Saturday, July 19, 2025

Quranic Relativity

When God Says Ten Different Things About One Verse

❓ The Claim

“The Quran was revealed in multiple qirāʾāt (recitations), all valid, all from Allah.”

Muslim scholars and apologists claim that the different Quranic recitations — 10 officially canonized ones (Hafs, Warsh, Qalun, Al-Duri, etc.) — are divinely revealed and equally authentic. They insist:

No contradictions exist between them.
Differences are minor: pronunciation, dialect, or vocalization.
All versions come from the Prophet Muhammad.

But is that really true?

What happens when the same verse has multiple meanings across qirāʾāt?

The answer is clear:
You get Quranic relativity — where Allah is made to say different, even contradictory things, in different versions of the same verse.

📚 What Are the Qira’at?

The qirāʾāt are different textual versions of the Quran.
Each qirāʾa includes:
- Vocabulary differences
- Grammatical changes
- Speaker shifts
- Legal implications
These are not just reading styles; they are different Arabic texts.

The most common today are:

Hafs ‘an ‘Asim (used by ~90% of the Muslim world)
Warsh ‘an Nafi‘ (used in North Africa)
Others include Qalun, Al-Duri, Khalaf, etc.

Each qirāʾa was canonized in the 10th–14th centuries — long after Muhammad.

🧾 Real Examples of Quranic Relativity

Let’s look at verses where God says different things — depending on which version you're reading.

🔁 Surah 2:125

Hafs: “Take the Maqām of Abraham as a place of prayer.”
Warsh: “Take the Maqām of Abraham as a place of prayers.”

👉 Singular vs. plural — impacts how many prayers must be performed.

🧠 Surah 21:4

Hafs: “He said: My Lord knows...”
Warsh: “Say: My Lord knows...”

👉 Hafs narrates a past event.
Warsh commands the reader to say it.
Different grammar, different speaker, different intent.

💬 Surah 3:146

Hafs: “And many a prophet fought...”
Warsh: “And many a prophet was killed...”

👉 Completely different historical meanings.
Did prophets fight? Or were they killed?
This affects Islamic theology on martyrdom and divine protection.

🔄 Surah 43:19

Hafs: “Did they witness their creation?”
Warsh: “Did we witness their creation?”

👉 Hafs = rhetorical question to humans.
Warsh = God speaking about Himself.
That’s a total shift in speaker — and meaning.

⚖️ Surah 6:115

Hafs: “None can change His words.”
Qira’at Al-Kisa’i: “None can change our words.”

👉 Singular vs. plural pronoun.
“His” suggests distance; “Our” is more direct.
This subtle change raises questions on divine voice, formality, and unity.

🧠 What This Means Logically

If the Quran is one book, revealed by one God, how can the same verse say different things in different versions?

This is not a matter of dialect or pronunciation.
These are meaningful, semantic, and theological differences.

God does not stutter.
God does not contradict Himself.
If He revealed multiple meanings for one verse — then either:

One is right and the rest are wrong (making them false attributions to God), or
They’re all partially true, which makes the Quran unclear, ambiguous, and self-conflicting.

⚖️ Logical Syllogism

Syllogism A – Unity vs. Relativity

A perfect divine book cannot contain multiple meanings for the same verse.
The qira’at present different meanings for the same verses.
∴ The Quran, as transmitted today, is not a perfect or singular book.

Syllogism B – Revelation or Reconstruction?

If the qira’at are from Allah, then He revealed multiple meanings for the same verses.
If He did not, then humans later invented conflicting versions.
∴ Either Allah created confusion, or the Quran was corrupted by human transmission.

📉 Even Classical Scholars Admitted the Problem

Ibn al-Jazari:

“Each qira’a is a separate Quran.”
— An-Nashr fi Qira’at al-‘Ashr, Vol. 1

Al-Dani (d. 1053 AD):

“Differences in qira’at include changes in meaning, grammar, and legal rulings.”
— Al-Taysir fi al-Qira’at al-Sab‘

Al-Suyuti:

“The seven qira’at differ in over 1,000 places.”
— Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran, Vol. 1

This is Quranic relativity — ten different meanings for one revelation.

