Was the Qur'an really preserved as Muslims tell us?

On CIRA International, Hatun Tash, Al Fadi, and myself discussed the importance of two very public statements on the problems concerning the preservation of the Qur'an, by two very prominent scholars, Dr Shabir Ally, and Dr Yasir Qadhi, and the ramifications of what this all means for the Qur'an and Islam. You might be interested in the history behind all of this. It is due to Hatun's constant barrage against the Qira'at derivations, where, in 2016 she and I first held up 26 different Qira'at examples of the Qur'an at Speaker's Corner, with Muhammad Hijab in the audience, pleading with all Muslims to leave, that this whole uproar was created all over the internet, forcing Muhammad Hijab to finally interview Yasir Qadhi about these many Qira'at last Monday...a whole 4 years later. Yet, Academics (both Muslim and Western) have known about the problems concerning Qira'at for years, nay centuries, but what have they said publicly, and why has their message not permeated the millions 'on the ground'? The answer is simple, they only talk to other academics, and never publish what they know, possibly out of fear, or restraint imposed by their institutions. Once in a while a Muslim intellect wanders into their hallowed chambers, like Yassir Qadhi did at Yale 25 years ago, and they have a crisis of faith, as Dr Qadhi had. But no one knew about Qadhi's crisis until last Monday, and why? Because this was all kept 'behind closed doors', and away from the Muslim populace. He was livid with anger that this item of news got out into the public. Yet when Hijab asked him how he would rectify these discrepancies in the Qira'at narratives (it's now over 93,000), even pleading with him to tell him which of the over 37 different possibilities he would write on a blank piece of paper, out of exasperation Qadhi finally retorted that he would accept all of them, that they were all the Qur'an. So, 25 years later he still has no answer for the common Muslim on the street, and no longer can Muslims say that they have only ONE Qur'an, which can be traced back to the time of Uthman. Note that last phrase, 'back to the time of Uthman'; Qadhi thinks this Qira'at debate is the most difficult problem for Muslim academics today. He has no idea what's in store for him if he believes that is their biggest problem. What about that final statement, that they can trace a textual history of the Qur'an all the way back to Uthman? That's the 'elephant in the room' which no Muslim scholar dares to broach publicly, and of which Qadhi has never yet been questioned. And that is where we at Pfanderfilms are centering all of our energies, zeroing in on the 7th century, to find anything Islamic, including the Qur'an, asking simply 'Where is Islam', like 'where is Waldo? It's because there are some of us, who refuse to stay behind the "red line" (Qadhi's own words), employing the technology we have at hand today, such as filming Muslim's reactions to the newest discoveries at Speaker's Corner, and then uploading them onto the Internet, coupled with the myriad of YouTube channels barraging them with a litany of historical problems (including David Wood, Sam Shamoun, Christian Prince, Hatun Tash, Al Fadi, Islam Critiqued, Dan Gibson, Sneaker's Corner, and myself), that millions of Muslims are finally finding out just how hopeless their Qur'an and their prophet really are. I would even argue that those of us on the internet where millions are now watching, are the ones getting this message out to the Islamic world quicker and more efficiently than any other medium which we have at our disposal, because almost  everyone has access to the internet today, and videos are more popular than books, and are a quicker medium than personal one-on-one interactions. Let's see where we go from here. With such public admissions in such a public medium, there are going to be very difficult discussions within Islam, starting with the Academics, then moving into the Madrasas and Mosques, where it will begin to reach the millions 'on the ground' who have yet to hear just how hopeless the two pillars of Islam really are...one book modeled by one man. © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2020 (30,520)