Page 52 - World Religions I - Islam

o Tajweed also includes rules for the pronunciation of specific letters and consonant combinations of the
Arabic language.

Historical Criticism of the Qur'an (See Appendix E – Contradictions in the Qur’an)
Islam requires belief in the perfect transmission of truth from heaven to earth through Muhammad, all of which was
gathered without error or omission after his death in the form of the Qur'an.
• Historical criticism of the Qur'an is a beginning area of study. Historical criticism has been applied to Biblical
literature since the 17th century. The perspective of early historical criticism is rooted in the Protestant
reformation ideology, and gained popular recognition in the 19th and 20th centuries.
o Higher criticism
 Higher criticism is a branch of literary criticism that investigates the origins of ancient text in
order to understand "the word behind the text".27
• The primary goal is to ascertain the original meaning in its original historical context.
• The secondary goal is to establish a reconstruction of the historical situation of the
author and recipients of the text, by reconstructing the true nature of the events the
text describes.
 There is currently no higher criticism of the Qur'an.28
o Lower (or textual) criticism
 Lower criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and
removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts.
o In most Muslim countries, historical criticism is seen as apostasy.
• According to faithful Muslims, the Qur'an has not changed or been corrupted from the day it was fully compiled.
o "We have, without a doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)." -
Al-Hijr (The Stoneland) 15:8
• There is no way to verify the reliability of today's Qur'an to the original text, as no primary sources or manuscripts
exist.
o Three of the earliest ancient manuscripts that exist are dated by the Kufic script in which they are
written to the late 8th century AD (790's and later).29 The Kufic script was not used in Mecca and Medina
at all in the seventh century.

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