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Corrections in Early Qurʾān Manuscripts: Twenty Examples
PRAISE FOR "CORRECTIONS IN EARLY QURʾĀN MANUSCRIPTS":
"Brilliant. A unique and valuable resource." -- Mark Durie, Melbourne School of Theology
“In Qur'anic research, the text has always been regarded as more or less comprehensible with the help of its Muslim exegetes. In a way, one could qualify the approach as one-dimensional, based on the latest interpretation of an ancient scripture. However, in recent years an increasing wave of Arabic Qur'an editions of different but equally valid Readings has been edited, opening a second dimension, a wide field of research opportunities on the range of scriptural and oral traditions which have led to those different Readings. In addition to these there is a growing activity in editing or presenting early manuscripts of the Qur’an, so that it is not an exaggeration to characterize this stadium as the third dimension of the Qur’an’s history. One of the few remaining pioneers in this domain is Dan Brubaker, who discovers the minute 'corrections’ on the old parchments, which he investigated in the main collections all over the world. He compares the corrections with the earlier versions underneath, and in his analyses of the different types of corrections he observes even the sensible and frequent "omission" of the word "Allah" in the lower text, or frequent corrections of "rizq" or the eschatological "sa'ah / hour" [...] Dan Brubaker’s approach is as modest as it is scientifically sound [...]. In addition [...], he has found a way to lead the reader through a highly sophisticated topic, so that familiarity with Arabic is not even necessary to follow his arguments.” -- Gerd-R. Puin, Universität des Saarlandes (retired)
“It has long been popularly asserted that, in contrast to that of the New Testament, for example, the Qur’an’s manuscript tradition is pristine and perfect, without ever a mark out of place, much less a variation involving whole words or phrases. Brubaker’s fascinating study demonstrates that this is not quite so. What the author has done in this short book is to distill years of research, making accessible to a general readership significant and interesting examples of scribal corrections in some of the earliest Qur’an manuscripts. This book about corrections in handwritten copies of the Qur’an offers its own correction of a widespread but faulty view about the Qur’an.” -- Daniel B. Wallace, Executive Director, Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts
“With great enthusiasm Brubaker introduces the fascinating field of quranic text criticism to a general audience while never losing sight of the academic rigor required for such. No one has documented more corrections in Qurʾān manuscripts than Dr. Brubaker. Worth reading.” -- Marijn van Putten, University of Leiden
“Brubaker has here given a helpful introduction to the body of his research on corrections in Qur'an manuscripts, which is now serving as a reference to a wider group of scholars studying the contours of the Qur'an's early transmission history. ” -- Asma Hilali, University of Lille
Brubaker has surveyed some 10,000 pages of early Quran manuscripts, documenting post-production physical corrections. To date, he has noted and described thousands, with various causes including (but not limited to) simple scribal error. Brubaker is working on several academic books, but has found the subject is also of interest to non-academic readers. "Corrections in Early Qurʾān Twenty Examples" is an introduction to the range of the phenomenon, written to be accessible to non-specialists. In it, he selects a group of corrections from a variety of early Quran manuscripts of this early period. For each example, he shows a picture and gives a brief description, followed by a diagram showing the correction in relation to a modern standard edition of the Quran.
