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The question of how faithfully sacred texts have been preserved is one of the most significant matters in the field of apologetics. Both Christianity and Islam claim to possess divinely revealed Scripture, yet the history of transmission, preservation, and textual reliability differs profoundly between the Bible and the Quran. When examined through the lens of the historical-grammatical method, along with the hard evidence of manuscripts, textual criticism, and history, one discovers that the Bible’s preservation far surpasses that of the Quran. While Muslims claim that the Quran is perfectly preserved word for word since the time of Muhammad, the historical evidence demonstrates otherwise. On the other hand, the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament, though copied by imperfect men, have been preserved with astounding accuracy under Jehovah’s providence. The Bible’s preservation is unmatched and stands as a witness to its divine inspiration.
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The Muslim Claim of Perfect Quranic Preservation
Islamic tradition holds that the Quran was revealed to Muhammad between 610 C.E. and 632 C.E. and then collected under the caliphate of Abu Bakr soon after his death. Later, under Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656 C.E.), a standardized version was supposedly compiled, and variant readings were ordered to be destroyed. Muslims often claim, therefore, that the Quran is the same today as it was in Muhammad’s time, letter for letter, without alteration. The popular assertion is that not even a dot has changed in the Quran for over fourteen centuries.
This claim is repeated in Islamic apologetics as one of the great proofs of the Quran’s divine origin. However, this position does not withstand historical scrutiny. Numerous early Quranic manuscripts, as well as Islamic sources themselves, show the presence of textual variations, lost verses, and differing recitations. The very need for Uthman to impose a single recension of the Quran and burn the others demonstrates that variations existed from the very beginning. Thus, the Muslim claim of perfect preservation is not supported by the facts.
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Early History of the Quranic Text
According to Islamic tradition, many of Muhammad’s followers memorized parts of the revelations, and others wrote them down on bones, palm leaves, and other perishable materials. After the Battle of Yamama (633 C.E.), where many of these memorizers were killed, Abu Bakr ordered the collection of the Quran into a codex. Yet, this initial collection was not universally distributed, and many recensions developed simultaneously. A few decades later, Uthman ordered a recension, sending copies to major Islamic centers and destroying competing texts. This alone refutes the notion of an unaltered Quran, for one does not burn identical manuscripts. The existence of multiple early codices—such as those attributed to Ibn Masʿud and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb—shows that different readings and arrangements of surahs existed.
Furthermore, the earliest Quranic manuscripts, such as those from Sanaa in Yemen, reveal textual variations, erased lines, and corrections that testify to an editing process. The Quran was not preserved by divine miracle but transmitted through the same human processes that affect any document. Moreover, the later development of the “seven readings” (qira’at) and additional dialectical variations only adds to the complexity. These qira’at are not mere accents but reflect textual and interpretive differences. Muslims are forced to either admit diversity in their text or claim that all variations were divinely intended, a claim that stretches credulity.
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The Bible’s Preservation of the Old Testament
Turning to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament was written over a period of roughly a thousand years, from Moses in the fifteenth century B.C.E. to Malachi in the fifth century B.C.E. The text was copied and transmitted by scribes with extreme care. Even so, no scribe was inspired, and human mistakes occurred. However, Jehovah safeguarded His Word through the abundance of manuscripts and through faithful communities dedicated to preserving the sacred writings.
The most striking evidence of this preservation is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (dated from about 250 B.C.E. to 68 C.E.). These scrolls contain nearly all the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, and when compared with the later Masoretic Text (c. 9th–10th century C.E.), they reveal an extraordinary degree of accuracy. The Isaiah Scroll, for example, is over a thousand years older than the Masoretic manuscripts yet aligns almost word-for-word, with only minor orthographic differences that do not affect meaning. This shows that despite centuries of transmission, the Hebrew Scriptures were preserved with astounding faithfulness.
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The Bible’s Preservation of the New Testament
The New Testament has an even more extensive manuscript record. Written between 41 C.E. and 98 C.E., it was quickly copied and disseminated throughout the Roman Empire. Today, there are over 5,898 Greek manuscripts, in addition to more than 10,000 Latin manuscripts and thousands more in Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and other languages. Some of these date to within a century of the originals, such as the John Rylands Papyrus (P52) from around 125 C.E. containing a portion of John’s Gospel.
Though variations exist among these manuscripts, the discipline of textual criticism allows scholars to reconstruct the original wording with 99.99% certainty. None of the variants affect core Christian doctrine. Instead of being a weakness, the vast manuscript evidence for the New Testament ensures that the text is preserved and verifiable. By contrast, the Quran has far fewer ancient manuscripts, and the process of standardization under Uthman effectively destroyed much of the early textual evidence, leaving a uniform but historically sanitized tradition.
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The False Notion of the Quran’s Untouched State
Muslims frequently appeal to Quran 15:9, which says, “Indeed, We have sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will guard it.” They interpret this as divine assurance of preservation. However, this is a theological assertion, not a historical fact. The reality of missing verses, abrogated passages, and multiple qira’at directly contradicts the claim of a perfectly preserved Quran. For example, Islamic tradition itself records that verses about stoning for adultery were once part of the revelation but are absent from the current text. This exposes the claim of “perfect preservation” as a dogma rather than history.
The Bible, on the other hand, never promises that copyists will be miraculously infallible. Instead, Jehovah’s preservation operates through providence, ensuring that even though variations exist, His Word remains fully intact and accessible through the manuscript tradition. The sheer abundance and early dating of biblical manuscripts stand as evidence of divine safeguarding.
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The Providential Contrast Between the Bible and the Quran
The difference between the Quran and the Bible is stark. The Quran was standardized through an authoritarian act of suppression, eliminating variant readings by force. The Bible, by contrast, was preserved through organic transmission, where thousands of manuscripts circulated across regions, languages, and communities. This very diversity allows modern scholars to identify and correct scribal slips and confirm the original text. Thus, the Bible’s preservation is transparent, verifiable, and beyond reproach, while the Quran’s preservation is enforced, incomplete, and historically disproven.
The Bible’s preservation accords with Jehovah’s promise: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8, UASV). Unlike the Quran, whose preservation narrative collapses under scrutiny, the Bible demonstrates a record of divine protection unmatched in human history. Christians, therefore, have unshakable confidence that when they open the Scriptures, they are reading the very words inspired by God, preserved through the ages by His providence.
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