How can it be claimed that the Qur’an is preserved, given the existence of hadiths indicating that Omar read "فامضوا إلى ذكر الله" (So proceed to the remembrance of Allah) instead of "فاسعوا" (So hasten), and his statement that the Qur’an originally contained 102,700 letters, most of which were lost, and Ubayy ibn Ka’b’s claim of two additional surahs in his mushaf, and Sayyid Anwar Shah Kashmiri’s assertion of the alteration of some words therein, and Uthman’s statement regarding errors in the mushaf, and Aisha’s claim of scribal errors in verses such as "إن الذين آمنوا والذين هادوا والصابئون" (Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews and the Sabeans), and "والمقيمين الصلاة والمؤتون الزكاة" (and those who establish prayer and give zakat), and "إنَّ هذان لساحران" (Indeed, these two are magicians), and that Surah Al-Ahzab had verses missing, and Aisha’s hadith about the abrogation of ten sucklings by five known ones?
The reading attributed to Umar in Surat Al-Jumu'ah points to an interpretive reading or one of the variant readings (ahruf) that were used, not to a change in the widely transmitted Qur'anic text. Claims of missing letters in the Qur'an or its distortion, such as those attributed to Umar or others, are fabricated or incorrect. They are interpreted as meaning abrogation of recitation, not a deficiency, with scholars affirming that the Qur'an is preserved from additions and omissions. As for the two surahs, "Al-Khal" and "Al-Hafd" in Ubayy's mushaf, their recitation was abrogated, or they were added for interpretation and supplication, not as part of the widely transmitted Qur'an. The truth remains that the Noble Qur'an is preserved by Allah's protection, and what has been narrated from the Companions regarding readings or differences is understood in the context of abrogation or interpretation, not distortion.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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