✅ Final Verdict

The qira’at are not just stylistic readings. They are competing versions of the Quran.
Each one says something slightly — or significantly — different.

If each version is from Allah, then Allah speaks with relativistic uncertainty.

If they’re not all from Allah, then some are fabrications — and the Quran has been corrupted.

Conclusion:

You can have 10 qira’at or one perfect Quran — but not both.

Friday, July 18, 2025

Are the 10 Qira’at All from God — or Were They Canonized by Men?

❓ What Muslims Claim

“The 10 Qira’at (readings) of the Quran are all divinely revealed and equally valid. They were all taught by the Prophet and preserved through sound transmission.”

This belief is widespread in the Muslim world today — especially since the 10 Qira’at were officially taught, memorized, and printed in the 20th and 21st centuries.

But here’s the big question:

If God revealed one Quran, why are there 10 different versions — with different words, different grammar, and different meanings?

And even more importantly:

Who decided which ones were “divine” and which ones weren’t?

The truth, backed by historical sources and Islamic scholarship, is this:

The 10 Qira’at were not all from God, and they were not all taught by Muhammad.
They were canonized by human scholars — hundreds of years after Muhammad’s death — based on varying transmission lines, politics, and regional influence.

🧾 What Are the Qira’at?

The Qira’at are different Arabic versions of the Quran.
Each one includes:
- Different wording
- Different grammar
- Different meanings
- In some cases, different theological or legal implications
They are traced back to different reciters who lived after Muhammad — often by multiple generations.

Examples:

Hafs ‘an ‘Asim (Iraq)
Warsh ‘an Nafi‘ (Medina)
Al-Duri ‘an Abu ‘Amr (Basra)
Khalaf ‘an Hamzah (Kufa)

They’re regional, not original — and were not all taught in Mecca or Medina during Muhammad’s life.

🕰️ The Timeline Exposes the Myth

Let’s be brutally honest about the historical timeline:

Event	Date
Muhammad dies	632 AD
Uthman’s recension (burning codices)	~650 AD
Earliest qira’at transmitters born	Late 7th century
Qira’at compiled and transmitted orally	8th–9th centuries
Ibn Mujahid canonizes 7 Qira’at	934 AD (3 centuries later!)
3 more qira’at added later (10 total)	11th–14th centuries

That means:

The Prophet taught none of the 10 qira’at in the form we know them.
The 10 qira’at were selected and authorized by scholars long after the Quran’s supposed completion.

📚 Who Was Ibn Mujahid?

Abu Bakr Ibn Mujahid (d. 936 AD) is the man who:

Canonized 7 Qira’at as the official readings of the Quran in Baghdad.
Chose only 1 transmitter per reciter (e.g., Hafs from ‘Asim).
Rejected other readings that were well known in other regions.

So, the Quran’s "seven readings" didn’t come from Muhammad —
They came from a 9th-century scholar choosing which ones to accept.

Later scholars added 3 more to get the "Ten Qira’at." These were added by:

Al-Shatibi (for the 7 + 2 = 9 readings)
Ibn al-Jazari (added the 10th reading)

That’s not divine revelation. That’s scholarly selection and late-stage canonization.

🧠 Examples That Show These Are Not the Same Quran

Here are real examples of divergence between qira’at:

🔁 Surah 3:146

Hafs: “Many a prophet fought...”
Warsh: “Many a prophet was killed...”

👉 Did the prophets fight — or were they killed?

🔁 Surah 2:125

Hafs: “...a place of prayer”
Warsh: “...a place of prayers”

👉 Impacts ritual law and the number of prayers prescribed.

🔁 Surah 6:115

Hafs: “None can change His words.”
Kisa’i: “None can change Our words.”

👉 Pronoun changes alter the tone, voice, and possibly the theology.

🤯 If These Are All From God…

Then God:

Revealed 10 different versions of the same verse,
With different vocabularies,
Different grammatical constructions,
And different rulings.

That’s not clarity. That’s Quranic relativity (see previous post).

It directly contradicts:

“This is a clear Arabic Quran.” – Surah 16:103
“If it were from other than Allah, you would find much contradiction in it.” – Surah 4:82

The contradictions exist.
The clarity is gone.
The readings are divergent.