"Brilliant. A unique and valuable resource." -- Mark Durie, Melbourne School of Theology
“In Qur'anic research, the text has always been regarded as more or less comprehensible with the help of its Muslim exegetes. In a way, one could qualify the approach as one-dimensional, based on the latest interpretation of an ancient scripture. However, in recent years an increasing wave of Arabic Qur'an editions of different but equally valid Readings has been edited, opening a second dimension, a wide field of research opportunities on the range of scriptural and oral traditions which have led to those different Readings. In addition to these there is a growing activity in editing or presenting early manuscripts of the Qur’an, so that it is not an exaggeration to characterize this stadium as the third dimension of the Qur’an’s history. One of the few remaining pioneers in this domain is Dan Brubaker, who discovers the minute 'corrections’ on the old parchments, which he investigated in the main collections all over the world. He compares the corrections with the earlier versions underneath, and in his analyses of the different types of corrections he observes even the sensible and frequent "omission" of the word "Allah" in the lower text, or frequent corrections of "rizq" or the eschatological "sa'ah / hour" [...] Dan Brubaker’s approach is as modest as it is scientifically sound [...]. In addition [...], he has found a way to lead the reader through a highly sophisticated topic, so that familiarity with Arabic is not even necessary to follow his arguments.” -- Gerd-R. Puin, Universität des Saarlandes (retired)
“It has long been popularly asserted that, in contrast to that of the New Testament, for example, the Qur’an’s manuscript tradition is pristine and perfect, without ever a mark out of place, much less a variation involving whole words or phrases. Brubaker’s fascinating study demonstrates that this is not quite so. What the author has done in this short book is to distill years of research, making accessible to a general readership significant and interesting examples of scribal corrections in some of the earliest Qur’an manuscripts. This book about corrections in handwritten copies of the Qur’an offers its own correction of a widespread but faulty view about the Qur’an.” -- Daniel B. Wallace, Executive Director, Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts
“With great enthusiasm Brubaker introduces the fascinating field of quranic text criticism to a general audience while never losing sight of the academic rigor required for such. No one has documented more corrections in Qurʾān manuscripts than Dr. Brubaker. Worth reading.” -- Marijn van Putten, University of Leiden
“Brubaker has here given a helpful introduction to the body of his research on corrections in Qur'an manuscripts, which is now serving as a reference to a wider group of scholars studying the contours of the Qur'an's early transmission history. ” -- Asma Hilali, University of Lille
Brubaker has surveyed some 10,000 pages of early Quran manuscripts, documenting post-production physical corrections. To date, he has noted and described thousands, with various causes including (but not limited to) simple scribal error. Brubaker is working on several academic books, but has found the subject is also of interest to non-academic readers. "Corrections in Early Qurʾān Twenty Examples" is an introduction to the range of the phenomenon, written to be accessible to non-specialists. In it, he selects a group of corrections from a variety of early Quran manuscripts of this early period. For each example, he shows a picture and gives a brief description, followed by a diagram showing the correction in relation to a modern standard edition of the Quran.
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 1, 2020
An excellent (brief) introduction to early Qur'anic manuscripts and scribal practices, highlighting 20 textual changes in early (7th-9th century) Qur'anic manuscripts. These changes were chosen as representatives of a wide range of change types, including additions, overwriting, erasure, tapings, and combinations thereof, most of which cannot be explained by simple accidental scribal error.
His conclusions are cautious, and he is unwilling to baselessly speculate. He eliminates polemics, though he briefly mentions the critical theories of a non-Meccan (e.g. Petra) origin of Islam as proposed explanations of conflicting data.
Some conclusions from it are, in my wording:
1. Qur'an is well-preserved [not perfectly]
2. Qur'an had consonontal text (rasm) variants
3. Qur'an had non-qira'at variants
4. Scribes intentionally made changes to Qur'anic manuscripts, most of which are toward the 1924 Cairo edition (indicative of Uthmanic standardization), but not all. The divergences are enough to warrant further investigation, such as grouping them into textual families (many variants can be grouped geographically, similar to qira'at).
This was a great popular-level intro to the material. I know Brubaker has logged thousands of similar changes and look forward to his more detailed work that will come soon. I'm glad to see more and more progress on Qur'anic textual criticism; there's still a long way to go to catch up to Biblical textual criticism.
His conclusions are cautious, and he is unwilling to baselessly speculate. He eliminates polemics, though he briefly mentions the critical theories of a non-Meccan (e.g. Petra) origin of Islam as proposed explanations of conflicting data.
Some conclusions from it are, in my wording:
1. Qur'an is well-preserved [not perfectly]
2. Qur'an had consonontal text (rasm) variants
3. Qur'an had non-qira'at variants
4. Scribes intentionally made changes to Qur'anic manuscripts, most of which are toward the 1924 Cairo edition (indicative of Uthmanic standardization), but not all. The divergences are enough to warrant further investigation, such as grouping them into textual families (many variants can be grouped geographically, similar to qira'at).
