A critical look at the Quran showing that the Saracen honour-shame culture made those who collected the Quran to insert verses from other sources with the goal of making it comparable in length to the New Testament – thus saving Saracen honour.

Ask yourself: Could men capable of killing their own children for honour – also be capable of editing their holy book – for that same honour?

Introduction

The Quran is Islam’s holy book, and is one of three books used in Islam. The tree are the Quran, Sira (biography on Muhammads life), and Hadith (stories about Muhammad). Together they are called Islamic Trilogy.

We can observe an oddity in the relative size of these books, the Quran itself is only 14 % of the total, Sira 26 %, and Hadith 60 % [1].

In size the Quran is about 6200 verses, compared with about 7900 for NT, and about 23000 for the Jewish Bible. The Quran is usually divided in Mecca chapters and Medina chapters – many websites lists these, plus the number of verses in each chapter. There are about 1500 Medina verses, and about 4700 Mecca verses [2].

The Quran we see today is thus comparable in size to NT – which is a rather important observation.

The first known texts quoting the Quran and Muhammed

The oldest writings with verses from the Quran are from San’a in Yemen, and can be dated to 671 AD or earlier [3]. From sources outside Arabia we do have Saracen texts from early 630 AD onwards, yet Muhammad and the Quran are not definitely quoted until about 691 AD [4, page 687]. This is interesting because is shows that the Quran – and Muhammed – were first quoted more than 50 years after the Saracens conquered Palestine.

It’s interesting that these earliest texts from and about the Saracens (the first Arab muslims were called Saracens then [4]) do not mention Muhammad nor quote the Quran. It shows that both of these came into importance later. This is somewhat consistent with Islamic history, which tells us that the Quran was originally preserved in oral tradition, and later written down. The day this written version arrived in Palestine/Syria/Egypt is when it was more quoted.

Problems in the Quran and how Islam lacks credible explanations

Sequence of chapters

The Quran has known problems – the foremost being that the chapters (called suras) apparently are not in chronological order. The Quran has 114 chapters, numbered from 1 to 114. These are divided in two groups, Mecca chapters and Medina chapters. It is accepted that the Mecca chapters are oldest, Medina chapters the latest – even so, the chapters are shuffled. If you read the first six chapters of Quran you have actually read the chapters 5, 87, 89, 92, 112, and 55. Two of these are from the Mecca part, and the rest Medina.

There are more than one chronology of chapters available, at least two exist, Noldeke and Egyptian chronology [5].

This shuffling of chapters is sometimes explained with that they are sorted according to size. This is incorrect for the whole sequence, only the first few chapters seems sorted by size. In addition, it seems the first Medina chapters are in some sort of chronological sequence (chapter 2 is accepted as the first Medina chapter).

Some sources suggest the sequence has been determined by God, and that the sequence will be restored in the future.

The following paragraph from a Wikipedia article on Sura 100 tells us what problems Islam has with the sequence of the Quran chapters:

“Whether it is a Makki or a Madani Surah is disputed. Hadrat Abdullah bin Masud, Jabir, Hasan Basri, Ikrimah, and Ata say that it is Makki. Hadrat Anas bin Malik, and Qatadah say that it is Madani; and from Hadrat Ibn Abbas two views have been reported, first that it is a Makki Surah, and second that it is Madani. But the subject matter of the Surah and its style clearly indicate that it is no only Makki but was revealed in the earliest stage of Makkah.”

None of the explanations work – there is simply no valid reason to shuffle the chapters of a book – is there any example of something similar from any known literature of any kind?

Islam has no credible answer to why the chapters are shuffled.

Contradictions

Another problem with the Quran is its numerous contradictions. This is something the Quran itself has a sort of solution to – abrogation. From chapter 2:106 we have [6]:

“None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things?”

The Quran admits here that new verses oppose older verses, and specifies that the newer verse shall stand. However, the Quran states “better” or “similar” – and this is not always correct. If one first writes “I will give you a car”, then it is an improvement to later write “I will give you a car, and ten thousand dollars”. If you write “You will go to Heaven” and later “You will go to Hell” – this is not an improvement – it’s a contradiction. One such example is found concerning Jews and Christians, first 5:69:

“Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.”