⚖️ Logical Breakdown

Syllogism A – Divine Origin?

God’s revelation cannot contradict itself.
The 10 qira’at contradict each other in content and meaning.
∴ They cannot all be from God.

Syllogism B – Canonization vs. Revelation

If something was chosen by scholars centuries after the Prophet, it was not directly revealed to him.
The 10 qira’at were chosen by scholars between the 10th–14th centuries.
∴ The 10 qira’at were not revealed to Muhammad, but selected by man.

✅ Final Verdict

The 10 Qira’at are not equally divine — and they were not all recited by Muhammad.

They contradict each other.
They were canonized by humans — not preserved by divine decree.
Their acceptance was based on politics, region, and scholarly consensus — not revelation.

Conclusion:

The 10 Qira’at are not the Word of God. They are human reconstructions of a fragmented oral tradition.

You don’t get 10 versions of a perfect book.
You get 10 when your preservation failed — and you tried to legitimize the damage.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

The Cairo Standard

How Hafs Became “The Quran” While Others Were Burned or Forgotten

❓ The Claim Muslims Make

“The Quran has been perfectly preserved — every word, every letter, exactly as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.”

But here’s the reality:

The Quran that most Muslims read today (Hafs ‘an ‘Asim) is the product of a 20th-century government committee in Cairo, Egypt — not divine preservation.
The man whose transmission it’s based on — Hafs ibn Sulayman — was rejected as unreliable by leading Hadith scholars.
And the dozens of other Qurans that once existed? They were either burned, suppressed, or simply forgotten.

This is the untold story of how Islam's claim of perfect preservation quietly falls apart under its own historical weight.

📘 Part 1: How the 1924 Cairo Committee Created "The Quran"

📅 Background: Egypt in the Early 1900s

At the time, Egyptian schools were struggling with students who:

Memorized different versions of the Quran.
Used conflicting qirāʾāt (recitations).
Read Qurans with different verse counts, vowel markings, and word variations.

To end the chaos, the Al-Azhar Islamic authority stepped in.

🛠️ What Did the 1924 Committee Do?

Chose one version of the Quran to be the official standard.
That version was: Hafs ‘an ‘Asim — based on a transmission from Kufa, Iraq.
Other qirāʾāt were rejected, excluded from printing, and effectively erased from mainstream Islam.

This standardized Hafs Quran is the one printed in:

The 1924 Cairo Edition (first official print)
The King Fahd Quran Printing Complex (Saudi Arabia)
Nearly every mosque, app, and translation used today

The Quran of today is not “the original.”
It’s a modern selection, made by a committee, finalized in 1924.

❗ But Why Hafs?

Because they needed a default version, and Hafs was the most widespread by that point.

But ironically...

📕 Part 2: Was Hafs a Reliable Narrator?

No. According to major Islamic scholars of Hadith science, Hafs ibn Sulayman was considered:

Weak
Unreliable
Accused of lying
Not accepted as trustworthy in transmitting hadiths

Let’s look at their own words:

🔍 Scholar Testimonies:

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani:

“Hafs is matruk (abandoned). His hadith is not written.”
— Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, Vol. 2, p. 354

Ahmad ibn Hanbal:

“He was a liar.”
— Tahdhib al-Kamal, Vol. 7, p. 339

Yahya ibn Ma'in:

“Hafs is not trustworthy.”
— al-Jarh wa al-Ta’dil, Vol. 3

Abu Zur’ah:

“His narrations are not accepted.”

Let that sink in:
The man who transmitted 90% of the world’s Quran today was rejected by Islam’s own early scholars.

🤔 But Isn’t Hafs Reliable in Quran, Just Not Hadith?

That’s the modern excuse.
But it makes no logical sense.

If someone is a known liar or weak narrator,
why trust him to transmit the entire Quran, word-for-word?

Islamic scholars have no documented mutawātir chain proving that the Hafs Quran was transmitted by thousands per generation back to Muhammad.
They only claim it was — without forensic evidence.

So Muslims today believe in a Quran:

Transmitted by a man labeled unreliable.
Chosen by a government committee.
Canonized in 1924.

That’s not divine preservation — it’s editorial control.

