Editing Quran (section)

==Academic research==
{{Main|Quranic studies|Early Quranic manuscripts}}
Studies on the Quran rarely went beyond [[textual criticism]].{{when|date=December 2024}}<ref>Religions of the world Lewis M. Hopfe&nbsp;– 1979 "Some Muslims have suggested and practiced textual criticism of the Quran in a manner similar to that practiced by Christians and Jews on their bibles. No one has yet suggested the [[higher criticism]] of the Quran."</ref><ref>Egypt's culture wars: politics and practice&nbsp;– Page 278 [[Samia Mehrez]]&nbsp;– 2008 Middle East report: Issues 218–222; Issues 224–225 Middle East Research & Information Project, JSTOR (Organization)&nbsp;– 2001 Shahine filed to divorce Abu Zayd from his wife, on the grounds that Abu Zayd's textual criticism of the Quran made him an apostate, and hence unfit to marry a Muslim. Abu Zayd and his wife eventually relocated to the Netherlands</ref> Until the early 1970s,<ref name="FMDQiRS2008:30">[[#FMDQiRS2008|Donner, "Quran in Recent Scholarship", 2008]]: p.30</ref> non-Muslim scholars of Islam —while not accepting traditional explanations for divine intervention— accepted the above-mentioned traditional origin story in most details.<ref name="jecampo">{{cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan E.|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2009|publisher=Facts On File|isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1|pages=570–574}}</ref>
[[File:Birmingham_mushaf_Bismillah.png|thumb|290x290px|The [[basmala]] as written on the [[Birmingham Quran manuscript|Birmingham {{transliteration|ar|mus'haf}} manuscript]], one of the oldest surviving copies of the Quran <br /> [[Rasm]]: "ٮسم الله الرحمں الرحىم"]]
[[University of Chicago]] professor [[Fred Donner]] states that:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Donner|first=Fred M.|date=2014|title=Review: Textual Criticism and Qurʾān Manuscripts, by Keith E. Small|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies|volume=73|issue=1|pages=166–169|doi=10.1086/674909}}</ref><blockquote>[T]here was a very early attempt to establish a uniform [[rasm|consonantal text of the Qurʾān]] from what was probably a wider and more varied group of related texts in early transmission.… After the creation of this standardized canonical text, earlier authoritative texts were suppressed, and all extant manuscripts—despite their [[Qira'at|numerous variants]]—seem to date to a time after this standard consonantal text was established.</blockquote>Although most variant readings of the text of the Quran have ceased to be transmitted, some still are.<ref name="melchert2" /><ref>Ibn Warraq, ''Which Koran? Variants, Manuscript, Linguistics'', p. 45. Prometheus Books, 2011. {{ISBN|1-59102-430-7}}</ref> There has been no [[critical text]] produced on which a scholarly reconstruction of the Quranic text could be based.{{Efn|For both the claim that variant readings are still transmitted and the claim that no such critical edition has been produced, see Gilliot, C., "Creation of a fixed text"<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Gilliot |first=C. |chapter=Creation of a fixed text |editor-link=Jane Dammen McAuliffe |editor-last=McAuliffe |editor-first=Jane Dammen |encyclopedia=The Cambridge Companion to the Qur'ān |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2006 |page=52}}</ref>}}

[[File:Blue koran sanaa.jpg|thumb|A page from the [[Sanaa manuscript]]. Possibly the oldest, best preserved and most comprehensive [[Islamic archaeology|Islamic archaeological document]] to date. The double layer reveals additions to the original text and multiple differences with today's Quran.]]

