Western Scholarship and Quranic Preservation and Gospel Preservation

Here is a clip which I pulled of Bloggingtheology.org's Paul Williams who is succinct in mentioning that modern Western scholarship recognises the Quran to have been preserved. Aside from this, Paul Williams touches on the preservation (or lack of) around the Gospels




NON MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP’S TESTAMENT TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE QUR’AN

Here are just a few examples of non-Muslim religious and textual scholars who testify to the preservation of the Qur’an:
A.T. Welch, a non-Muslim Orientalist, writes:

“For Muslims the Qur’an is much more than scripture or sacred literature in the usual Western sense. Its primary significance for the vast majority through the centuries has been in its oral form, the form in which it first appeared, as the “recitation” chanted by Muhammad to his followers over a period of about twenty years… The revelations were memorized by some of Muhammad’s followers during his lifetime, and the oral tradition that was thus established has had a continuous history ever since, in some ways independent of, and superior to, the written Qur’an… Through the centuries the oral tradition of the entire Qur’an has been maintained by the professional reciters (Qurraa). Until recently, the significance of the recited Qur’an has seldom been fully appreciated in the West.” [26]

Leading Orientalist Kenneth Cragg reflects that:

“…this phenomenon of Qur’anic recital means that the text has traversed the centuries in an unbroken living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be handled as an antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant past. The fact of hifdh (Qur’anic memorization) has made the Qur’an a present possession through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it a human currency in every generation, never allowing its relegation to a bare authority for reference alone.” [27]

Quotes taken from Many Prophets, One Message
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Pause for thought

Have you ever stopped to think about all those Christians prior to the 19th century discovery of Codex Sinaticus who used to believe the last 12 verses of Mark were inspired by God and part of the Bible (they had similar beliefs about John 7:53-8:11 and that version of Luke 23:34). NOW you and other modern day Christians will claim those Christians of the past believed in forgeries/errors.

You have no guaranty that this will not happen to you in your life time (i.e. a new MSS discovery is made and a passage is denounced as an unauthorised addition).

Jesus taught people to do the Will of God (according to Mark 3:35) in order to become his brothers, mothers or sisters. A Muslim means one who submits to the Will of God. Do you want to become a brother of Jesus? If yes, become a Muslim. 

Learn about Islam:
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