How do people know that the words of the Qur'an have not changed since the beginning?

Answer 1

Answer 1 Quran is true word of God with the same language (Arabic) of God revelation.

Quran is God revelations to Prophet Mohamed (peace upon him). These revelations of Quran by God to Prophet Mohamed was through the Angel Gabriel and started in year 610 AD when prophet Mohamed was in Mecca (Makkah) and was by then 40 years old. The revelations continued since then and was completed by year 632 AD (year of death of the prophet).

The long period for full revelation of the Quran (around 22 years) allowed the Quran to be fully memorized and documented by many Muslims. It was recited in the mosque by prophet Mohamed during the daily five prayers without single letter change. Many Muslims since then until now are memorizing Quran fully by heart without single letter difference. This explains why Quran remains by God will, and will remain by God will, without single letter change. Quran is the only God holy book that was written on the same moment of its verse revelations. In addition, Quran is the only God holy book that is memorized by heart by millions of Muslims allover the world without single letter difference. Refer to related question below.

Messenger of God Muhammad SAWW had thousands of companions. (around 400,000) and prophet encouraged them to memorize Quran and himself directly audited them to memorize Quran exactly same as was revealed to himself. the names of at least 500 of them is recorded in history and they are known well. people memorized Quran from different countries and cities and it was passed to next generations until the age of books and publications. all versions of Quran recorded in history from different countries all are with exactly the same text. there is no conflict in text of Quran among billions of Muslims even on one word.

people from different countries came to prophet and learned Quran and memorized it and written it on animal skins and bones. there is not even the claim for another version of text of Quran.

please note there are different recitations methods (like accent) but all of them have same text.

Answer 2 The claim that there are more than one Quran version is baseless. The media and many non Muslims trying to propagate the idea of the existence of different versions of Quran just to comparable the present versions of other God holy books. Those who claim that should refer to authenticated historians and writers. Quran is the last God holy book that was revealed over 23 years to allow Muslims to memorize Quran by heart and to be recited hundreds of times a day. Logically, how it comes the deviations in this case in Quran. Quran is the only God holy book that was written immediately after the God revelation of its verses and the only God holy book that was recited daily by millions of Muslims in their daily prayers as well as in other meditation times.

Answer 4 Any one who wants to talk about different versions of Quran firstly should learn about Qira'at and should not confuse Qira'at of Quran with text of Quran. different Qira'at (reading/recitation) does not mean different text. a single text can have many different Qira'ats.

different Qira'at is something like different accents for the same word.

'The thoughtful guide to Islam', Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri: When the Prophet died, there were known to have been at least seven different readings of the Quran in the main tribal or regional dialects. During Uthman's caliphate, it was decided to standardise the language of the Quran according to the dominant language of the Quraysh.

this book supports the view that there has been only one version of Quran (one text but different Qira'at)

There are a lot of Islamic historical evidences to prove there has been only one version of Quran but western people possible perhaps reject them because they are from Muslim historians.

it is very important to know that at first historical stages of islam (at time of life of Messenger there has been no dot at Islamic manuscript. for example خبر and خیر were written in the same way but second has one more dot. but Quran mainly was kept by thousands of people who memorized Quran and not by the written copies of Qurans of companions on animal skins and bones. not having dots made some conflicts in reading Quran (not in text) at later years after death of Messenger of God Muhammad SAWW. the dots and small signs on world was added later based on memorized reading method of people to prevent such conflicts in method of reading Quran.

but reading below related link about different Qira'at of Quran can solve this conflict:

Answer 2

We know that there were originally different versions of the Qur'an, even if the differences were not great. It was Uthman who believed that there should only be one version, and the chief religious authorities became incensed that he insisted that only one version of the Quran be used in the garrison towns, and suppressed variants.

'The thoughtful guide to Islam', Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri: "When the Prophet died, there were known to have been at least seven different readings of the Quran in the main tribal or regional dialects. During Uthman's caliphate, it was decided to standardise the language of the Quran according to the dominant language of the Quraysh."

'Why I am Not a Muslim', by Ibn Warraq: "For orthodox Muslims of today, the Koran we have is the one that was established under Uthman in the seventh century. Muslim orthodoxy holds further that Uthman's Koran contains all of the revelation delivered to the community faithfully preserved without change or variation and that acceptance of the Uthmanic Koran was all but universal from the day of its distribution. This position can not be supported by the historical evidence."

'Quranic Studies', by J Wansbrough: "The definitive text of the Koran had not been achieved as late as the ninth century."