From Asad ZamanNewsgroups: soc.religion.islam Subject: Miracle of Quran (No Numbers!) Date: Thu Jul 11 10:08:33 EDT 1996 Attention to numerology causes inattention to the many real and undeniable miracles of the Quran. One of these is especially important since it shows how we can establish the validity of the Quran. Since the Quran is a unique book, and Allah himself has promised to guard it, He has also fulfilled his promise in a unique way, such that the preservation of Quran can be demonstrated to all: there is no need of deep scholarship, archaic texts, carbon-dating, all esoteric techniques generally beyond the reach of the public. Before beginning, let me point out that because of the unique nature of the proof, it will require some thought on part of the reader to see its validity. An analogy is that the proof of the four-color theorem given recently broke the problem into a very large but finite set of cases, and then used the computer to deal with the cases individually. This was a first proof of its type and it took a while for the mathematical community to examine, understand, and accept the proof. The average Muslim sees the proof of the preservation of the Quran once every year, when the entire Quran is recited in the prayers of Taraweeh by a Hafiz (one who knows the entire Quran by heart). Most often in the audience there are additional Huffaz (plural of Hafiz) who listen, and occasionally correct the person who is reciting the Quran. This is a visible demonstration of two key facts: A: It is possible to memorize the entire Quran cover to cover. B: Although individual memory can be unreliable, collectively the memory of a group of Huffaz is very trustworthy. Because of the presence of hundreds of thousands of Huffaz throughout the world, the preseveration of the Quran AT THIS TIME is completely independent of written copies. Anybody who has experienced Taraweeh with a reliable Hafiz can testify that if all written records of the Quran were destroyed, we would without any difficulty reconstruct the entire Quran by assembling a few Huffaz and asking them to put it together. This is a MIRACLE of the QURAN. There is no other book for which this claim can be made. There is no other book for which, continuously throughout the ages, there have been thousands of people who have had the entire book in their hearts. As Allah has explicitly promised in the Quran, Allah T'aala has made the Quran easy to remember. The Quran has been preserved because it has been printed on the HEARTS of people, not just on paper. From these easily observable facts, plain to everybody, how can we argue that the Quran has been preserved? The argument is simple. The state of affairs now is the same as it was at the time of the prophet. The Quran was preserved in the hearts of numerous companions, and collectively recited in Taraweeh prayers since the days of Khalif Umer Farooq. When there are numerous Huffaz spread throughout the world, it is impossible to suppress variant readings, should such exist. We note the variety of the Sunnah of the Prophet which has been preserved among the Muslims. Some make eight rakat, some twelve, some twenty. These represent various ways that the prophet himself used to pray. Nearly of the variants of the sunnah and all of the differences arising among the Sahabah have been faithfully preserved and are considered as legitimate in one Madhhab or the other. This is why the differences are a mercy for the Ummah. Just seeing that there are all these differences, but NONE in the Quran, is enough to show us that none could have existed from the earliest time. If any difference existed, it would have been preserved, just as the variant sunnah's of the Prophet (s.a.w.) have been preserved. All praise is for Allah Subhanuhu wa T'ala for providing us with an easy and satisfying demonstration for the validity of the Quran, thereby fulfilling His promise to preserve the Quran, which not only includes the text of the Quran, but the proof of its validity.
My answer for the authenticity of the gospel along similar lines of reasoning.
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