one of the abrogated recitations, as we will explain. Fourth: Al-Suyuti placed the narration under the category of abrogated recitation: Imam Al-Suyuti mentioned in Al-Itqan chapters on the sciences of the Holy Qur’an and mentioned the forty-seventh type in its abrogating and abrogated chapter, what was abrogated in recitation but not in ruling. (8) Then after that Al-Suyuti mentioned this narration that we are discussing within this type of abrogated. (9) Fifth : The narration according to the Christian’s incorrect understanding contradicts the agreed-upon correctness : This narration contradicts what the Islamic nation has agreed upon.






































Imam Abu Ubaid, the narrator of the narration, said:
“ What Uthman compiled is what is among the Muslims today, and it is what is judged upon whoever denies something of it, just as it is judged upon the apostate, with regard to repentance. If he refuses, then he is to be killed .” (10)

This means that Imam Abu Ubaid did not understand this sterile, unsound understanding of the narration that the Christian or the Rafidi understood.

Rather, Abu Ubaid said after mentioning this narration and what is similar to it:
{ These letters that we mentioned in these two chapters of the additions were not narrated by the scholars, and they assumed that they are like what is between the two panels of the Qur’an; and because they used to recite them in prayer. And they did not make whoever denied them a disbeliever. It is only read in prayer. Woe to him who denies this which is between the two tablets in particular, and it is what was established in the Imam which Uthman abrogated with the consensus of the Muhajireen and the Ansar, and the omission of what was other than it, then the nation agreed upon it, so there was no disagreement about anything in it, the ignorant among them knows it as their scholar knows it, and the generations inherited it from one another. And the boys learn it in the school. This was one of the great virtues of Uthman. Some of the people of deviation had attacked him, then their error in that became clear to the people . ( 11)

Note :
We Muslims do not accept any reading of the readings of the Holy Qur’an unless it meets three conditions :

1- Continuity of the chain of transmission.
2- Conformity to the Uthmanic script, even if it is possible.
3- Conformity to one of the aspects of grammar.

Imam Ibn al-Jazari said:
“ Every recitation that agrees with Arabic, even in one way, and agrees with one of the Uthmanic copies, even if it is a possibility, and its chain of transmission is sound, then it is the correct recitation that cannot be rejected and it is not permissible to deny it. Rather, it is one of the seven letters in which the Qur’an was revealed, and it is obligatory upon the people to accept it, whether it was from the imams.” The seven, or the ten, or other accepted imams, and whenever one of these three pillars is missing, it is called weak, or anomalous, or invalid. This is what is correct according to the imams of investigation from the predecessors and successors. ( 12) This addition, {

and upon those who join the first rows} is not authentically traced back to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and it is also not in accordance with the Uthmanic script. So it is anomalous and cannot be proven, and it also contradicts the consensus of the Islamic nation. Sixth: Uthman ibn Affan did not

He never changes anything :
It has been proven with a sound chain of transmission on the authority of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) that he never changed anything in the Qur’an at all.

Al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih:
{ On the authority of Ibn Abi Mulaykah, Ibn al-Zubayr said: I said to Uthman ibn Affan: {And those of you who die and leave wives behind them} has been abrogated by another verse, so why do you write it or leave it? He said: O son of my brother, I will not change anything in its place .} (13)

And this, by God, is a back-breaker and a tongue-cutter for anyone who attacks our master Uthman ibn Affan , may God be pleased with him.

Seventh: I condemn you from your own mouth :
Hasn’t this Christian looked at what is in his books?
Hasn’t he seen the extent of the distortions and fabrications in his book?
Would someone whose house is made of glass throw stones at people?

