Introduction

The Muslim claim that the Qur’an is the final, perfect, and preserved word of God is central to Islamic theology. Yet when one examines Islamic sources themselves, contradictions and weaknesses emerge that cast doubt on this bold claim. One such troubling reality is that Muhammad himself forgot verses of the Qur’an—as explicitly recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari 5038. If the very recipient of the revelation could forget verses, how can we be confident that nothing essential was lost, altered, or corrupted during transmission?

This debate article challenges the authenticity and completeness of the Qur’an by drawing upon both Islamic traditions and logical inquiry, while also asking critical questions that Muslim scholars rarely answer with clarity.

The Prophet Who Forgot Revelation

According to Sahih al-Bukhari 5038, Aisha narrates that Muhammad heard a man reciting the Qur’an at night and responded:

“May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has reminded me of such-and-such Verses of such-and-such Suras, which I was caused to forget.”

This raises fundamental questions:

If Muhammad forgot verses until reminded by others, how many verses were permanently lost because nobody reminded him?
If God’s word is eternal and perfect, why would the prophet of Islam forget it at all? Was revelation not safeguarded by God?
How reliable is the Qur’an if its earliest guardian was a fallible man prone to forgetting the very words he claimed to receive from heaven?

Missing Verses and the Doctrine of Abrogation

The problem of missing verses is compounded by the Islamic doctrine of naskh (abrogation), where one verse cancels or replaces another. The Qur’an itself admits this phenomenon:

“We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth one better than it or similar to it…” (Qur’an 2:106).

This verse is alarming:

If verses were “caused to be forgotten,” does that not imply the Qur’an is incomplete?
If God replaced verses with “better ones,” then were the original verses imperfect?
How can Muslims insist on “perfect preservation” when the text itself admits deletion and replacement?

The Problem of Multiple Codices

Historical records affirm that different versions of the Qur’an existed. The most famous example is the collection under Caliph Uthman, who burned competing manuscripts to enforce a standardized version. This leads to further troubling questions:

What was in the codices that Uthman destroyed?
If the Qur’an was perfectly preserved, why was there disagreement among early Muslims about its content?
Why do surviving non-Uthmanic readings (e.g., Ibn Mas‘ud’s mushaf without Surah al-Fatiha and Surah al-Falaq/al-Nas) contradict the claim of a uniform Qur’an?

Twisted and Contradictory Verses

Beyond missing verses, many Qur’anic passages exhibit contradictions and internal inconsistencies:

Creation Accounts: Was man created from water (21:30), clay (15:26), dust (3:59), or nothing (19:67)?
Alcohol: First permitted (16:67), then discouraged (4:43), and finally forbidden (5:90). Which is God’s eternal word?
Peace or Violence? Early Meccan verses preach tolerance (109:6), while later Medinan verses command warfare against unbelievers (9:5). Was God changing His mind, or were the verses tailored for political expedience?

These contradictions suggest not a divine book, but a text shaped by changing circumstances, reflecting human adaptation rather than eternal revelation.

Scholarly Challenges for Muslims

The Qur’an’s claim of incorruptibility (Qur’an 15:9) collapses under its own historical and textual weight. Thus, I pose the following academic questions to my Muslim interlocutors:

If Muhammad forgot verses, how can Muslims claim perfect preservation?
If Uthman destroyed variant manuscripts, how do we know today’s Qur’an reflects the original?
If verses were abrogated, why are they still recited in the mushaf if they are no longer valid?
If contradictions exist, how can the Qur’an be the flawless word of God?
If “Satanic Verses” (referenced in Islamic tradition) infiltrated revelation temporarily, how can Muslims assure us that other satanic intrusions did not survive?

Conclusion

The Qur’an presents itself as the uncorrupted, final word of God. Yet its own sources confess forgotten verses, abrogations, destroyed manuscripts, contradictions, and missing content. These are not trivial problems; they strike at the very foundation of Islamic theology. If the transmission of revelation depended on a man who admitted to forgetting verses, and if later caliphs had to enforce a uniform text by fire, then the integrity of the Qur’an cannot be guaranteed.

In contrast, the Bible—written by over 40 authors across centuries, cultures, and languages—remains consistent in its core message and has survived the test of history with thousands of manuscripts verifying its content. The Qur’an’s claim of superiority is therefore not only unproven but also deeply flawed.

📖 By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute

Saturday, December 20, 2025