Page:William Goldsack-The Qurān in Islām (1906).djvu/39

 30 but the future history of the Qurān. It is related from Ibn-Māja (Chapter Jahab-al-Qurān and Al-Alam) as follows:



"Hazīfta-ibn-Imān said, The prophet of God (on whom be blessing and peace) said, Islām will become worn out like the hem of an old garment, until (at last) people will not know what is the meaning of fasting, or prayer, or sacrifice or almsgiving; and in one night the word of God (Qurān) will disappear, and not a single verse of it will be left upon the Earth.”

We do not intend to comment further on the traditions we have quoted above. They are sufficient to reveal to every open-minded truth-seeker the present condition of the Qurānic text. Muslims are generally taught to believe that the Qurān has been Divinely protected from all change. Indeed the Qurān itself makes this weighty claim in these words:

“We have surely sent down the Qurān, and we will certainly preserve the same (from corruption)”.

Whilst in another place we read,

"This book, the verses whereof are guarded against corruption,is a revelation from the wise and knowing God.” The same preposterous claim is made in the traditions; and in the book Fazail-ul-Qurān we read, "Even if the Qurān were cast into the fire, if would not be burned”!

Let the reader judge of the value of these claims for the integrity of the Qurān in the light of the testimony from Muslim authors which has been adduced in this little book, and he will see that in claiming to be Divinely protected from