Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction

CONTENTS

PART I

ON 1HE ALLEGED AUTHORSHIP OF MUJ:IAMMAD (P.B.H)

CHAPTER
l. THE ALLEGATION OF AMBITION AND PREPARATION FOR GIVING OUT
1HEQUR'AN
i. On the theme of ambition in general
ii. The alleged cultivation of poetical skill
iii. The Question of literacy: Watt's theory
II. THE ALLEGED BORROWING FROMJUDAEO-CHRISTIAN SOURCES
i. Introductory remarks
ii. Summary of the assumptions
iii. On the environmental influence in general
iv. The alleged contact with J udaeo-Christian experts
v. The supposed Qur'anic evidence about a monotheist
informant or informants
vi. The so-called growth in accuracy in Biblical information
vii Differences in the Qur'anic and Biblical accounts
III. THE ALLEGED CONTEMPORARY ERRORS IN THE QuR'AN AS EVIDENCE
v
X
1-4

PAGES
7-25
7
14
15
26-61
26
26
33
38
40
46
53

OF THE PROPHET'S AUTHORSHIP 62
i. The supposed mistakes about Judaism and Christianity 62
ii. The alleged scientific errors 71

PART II

THE 0RIENTALISTS ON 1HE QuR'ANIC WAHY
IV. THE ORIENTALISTS ON THE QuR'ANIC WAI;IY: l. THE VIEWS OF MUIR
AND MARGOLIOUTH 91-109
i. Preliminary remarks 91
ii. Muir's assumptions 92
iii. Margoliouth's assumptions 99
iv. Margoliouth's assumption about the vision of God 106

Vlll

V. THE ORIENTALISTS ON THE QuR'ANIC WAij¥: II. THE VIEWS OF
RICHARD BELL
i. Summary of Bell's assumptions
ii. Concerning the traditions about the coming of waby
iii. The assumption of pre-Qur'an deliverances
iv. Bell's assumption about the vision of God
v. Bell's concept of waby
VI. ThE ORIENTALISTS ON THE QuR'ANIC WAI-fY: III. WATT's
TREATMENT OF AL-ZUHRIS REPORT ON THE COMING OF WAJ:IY
i. Preliminary remarks
ii. Watt's segmentation of al-Zuhri's report
iii. "Muhammad's visions"
iv. "The visit to Hid': Tabannuth"
v. "Thou art the Messenger of God"
vi. "Recite"
vii. "Surat ai-Muddaththir. the fatrah
viii. "Encouragement from Khadijah and Warqah"

110-133
110
111
114
117
125

134-171
134
135
138
148
152
156
159
167
VII. THE ORIENTALISTS AND THE QuR'ANIC WAifY: IV. WATT's THEORY
OF INTELLECTUAL LOCUTION 172
i. Watt's Matrix: A. Poulain's theory 172
ii. Watt's application of the theory considered 173
iii. Further Qur'anic evidence on the nature of Qur'anic waf:y 186

PART III

THE ORIENTALISTS ON THE HISTORY AND TEXT OF THE QuR' AN
VIII. ON THE HISTORY OF THE QuR' AN: I. THEODORE NbLDEKE1
S

ASSUMPTIONS
i. The basic facts
ii. Noldeke's assumptions
iii. Examination of Noldeke's assumptions
IX. ON THE HISTORY OF THE QuR' AN: II. lNFLA TION OF NOLDEKE1
S

ASSUMPTIONS
i. Arthur Jeffery's Materials etc.
ii. The Bell-Watt theories
ii. John Burton's Collection rf the Qur'an

197-217
197
202
203

218-244
218
232
241

lX

X. ON THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'AN: II. REVISIONISM AT ITS CLIMAX
i. On revisionism in general
ii.]. Wansborough's fallacies
iii. Yahuda D. Nevo et al: Digging the earth to bury the past
iv. The ~an'a' find: Fresh speculations
XI. ON THE TEXT OF THE QuR' AN: I. THE LANGUAGE AND STYLE AND
THE THEORY OF REVISION
i. On the language and style in general
ii. Noldeke's views on the language and style of the Qur'an
iii. The Bell-Watt extension to Noldeke's assumptions:
the theory of revision
XII. ON THE TEXT OF THE QuR' AN: II. THE SO-CALLED FOREIGN
VOCABULARY AND COPYIST'S ERRORS
i. On the naturalized foreign words in the Qur'an in general
ii. The orientalists' fiction of foreign vocabulary
iii. Arthur Jeffery's Foreign Vocabulary etc.
iv. Luxenberg's Syro-Aramaic Reading and Torrey's
Commercial-theological terms
v. The theory of copyist's errors and the proposed
emendations to the text of the Qur'an
XIII. THE ORIENTALISTS' TRANSLATIONS OF THE QuR'AN
i. The earliest orientalist translations
ii. The translation of Ludovicco Maracci and its off-shoots
iii. Glimpses of Sale's translation
iv. Translations of the late-nineteenth century: Rodwell
and Palmer
v. Translations of the twentieth century: Bell and Arberry
vi. Other main European translations
XIV. Conclusion
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

