Recordings › Dr. Shehzad Saleem | the Preservation of the Quran & the Problem of Qira'at | MindTrap with Mufti#26 · 19 Jun 2020 › Segment 18 of 25
If Allah promised to preserve the Quran, why are there variant readings at all?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis ahaadith muftis mutawaatir tawatur mass-transmitted koran quraan al-quran sura soorah surat suwar soora chapter ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat qira'ah qiraa'aat qira'aat recitations hifz hafidh haafiz hifdh huffaz hafiza memorisation wahy wahi wahee deen al-din ad-deen ad-dinIf Allah preserves the Quran, isn't the confusion of readings a failure of preservation? The divine scheme, and Mufti Abu Layth's 'umbrella revelation'
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This segment1:27:17 to 1:31:11 · 3 min 54 sGeneral teaching
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machinesummary, machine-writtenThe guest says Allah preserved his part, the real Quran, and left people the discretion that produced the other readings, just as he allowed hadith to be misreported; the test is in seeking the truth through them. Mufti Abu Layth states his own view that the Quran we have is from an umbrella revelation that allowed variations.
In more detail
Taking a question whether, given the verse that Allah himself guards the Quran, the existence of the other readings and the widespread belief that they are all mutawatir does not amount to a lack of preservation, Mufti Abu Layth asks whether Allah could not have preserved it without the confusion. The guest answers that one must understand the scheme of God: he has given people discretion and does not stop them behaving as they choose, as in hadith, where people misreported and misrepresented the Prophet without Allah preventing it. In the human paradigm Allah's task was to preserve his part, the real Quran, not to undo what others did; there would be obstructions and problems, but nothing unresolvable for one with a quest for the truth, and what else exists in the name of the Quran is an impediment of human intellect and error that Allah tolerates in every human sphere, which is where the test lies. Mufti then states his own understanding for those asking: the Quran we have today is from the Quran, which he sees as an umbrella revelation that allowed variations, so what we have is from it but there were other ways of reading it that may have disappeared with the Prophet or soon after; it is one way of reading, not the only thing that ever was. A viewer asks the guest how he would write the Quran if given a blank mushaf; the guest says absolutely verbatim as the mushaf is today, and Mufti says that despite believing in the Quran's dynamism he would do exactly the same, since it is the Quran in his understanding too.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedIf Allah has taken it upon himself to preserve the Quran, and the real Quran is the common reading, is the existence of the other qira'at and the popular view that they are all mutawatir not in itself a lack of preservation? Could Allah not have preserved it without this confusion?
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better equipped to answer our own problems you go away and they did not realize that the Quran is not a book just for Muslims it's a book for mankind so if someone from mankind poses this question it is a responsive to our responsibility to give it answer not to give a shot of call and we have to tell them that is the book in which we as people who would like to read the file book of God the wave was revealed we have certain questions that are unresolved in our mind and though therefore it's a personal quest it's a personal journey that started off this whole project sure shukran now cuz of a question that
if Allah has taken it upon himself to preserve the Quran let's say we're taking this verse in anachronism then thicker when Allah Allah Hafiz on now in that case if we let's say we and the understanding is really the particular at the Quran I mean the Quran is let's say what we have today have son asked him but the fact that we have these are the kira art and the mainstream kind of popularized view is like let's say oh it's all motive out there and they and all these different things but you know what in and of itself is that not a kind
of lack of preservation because could allah have not preserved it without this confusion so you see this is where we have to understand perhaps a scheme of god the scheme of guarded that that he has given people the if they are the discretion to do what they like he does not he's not put a stop to how people behave and the way they react we have a very similar scenario in hadees as well in which people at times have worked up at least at times they have misreported the prophet at times they have misrepresented the Prophet the we all why he never stopped that because you see in the human paradigm his task was to preserve his bit and his task was not
to undo what other people were doing because that was part of their own mechanics so the Prophet the Almighty what he said and what he claimed was that I for my part have done done what I was liable to and you for your part have been given this opportunity that there is this preserved Quran now you have to work your way towards it and they're going to be obstructions they're going to be problems but then it's not that it's unresolvable the only thing that is that you have to have that quest for the truth and you'll reach that truth barring that but the other things which exist in the name of the Quran of course these are the impediments which are caused by human intellect by human approach by human error and this is something which the almighty
has tolerated in every human Saphir whether it's religion whether it's non-religious affairs this is where the test comes from this is where the almighty scheme is basically he's not driving people to do what right or wrong is he's given us the choice to do the only thing is that he has done his bit by preserving what he thinks is the real Quran what he is real for those of you asking right about me I mean my understanding is that this what we have today the Quran is from the Quran which would be an umbrella kind of revelation which allowed variations so
what we have from it is from it it but they would have been other ways to have read it as well that may have disappeared either with the prophets shortly after maybe generations after but this is also it but this is not in my understanding it isn't the only thing that ever was but it is one way of reading it so that's my understanding so those of you asking he was a quick question for dr.
Sam I think this would be very straightforward somebody had asked that the question if you were to write a blank if you were given a blank must-have and you were to rewrite the Quran how would it look today I mean in your understanding it would looks absolutely verbatim like the must-have today anyway that's absolutely absolutely and to be honest with you that question even though I do believe in the dynamism of the Quran but in that understanding I too would just be doing exactly the same thing because it is the Quran in my understanding as well so right okay here's another question
knocks out the the verse of rajim how do you how do you explain that coming in some of the hadith that said no Omar or other people felt it was a verse of the Quran what is your thoughts on this I think here again I've cited meeting thrice or he is actually presented a solution and you said that basically rajim is something which is based on the Quran although it's not exactly found in words in the Quran the surah surah - I think it's verse 33 or 34 which says in the ladina your heart even Allah have a rasullah of the
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Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2020-06-19-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/18/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, June 19). If Allah promised to preserve the Quran, why are there variant readings at all? [Video, segment 2020-06-19-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/18/
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Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "If Allah promised to preserve the Quran, why are there variant readings at all?" Video, segment 2020-06-19-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded June 19, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/18/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-06-19-S18, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{If Allah promised to preserve the Quran, why are there variant readings at all?}}, year = {2020}, month = {6}, date = {2020-06-19}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/18/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/18/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-06-19-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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