Questions about the validity of the claim that Quran has been preserved without any change, ommissions or alterations.



Found this on another site.



Quote:

" The Quran, as originally revealed, used to be larger book than the one we know today.



But various misfortunes, among them a hungry goat (what other animal would eat scrolls? ) intervened and many priceless Quranic verses were lost forever.



What if on the fateful day of Muhammad's death not only one, but several hungry goats wandered into Aisha's house and ate the whole Quran?



Would Allah find an another prophet and send an another revelation, or will be the ungrateful mankind let forever in darkness?



Domesticated Animal Eats Qur'anic Verses



In his book (volume 8, part II, pages 235 and 236), Ibn Hazm says plainly,



" The verses of stoning and breast feeding were in the possession of A'isha in a (Qur'anic) copy. When Muhammad died and people became busy in the burial preparations, a domesticated animal entered in and ate it ."



A'isha herself declared that and she knew exactly what she possessed. Also, Mustafa Husayn, who edited and reorganized the book, "al-Kash-shaf" by the Zamakh-Shari, asserts this fact in page 518 of part 3. He says that the ones who related this incident and said that a domesticated animal ate the verses were reliable persons among them

'Abdulla Ibn Abi Bakr and A'isha herself.



This same story has been mentioned also by Dar-al-Qutni, al-Bazzar and al Tabarani, on the authority of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq who heard it from 'Abdulla who himself heard it from A'isha.



Professor Mustafa indicates that this does not negate that the abrogation of these verses may have occurred before the domesticated animal ate them.



Why then did 'Umar want to record the verse of the stoning in the Qur'an if its recitation was abrogated? And why did people used to read the verses of the breast-feeding?



And, if Muhammad died while these verses were still recited who abrogated them? Did the domesticated animal abrogate them?



It is evident that this really did occur according to the witness of the companions, Muslim scholars, and A'isha herself.(http://answering-islam.org.uk/BehindVeil/bt v12.html)



Why Allah failed to protect his revelation from goats ?"



This is also reported by Ibn Majah and Ahmad bin Hanbal.



Ibn Majah has narrated another hadith from 'Aishah which explicitly says that the two verses were lost after the death of the Prophet. She is reported to say: 'The verse of stoning and of suckling an adult ten times were revealed, and they were (written) on a paper and kept under my bed. When the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) expired and we were preoccupied with his death, a goat entered and ate away the paper.



Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal. vol. 6. p. 269: Sunan Ibn Majah, p. 626: Ibn Qutbah, Tawil Mukhtalafi 'l-Hadith (Cairo: Maktaba al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyya. 1966) p. 310 which has been misprinted as 210-: As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol. 2. p. 13.



Alternative reference to the same hadith: Sunan Ibn Maaja, Book of Nikah, Hadith # 1934





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