It is probable that the Qur'an is from God

I want to begin by saying how delighted I am to be debating Clash on this very important religious issue. It's good to be able to argue with someone who is so knowledgeable about the Qur'an and about Islam. For my part of the debate, I'll be arguing that, on balance of probability, the Qur'an is not a revelation from God. OPENING ARGUMENTS C1: THE QUR'AN IS IMPERFECT By imperfect, I refer to the fact that the Qur'an is prone to error, contains contradictions, and contains imperfections one would not expect if the Qur'an was indeed authored by God. Sub point 1: Verses missing from the Qur'an and Interpolations in the Qur'an The Qur'an tells us that it is the perfect Word of God that is perfectly preserved from other works from God that later became corrupt.1 However, the Qur'an had verses missing and verses added from the Qur'an. In fact, many scholars believe that there are interpolations in the Qur'an which have been added at a later date. The implications of such are enormous. The Hadith records several cases in which the Qur'an is missing verses, verses were lost because of the Prophet's (pbuh) memory and verses were abrogated all together. Let's take a look at some of them: Zaid bin Thabit said, "When the Quran was compiled from various written manuscripts, one of the Verses of Surat Al-Ahzab was missing which I used to hear Allah's Apostle reciting. I could not find it except with Khuzaima bin Thabjt Al-Ansari, whose witness Allah's Apostle regarded as equal to the witness of two men. And the Verse was:-- "Among the believers are men who have been true to what they covenanted with Allah." (33.23) Volume 4, Book 52, Number 62, Narrated Kharija bin Zaid. 2 This Hadith is telling us that Zaid bin Thabit can confirm via memory that a Qur'an verse has been lost. How much more could have been lost? This is one thing that shows how unreliable oral tradition can be. The Qur'an also contains interpolations which are verses that were later added to the text and were not written by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Another interesting Hadith is one which confirms that different Quranic manuscripts said different things which caused confusion amongst the early Muslims. Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to Uthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to 'Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and the Christians did before." So 'Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to 'Uthman. 'Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, 'Abdullah bin AzZubair, Said bin Al-As and 'AbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. 'Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, 'Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. 'Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. Said bin Thabit added, "A Verse from Surat Ahzab was missed by me when we copied the Qur'an and I used to hear Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari. (That Verse was): 'Among the Believers are men who have been true in their covenant with Allah.'(33.23) Volume 6, Book 61, Number 510, Narrated Anas bin Malik. There are important things to note in the above Hadith: 1. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an 2. 'Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit [the same person referenced in the previous Hadith that I brought up] on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." 3. 'Uthman ordered copies that were imperfect to be burned. Sub point 2: The Qur'an contains arrogations. An abrogation is, by definition, a verse that cancels out another verse. The Qur'an tells us: Whatever verses we [i.e., God] cancel or cause you to forget, we bring a better or its like. (Qur'an 2.105) Note that the above passage makes the claim that when a better or similar ayah is available, Allah will change it and cause the older ones to be forgotten. According to al-Suyuti, the number of abrogated verses is estimated between 5-500. 3 Ibn Warraq notes: Is it fitting that an All-Powerful, Omniscient, and Omnipotent God should revise His commandments so many times? Does He need to keep revising so often? Why can't he get it right the first time, after all, He is all-wise? Why does He not reveal the better the first time? 3 Apostate of Islam, Farooq Ibrahim, notes: Note that the ayah 2:106 above is clearly making the claim that only when a better ayah or similar ayah is available, does Allah change it and cause the older ones to be forgotten. And to drive the point home, the ayah continues on that Allah has power over all things. It puzzled me that Allah being all-wise needed to reveal better or similar ayahs to replace older ones. Perhaps this was understandable for a Muslim if the Quran is talking about books given to Musa, then Isa, and finally Prophet Mohammad. But what about ayahs within the life-span of Prophet Mohammad in the Quran – Allah was claiming to change earlier ayahs revealed in the Quran. This seemed completely out of context and reason for the Quran that claims to be for all time and all peoples.4 C2: A SURAH LIKE IT The Qur’an boasts that no-one else can create a Surah like it. It challenges the disbelievers to make a single Surah that replicates even the smallest of the Surahs. However, this challenge disproves the Qur’an. The Qur’an and Hadith record when the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) thought that a revelation was from God. Rather, it was from Satan and God had to quickly correct the Prophet and the Muslims from following the incorrect Surah. The implication is that Muhammad did not know if the Qur’an is from God or if it was from Satan. As such, Satan was able to replicate the Qur’an. Here are the relevant Qur’an passages. 5 Say: "If the mankind and the jinns were together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another." [Qur'an 17:88] I am out of room so I’ll give the other passages in round 2. Good luck. [1] Quran 15:9; 41:42. [2] The Hadith is found online at http://cmje.org.... All Hadith references can be confirmed at this website. [3] Warraq, I. (2003). Why I am Not a Muslim. Amherst, New York, United States: Prometheus Books. Page 114 [4] http://www.answering-islam.org... [5] http://www.islamic-awareness.org...