Recordings › Dr. Shehzad Saleem | the Preservation of the Quran & the Problem of Qira'at | MindTrap with Mufti#26 · 19 Jun 2020 › Segment 3 of 25
Is the Quran preserved exactly as it was revealed?
muftis koran quraan al-quran salafis salafism wahhabi wahabi wahhabism 'alim aalim ulama ulema ulamaa in sha allah insha'allah in shaa allah insha allah inshaa allahIs the Quran preserved? The Yasir Qadhi controversy and the guest's categorical answer
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This segment10:32 to 17:05 · 6 min 33 sA view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenThe guest says the Quran is preserved absolutely, dot for dot and in the revealed order, and that the other readings need a separate explanation; preservation in its original language is what distinguishes it from the Bible. His view develops Farahi's thesis as transmitted through Islahi and Ghamidi.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says the discussion has become relevant in the past week or two because an American scholar with a huge following, Yasir Qadhi, who comes from a Salafi background though he has drifted from its hardline approach, said in an interview that there are problems with saying the Quran is preserved and that the traditional narratives have failures; this sent shockwaves through his audience and was seized on by Islamophobes, orientalists and ex-Muslims, Jay Smith among them, so that ordinary Muslims are asking their local scholars to explain the nature of the Quran. He asks the guest, whose perspective he believes is in line with Ghamidi's, the simple question whether the Quran is preserved and what preservation means. The guest answers that it is absolutely preserved: the Quran revealed to the Prophet fourteen centuries ago is with us exactly, dot for dot, with the verses in the order they were given, and the only question is the other versions circulating under the name of Quran and the variations in single verses, which need a separate and, he says, cogent explanation. Preservation in its original language, he adds, is the miracle of the Quran and what distinguishes it from the Old and New Testaments, which survive only in translations. He says he met Yasir Qadhi last year, gave a talk at his institute and discussed their differences in a friendly way, calling him a phenomenal scholar. Asked whether his holistic view is Ghamidi's, he says his work is in fact an explanation of a module in Hamiduddin Farahi's thesis on the collection and transmission of the Quran, put forward a century ago, passed through Amin Ahsan Islahi to Ghamidi, with contemporary details added.
Position stated
This segment presents a view in order to discuss or respond to it. It is recorded as quoted, never as held, and no position is attributed from it.
Kind: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held Speakers: host and guest; guest speech is labelled and excluded from positionsTranscript
machine10:32 to 17:05 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
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This segment states a view in order to discuss it. It is recorded as a quoted view, not as a position held.
our need you know for anybody who I suppose there's different layers of people there's people who just want an understanding that's fine but for somebody who's a bit more serious about the topic and they want a very kind of like a whole abroad detailed overview not just an overview and analysis then definitely history of the Quran and I would inshallah you know at some point like to you know go over as much as we can off of this in the future if we if we can because there's just so much to discuss but dr.
sup right now I'm not sure if you're aware but this this discussion has become very relevant since over a week or two and what's happened is it stems from a an American scholar who has a huge following sure he has a copy and he gave an interview and in the interview because he comes from a very kind of a Salafist background so most of his you know and he's probably guys I think I think he's got like 1 to 2 million probably followers or something but uh he even though he has drifted from that mainstream Salafist hardline approach over the years but he still
that is his kind of crowd now because in an interview recently he had the question sprung upon him and he said that look we can't there's problems with saying the quran' is preserved and we our traditional narratives failures now this sent kind of shockwaves right throughout all his audience and then by extension other people because what happened is a lot of not only muslims a lot of Islamophobes Orientalists or x muslims follow him so they took that clip and everybody started doing a discussion on it oh sure he hasn't called he has admitted the
caranas problems now people like J Smith for example has done several discussions already on it saying look see even one of the major Western Muslim scholars has admitted this so this has sent a lot of the regular public asking the local scholars please explain to us the nature of the Quran because you know we are we're confused so and you're obviously an expert and you've got a perspective on this which I believe is in line with Hamdi subs perspective if I'm correct so I'd like us to stemming from a simple question and then kind of opening it up
and going further a simple question which Muslims would like to know from the very offset is that for unpreserved and then what do we mean by preservation and then following through we can kind of elaborate so over to you dr. Saab is the unpreserved yes I would say absolutely it is preserved and the Quran that has been that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu wasallam fourteen centuries ago we have it exactly in the same way as it was revealed dot 4 dot and the verses have been preserved exactly in the way they were revealed in the order they were
revealed and there is no doubt about it the only question is that there are some other versions circulating by the name of that they are Quran 2 and we have variations in single verses so they managed some separate explanation because as soon as I say this that the Quran has we preserved the question arises that way detect maroc Quran come from Maria from where have these Korat originated so I think we have a very cogent answer to that and but since your question is that is the Quran preserve I would say 100% it is preserved and that is the actually miracle of the Quran itself and not only the miracle it is
the thing which differentiates the scripture the final Testament so to speak from the Old Testament and the New Testament which are preserved in their translations we don't have the originals neither the Hebrew of the Old Testament nor the Syriac of the New Testament they are all in their translations in fact they are copies of their copies of these translations and the only distinction which the Quran has or the edge which the Quran has over previous scriptures is that it is preserved in its original language now as the question of course as I said is because of the fact that the people like Chevy hasta kasi who I actually met just last year he invited
me Institute and I gave a talk to his final year students and he himself for I believe that's on YouTube I believe I am not sure about that because I saw some pictures of it anyway with you say be next to yourself all day on YouTube so I don't think it has been released because there there are some people who were asking me and I was directing all my queries to that Institute I said that you can go and ask them but maybe it has so so I think that yourself Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie is a very very I would say a phenomenal scholar he has a very very short brain I've discussed things with
him we had our differences but it was in a very friendly way that we discussed those differences and it's like thrashing out of an age-old problem so I think that is just a question of answering that the some of the questions which I asked myself was faced with the where did those other carranza other readings annex so if before we just get into that doctor Saab odd so we've got a simple thing first of all the question at a simple level okay is that what unpreserved categorically you're saying it is now before we get into some of the
the questions now you have a holistic perspective which is I if I'm if I can say this also Humpty subs perspective I believe they found correct in that I don't want to miss a tribute something to advice by a supervisor and teacher especially so I would I can say that my work in fact if I go a little more broad I would say my work is actually an explanation of a module in Ferraris thesis on the collection of the Quran and of course the transmission which he put forth about a hundred years ago Andromeda Saab is a student of one of his of his students of fry students so
it's like presenting the works of Ferraris llahi and vomity and then elaborating some more details and incorporating some more contemporary details in the words of these three scholars that's that's amazingly poop so there is this legacy of coming right down from you know a llama for our hisab right down through is llahi saab and then hamid Issa right now in a in a paragraph before we begin expanding what is the view that you espouse about the quran so as opposed to the objections and the counter theories just your theory or humbly subs theory what is
Paragraphs overlapping 10:32 to 17:05. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
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-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/3/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, June 19). Is the Quran preserved exactly as it was revealed? [Video, segment 2020-06-19-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/3/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Is the Quran preserved exactly as it was revealed?" Video, segment 2020-06-19-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded June 19, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/3/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-06-19-S03, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Is the Quran preserved exactly as it was revealed?}}, year = {2020}, month = {6}, date = {2020-06-19}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/3/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/f2bcgwatu5g/s/3/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-06-19-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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