245-271
245
248
256
267

272-304
272
273
279

305-323
305
306
311
313
316
324-352
324
327
330
335
343
351
353
363
367

The subject of the orientalists' views and assumptions about the
Qur'an
especially attracted my attention during the early 1990s when I had been engaged
in writing the Strat al-Nabt and the Orientalists. 1 It soon became clear that the major
part of their assumptions and remarks about the Prophet are aimed directly or
indirectly against the Qur'an, which fact goes only to confirm the Qur'anic
statement at 6:33 (al-'An'am):

0 J~ ....Ui ..:...~ ~ ~l1.ll .:.fJ J di y.~ 'Y ~u

"So in fact they cry lies not to you [i. e., the Prophet]; but the transgressors do at
Allah's 'qyahs (revelations) hurl rejection."
Subsequently, early in 1999, my attention was drawn to an article written by
Toby Lester under caption "What is the Koran" and published in the January
1999 issue of the Atlantic Monthfy. It was a sort of heavyweight journalistic writing
publicising the views of Gerd-R Puin regarding the Qur'an based on his
examination of some Qur'anic manuscripts lately discovered at San'a', together
with the views of some other orientalists. I wrote a review of that article which
was published as a booklet under caption: The Qur'an and the Latest Orienta/is!
Assumptions.2 In the following year I presented a paper (in Arabic) on the
orientalists' assumptions about the Qur'an at a seminar on Qur'anic studies and
sciences, organised by the ·King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex and held at
Madina between 30 September and 3 October 2000.3 A revised English version
of this paper was published in 2002 as another booklet under caption :The Qur'an
and the Orientalists: A Brief Suroey of Their Assumptions.4 In the preface to this latter
booklet I mentioned that the subject needed a more detailed treatment. The
present work is an attempt in this direction.
As I started organizing the work I realized that some of the chapters in the
Strat al-Nabf and the Orientalists on the themes of the Prophet's alleged preparation
for giving out the Qur'an, his alleged borrowing from Judaism and Christianity
1 M. M. Ali, Sirat ai-Nabi and the Orientalist.r, with special referrnce to the writing.r of William Muir, D.S. Margolioutb and W.
Montgomery Watt, vols. 1A and 1B, King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex, Madina, 1997. 2 Published by ]am'iat If!yaa' Minhaaj ai-Sunnah, Ipswich, June, 1999.
' Published by the King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex, Madina, under caption : ~_,5:)1 0T_,.il1 J_,.- .:.' _r..:-)1 rl-"
4 Published by Jam'iat If!yaa' Minhaaj ai-Sunnah, Ipswich, June, 2002.

VI

for composing the Qur'an and the assumptions about the Qur'anic waf?y are very
much related to the subject of the present work and that without· these
discussions the treatment of it would remain palpably incomplete. The first seven
chapters of the present work are thus revised versions of the relevant chapters in
the Sfrat ai-Nabf etc. The rest of the chapters dealing with the orientalists'
assumptions about the history and texts of the Qur'an are newly written,
incorporating some materials from my above mentioned booklets.
As thus designed, the present work gives in a compact and integrated form the
main orientalist assumptions and theories about the Qur'an and examines them
critically. The treatment is not what some of the orientalists are prone to call
"apologetic". I have met them on their own grounds and have taken up their
arguments and statements one by one, pointing out their faults, inconsistencies
and untenability. I do not claim, however, to be exhaustive and comprehensive. If
the present work helps to make the readers aware of the main orientalist
assumptions and theories about the Qur'an and their inherent faults and
unreasonableness, my efforts will not have gone wholly in vain.
I am grateful to my wife, Rosy, and my son Mansoor, whose care and
attention have sustianed me through a prolonged illeness and enabled me to
pursue and complete the present work. My thanks are due also to my
daughter-in-law, Muneera, and my second son, Maaruf, who have gone th,rough
the computer print-out script of the book and drawn my attention to a number of
typographical and other errors. I am responsible, however, for any other errors
that might still have escaped scrutiny. Last but not least, special thanks are due to
my eldest son, Manu (Abu Munta~ir) and the Jam'iyat Il)yaa' Minhaaj al-Sunnah,
for having arranged for prompt publication of the work.
May Allah enable us to do what He likes and is pleasing to Him; and peace
and blessings of Allah be on His final Prophet and Messenger, Mul)ammad ibn
'AbdAllah.

 book, in pdf format, written by Muhammad Mehr Ali, which is one of the most prominent and important messages that spoke about the problem of the writing of Muhammad peace be upon him to the Holy Quran, and the author explained this suspicion and responded to them, and clarified the objectives of promoters.

The author has divided the suspicion into several axes, the axis of which is: Is Mohammed A Koran? The other point is: Did Muhammad borrowed the Qur'an from other nations? Does the reader have mistakes? And other important topics.

The author then presents to us the views of some orientalists in the Quranic revelation, such as Margalith, Muir, Richard Bell, and others. Here, many theories and opinions of the orientalists refute us, as well as the Orientalists'