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From: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: The Torah in the Koran
Message-ID: <1990Dec6.014559.6623@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 6 Dec 90 01:45:59 GMT
Sender: bes@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 50
Approved: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu

goer@midway.uchicago.edu (Richard L. Goerwitz) writes:

[some deleted]


>Anyway, I have to admit to being a cynic in the sense that the Muslim
>story on God -> Muhammed -> Followers -> Quran transmission seems just
>too perfect to be believed.  I'd like to see some historical documen-
>tation on this, since recently several books have been published docu-
>menting the reverse process.  Evidently, after the dawn of the Islamic
>era, there was a suppression of "incorrect" Quranic copies and tradi-
>tions.  Now "incorrect" is a highly relative term.  We could say that
>the Jews likewise had variant Tora traditions, but that these were ul-
>timately (and justly) suppressed in favor of the Masoretic Text (the
>standard text we all use now).  If there are any Jews online here, maybe
>they can confirm whether this view is actually taken by conservative
>Rabbis.  The point is that the difference between "suppression of er-
>ror" and "fundamental uncertainty about the original text" is all in
>the mind of the beholder.

I think you would agree that there can be no historical documentation
on the God --> Muhammad link in the chain.   We accept Muhammad's --peace
be upon him-- claim the Quran is from God not based on direct 
scientific evidence but based on intuition, logic, and/or faith or 
circumstantial evidence.

The Muhammad --> Quran is another matter.  There is ample
historical documentation about the development of the Quran.  

You mention "a suppression of 'incorrect' Quranic copies."  I think
what you are referring is the following.  First, you may know that at
the time of the Prophet and the first Caliphs, the Arabic script was
initially written down without vowels.  Second, we need to remember that in
regions that were far away from the Prophet's home, the Arabic dialect
was different (different pronounciations).  Now we can see a problem
arising when copies of the Quran are sent to regions with different dialects
than the true dialect of the Prophet's home.  This would lead
to the alteration of the words.  So what was done by the companions of the
Prophet Muhammad  was to get rid of the wrong pronouciations and make a copy 
of the Quran (with vowels) based on the pronounciation of the Prophet himself.
This indeed guranteed that the word of God would not change.

-----

Note:  in your discussion you also include traditions.  The fact is that
the development of traditions is not as well documented as the Quran. There
is also some disagreement among Moslems about the extent to which specific
ahadith (traditions) can be considerered authentic.

Behnam Sadeghi