🔥 Part 3: Why the Other Qurans Were Burned or Forgotten

🧾 Sahih Bukhari 6.61.510:

“Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Quranic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burned.”

That includes:

The Mushaf of Ibn Mas‘ud — who rejected 3 surahs and was personally taught by Muhammad.
The Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka‘b — which had two extra surahs (al-Khal‘ and al-Hafd).
All other variant codices — lost forever.

Uthman’s recension destroyed all evidence of early Quranic diversity.

If the Quran was truly mutawātir and unchanged, why the need to:

Destroy manuscripts?
Enforce one reading?
Threaten companions who disagreed?

And even centuries later:

The 1924 Cairo committee did the same thing — but with printing presses instead of bonfires.

🧠 Logical Syllogisms

Syllogism A – Divine Preservation?

A perfectly preserved book does not require later human standardization.
The Quran was standardized in 1924.
∴ The Quran was not perfectly preserved.

Syllogism B – Trust and Transmission

If a transmitter is unreliable in hadith, his trustworthiness in Quran is questionable.
Hafs was rejected as weak, a liar, and abandoned.
∴ Hafs should not be the sole transmitter of the world’s Quran.

Syllogism C – Erasure of Evidence

A true divine revelation should preserve all authentic recitations.
Uthman and later committees destroyed or suppressed all but one version.
∴ The current Quran represents editorial control — not full divine preservation.

✅ Final Verdict

The Quran used today — Hafs — is not the exact Quran of Muhammad.

It is:

One version among many,
Transmitted by a man deemed unreliable,
Standardized by scholars and politicians,
And enforced while all others were erased.

Conclusion:

The Quran today is a curated product of history — not a perfectly preserved word of God.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The Quran Before Hafs

What Manuscripts Reveal — And How the 1924 Cairo Committee Silenced the Others

❓ The Core Claim Muslims Make

“The Quran we have today is exactly the same as the one revealed to Muhammad — preserved letter for letter, word for word, without variation.”

But the historical record tells a very different story — one that most Muslims never hear:

Ancient Quran manuscripts show variations, corrections, and omissions.
Different qirāʾāt (readings) with different words and meanings were in circulation for centuries.
And in the 20th century, the Cairo Committee in 1924 eliminated all the variants — printing and distributing just one version: Hafs.

So here’s the truth:

The Quran before Hafs was diverse, unstable, and regionally fragmented.
The Hafs Quran became dominant only through government enforcement, not divine preservation.

🧾 What the Early Manuscripts Really Show

📜 1. The Sana'a Palimpsest (Yemen)

One of the oldest Quran manuscripts ever found.
Contains a lower text that was later erased and overwritten.
The erased version differs from today’s Quran in words, structure, and content.

“The differences are significant enough to demonstrate that the text was not fixed at the time.”
— Gerd Puin, Quranic manuscript expert (Sana'a Project)

📜 2. The Topkapi and Samarkand Manuscripts

Often claimed by Muslim apologists as “Uthman's Quran.”
Yet both contain:
- Missing words
- Different orthography
- Corrections and marginal notes
Neither matches the Hafs Quran fully.
Both date to decades or even a century after Uthman — proving no uniform text existed.

📜 3. The Birmingham Fragments

Carbon dated to the 7th century.
Contain only a few verses.
Show no evidence of the full Quran’s structure, and do not match the Hafs text completely.

🤯 Bottom Line: Early Manuscripts Contradict the Hafs Quran

There is no manuscript from the 7th century that:

Matches the Hafs Quran word-for-word,
Contains all 114 surahs in order,
And is free from corrections and changes.

The myth of “perfect preservation” is not supported by manuscript evidence — only by claims made centuries later.

🏛️ The 1924 Cairo Committee: History’s Quiet Censor

📍 Background

By the early 1900s, Egypt was overwhelmed with:

Students reciting different qirāʾāt in schools,
Inconsistent Quranic texts across regions,
Confusion over which version to teach and print.

🛠️ The Solution? Standardize Everything

Al-Azhar University established a review committee.
They selected Hafs ‘an ‘Asim as the “official” Quran.
All other qirāʾāt — including Warsh, Qalun, Al-Duri, and others — were excluded from schools and publications in Egypt.