And three verses later the author says the opposite, 5:72:

“They do blaspheme who say: “(Allah) is Christ the son of Mary.” But said Christ: “O Children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever joins other gods with Allah,- Allah will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.”

Abrogation does not help here – this is opposite verses – a real contradiction.

At this point the Sira – Muhammads biography – comes into play. In principle it all comes down to the following theological statement:

“Muhammad was in danger while in Mecca”

Since Muhammads life was in danger, God would reveal only “peaceful” verses, thus protecting Muhammad while in Mecca – verses later replaced with the exact opposite. Or put another way: The Jewish and Christian God had to stoop to lies in order to protect Muhammads life in Mecca.

This is of course not a viable theology – Jahve protected Daniel in the Lions den, and protected three Jews in a burning furnace. A God capable of this, plus all the other miracles Jahve did, such a God cannot possibly have difficulties protecting a real prophet in Mecca.

Another problem with contradictions is the person Muhammad himself: why should his companions follow him if they can never trust his words?

Islam has no reasonable answer to these contradictions.

Repeated verses and stories

It is well known that the Quran repeats verses and stories.Some explanations offered are [8]:

“The poets that are repeated on other occasion (for example Surah Rahman the ayat of: which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?) is for the purpose to create a psychological effect on the hearers.”

Another explanation from the same article:

“Therefore the repetition of this type is itself necessary from the point of view of guidance and it does not in any way mar the eloquence of Qur’an, rather it is counted as the beautiful discourse because it first of all becomes the cause of emphasis and effect.”

The article itself admits:

“Now so far a repetition is concerned we see that there are two types of repetitions.

1. Repetition of some historical stories.
2. Repetition of those ayats which mention some very special kinds of realities.”

Vi see a complete theology created to explain attributes like repetitions.

Unanswered questions

As far as I can judge, scholars have accepted Islam’s explanations concerning the Quran without hesitation, and debated them based on Quran (Mecca/Medina), Sira, and Hadith.

Yet many unanswered questions remain concerning the Quran and problems in it.

Why not change the chronological order back to the correct order?

If old verses are replaced by new ones – why not take the old verses out of the Quran?

Why are verses and whole histories repeated in the Quran? And why not remove the duplications?

Such a simple – and inconsequential – edit would make the book easier to read – if shorter though.

Why was the sequence of chapters altered at all? It must have had a reason.

What was achieved by altering the sequence of the chapters?

What forced them to make the change in the sequence of chapters?

What was the method used to change the order of chapters? The first chapters may be sorted by length, but not all of the chapters – what was the general rule?

Why does the start of the Medina Quran give the impression of being the first chapter of a book, opposed to being the continuation of the Mecca Quran?

“1. A.L.M. 2. This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah.”

The Quran is available today – and it is a result someone desired. But what result did they wish to achieve?

The answer is length. Saracen honour demands a Quran comparable in size to the Christian NT.

Honour and shame culture

Unfortunately we all know honour cultures. Even in Nordic countries women have been murdered by fathers or brothers for “honour”.

In the book The Closed Circle the author writes [7, page 34]:

“Acquisition of honor, pride, dignity, respect and the converse avoidance of shame, disgrace, and humiliation are keys to Arab motivation, clarifying and illuminating behaviour in past as well as in the present.”

Another and telling statement is found on the next page:

“What otherwise seems capricious and self-destructive in Arab society is explained by the anxiety to be honored and respected at all costs, and by whatever means.”

Here is the crux of the matter – honour trumps absolutely everything.

Hypothesis: How was the Quran assembled

It seems clear now that there is a simple explanation for how the Quran was assembled.

In meeting with Christian and Jewish scholars the first Saracens were confronted for the first time with written religious books, organised religion, churches and synagogues. They witnessed preaches from, and debates about, these written books. It’s easy to imagine that the Saracens after a while felt a certain shame that their own Quran was not written and assembled the same way. A need arose to collect the sayings of their own prophet to a similar collection – the Quran. At this time no Saracen had seen the entire Quran collected in writing, so they had no idea how large it would be compared to the Bible and NT.

We can vividly imagine how the Saracens long have told Christians and Jews how brilliant their Quran is – the same way some muslims do today.

Someone was sent to Arabia to collect the Prophet’s writings and (probably) bring them west to Palestine/Egypt.

