The Absurdity of Searching For Grammatical Errors in the Qur'an
Once this position of the Qur'an, which it holds in the eyes of the most approved native or naturalized authorities of the Arabic language and literature and also in the eyes of the grammarians, lexicologists etc. of the Arabic language is fully understood and appreciated, one can easily see the absurdity of claiming 'Grammatical Errors in the Qur'an'.
The Qur'an being one of the major source materials of the grammarians' works can obviously not be judged on the basis of the grammarians' work. Trying to do so would actually be like trying to find faults in in the Universe on the basis of the books written by astronomers.
Logically, had the position of the "Human Body" or the "Universe" as a source material for the works of physiologists and astronomers respectively, been fully appreciated it would be more appropriate and understandable if someone challenged the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the works of these physiologists and astronomers. Similarly, had the position of the Qur'an as a source material of the compiled Arabic grammar been fully appreciated, it would have been more appropriate and understandable if someone had challenged the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the grammarians' work, rather than challenge the reliability of the Qur'an, when and if an inexplicable deviation was found in the Qur'an.
To sum it up, the process of the development of the Arabic grammar is such that does not allow the appraisal of the Qur'anic language on the basis of the rules laid down by the grammarians of the Arabic language. Appraising or criticizing the Qur'an or any other source material used by the linguists, grammarians, lexicologists etc. is like refusing to accept Arabic, even as a language... and this, obviously is absolutely absurd.
The Sayings Ascribed to Ayesha and Uthman
From the foregoing discussion, it should be quite clear that the Qur'an, logically cannot be criticized on the basis of the work of the grammarians and other linguists, because of the simple fact that the Qur'an was the very basis (or one of the bases) of the works of these linguists and grammarians, and, furthermore, the Qur'an been recognized and accepted by all the linguistic authorities of the Arabic language as the most outstanding, in fact, miraculous piece of their literature. How, then, can we appraise or critically evaluate the reliability or otherwise of the language of the Qur'an.
Once it is known that the Qur'an was generally accepted and recognized by the Classical, pre-Islamic Arabs, as a piece of unparalleled literature in its purity, fluency and eloquence, then it has to be accepted as such by the later people as well. As far as the primary evidence, in this regard is concerned, it is overwhelmingly in favor of the general acceptance of the Qur'an. It was obviously, primarily on the basis of this Qur'an that the Arabs - eloquent and proud of their language as they were - started converting to Islam. The Prophet during the first thirteen years of his prophethood had just the Qur'an to present to the people. Surprisingly, no one objected to the language or style of the Qur'an. On the contrary, even those Arabs who refused to accept Islam had nothing to say regarding its language and style. They could obviously see that it was effectively winning the hearts of more and more people each day. They knew that it was not human literature... yet they were just not willing to accept it to be Divine. Under these circumstances, they direly needed a good excuse for their refusal to accept the Qur'an as a revealed word of God. Yet, even under these circumstances, they - with all their eloquence and linguistic pride - were unable to point-out even a single error in the Glorious Qur'an; all that they could come up with was that "it is nothing but 'Magic' and 'Sorcery'."
Obviously, had the Qur'an - that claimed to be in "Arabiyun Mobin" (clearest and purest Arabic dialect) - entailed any grammatical or other linguistic 'errors', it would then have been impossible for the Prophet to win even a single Arab soul. However, we know that during the first thirteen years, it was only the character of the Prophet and the content of Qur'an that had actually won the hearts and minds of the God-fearing Arabs, through whom, later on an Islamic State was setup first in Medina, and subsequently, in the whole of Arabia.
This is an irrefutable historical fact.
Now, with this in mind, let us examine another aspect of the arguments presented by the author of the referred article. He writes:
It is reported that Uthman, after viewing the first standard copy of the Qur'an, said, 'I see grammatical errors in it, and the Arabs will read it correctly with their tongues.'
Then, he further states:
The Muslim scholar Ibn al-Khatib who quoted the above report in his book al-Furqan, went on to mention another report on the authority of 'Aa'isha, one of Mohammad's wives, saying, 'There are three grammatical errors in the Book of Allah, they are the fault of the scribe:
In 20:63 "Qaaluuu inna haazaani la-saahiraani ..." And in 5:69 "Innal-laziina 'aamanuu wal-laziina haaduu was-Saabi'uuna wan-Nasaaraa man 'aamana bilaahi wal-Yawmil-'Aakhiri wa 'amila saali-hanfalaa khaw-fun 'alay-him wa laa hum yah-zanuun." And in 4:162 "Laakinir-Raasi-khuuna fil-'ilmi minhum wal-Mu'-minuuna yu'-minuuna bi-maaa 'unzila 'ilayka wa maaa 'unzila min-qablika wal-muqiimiin as-Salaata wal mu'-tuunaz-Zakaata wal-Mu'-mi-nuuna billaahi wal-Yawmil-'Aakhir: 'ulaaa 'ika sanu'-tii-him 'ajran 'aziimaa."