The 1924 Cairo Edition became the de facto “One Quran” of the modern Islamic world.

🔥 The Effect Was Profound

Warsh, once dominant in North Africa, was slowly replaced.
All non-Hafs printings were discontinued.
Only Hafs Qurans were mass-produced and exported globally.

This is why:

Muslims in the West, Middle East, and Asia today recite only Hafs.
Other qirāʾāt survive only in limited areas (e.g., Warsh in Morocco).

The diversity of early Qurans was erased — not by divine decree, but by a bureaucratic decision.

🧠 But Didn’t Muhammad Teach All the Qirāʾāt?

No historical evidence supports that claim.

The 10 canonical qirāʾāt were selected and codified between the 10th and 14th centuries, long after Muhammad.
Ibn Mujahid canonized seven in 934 AD. Others were added later.
The Prophet never:
- Named these reciters,
- Taught multiple contradictory versions of the same verse,
- Or instructed that “10 Qurans” should coexist.

⚖️ Logical Breakdown

Syllogism A – Preservation or Editorial Control?

A truly preserved divine book would not require 1,300 years and a government committee to define it.
The Hafs Quran was finalized and standardized only in 1924.
∴ The Quran was not preserved — it was edited and enforced.

Syllogism B – Manuscript Evidence

A text preserved perfectly must match its earliest manuscripts.
The Hafs Quran does not match the oldest manuscripts word-for-word.
∴ The claim of perfect preservation is false.

Syllogism C – Authenticity of Qirāʾāt

If the Prophet taught all 10 qirāʾāt, they would have been documented and preserved from the beginning.
The 10 qirāʾāt were canonized centuries later by scholars, not by the Prophet.
∴ The qirāʾāt are not part of the original revelation.

✅ Final Verdict

The Quran before Hafs was a collection of variant texts, competing recitations, and regional readings.
The Quran after 1924 became “perfect” only by suppressing the evidence of its imperfection.

Conclusion:

The Quran was not preserved. It was standardized.
What we call “the Quran” today is a 20th-century product of modern state censorship, not a 7th-century oral miracle.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

The Sharia Mirage: 10 Myths Muslims Believe About Islamic Law

Sharia is often presented by Muslims as a perfect, divine legal system — a gift from God to humanity, superior to all man-made laws. But when examined critically, Sharia law reveals not clarity but contradiction, not justice but coercion, not progress but primitive control.

This post exposes 10 common myths Muslims believe about Sharia, contrasting each claim with reality based on Islam’s own core sources: the Quran, Hadith, and classical jurisprudence.

🔟 Myth 1: “Sharia Is Just About Personal Morality”

📢 Claim: Sharia only covers things like prayer, fasting, and charity.

📖 Reality: Sharia covers:

Criminal law (hudud punishments: stoning, amputation, flogging),
Apostasy and blasphemy laws (death penalty),
Rules for jihad and war,
Gender laws (guardianship, veiling, polygamy),
Slavery (regulation, not abolition).

➡️ It's a total system — not just spiritual, but political and penal.

9️⃣ Myth 2: “There’s No Compulsion in Religion” (Quran 2:256)

📢 Claim: Islam promotes religious freedom.

📖 Reality: The same Quran commands:

Death for apostates (Hadith: Bukhari 3017),
Fighting non-Muslims until they submit (Quran 9:29),
Jizya tax to humiliate non-believers.

➡️ 2:256 was revealed in Mecca when Muhammad had no power. Later verses in Medina abrogate it (via naskh).

8️⃣ Myth 3: “Sharia Gave Women Rights Before the West”

📢 Claim: Islam liberated women.

📖 Reality:

Women inherit half what men do (Quran 4:11),
A woman’s testimony = half a man (Quran 2:282),
Men are allowed to beat their wives (Quran 4:34),
No female prophets, imams, or judges in classical law,
Polygamy for men only, temporary marriage for sexual convenience.

➡️ These aren’t rights. They’re restrictions dressed as privilege.

7️⃣ Myth 4: “Sharia Protects Justice”

📢 Claim: Sharia is the most just legal system.