When they had recovered the Quran they were shocked! The dignified Quran was a mere 1500 written verses – compared to 31,000 total for Bible and NT. This was the Medina Quran

These Saracens were humiliated – shamed, they realised they could not present this to Christians and Jews. How could a mere 1500 verses compare to an NT of 7900 verses? Their holy book was just a fraction of the others: one fifth the size of NT, and less than a tenth the size of the Bible.

Several circumstances come into play here – one is honour – most important. Next is that that these Saracens possibly risked their life if they returned with something so measly. Last, but not least, very likely their leaders were illiterate. Altogether this helps us understand how they came to a solution.

They found whatever they could of other writings – of other authors – what we call the Mecca Quran, and put this material in between the Medina chapters, thus increasing the size from 1500 to 6200 verses.

The problem with contradictions was (later?) solved by inserting the verse on abrogation in the first chapter of the Medina Quran (2:106).

Now they could maintain their honour and present a Quran comparable in size the NT.

What does this explain?

This hypothesis seems to explain all known questions of todays Quran, and about the evolution of Islamic theology (Sira, Hadith).

It explains the motivation for inserting new verses – the Medina Quran was humiliatingly short at 1500 verses compared to NT with 7900 verses. Saracen honour was at stake. The book had to be long enough to impress Jews and Christians.

It explains why the chapters are apparently not chronological – the Medina Quran is filled up with foreign material by other authors.

It explains why there are contradictions in the text – at least two different authors, and why the contradictions cannot be removed – it’s the length of the text that matters, and not the quality.

It explains why there are repetitions in the Quran – the various authors may of course quote the same sources, as well as discuss the same themes. It’s similar to NT with its 4 gospels, where many stories are repeated by different authors.

The admittedly big change Muhammed goes through from the Mecca period to the Medina period is gone. Now we know the Mecca verses are by at least one other author – this unknown person can of course have other opinions than Muhammed.

It makes Muhammad a more predictable person, he no longer contradicts himself, and is more stable through his own writings – the Medina Quran. He is no longer a fool saying one thing one day and the opposite the next day. He is a credible source – warlord yes – but consistent in words and actions.

It also explains why Sira and Hadith and all the comments to the Quran are many times larger than the text of the Quran. For a Yusuf Ali version of the Quran, where text is both English and Arabic, the footnotes are many times longer than the text itself. When we know the text disagrees with itself, we realise that those who follow this text can never agree with each other. Enormous amounts of texts had to be written so the muslims could try to get out of the quagmire the Saracens got them into.

How could this happen?

The main causes for the deception to go through were:

Collision of cultures – for Christians and Jews honour lies in telling the truth; in a culture of honour/shame the honour lies in avoiding shame and humiliation – for them lies are socially accepted as a means to keep honour [7].

The Saracens were tyrannical rulers – quarreling with them was probably not good for your health.

Terrorism is also an effective way to kill any debate or discussion – how many have the guts to publish Muhammad drawings today?

How can the hypothesis be tested further?

Apart from the fact that the hypothesis explains many problems with the Quran, it also predicts more. Since the Mecca Quran is by at least one other author than the Medina Quran, a careful analysis of the two should show differences in choice of words, construction of sentences, grammar etc. This is similar to analysis of Biblical books – it’s for example academically accepted that the book of Daniel has at least two different authors.

Summary

A hypothesis explaining how the Quran was gathered into a
written book has been presented. This hypothesis explains effectively all difficult questions surrounding the state of the Quran as well as simplifying the character of Muhammad and makes him more credible and predictable.

We started with a question, let us now end with another:

If this hypothesis is wrong, why does it answer all the questions asked about the Quran – while 1400 years of Islamic theology answer none?

References
[1] http://www.cspipublishing.com/statistical/pdf/Statistical_Islam.pdf

[2] http://www.jespk.net/publications/4.pdf

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sana’a_manuscript

[4] Seing Islam as Others Saw It – A Survery and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam, Robert G. Hoyland, 2001

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Quranic_suras

[6] http://www.islam101.com/quran/yusufAli/ (Yusufali versjon av Koranen)

[7] The Closed Circle – An Interpretation of the Arabs, David Pryce-Jones, 1989

SK are the initials of a real person and the editor knows his true identity.