#32: The 6 HOPELESS, yet earliest Qur'anic Manuscripts!

According to the 'Standard Islamic Narrative' (the Islamic Traditions), but more specifically in Sahih Al Bukhari, vol. 6, Hadith numbers 509-510, we read that the 3rd Caliph, Uthman, in 652 AD, burned several variant readings of the Qur'an in Medina, because they didn't agree with the "Quraishi" Qur'an he commissioned Zaid ibn Thabit (Muhammad's secretary) to write, using the manuscript he had previously created in 632 AD as his model. 5 copies of Uthman's official text were then sent to 5 major cities of the region, including Medina and Mecca (both in Arabia), Basra and Kufa (both in Iraq), and Damascus (in Syria). These 5 official copies were sent to these cities so that the Muslims in each province could be sure to be reading and following the same standardized script which he had commissioned Zaid to write. Our question is this: Where are those original 5 copies of the Qur'an which were sent in the mid-7th century to the 5 cities representing 5 provinces in Uthman's empire? In response, Muslims point to 6 of the earliest dated Qur'anic manuscripts as examples of these original Qur'ans commissioned by Uthman in 652 AD. Yet, all 6 have problems, so let's look at them. Today they are situated in 6 different cities: 1) The TOPKAPI MANUSCRIPT is situated in the Topkapi Palace, in Istanbul, Turkey. It is probably the best Qur'anic manuscript the Muslims have as it is about 99% complete, but dates from the mid-8th century, or roughly 100 years after Uthman. It contains over 2,270 manuscript variants (that means over 2,270 words or phrases in its text which are different from the official 'Hafs' Qur'an Muslims worldwide use today). 2) The SAMARKAND MANUSCRIPT is situated in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It is from the mid-8th century, but only contains 43 Surahs (Note: the Qur'an has 114 Surahs). Of those 43 Surahs, only one is complete, while 16 don't even exist at all. There are many "Grammatical Mistakes" in the text, so-much-so that Muslim scholars refer to it as "an embarrassment". 3) The MA'IL MANUSCRIPT is situated in the British Museum, in London, England. It is dated to the late 8th century, and only goes up to Surah 43, so that almost half of the Qur'an is missing. It also has manuscript variants and uses a 'Ma'il Script' which is supposedly the script used in the Hijaz (central Arabia), but its script is from further north, in Jordan. 4) The PETROPOLITANUS MANUSCRIPT is situated in the Bibliotheque Nationale, in Paris, France. It is dated to the early 8th century, yet only comprises 19% of the Qur'an, with 93 variant words or phrases in its text when compared to our current 'Hafs' text. 5) The HUSEINI MANUSCRIPT is situated in Cairo, Egypt. It is a 'Monumental Manuscript', using very large lettering and large pages, copying the much later 9th century Christian Monumental manuscripts, suggesting it is also from the 9th century. It has many later added "coverings" used to hide and censure texts which disagreed with our current Hafs Qur'an. 6) The SANA'A MANUSCRIPT is situated in Sana'a, Yemen. This manuscript is a Palimpsest (i.e. with two layers of writing). The upper layer is dated around 705 AD, thus possibly the oldest of all the earliest Qur'anic Manuscripts. The lower layer is from the late 7th century, but only comprises 63 verses; yet scholars can find 70 different variants with our modern Qur'an within those 63 verses, suggesting it was an earlier nascent Qur'an, which was washed off and then written over with a later text, a clear example of an evolution within the Qur'anic text. When we look at these 6 earliest Qur'anic Manuscripts we can conclude the following: -None of the 6 manuscripts are from the 7th century, thus none are from Uthman -None of the 6 manuscripts are complete (i.e. none have 114 Surahs) -None of the 6 manuscripts completely agree with each other, as they are all different -None of the 6 manuscripts completely agree with the current 1924 ‘Hafs’ official text -All of the 6 manuscripts have 100s and even 1000s of subsequent ‘manuscript variants’ This suggests that there were many Qur'anic manuscripts which existed up to and including the 8th and 9th centuries, with many more which have possibly subsequently been lost. So, if these earliest 6 manuscripts are not from Uthman, and not even from the same century he lived, then where are the 5 original Qur'ans which the Traditions say he commissioned and sent to those 5 cities (Mecca, Medina, Basra, Kufa and Damascus)? All of those cities have been in control of Muslims for the last 1400 years, with no records of any fires, theivery or conquests, or even earthquakes to destroy them. So, what happened to them? Where are they? Isn't there even ONE? What's more, if none of these 6 are exactly like our modern 'Hafs' Qur'an, then where is the earliest complete Qur’an which supports it? © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, June 15, 2023 (79,600) Music: "Feeling the Caribbean Sun" by Horst Hoffman, from filmmusic-io