📖 Reality:

Stoning for adultery (Hadith: Muslim 1690a),
Amputation for theft (Quran 5:38),
Flogging for drinking (Sunan Abu Dawud 4483),
Slavery endorsed (Quran 4:24, 8:70),
Dhimmi status for non-Muslims (Quran 9:29).

➡️ These violate every modern standard of human dignity and justice.

6️⃣ Myth 5: “Sharia Is Misunderstood in the West”

📢 Claim: Non-Muslims misinterpret it.

📖 Reality: The most oppressive laws come from:

Islam’s own scriptures,
Classical Islamic jurists (e.g., Al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Shafi’i),
Modern implementations in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan.

➡️ If it's always misapplied everywhere, maybe it’s not misunderstood — maybe it’s inherently flawed.

5️⃣ Myth 6: “Sharia Can’t Be Imposed Without Consent”

📢 Claim: Sharia needs public approval.

📖 Reality:

Muhammad enforced it on conquered tribes,
Caliphs imposed it through military expansion,
Apostates and critics were silenced or executed,
Modern Sharia states (e.g., Iran, Pakistan) suppress dissent with blasphemy laws.

➡️ Sharia historically spreads through conquest and fear, not free choice.

4️⃣ Myth 7: “Sharia Abolished Slavery”

📢 Claim: Islam ended slavery.

📖 Reality:

Quran regulates it, never abolishes it (e.g., Quran 4:3, 4:24),
Muhammad owned, bought, and sold slaves,
Sex with female slaves is permitted (Quran 23:5–6),
Classical Islamic law defended slavery for over a millennium.

➡️ Abolition came from Western pressure, not Islamic reform.

3️⃣ Myth 8: “The Quran Is Clear and Complete”

📢 Claim: The Quran is a self-contained, perfect law book.

📖 Reality:

Quran lacks details on prayer, punishments, hijab, jihad rules,
Muslims rely heavily on Hadith and fiqh to interpret Sharia,
Hadiths are full of contradictions, late, and often forged.

➡️ A truly divine book wouldn't require centuries of contradictory commentary to be usable.

2️⃣ Myth 9: “Sharia Only Applies to Muslims”

📢 Claim: Non-Muslims have nothing to worry about.

📖 Reality:

Quran 9:29 says to fight “People of the Book” unless they submit,
Non-Muslims in Islamic states live as dhimmis, with limited rights,
Jizya tax, bans on building churches, unequal legal protection.

➡️ Sharia enforces second-class status on non-Muslims by design.

1️⃣ Myth 10: “Sharia Is God’s Mercy”

📢 Claim: Sharia is divine compassion.

📖 Reality:

Women whipped for showing hair,
Christians executed for “insulting the Prophet,”
Gays thrown from rooftops,
Apostates hanged,
Child marriages legitimized through Muhammad’s example.

➡️ If this is mercy, what does cruelty look like?

🔚 Final Verdict

Sharia is not divine.
It’s tribal law fossilized in scripture, enforced by power, and perpetuated by fear.

It wasn't ahead of its time. It is trapped in time.

Muslims may believe they are defending something sacred — but what they’re actually defending is:

A political control system,
Masquerading as eternal morality,
That contradicts everything we know about basic human rights.

Monday, July 14, 2025

Sharia Law vs. Human Rights

Sacred Justice or Tribal Control?

One of Islam’s most defended institutions is Sharia — the body of religious law derived from the Quran and Hadith. It's presented by Muslims as a divinely revealed legal code that governs every aspect of life, from criminal justice to prayer rituals, family structure to finance.

But the more you examine it, the more it resembles a 7th-century tribal code, not timeless moral law. It clashes head-on with universal human rights, and its enforcement in many Muslim-majority countries today leaves a trail of inequality, cruelty, and repression.

This is not divine justice.

This is patriarchal, authoritarian control, codified by religious authority and sealed against reform.

Let’s look at seven core Sharia laws that violate modern human rights standards — and the Quranic/Hadith foundations that enshrine them.

☠️ 1. Death for Apostasy

“Whoever changes his religion — kill him.”
— Sahih Bukhari 3017

Sharia law demands the execution of apostates — anyone who leaves Islam. This is upheld by all four major Sunni madhhabs (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali).