In 1972, in a mosque in the city of [[Sana'a]], [[Yemen]], manuscripts "consisting of 12,000 pieces" were discovered that were later proven to be the oldest Quranic text known to exist at the time. The [[Sana'a manuscript]]s contain [[palimpsest]]s, manuscript pages from which the text has been washed off to make the parchment reusable again—a practice which was common in ancient times due to the scarcity of writing material. However, the faint washed-off underlying text ({{Transliteration|la|scriptio inferior}}) is still barely visible.<ref name=jqs1>{{cite journal|title='The Qur'an: Text, Interpretation and Translation' Third Biannual SOAS Conference, 16–17 October 2003|journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies|date=April 2004|volume=6|issue=1|pages=143–145|doi=10.3366/jqs.2004.6.1.143}}</ref> Studies using [[radiocarbon dating]] indicate that the parchments are dated to the period before 671 CE with a 99 percent probability.<ref name=bergmann>{{cite journal|last=Bergmann|first=Uwe|author2=Sadeghi, Behnam |title=The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurān of the Prophet|journal=Arabica|date=September 2010|volume=57|issue=4|pages=343–436|doi=10.1163/157005810X504518}}</ref><ref name=sadeghi>{{cite journal|last=Sadeghi|first=Behnam|author2=Goudarzi, Mohsen |title=Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān|journal=Der Islam|date=March 2012|volume=87|issue=1–2|pages=1–129|doi=10.1515/islam-2011-0025|s2cid=164120434}}</ref> The [[Germany|German]] scholar [[Gerd R. Puin]] has been investigating these Quran fragments for years. His research team made 35,000 microfilm photographs of the manuscripts, which he dated to the early part of the 8th century. Puin has noted unconventional verse orderings, minor textual variations, and rare styles of orthography, and suggested that some of the parchments were palimpsests which had been reused. Puin believed that this implied an evolving text as opposed to a fixed one.<ref name="LESTER-1999">{{cite journal |last1=Lester |first1=Toby |title=What Is the Koran? |journal=Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/ |access-date=24 September 2019|date=January 1999 }}</ref> It is also possible that the content of the Quran itself may provides data regarding the date of writing of the text. For example, sources based on some archaeological data give the construction date of [[Masjid al-Haram]], an architectural work mentioned 16 times in the Quran, as 78 AH<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.islamic-awareness.org/history/islam/inscriptions/haram1.html | title=An Inscription Mentioning the Rebuilding of Al-Masjid Al-Haram, 78 AH / 697-698 CE }}</ref> an additional finding that sheds light on the evolutionary history of the Quran mentioned,<ref name="LESTER-1999"/> which is known to continue even during the time of [[Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf|Hajjaj]],{{sfn|Jeffrey|1952|pp=99–120}}{{sfn|Robinson|1996|p=56}} in a similar situation that can be seen with [[al-Aksa]], though different suggestions have been put forward to explain.{{refn|group=note|Arabic and Persian writers such as 10th-century geographer [[al-Muqaddasi]],<ref name="MukaddasiNasir">{{cite book |last=Le Strange |first=Guy |author-link=Guy Le Strange |title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Translated from the Works of the Medieval Arab Geographers |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |year=1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA94 |pages=96 |quote=Great confusion is introduced into the Arab descriptions of the Noble Sanctuary by the indiscriminate use of the terms Al Masjid or Al Masjid al Akså, Jami' or Jami al Aksâ; and nothing but an intimate acquaintance with the locality described will prevent a translator, ever and again, misunderstanding the text he has before him-since the native authorities use the technical terms in an extraordinarily inexact manner, often confounding the whole, and its part, under the single denomination of "Masjid." Further, the usage of various writers differs considerably on these points : Mukaddasi invariably speaks of the whole Haram Area as Al Masjid, or as Al Masjid al Aksî, "the Akså Mosque," or "the mosque," while the Main-building of the mosque, at the south end of the Haram Area, which we generally term the Aksa, he refers to as Al Mughattâ, "the Covered-part." Thus he writes "the mosque is entered by thirteen gates," meaning the gates of the Haram Area. So also "on the right of the court," means along the west wall of the Haram Area; "on the left side" means the east wall; and "at the back" denotes the northern boundary wall of the Haram Area. Nasir-i-Khusrau, who wrote in Persian, uses for the Main-building of the Aksâ Mosque the Persian word Pushish, that is, "Covered part," which exactly translates the Arabic Al Mughatta. On some occasions, however, the Akså Mosque (as we call it) is spoken of by Näsir as the Maksurah, a term used especially to denote the railed-off oratory of the Sultan, facing the Mihrâb, and hence in an extended sense applied to the building which includes the