This was a great popular-level intro to the material. I know Brubaker has logged thousands of similar changes and look forward to his more detailed work that will come soon. I'm glad to see more and more progress on Qur'anic textual criticism; there's still a long way to go to catch up to Biblical textual criticism.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2021
Dr Brubaker’s work has caused something of a minor stir in the centuries-old arena that is Christian-Muslim dialogue. While the world waits for publication of his more technical doctorate-level work, he’s given us laypeople a taster in this short introduction to the subject.
Coming in at just over 100 pages, Brubaker’s book is not intended to be exhaustive. Instead, the idea is that anyone with even passing interest in how the Qur’an came to be how it is today can get some insights into the process through the study of corrections to early manuscripts. The book is very clearly laid out, the discussion is easy to follow and his main aim is to question what the corrections show. He states the importance of this early on:
"… many of the thousands of corrections I have documented appear to have nothing to do with the readings attested in the secondary literature. So, corrections must represent in at least some cases another phenomenon, such as perhaps a greater degree of perceived flexibility of the Qur’an text in its early centuries … than is documented in the qira’at literature [i.e. the literature describing acceptable variations in reading the Qur’an]." p. 9
Now, those of you who have no idea why this might even be relevant will be asking what the point of doing this is. Well, Muslims today will tell you that the Qur’an has never varied in so much as a single dot since it was given to Muhammad back in the day. This claim is a little less watertight than it first appears when you consider the traditional history, and it is telling that unlike other religious texts, no one has been able to produce a critical edition of the Qur’an that takes all the extant scholarship into account.
Therefore, when someone comes along who isn’t a Muslim and starts poking around in early manuscripts saying that there have been changes, it gets a reaction. The first written reaction to Brubaker was from the unlikely source of molecular engineer Hythem Sydky. Brubaker quickly showed that this particular emperor was wearing no clothes in his response.
There have been other much less erudite and certainly less verbose responses online, but all responses so far have a common theme: Brubaker is an amateur scholar who has no grasp of Arabic and is clearly mistaken in arguing that the Qur’an has been changed in some significant way. The fact that the guy could have got a PhD out of the application of his theory seems to have eluded them all.
There are however clues on the Interwebs as to why some are out to discredit Brubaker. Online voices such as Al Fadi and Jay Smith seem to find this text extremely valuable for polemical purposes, using it to boldly claim that here is finally evidence that the Qur’an has not been preserved as claimed. Despite the accusations, and having watched pretty much all of Brubaker’s YouTube channel, Brubaker has never once said that his purpose is polemical. He’s a scholar of early Qur’an manuscripts and this is his work. Make of it what you will.
To be honest, I’m not altogether convinced by what I hear from Al Fadi, Smith, David Wood, Islam Critiqued, etc. and I don’t share their excitement about the value of Brubaker’s work for the polemical cause. However, it’s an interesting space to watch as the debate continues to unfold.
For more reviews and the 1001 Books Spreadsheet, visit http://arukiyomi.com
Coming in at just over 100 pages, Brubaker’s book is not intended to be exhaustive. Instead, the idea is that anyone with even passing interest in how the Qur’an came to be how it is today can get some insights into the process through the study of corrections to early manuscripts. The book is very clearly laid out, the discussion is easy to follow and his main aim is to question what the corrections show. He states the importance of this early on:
"… many of the thousands of corrections I have documented appear to have nothing to do with the readings attested in the secondary literature. So, corrections must represent in at least some cases another phenomenon, such as perhaps a greater degree of perceived flexibility of the Qur’an text in its early centuries … than is documented in the qira’at literature [i.e. the literature describing acceptable variations in reading the Qur’an]." p. 9
Now, those of you who have no idea why this might even be relevant will be asking what the point of doing this is. Well, Muslims today will tell you that the Qur’an has never varied in so much as a single dot since it was given to Muhammad back in the day. This claim is a little less watertight than it first appears when you consider the traditional history, and it is telling that unlike other religious texts, no one has been able to produce a critical edition of the Qur’an that takes all the extant scholarship into account.
