Before the 1924 Quran, there were various readings of the Quran. By reading, I mean a text that included variants, or differences, from the supposed Uthmanic Quran. The differences included variations in letters, verbs, and nouns. Some differences were mor significant than others. Around the early twentieth century, during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, there were two widespread readings of the Quran: Hafs and Warsh. They contained MANY DISCREPANCIES. Copies of the two readings still exist today. The Warsh variant is commonly known in Morocco, while the Hafs variant is common in Egypt and Saudi Arabia (in addition to most countries, but not all). Hafs became well-known when the Ottoman Empire adopted it from among the many available variants of the Quran, claiming it as the authoritative text. This adoption made this particular reading the official variant of the empire. There was one problem: many Qurans imported during the last decade of the Ottoman Empire contained errors.
In 1907, during the reign of the Ottoman king Foad, the Egyptian government discovered that the copies of the Quran used in local schools were full of what were labeled “errors.” Where did these copies come from? The fact is that copies of the Arabic Quran (of various readings) were printed in Europe and sent to the Muslim countries. The first Quran was printed in Venice in 1537. Then in Hamburg in 1694, a copy was published by Abraham Hincklemann. This was followed by the well-known 1834 edition by the German scholar Gustav Leberecht Flugel, which became the definitive text for Western scholars for at least a century until the production of the Cairo edition. The 1924 Cairo edition was authorized by the Ottomans and supervised by Azhar University and a committee of Muslim clerics. The goal was to establish an authoritative text based on the Hafs reading ALONE in order to eliminate errors.
The production of the 1924 Quran was supported by a royal political decree and the Azhar’s religious influence. The Muslim scholars of the Azhar did not aim to create a critical edition of the Quran. They did not seek to examine different manuscripts and compare variants. Their goal was to produce a fixed text based on one preselected reading. In other words, the scholars of the Azhar did not scrutinize manuscripts but rather studied books written about one particular variant selected by the committee. In a sense, the committee relied on secondary–rather than primary–sources, which is a flawed method in establishing an ancient text.
Today the 1924 Quran is the authoritative text for Islam. Even foreign translations depend on it. It has been printed widely, and other readings have almost disappeared. While this is arguably a success for the committee of the Azhar, it does not mean that this copy is the only available reading of Islam’s scripture.
Interestingly, the 1924 Cairo edition required corrections after its initial publication. In the same year, a second edition was printed to fix a few typographical errors; then in 1936 another set of corrections was applied. One may ask, What did the government do with the previously printed copies that contained errors? It is reported that, after later prints eliminated all errors, the Egyptian government gathered the erroneous Qurans AND THREW THEM INTO THE NILE. Did this end the confusion over the text? Not necessarily. Today in a globalized age with the internet offering access to material that was previously inaccessible, one can compare copies of different Qurans and multiple variants.
Most Muslims worldwide today–whether Sunni or Shiite– trust the 1924 Quran and consider it the only Quran that has ever existed. To them, it is not only the official Quranic text but also, and more importantly, the exact documentation of the revelations proclaimed by Muhammad in the seventh century, codified by Uthman decades after Muhammad’s death, and transmitted perfectly throughout the fourteen centuries of Islam. The 1924 Cairo Quran is Islam’s scripture; this is the reality. However, critical thinkers must remember how this text reached us. It is hardly a reconstruction of what Muhammad proclaimed. The 1924 Quran is a purpose-designed and manipulated text built on one selected reading that ignored many other legitimate texts that existed throughout Islamic history. We CANNOT be confident in today’s Quran as a true representation of the text that initially appeared in a seventh-century Arabian desert. (Ayman S. Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to the Quran [BakerAcademic, Grand Rapids, MI 2020], Part 1: The History of the Text of the Quran, 13. What Do We Know about the 1924 Royal Cairo Edition of the Quran?, pp. 47-50; bold and capital emphasis mine)
FURTHER READING
Hafs: The Lying, Unreliable Transmitter of the Quran
Textual Integrity
The Incomplete and Imperfect Quran
The Compilation and Textual Veracity of the Quran
Challenge to the Muslims Concerning the Quran [Part 1]
Challenge to the Muslims Concerning the Quran [Part 2]
Challenge to the Muslims Concerning the Quran [Part 3]
Challenge to the Muslims Concerning the Quran [Excursus]
The Irreparable Loss of Much of the Quran
The Quran Testifies To Its Own Textual Corruption
The Seven Ahruf and Multiple Qiraat – A Quranic Perspective.
Soma hayo maelezo hapo kisha kamuulize Ustaadh wako kama anajua first edition ya Hafs Quran ilichapishwa wapi na mwaka gani?
Nenda hata wikipedia basi kuliko kuniita mimi muongo.