same. The great Court of the Haram Area, Nâsir always speaks of as the Masjid, or the Masjid al Akså, or again as the Friday Mosque (Masjid-i-Jum'ah). |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063147/https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA94 |url-status=live }}</ref> 11th-century scholar [[Nasir Khusraw]],<ref name=MukaddasiNasir/> 12th-century geographer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|al-Idrisi]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Idrīsī |first1=Muhammad |authorlink1=Muhammad al-Idrisi |last2=Jaubert |first2=Pierre Amédée |authorlink2=Pierre Amédée Jaubert |title=Géographie d'Édrisi |publisher=à l'Imprimerie royale |year=1836 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRA7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA343 |language=fr |pages=343–344 |quote=Sous la domination musulmane il fut agrandi, et c'est (aujourd'hui) la grande mosquée connue par les Musulmans sous le nom de Mesdjid el-Acsa مسجد الأقصى. Il n'en existe pas au monde qui l'égale en grandeur, si l'on en excepte toutefois la grande mosquée de Cordoue en Andalousie; car, d'après ce qu'on rapporte, le toit de cette mosquée est plus grand que celui de la Mesdjid el-Acsa. Au surplus, l'aire de cette dernière forme un parallelogramme dont la hauteur est de deux cents brasses (ba'a), et le base de cents quatre-vingts. La moitié de cet espace, celle qui est voisin du Mihrab, est couverte d'un toit (ou plutôt d'un dôme) en pierres soutenu par plusieurs rangs de colonnes; l'autre est à ciel ouvert. Au centre de l'édifice est un grand dôme connu sous le nom de Dôme de la roche; il fut orné d'arabesques en or et d'autres beaux ouvrages, par les soins de divers califes musulmans. Le dôme est percé de quatre portes; en face de celle qui est à l'occident, on voit l'autel sur lequel les enfants d'Israël offraient leurs sacrifices; auprès de la porte orientale est l'église nommée le saint des saints, d'une construction élégante; au midi est une chapelle qui était à l'usage des Musulmans; mais les chrétiens s'en sont emparés de vive force et elle est restée en leur pouvoir jusqu'à l'époque de la composition du présent ouvrage. Ils ont converti cette chapelle en un couvent où résident des religieux de l'ordre des templiers, c'est-à-dire des serviteurs de la maison de Dieu. |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063143/https://books.google.com/books?id=BRA7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA343 |url-status=live }} Also at {{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=G. |last2=Willis |first2=R. |title=The Holy City: Historical, Topographical, and Antiquarian Notices of Jerusalem |publisher=J.W. Parker |chapter=Account of Jerusalem during the Frank Occupation, extracted from the Universal Geography of Edrisi. Climate III. sect. 5. Translated by P. Amédée Jaubert. Tome 1. pp. 341—345. |issue=v. 1 |year=1849 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_sqAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA131 |ref=none |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063201/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Holy_City/T_sqAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA3-PA131&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> and 15th-century Islamic scholar [[Mujir al-Din]],<ref name="MujiralDin">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=George |author-link=George Williams (priest) |title=The Holy City: Historical, Topographical and Antiquarian Notices of Jerusalem |publisher=Parker |year=1849 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd07AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA151 |pages=143–160 |quote=The following detailed account of the Haram es-Sherif, with some interesting notices of the City, is extracted from an Arabic work entitled " The Sublime Companion to the History of Jerusalem and Hebron, by [[Mujir al-Din|Kadi Mejir-ed-din, Ebil-yemen Abd-er-Rahman, El-Alemi]]," who died A. H. 927, (A. d. 1521)… "I have at the commencement called attention to the fact that the place now called by the name Aksa (i. e. the most distant), is the Mosk [Jamia] properly so called, at the southern extremity of the area, where is the Minbar and the great Mihrab. But in fact Aksa is the name of the whole area enclosed within the walls, the dimensions of which I have just given, for the Mosk proper [Jamia], the Dome of the Rock, the Cloisters, and other buildings, are all of late construction, and Mesjid el-Aksa is the correct name of the whole area." |access-date=22 June 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719062708/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd07AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA151 |url-status=live }} and also {{cite book |last=von Hammer-Purgstall |first=J.F. |author-link=Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall |title=Fundgruben des Orients |publisher=Gedruckt bey A. Schmid |volume=2 |year=1811 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSowAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240 |language=fr |page=93 |chapter=Chapitre