Therefore, when someone comes along who isn’t a Muslim and starts poking around in early manuscripts saying that there have been changes, it gets a reaction. The first written reaction to Brubaker was from the unlikely source of molecular engineer Hythem Sydky. Brubaker quickly showed that this particular emperor was wearing no clothes in his response.
There have been other much less erudite and certainly less verbose responses online, but all responses so far have a common theme: Brubaker is an amateur scholar who has no grasp of Arabic and is clearly mistaken in arguing that the Qur’an has been changed in some significant way. The fact that the guy could have got a PhD out of the application of his theory seems to have eluded them all.
There are however clues on the Interwebs as to why some are out to discredit Brubaker. Online voices such as Al Fadi and Jay Smith seem to find this text extremely valuable for polemical purposes, using it to boldly claim that here is finally evidence that the Qur’an has not been preserved as claimed. Despite the accusations, and having watched pretty much all of Brubaker’s YouTube channel, Brubaker has never once said that his purpose is polemical. He’s a scholar of early Qur’an manuscripts and this is his work. Make of it what you will.
To be honest, I’m not altogether convinced by what I hear from Al Fadi, Smith, David Wood, Islam Critiqued, etc. and I don’t share their excitement about the value of Brubaker’s work for the polemical cause. However, it’s an interesting space to watch as the debate continues to unfold.
For more reviews and the 1001 Books Spreadsheet, visit http://arukiyomi.com
September 22, 2025
Very helpful and quick read. Although this would be much easier to read with a background in the field, the author does a good job of making it accessible to the lay reader. Although a Christian, which will make some question intent, he mostly focuses on the evidence and lets the reader come to their own conclusion. Anything speculative he notes as such. He repeatedly points out that none of what he says affects the claim of Muhammad’s prophethood. One could argue that it would logically conclude if there hasn’t been perfect preservation, but the possibility of bias is a reality regardless of the scholar’s background.
July 11, 2020
Very informative and easy to understand even for someone not familiar with textual criticism. In this book Dr Brubaker has shown with just 20 examples that the Quran has not been perfectly preserved as has been stated by Muslim apologists.
April 13, 2025
Very detailed and informative. A famous Islamic teacher told us already: 'The Standard (Islamic) Narrative has holes in it.' This book points to some of the holes in the most ancients versions of the quran.
September 16, 2025
Objective Rating: ⭐⭐ (worth skimming but weak)
Personal Rating: 🤔 (made me think)
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I am a Muslim, and furthermore, Arabic is my first language. Hearing about a book that says the early Quran manuscripts had "corrections" was deeply unsettling. I felt compelled to read it carefully... So that's what I did in 3 days; searching, exploring and trying to understand everything that was written due to its utmost importance for my belief.
Before reading this book, I had no previous knowledge of Quranic manuscripts. So, when I read in the Preface that the book was "written to be understood not only by scholars but also by general readers, though without, I hope, compromise of academic integrity" brought me comfort during the journey. The author also clarified that the book is a "textual criticism of the Quran" and "does not engage in the theological analysis of the Quran content" and was not an attack on anyone or anything, and was just "in service of a common master: Truth".
---
In the 2nd chapter the author, as promised, provides twenty "corrections" that were made to some early Quranic Manuscripts (within two centuries after Muhammed's ﷺ death). Upon examining these cases, I found that most corrections did not alter the core meaning of the text. They primarily involved restoring omitted or forgotten words—often predictable from context, rhyme, and Quranic style.
Someone might argue "But Muslims believe that the Quran is preserved down to the letter, aren’t these corrections evidence to the contrary?" And to that I answer: the book only examines a limited set of manuscripts, and doesn't account for the extensive manuscript tradition or the importance of the Quran's parallel oral transmission through generations.