Quranic Tension:

Surah 2:256: “Let there be no compulsion in religion.”
Surah 3:85: “Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him.”

Contradiction: While the Quran says there’s no compulsion, Hadiths (and Islamic jurists) enforce the ultimate punishment for leaving Islam. In countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, apostasy is still punishable by death.

🪨 2. Stoning for Adultery

“Stone the married adulterer to death.”
— Sahih Muslim 1690a

Despite the Quran prescribing 100 lashes for adultery (24:2), Hadiths overrule this with the barbaric act of stoning to death — a punishment never mentioned in the Quran.

What’s worse: some Islamic jurists claim the verse of stoning was once in the Quran but was “abrogated in recitation, not in ruling.” This means:

God removed the verse from the Quran,
But Muslims still have to obey the law it once contained.

This is theological absurdity and judicial cruelty — based on invisible verses.

🍷 3. Flogging for Drinking Alcohol

“If he drinks [alcohol], lash him.”
— Sunan Abu Dawud 4483

Public flogging — usually 40 or 80 lashes — is mandated for those caught drinking. This punishment, rooted in Hadith and early caliphal practice, is still applied in countries like Saudi Arabia.

Even though alcohol use is a personal, non-violent act, it is criminalized with brutal corporal punishment, reflecting zero distinction between public harm and private autonomy.

✂️ 4. Amputation for Theft

“Cut off the hand of the thief.”
— Quran 5:38

This verse is still enforced literally in some Muslim countries. In places like Saudi Arabia and Iran, thieves have had their hands amputated for stealing — even for non-violent property crimes.

There’s no concept of proportionality or reform:

A starving man who steals bread?
A desperate woman stealing to feed children?

The law cuts indiscriminately.

👊 5. Beating Wives for Disobedience

“As to those [wives] from whom you fear rebellion… beat them.”
— Quran 4:34

Apologists attempt to soften this — claiming it means “light tap,” “symbolic strike,” or “last resort.” But the classical interpretations — from Ibn Kathir to al-Tabari to al-Qurtubi — explicitly allow physical discipline.

Hadiths further reinforce male dominance:

Sahih Muslim 1466c: “If I were to order anyone to prostrate before another, I would have ordered women to prostrate before their husbands.”

This is not a partnership. It is religious patriarchy.

🧮 6. Half Inheritance for Women

“For the male, a portion equal to that of two females.”
— Quran 4:11

Sharia law mandates that women receive half the inheritance of men. Why? Because men are considered financial providers and guardians — a tribal logic that erases women’s autonomy, independence, and capability.

Today, this law still deprives countless Muslim women of equal economic rights, especially in rural and traditional communities.

⚖️ 7. Testimony: Two Women = One Man

“Call two witnesses… if two men are not available, then one man and two women…”
— Quran 2:282

In Sharia courts:

A woman’s testimony is often worth half that of a man,
Or outright inadmissible in serious cases (e.g. murder, adultery).

Islamic scholars justify this by citing women’s alleged “emotional nature” or “lack of reasoning” — an insult codified into law.

This is institutionalized gender inequality, not justice.

🌐 Conclusion: Sharia vs. Human Rights

Universal human rights affirm:

Freedom of belief
Equality of genders
Protection from cruel and inhumane punishments
Equal access to justice

Sharia law violates every single one of these.

Muslims claim Sharia is eternal and divine — but its content shows it is:

Historically conditioned
Male-centered
Politically enforced
Morally deficient by modern standards

This is not timeless wisdom.
This is 7th-century tribalism, fossilized in sacred texts, and exported across centuries through fear, force, and cultural domination.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

The Qira’at That Didn’t Make the Cut

20 Recitations You’ve Never Heard Of

❓ What Muslims Commonly Say

“There are only 7 — or 10 — authentic Qira’at (recitations), all revealed by Allah and taught by the Prophet.”

But here’s what they don’t tell you:

Islamic history records dozens of qira’at, many of them widespread and well-known in early Islam.
Only 7 were canonized in the 10th century — and 3 more later.
The rest? They were excluded, banned, or forgotten.

So the real question is:

If Allah revealed all the authentic recitations, why were most of them erased from history?