vingtième. Description de la mosquée Mesdjid-ol-aksa, telle qu'elle est de nos jours, (du temps de l'auteur, au dixième siècle de l'Hégire, au seizième après J. C.) |quote=Nous avons dès le commencement appelé l'attention sur que l'endroit, auquel les hommes donnent aujourd'hui le nom d'Aksa, c'est à-dire, la plus éloignée, est la mosquée proprement dite, bâtie à l'extrêmité méridionale de l'enceinte où se trouve la chaire et le grand autel. Mais en effet Aksa est le nom de l'enceinte entière, en tant qu'elle est enfermée de murs, dont nous venons de donner la longueur et la largeur, car la mosquée proprement dite, le dôme de la roche Sakhra, les portiques et les autres bâtimens, sont tous des constructions récentes, et Mesdjidol-aksa est le véritable nom de toute l'enceinte. (Le Mesdjid des arabes répond à l'ίερόν et le Djami au ναός des grecs.) |access-date=22 June 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719062642/https://books.google.com/books?id=kSowAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Holy Land, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Islamic Sources |journal=Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis |date=Fall 2000 |pages=60–68 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6338726 |author=Mustafa Abu Sway |quote=Quoting [[Mujir al-Din]]: "Verily, ‘Al-Aqsa’ is a name for the whole mosque which is surrounded by the wall, the length and width of which are mentioned here, for the building that exists in the southern part of the Mosque, and the other ones such as the Dome of the Rock and the corridors and other [buildings] are novel" |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529020617/https://www.academia.edu/6338726/The_Holy_Land_Jerusalem_and_Al_Aqsa_Mosque_in_the_Quran_Sunnah_and_other_Islamic_Literary_Sources_i |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as 19th-century American and British [[Orientalism|Orientalists]] [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]],<ref name=Robinson>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=E. |last2=Smith |first2=E. |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine |title-link=Biblical Researches in Palestine |publisher=John Murray |year=1841 |quote="The Jámi'a el-Aksa is the mosk alone; the Mesjid el-Aksa is the mosk with all the [[sacred enclosure]] and precincts, including the [[Dome of the Rock|Sükhrah]]. Thus the words Mesjid and Jāmi'a differ in usage somewhat like the Greek ίερόν and ναός."}}</ref> [[Guy Le Strange]] and [[Edward Henry Palmer]] explained that the term Masjid al-Aqsa refers to the entire esplanade plaza also known as the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif ('Noble Sanctuary') – i.e. the entire area including the [[Dome of the Rock]], the fountains, the [[Gates of the Temple Mount|gates]], and the [[Minarets of the Temple Mount|four minarets]] – because none of these buildings existed at the time the Quran was written.<ref name=Palmer>{{cite journal |author-link=Edward Henry Palmer |last=Palmer |first=E. H. |title=History of the Haram Es Sherif: Compiled from the Arabic Historians |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=3 |year=1871 |issn=0031-0328 |doi=10.1179/peq.1871.012 |pages=122–132 |quote=EXCURSUS ON THE NAME MASJID EL AKSA. In order to understand the native accounts of the sacred area at Jerusalem, it is essentially necessary to keep in mind the proper application of the various names by which it is spoken of. When the Masjid el Aksa is mentioned, that name is usually supposed to refer to the well-known mosque on the south side of the Haram, but such is not really the case. The latter building is called El Jámʻi el Aksa, or simply El Aksa, and the substructures are called El Aksa el Kadímeh (the ancient Aksa), while the title El Masjid el Aksa is applied to the whole sanctuary. The word Jámi is exactly equivalent in sense to the Greek συναγωγή, and is applied to the church or building in which the worshippers congregate. Masjid, on the other hand, is a much more general term; it is derived from the verb sejada "to adore," and is applied to any spot, the sacred character of which would especially incite the visitor to an act of devotion. Our word mosque is a corruption of masjid, but it is usually misapplied, as the building is never so designated, although the whole area on which it stands may be so spoken of. The Cubbet es Sakhrah, El Aksa, Jam'i el Magharibeh, &c., are each called a Jami, but the entire Haram is a masjid. This will explain how it is that 'Omar, after visiting the churches of the Anastasis, Sion, &c., was taken to the "Masjid" of Jerusalem, and will account for the statement of Ibn el 'Asa'kir and others, that the Masjid el Aksa measured over 600 cubits in length-that is, the length of the whole Haram area. The name Masjid el Aksa is borrowed from the passage in the Coran (xvii. 1), when allusion is made to the pretended ascent of Mohammed into heaven from ·the temple of Jerusalem; "Praise be unto Him who transported His servant by night from El Masjid el Haram (i.e., 'the Sacred place of Adoration' at Mecca) to El Masjid el Aksa (i.e., 'the Remote place of Adoration' at Jerusalem), the precincts of which we have blessed," &c. The title El Aksa, "the Remote," according to the Mohammedan doctors, is applied to the temple of Jerusalem "either because of its distance from Mecca, or because it is in the centre of the earth."