Questions and Answers

Nineteen years after the death of Muhammad, and during the reign of Uthman, a committee of scribes was appointed to write several copies of the Quran so as to be dispatched to the new Muslim lands. The copies were to be made from the original Quran which was written by Muhammad’s hand.

This committee was believed to supervised by Uthman Ibn Affaan, Ali Ibn Abi Taaleb, Zeid Ibn Thaabet, Ubayy Ibn Ka`ab, Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubair, Sa`eed Ibn Al-Aas and Abdul Rahman Ibn Al-Haareth Ibn Heshaam.

When they came to the last Sura revealed in Medina, Sura 9, one of the scribes suggested adding a couple of verses to honor the prophet. The majority of scribes agreed.

However Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad was outraged. Ali’s protest is documented in a number of references such as:

Source : Al-Itqaan Fee Ulum Al-Quran, by Jalaluddin Al-Suyuty, Al-Azhareyyah Press, Cairo, Egypt, 1318 AH, page 59

The horrendous dimensions of this crime resulted in disastrous consequences for Islam.

In time, Ali was killed, and eventually, most of his family were slaughtered. The disaster culminated in the infamous Battle of Karbala, where Ali’s son, Hussein, and his family were massacred. The Muslims were deprived of the pure, unaltered, Quran.

The distorters of the Quran finally won the war, and the “official” history that came to us was a distorted version of the Quran, which represented the victor’s point of view.

In just two decades after the prophet’s death, the idol worshipers who were defeated by the prophet in the conquest of Mecca (632 AD) reverted to idolatry.

The first peace time ruler after this lengthy and disastrous war was Marwan Ibn Al Hakam (died 65 AH/684 AD). One of the first duties he performed was to destroy the original Quran, “fearing it might become the cause of new disputes” [see ‘ULUM AL-QURAN’, by Ahmad von Denffer, Islamic Foundation, Leicester, United Kingdom, 1983, Page 56.].

The questions an intelligent person must ask are:

1- If the original Quran were identical to the Quran in circulation at that time, why did Marwan Ibn Al-Hakam have to destroy it?
2- If the original Quran was identical to the Quran in circulation at the time, why would it cause new disputes?

In addition, upon examining the oldest Islamic references, we realize that the false injections, 9:128-129, were always suspect.

For example, we read in Bukhari’s famous hadith, and Al-Suyuty’s famous Itqaan, that every single verse in the Quran was written down only after it was verified by a multiplicity of witnesses “except Verses 128 and 129 of Sura 9; they were found only with Khuzeimah Ibn Thaabet Al-Ansaary.” When some people questioned this improper exception, someone came up with a hadith stating that “the testimony of Khuzeimah equals the testimony of two men”!

Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 61, Number 511:

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit:
Abu Bakr sent for me and said, “You used to write the Divine Revelations for Allah’s Apostle : So you should search for (the Qur’an and collect) it.” I started searching for the Qur’an till I found the last two Verses of Surat At-Tauba with Abi Khuzaima Al-Ansari and I could not find these Verses with anybody other than him.

More evidence for this matter can be witnessed when we look at the title of Sura 9 in the “mushaf”. We note that 9:128-129 are labeled as “Meccan” while the first 127 verses are labelled as Medinan:

The Title Figure of Sura 9 from a standard Quran, shows that this sura is Medinan, except for the last two verses; they are Meccan!

How could these Meccan verses be found with Khuzeimah, a late Medinan Muslim? How could a Medinan Sura contain Meccan verses, when the universal convention has been to label as `Medinan’ all revelations after the prophet’s Hijrah from Mecca? There were no further Quranic revelations to be revealed at Mecca after the prophet left Mecca and immigrated to Medina. This makes it impossible for the revelation of a Sura to start at Medina and be completed in Mecca!

Despite these historic alarm bells and various other discrepancies, plus many more glaring contradictions associated with Verses 9:128-129, no one dared to question their authenticity.

The missing Basmalah

All the Suras of the Quran start with the Basmalah “In the name of God ….”, however, we note that Sura 9 is the only Sura that does not start with the Basmalah.

Some Muslim sects believe this is a declaration of disassociation by Allah against the fabrication found in this surah.

Why did God start every Sura in the Quran with the Basmalah, “In the name of Allah, Al-Rahman, Al-Raheem” except Sura 9? Did God run out of Basmalahs?

Damning Evidence

The translation of the two false verses is as follows:

9:128 A messenger has come to you from among you who is grieved by what you endured of hardship, and who cares about you, and is ‘ra’oof’ (benevolent) and ‘raheem’ (merciful) towards the believers.
9:129 If they turn away, then say, ‘God is sufficient for me, there is no god except He. I put my trust in Him. He is the Lord of the great throne.

In the above verse, Muhammad is addressed as RA’OOF and RAHEEM.

This poses a huge problem.

The name of God, Raheem (The Merciful), in the singular tense, has been used in the Quran exclusively for God.

However, in 9:128, Muhammad is called Raheem! This is the only verse in all the Quran where this name is given to one single person other than God.

Great honor is ascribed to the names Raheem and Rahman that they, among all of God’s 99 Names, have been singled out to appear in the Basmalah.

(The code 19 also proves that the raheem in 9:128 does not belong in the original Quran. The total number of occurrences of the word Raheem (singular) in the Quran that God revealed to Muhammad is 114 (19×6). The addition of raheem in 9:128 makes the number 115 which is not a multiple of 19.)

The name Ra’oof (Benevolent) is also used exclusively for God throughout the Quran. Once again we find it is used in 9:128 for Muhammad!

The combined names of Ra’oof and Raheem are also used exclusively for God in the Quran except in 9:128.

The following are some examples for the combined use of the names Ra’oof and Raheem:

God is ‘Ra’oof’ and ‘Raheem’ towards the people. 22:65
God is ‘Ra’oof’ and ‘Raheem’ towards you. 57:9
He was ‘Ra’oof’ and ‘Raheem’ towards them. 9:117
Indeed, your Lord is ‘Ra’oof’, ‘Raheem’. 16:7
Our Lord, You are ‘Ra’oof’, ‘Raheem’. 59:10

Yet, in 9:128, Muhammad has taken the place of Allah as ‘Ra’oof’ and ‘Raheem’. This is the verse you find in the Quran today. Is this a fabrication and forgery that found its way into the Quran?

Adapted from: Two False Verses Removed From The Quran, Quran-Islam.org; edited for brevity and clarity.