The Jesuit monastic translation says:
{ The copies of the New Testament that have reached us are not all the same, but one can see differences
of varying importance in them, but their number is very large in any case. There is a group of differences that only deal with some rules of morphology and grammar or words or the arrangement of words, but there are other differences between the manuscripts that deal with the meaning of entire paragraphs.
It is not difficult to discover the source of these differences, for the text of the New Testament has been copied and copied over many centuries by scribes of varying skill, and none of them is free from the various errors which prevent any copy, no matter how much effort has been expended on it, from being in complete agreement with the example from which it was taken. In addition, some scribes have sometimes tried, in good faith, to correct what was in their example and which seemed to them to contain clear errors or lack of precision in theological expression, and thus they have introduced new readings into the text which are almost entirely wrong. Then it can be added that the use of many passages from the New Testament during the performance of the rituals of worship has often led to the introduction of embellishments intended to beautify the ritual or to reconcile different texts, which has been helped by loud recitation.
It is clear that the changes introduced by scribes over the centuries have accumulated one upon the other. The text that eventually reached the printing era was burdened with various types of changes, which appeared in a large number of readings . (14)

/ Research references: (1) The Virtues of the Qur’an by Imam Abu Ubaid al-Qasim Ibn Sallam, p. 324 , published by Dar Ibn Kathir - Beirut, translated by: Marwan al-Atiyah, Mohsen Kharaba, and Wafa Taqi al-Din. (2) The Sciences of Hadith by Imam Abu Amr Ibn al-Salah, p. 11 , published by Dar al-Fikr al-Mu’asir - Lebanon, Dar al-Fikr - Syria, translated by: Nour al-Din Antar. (3) The Small Dictionary of the Narrators of Imam Ibn Jarir al-Tabari by Sheikh Akram Muhammad al-Athari, Vol. 2, p. 835, published by Dar al-Athariyya -


Jordan, Dar Ibn Affan - Cairo.
(4) Sciences of Hadith by Imam Abu Amr Ibn Al-Salah, p. 111 , published by Dar Al-Fikr Al-Mu'aser - Lebanon and Dar Al-Fikr - Syria, translated by: Nour Al-Din Antar.
(5) Al-Ba'ith Al-Hatheeth, Ikhtisar Ulum Sharh Al-Hadith by Imam Ibn Kathir, p. 92 , authored by Ahmed Shaker, published by Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyyah - Beirut.
(6) Mizan Al-I'tidal fi Naqd Al-Rijal by Imam Shams Al-Din Al-Dhahabi, vol. 2 , p . 358 , published by Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyyah - Beirut.
(7) Al-Masahif by Imam Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Dawood Al-Sijistani, vol. 1 , p. 370 , published by Dar Al-Bishara - Beirut, translated by: Dr. Muhibb Al-Din Abdul Subhan Waiz.
(8) Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Quran by Imam Al-Suyuti, vol. 4, p. 1454 , published by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance in Saudi Arabia.
(9) Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Quran by Imam Al-Suyuti, vol. 4, p. 1458 , published by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance in Saudi Arabia.
(10) The Virtues of the Qur’an by Imam Abu Ubaid al-Qasim Ibn Sallam, p. 326 , Dar Ibn Kathir edition - Beirut, trans. Marwan al-Atiyah, Mohsen Kharaba, and Wafa’ Taqi al-Din.
(11) The Virtues of the Qur’an by Imam Abu Ubaid al-Qasim Ibn Sallam, p. 325 , Dar Ibn Kathir edition - Beirut, trans. Marwan al-Atiyah, Mohsen Kharaba, and Wafa’ Taqi al-Din.
(12) An-Nashr fi al-Qira’at al-‘Ashr by Imam Muhammad Ibn al-Jazari, vol. 1 , p. 9 , Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah edition - Beirut, trans. Sheikh Ali Muhammad al-Dabba’.
(13) Sahih al-Bukhari by Imam Muhammad Ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, p. 1109 , hadith 4530 , Dar Ibn Kathir edition - Beirut.
(14) The Jesuit Monastic Translation, pp. 12 , p. 13 , Introduction to the New Testament, Dar al-Mashreq edition - Beirut, Lebanon, translated by Paul Bassim, seventh edition.