While the study of these corrections is academically interesting and valuable for textual history, it does not prove that the Quran has been altered in its essential message or content.
For further study and counter-analysis on these manuscripts I highly recommend the following books which show other manuscripts of the same text:
- التحريف في المخطوطات القرآنية: دراسة نقدية لأرآء دانيل بروبيكر في كتابه تصحيحات في المخطوطات القرآنية المبكرة,
- Refutation of Daniel Alan Brubaker's Corrections in Early Qur'an Manuscripts,
- The Insignificance of -"Corrections in Early Qur`ān Manuscripts"- a response to Daniel A. Brubaker by Ijaz Ahmad, Farid al-Bahraini , Mansur Ahmed.
---
I want to clarify that my 2-star rating is objective. As mentioned in my bio, 2 stars signifies a book that is worth reading (3-stars are given to the books that answer this one, mentioned above). I appreciate the author’s effort to explore a topic in a language not his own and present it with seriousness and care. I hope he continues his search for the truth and that he may one day reach it.
Personal Rating: 🤔 (made me think)
---
I am a Muslim, and furthermore, Arabic is my first language. Hearing about a book that says the early Quran manuscripts had "corrections" was deeply unsettling. I felt compelled to read it carefully... So that's what I did in 3 days; searching, exploring and trying to understand everything that was written due to its utmost importance for my belief.
Before reading this book, I had no previous knowledge of Quranic manuscripts. So, when I read in the Preface that the book was "written to be understood not only by scholars but also by general readers, though without, I hope, compromise of academic integrity" brought me comfort during the journey. The author also clarified that the book is a "textual criticism of the Quran" and "does not engage in the theological analysis of the Quran content" and was not an attack on anyone or anything, and was just "in service of a common master: Truth".
---
In the 2nd chapter the author, as promised, provides twenty "corrections" that were made to some early Quranic Manuscripts (within two centuries after Muhammed's ﷺ death). Upon examining these cases, I found that most corrections did not alter the core meaning of the text. They primarily involved restoring omitted or forgotten words—often predictable from context, rhyme, and Quranic style.
Someone might argue "But Muslims believe that the Quran is preserved down to the letter, aren’t these corrections evidence to the contrary?" And to that I answer: the book only examines a limited set of manuscripts, and doesn't account for the extensive manuscript tradition or the importance of the Quran's parallel oral transmission through generations.
While the study of these corrections is academically interesting and valuable for textual history, it does not prove that the Quran has been altered in its essential message or content.
For further study and counter-analysis on these manuscripts I highly recommend the following books which show other manuscripts of the same text:
- التحريف في المخطوطات القرآنية: دراسة نقدية لأرآء دانيل بروبيكر في كتابه تصحيحات في المخطوطات القرآنية المبكرة,
- Refutation of Daniel Alan Brubaker's Corrections in Early Qur'an Manuscripts,
- The Insignificance of -"Corrections in Early Qur`ān Manuscripts"- a response to Daniel A. Brubaker by Ijaz Ahmad, Farid al-Bahraini , Mansur Ahmed.
---
I want to clarify that my 2-star rating is objective. As mentioned in my bio, 2 stars signifies a book that is worth reading (3-stars are given to the books that answer this one, mentioned above). I appreciate the author’s effort to explore a topic in a language not his own and present it with seriousness and care. I hope he continues his search for the truth and that he may one day reach it.
February 17, 2021
This is intended as an ‘interim’ (little) book until the author can publish his much larger work on Quranic manuscripts. He finished his Ph.D in 2014 and it catalogued around 800 variants in Quran manuscripts. Since then he has found thousands more variant readings (p.xxiv) so it is taking him much longer than expected to complete his larger academic book on these issues. His work has prompted discussion in academic and popular contexts, so this is a stop-gap publication illustrating the issues with examples of twenty variant Quranic readings.
Variants in early Quranic manuscripts could arise due to the carelessness of a scribe. Even the best copying procedures occasionally go wrong. The author is aware of this and has tried carefully to select examples of variant readings which avoid these kinds of scribal errors (p95). This means that the variants in the book are interesting because they seem to suggest alternative Quranic textual traditions in the background of Quranic transmission.
