Analytical Study of the Objections of the Orientalists on the Difference of Qiraat

Abstract

Despite the responsibility of Allah Almighty to protect the Qur'an, Muslims did not close their eyes to the need to protect it. Not only its every syllable and movement is preserved, but the ways of uttering its words have also reached us with complete health through continuity and frequency. With the revelation of the Qur'an, its writing was organized. Its arrangement is also the same as that which was given by Allah. But the Orientalists have used all their efforts to prove the point of view of the unreliability of the text of the Qur'an. The Orientalists believe that all Islamic scholars and reciters are liars who have changed every Qur'an from the Ottoman tradition.

It is obvious that the Qur'an has been transmitted to us through a definite proof of frequency which is also written in the Musahif. In the same way, the frequent recitations of the Qur'an are also transmitted to us through definite proof of frequency according to this ritual, or there are some recitations that are not frequent, but are transmitted by reliable narrators with authentic chain of transmission and among the reciters. They are known and famous. Such qiraats are very few, if not negligible, in which the condition of frequency is not fulfilled and have also reached us by direct hearing, and the different ways of uttering them and the explanation of their pronunciation are also directly heard. Where objections were raised by the Orientalists on hadith, fiqh, biography and editing of the Qur'an, they tried to make the recitations of the Holy Qur'an doubtful. All these arguments will be critically reviewed in the discussion.