Page:William Goldsack-The Qurān in Islām (1906).djvu/28

 Rh the current reading “” (lā azzālīna) has been, in some copies, changed to "” (ghair azzālīna). Granting that in these examples the meaning has not been altered to any extent, the fact still remains that certain words have been substituted for others in this important Sūra of the Qurān. Both were not in the original copies.

Tn the twenty-first verse of Sūra Bakr, Kāzi Baizāwi points out another important corruption of the text. The received reading is "" (abdenā) "our servant;" but Baizāwi tells us that in some copies the word appears in the plural as, "" (abādenā), "our servants.’" In the latter case, the whole verse would read thus: ‘‘If ye be in doubt concerning that (revelation) which we have sent down unto our servants,” thus making others besides Muhammad the recipients of the Qurānic revelation.

In the fifth verse of Sūra Nisā another important corruption of the Qurānic text is to be seen. Baizāwi tells us that in this verse the words "" (fān anastum) “If you see,” have in some copies been altered to " (fān ahastum) “If you know.” Such corruptions of the Qurānic text are numerous, and prove beyond question that the text of the Qurān is far from perfect. Indeed, as we shall afterwards prove, it has been so corrupted and mutilated that the present edition is absolutely untrustworthy as a complete copy of that Qurān which the prophet of Arabia taught his followers.

In the fifteenth verse of Sūra Nisā, Baizāwi points out another grave variation in the different copies of the Qurān, which is worthy of notice. It is there written "" "and he has a brother or a sister.” But the Kāzi informs us that, according to the readings of Ubi and Zaid-ibn-Mālik