In the following paragraphs, we shall analyze the cited sayings of Ayesha and Uthman.
The Saying Ascribed to Uthman
The first among these narratives is ascribed to Uthman (ra). According to this narrative, Uthman is reported to have said that he could see (a few/many?) mistakes in the official standardized copy of the Qur'an, but was of the opinion that because the Arabs shall have no difficulty in finding these errors - appreciating them as "errors" - and shall be in a position to correct them, themselves, he, therefore, did not give such "errors" much importance.
Now, the first thing about this tradition is that even if we accept that the later generations were not aware of these errors (because of any reason), still it relates to a matter that concerns not a few but all the Muslims that were present during Uthman's (ra) time. It thus relates to a matter, which, if it had really happened, should have been reported, not by one, two or a few people, but by hundreds and thousands of people. It should have become as well known a fact as, for instance the existence of a person called Uthman is, but as we see, that is not the case. According to one of the principles of some of the Jurists, especially Abu Hanifah, if one, two, three or a few people report an incident that should logically be reported by hundreds or thousands of people, such traditions shall not be accepted. To understand this concept, let us consider an example of our everyday life. If someone declares that an earthquake in a neighboring country has killed thousands of people and that "someone" is the only person giving such a news, none of the newspapers or any other of the well known communication media is giving such a news, every reasonable person shall reject such a news on the same principle. Obviously, something as big, as significant and as well known cannot be accepted on the basis of a report of one, two or just a few people.
Furthermore, looking at this narrative closely, we are faced with another very serious question. If Uthman (ra) had really known that there were mistakes in the text of the Qur'an, why did he not correct them immediately. It is generally believed that in his effort to standardize the reading of the Qur'an and to disseminate the official copy of the Qur'an, Uthman ordered the burning of all the other copies of the Qur'an, which were in circulation at that time. If Uthman could, as is generally believed, destroy all the copies of the Qur'an once, for the purpose of standardization, then why could he not do it a second time, for the purpose of correction? Obviously, the tradition does not answer this question. This simple, unanswered question leaves the tradition inconsistent with common sense. According to another one of the principles laid down by the Muhaddithin (the scholars of the Prophet's traditions), if a tradition is inconsistent with common sense, it shall not be accepted.
Then again, according to the cited narrative, Uthman ignored the so-called 'mistakes' and 'errors' because he thought that the Arabs would have no problems in recognizing these 'errors' and, consequently, making emends in them. However, this narrative completely ignores the point that the original idea of the Uthmanic compilation of the Qur'an - if it ever actually took place - was to standardize the style of writing and the recitation of the Qur'anic text, for the very purpose of making it possible for the newly conquered non-Arab territories (and peoples) to be able to read the Qur'anic text in a standardized manner. It seems quite ridiculous that even though the whole exercise of standardizing the Qur'an was undertaken for the purpose of making it easier for the newly converted non-Arabs to read the Qur'anic text in a standardized manner, yet the so-called 'errors' and 'mistakes' were so easily ignored on the presumption that the 'Arabs would have no problems in recognizing these errors'. The whole incident reported in the cited narrative is, obviously, an unfounded concoction of someone, whose intention were only to create doubts about the Qur'anic text in the minds of the subsequent generations.
Moreover, this tradition ascribed to Uthman very seriously questions the correctness of the verbal tradition of the Qur'an. It, therefore, can be termed as a tradition against the Qur'an. Thus, according to yet another one of the principles laid down by the Muhaddithin any narrative, which is against the Qur'an or the established unanimously held beliefs or unanimously followed actions of the Muslims is not acceptable. The aforementioned principles of the Muhaddithin have been combined in a single statement, in one of the most well known and accepted books on the principles of the Muhaddithin relating to the acceptance of narratives. Khatib Baghdadi in his book "Kitab ul-Kifayah fi ilm al-riwayah" writes [8]
:
No such narative reported by a few people shall be accepted, which is against common sense, or against an established ruling of the Qur'an or against a known Sunnah of the Prophet or against any thing accepted and followed by the Muslims as the Sunnah, or against logic.
Unless satisfactory answers are provided for these questions, this narrative cannot be taken as correctly ascribed to Uthman (ra). The general acceptance of the vast Arab population of the Qur'an as an infallible piece of Arabic literature makes the content of such narratives highly questionable. If such was really the opinion of Uthman, as is mentioned in this narrative, the Qur'an would obviously not have received such tremendous acceptance from, at least the Arabs. To the contrary, we see that it was none other than the Arabs themselves, who not only accepted the Qur'an to be infallible in language, literary style, grammar etc., but were also the primary source of propagation of this book in the whole world.