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Le Strange |first=Guy |author-link=Guy Le Strange |title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Translated from the Works of the Medieval Arab Geographers |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |year=1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA89 |quote=THE AKSÀ MOSQUE. The great mosque of Jerusalem, Al Masjid al Aksà, the "Further Mosque," derives its name from the traditional Night Journey of Muhammad, to which allusion is made in the words of the Kuran (xvii. I)... the term "Mosque" being here taken to denote the whole area of the Noble Sanctuary, and not the Main-building of the Aksà only, which, in the Prophet's days, did not exist. |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063144/https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA89 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Strange 1887 pp. 247–305">{{cite journal |last=Strange |first=Guy le |title=Description of the Noble Sanctuary at Jerusalem in 1470 A.D., by Kamâl (or Shams) ad Dîn as Suyûtî |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=19 |issue=2 |year=1887 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25208864 |pages=247–305 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00019420 |s2cid=163050043 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25208864 |quote=…the term Masjid (whence, through the Spanish Mezquita, our word Mosque) denotes the whole of the sacred edifice, comprising the main building and the court, with its lateral arcades and minor chapels. The earliest specimen of the Arab mosque consisted of an open courtyard, within which, round its four walls, run colonades or cloisters to give shelter to the worshippers. On the side of the court towards the Kiblah (in the direction of Mekka), and facing which the worshipper must stand, the colonade, instead of being single, is, for the convenience of the increased numbers of the congregation, widened out to form the Jami' or place of assembly… coming now to the Noble Sanctuary at Jerusalem, we must remember that the term 'Masjid’ belongs not only to the Aksa mosque (more properly the Jami’ or place of assembly for prayer), but to the whole enclosure with the Dome of the Rock in the middle, and all the other minor domes and chapels.}}</ref>}}

In 2015, [[Birmingham Quran manuscript|a single folio of a very early Quran]], dating back to 1370 years earlier, was discovered in the library of the [[University of Birmingham]], England. According to the tests carried out by the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, "with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645". The manuscript is written in [[Hijazi script]], an early form of written Arabic.<ref name=oldest>{{cite news|last1=Coughlan|first1=Sean|title='Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-33436021|access-date=22 July 2015|agency=BBC}}</ref> This possibly was one of the earliest extant exemplars of the Quran, but as the tests allow a range of possible dates, it cannot be said with certainty which of the existing versions is the oldest.<ref name=oldest /> Saudi scholar Saud al-Sarhan has expressed doubt over the age of the fragments as they contain dots and chapter separators that are believed to have originated later.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper = New York Times | title = A Find in Britain: Quran Fragments Perhaps as Old as Islam | author = Dan Bilefsky | date = 22 July 2015 | access-date = 28 July 2015 | url= https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/world/europe/quran-fragments-university-birmingham.html?_r=0}}</ref> The Birmingham manuscript caused excitement amongst believers because of its potential overlapping with the dominant tradition over the lifetime of [[Muhammad]] {{circa|lk=no| 570}} to 632 CE<ref name=Goldman>Elizabeth Goldman (1995), p. 63, gives 8 June 632, the dominant Islamic tradition. Many earlier (mainly non-Islamic) traditions refer to him as still alive at the time of the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|invasion of Palestine]]. See Stephen J. Shoemaker, ''The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam,''{{page needed|date=August 2014}} University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.</ref> and used as evidence to support conventional wisdom and to refute the [[Revisionist school of Islamic studies|revisionists' views]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-e-b-lumbard/new-light-on-the-history-_b_7864930.html |title=New Light on the History of the Quranic Text? |date=24 July 2015 |work=The Huffington Post |access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref> that expresses findings and views different from the traditional approach to the early [[history of islam|history of the Quran and Islam]].