Let’s dive into the forgotten Qurans — the qira’at that didn’t survive the political and scholarly purge.

📜 A Quick Refresher: What Are Qira’at?

“Qira’at” are distinct textual versions of the Quran.
Each qira’a includes its own:
- Vocabulary
- Grammar
- Sentence structure
- Legal/theological impact
These aren’t accents — they are different Arabic texts.

Canonical qira’at are named after early reciters (not companions), such as:

Hafs ʿan ʿAsim
Warsh ʿan Nafiʿ
Qalun ʿan Nafiʿ
Al-Duri ʿan Abu ʿAmr

But the original list was much longer.

🧾 Ibn Mujahid’s Canonization: 7 Out of Many

In 934 AD, a scholar named Ibn Mujahid selected 7 qira’at and declared them canonical.

Why 7?

"To match the Hadith that says the Quran was revealed in 'seven ahruf'."
— al-Dhahabi, Maʿrifat al-Qurraʾ al-Kibar

The decision was not based on textual consistency or revelation, but on symbolic numerology and pragmatic control.

He excluded dozens of other valid qira’at, many of which had:

Strong transmission chains
Regional dominance
Widespread usage

📉 The Forgotten 20+ Recitations

Early Islamic scholars recorded many more qira’at that were read, memorized, and circulated by Muslims before they were abandoned.

Here are just 20 of the non-canonical qira’at that existed:

❌ Qira’at That Didn’t Make the Cut:

ʿIsa ibn ʿUmar
Sulayman al-Taymi
Al-Aʿmash (Sulaiman ibn Mehran)
ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmir al-Shami (variant form from the canonized one)
Yahya ibn Yaʿmur
Muʿadh al-ʿAla’i
Al-Mughira ibn Miqsam
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAla’ (non-canonized form)
Al-Hasan al-Basri
ʿAta ibn Abi Rabah
Talha ibn Musarrif
Al-Harith al-Aʿwar
ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud (entire codex rejected)
Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (two extra surahs)
Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Sulami
Al-Mufaddal al-Dabbi
Sufyan al-Thawri
Qatada ibn Diʿama
ʿIkrimah Mawla Ibn Abbas
Abu Rajaʾ al-ʿUtaridi

These weren’t obscure fringe readings. Some were:

Used in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt
Taught by respected early scholars
Recited by Muslims in daily worship

But they were ultimately disqualified.

🧠 Why Were They Excluded?

Not because they were false.

Many were considered sound and had authentic chains.
They just didn’t align with the new political need for uniformity.

Not because Muhammad didn’t teach them.

No one can verify what he did or didn’t teach because the recitations contradict each other.

Not because they were errors.

Scholars like Ibn al-Jazari admitted that many of the excluded recitations were just as authentic as the seven.

“The limit of acceptable qira’at is not seven. There were many more, all valid.”
— An-Nashr fi al-Qira’at al-ʿAshr, Vol. 1

🔒 Canonization Was About Control, Not Revelation

The decision to limit the Quran to 7, then 10 qira’at was political and pedagogical, not theological.

It helped standardize teaching in madrasas.
It allowed Islamic authorities to enforce doctrinal unity.
It allowed later print versions (like the 1924 Cairo edition) to erase evidence of contradiction.

So what happened to the rest?

They were:

Dropped from the curriculum
Banned from public recitation
Erased from printed Qurans
Forgotten by later generations

⚖️ Logical Breakdown

Syllogism A – Selective Revelation?

A divine revelation should not contradict itself.
The qira’at that were excluded contradicted the ones that were canonized.
∴ Not all qira’at could have come from God.

Syllogism B – Human Intervention

If humans choose which versions to include, then the text is no longer purely divine.
The 7 and 10 qira’at were selected by scholars based on non-divine criteria.
∴ The current Quran is a man-made canon, not an unaltered revelation.

✅ Final Verdict

There were many Qurans in early Islam — not just 7 or 10.

The 10 qira’at taught today were:

Chosen by men,
Based on scholarly tradition,
Standardized for control — not because they alone came from Muhammad.

Conclusion:

The idea of "one Quran" is a myth.

There were dozens — and most have been erased from memory, history, and modern recitation.