What Version Is Your Quran?

Muslims believe that Quran is unchanged and there are no variant versions.

 

This is not true. There are many versions of the Arabic Quran.

The 2 most popular versions are the Hafs and Warsh. (Others are Qalun, Al-Duri, Al-Bazzi, etc)

Is yours a Hafs or Warsh version?

Look at the first verse of Sura al-Fatihah. If there is a number “1” after the Bismillah verse, then you have the Hafs version.
If there is no “1”, you have the Warsh version.

Did you know the the official version of the Quran was only finalized in 1924 in Cairo, Egypt? The Quran was only authorized officially in 1985 in Saudi Arabia.

Scholars know that there are several versions of the Quran, but the average Muslim does not. Why?

The few knowledgable muslims who are aware of the existence of these different versions will say there are very minor differences, mainly vocal variations.

Again this is not true.

Here are a couple of examples of text variants that can be found in the Arabic Hafs and Warsh that show that the quranic text and meaning itself has been altered!

2:125 in Hafs is وَاتَّخِذوْا “WatakhIzu” (You shall take) / In Warsh it is وَاتَّخَذوْا “WatakhAzu” (They have taken/made).
In 2:125 One version gives a command, while the other states a historical observation.

Another one:

3:146 in Hafs is قاتل “Qatal” (Fought) / In Warsh it is ُقتل “Qutil” (Were Killed).

In 3:146 the difference is between a prophet and those with him being killed, while in the other the difference only means that they fought by his side.

There’s more: Look up 2:85, 15:8, 21:4, 33:68, 42:30, 48:17 in both these versions and see for yourself.

In fact, if you study futher, you will find that number of verses in Hafs is 6236, while Warsh has only 6214 verses (other versions show 6616, 6217, 6204 verses, etc ).

Were you aware of this? Probably not. Why not?

Which is the right version? Hafs or Warsh?

Is it the Hafs or Warsh that is preserved in the eternal tablets with Allah?

Allah said that He will preserve his words. (Sura 15:9)