Textual variants is a fascinating academic problem. The history of biblical criticism has done much to inform and explain the origins of Christian texts and so Quranic criticism could offer informative insights about the origins of Islam.
However, this issue also has the potential to raise religious concerns. Some Muslims believe that the modern text of the Quran (the 1924 Cairo edition) was first written down in Muhammad’s lifetime (p.13) and has miraculously been preserved from error into the modern day. Whether such religious viewpoints are consistent with what now is beginning to look like a history of textual variants has the potential to become a controversial religious question.
The author approaches these issues of Quranic variants with sensitivity and serious scholarship. He is righly at pains to ensure that the focus remains on the academic issues, not questions of religious controversy. Whether the issues can be kept entirely separate is something which will no doubt prompt many more comments.
Given the price of bringing just twenty examples of variant readings to publication, its disappointing that this book does not provide more information, especially as the author had already catalogued 800 variants in his 2014 Ph.D disseration. I hope that the author is able to overcome his self-confessed perfectionism (p.xvii) and complete his larger work on Quranic variants in the near future.
Variants in early Quranic manuscripts could arise due to the carelessness of a scribe. Even the best copying procedures occasionally go wrong. The author is aware of this and has tried carefully to select examples of variant readings which avoid these kinds of scribal errors (p95). This means that the variants in the book are interesting because they seem to suggest alternative Quranic textual traditions in the background of Quranic transmission.
Textual variants is a fascinating academic problem. The history of biblical criticism has done much to inform and explain the origins of Christian texts and so Quranic criticism could offer informative insights about the origins of Islam.
However, this issue also has the potential to raise religious concerns. Some Muslims believe that the modern text of the Quran (the 1924 Cairo edition) was first written down in Muhammad’s lifetime (p.13) and has miraculously been preserved from error into the modern day. Whether such religious viewpoints are consistent with what now is beginning to look like a history of textual variants has the potential to become a controversial religious question.
The author approaches these issues of Quranic variants with sensitivity and serious scholarship. He is righly at pains to ensure that the focus remains on the academic issues, not questions of religious controversy. Whether the issues can be kept entirely separate is something which will no doubt prompt many more comments.
Given the price of bringing just twenty examples of variant readings to publication, its disappointing that this book does not provide more information, especially as the author had already catalogued 800 variants in his 2014 Ph.D disseration. I hope that the author is able to overcome his self-confessed perfectionism (p.xvii) and complete his larger work on Quranic variants in the near future.
October 30, 2020
Corrections In Early Quran Manuscripts
A good book to pair with this reading might be - Textual Criticism And Quran Manuscripts, Keith E. Small.
An informative introductory text in to the relatively new realm of textual criticism of the Quran. Daniel Brubaker has examined thousands of corrections in the earliest manuscripts and samples twenty of them to discuss in this book. Some include the addition of a word, and erasures where replaced with taping to hide, and some overwriting without erasure. Brubaker also discusses the Islamic history according to its traditions, with topics on the Umayyad and Abassid dynasties. What has been a profession within the Biblical field for over 300 years has now transferred over to the Quranic manuscripts in 'Western' academia. As such, it allows us to present the question: Has the Quran really been perfectly preserved?
A good book to pair with this reading might be - Textual Criticism And Quran Manuscripts, Keith E. Small.
An informative introductory text in to the relatively new realm of textual criticism of the Quran. Daniel Brubaker has examined thousands of corrections in the earliest manuscripts and samples twenty of them to discuss in this book. Some include the addition of a word, and erasures where replaced with taping to hide, and some overwriting without erasure. Brubaker also discusses the Islamic history according to its traditions, with topics on the Umayyad and Abassid dynasties. What has been a profession within the Biblical field for over 300 years has now transferred over to the Quranic manuscripts in 'Western' academia. As such, it allows us to present the question: Has the Quran really been perfectly preserved?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews