Thread: Does the Sana'ā Manuscript (palimpsest) show that the Qurān has been changed?

The Sana'ā Palimpsest is one of the many manuscripts discovered in 1972. It contains a layer containing a non standard Qur'ānic text underneath that was erased and re - written over later on.

The manuscript has been carbon dated to 606 - 649 CE with a 95.4% probability.

The Upper text, which is the layer that was written over slightly later, is 'Uthmānic (ie. it agrees with the Qur'anic text we have today) and was likely written in the late 7th - early 8th century.

The lower text, which is readable using UV light, however, is non - 'Uthmānic, and was likely written before the standardization of 'Uthmān. There are numerous minor variations between the lower text and the standard text, many of which are reported for Companions.

A few academic researchers have published transcriptions (their readings) of the Upper and Lower Texts.

Asma Hilali, for example, lists 17 differences between the Upper Text and the standard text. However, not all of these are variants.

Variants due to dotting are common in early Quranic Manuscripts. Of these 17 differences, some are read by the canonical 7/10 readers, namely:

N1: Q 6:63 (read by everyone except the 3 Kufan readers)

N9: Q 21:45 (read by Ibn 'Āmir)

N13: Q33:31 (read by Al Kisā'ī, Hamza)

There are readers (and readings) other than the 7/10 readers most Muslims are familiar with. Some of these differences are read by "non - canonical readers":

N3: Q16:84 (read by the Companion 'Ubayy)

N7: Q20:102 (read by Al Hasan Al Basri)

N10: Q30:34 (read by Abū Āliyah)

Number 17 (Q55:22) seems to be read wrongly by Asma Hilali, who reads {خرج} instead of {يخرج}.

However, the upper text clearly, at least to me, has the letter ي at the beginning, thus identical to the text read by Muslims today.

As for the other examples listed by Asma Hilali, many of them are most likely scribal errors due to accidentally adding or omitting dots, since they do not make any sense. A few others could be variants in dotting that have not been recorded in Islamic tradition.

The lower text contains many minor differences from the standard text & the types of differences present are similar to those reported for Companions.

Asma Hilali, Sadeghi, Goudarzi, Elizabeth Puin and many other experts have published their transcriptions of some of the pages.

The differences in the Lower text mainly involve:

1. Addition or omission of letters, words or phrases

2. Change of word order

3. Substitution of similar words or phrases

For example, at Sūrah 2:201, the Lower Text omits the word {حسنة} and instead reads:

{ربنا آتنا في الدنيا والآخرة}

This could have been accidentally omitted, as the previous verse has the phrase {آتنا في الدنيا} without the word {حسنة} too.

An example of difference in word order occurs at Sūrah 9:13, where the text reads:

{وهم بدءوكم أول مرة وهموا بإخراج الرسول}

while the standard text reads:

{وهموا بإخراج الرسول وهم بدءوكم أول مرة}

Differences in word order is also reported as a feature in the readings of Companions.

For example, Al Farra' states that the reading of Ibn Mas'ūd at Sūrah 50:19 was:

{وجاءت سكرة الحق بالموت}

instead of the standard

{وجاءت سكرة الموت بالحق}

An example of a difference found in the Lower Text that is attributed to Companions is at Sūrah 24:27. (Asma Hilali likely reads the Lower Text here wrongly)

The text reads:

{ولا تدخلوا بيتا حتى تسلموا على أهله و تستأذنوا}

According to some reports (which I do not know if they are authentic), Ibn 'Abbās and 'Ubayy read:

{حتى تستأذنوا و تسلموا}

According to some experts, the Lower Text was most likely a (copy of a) Companion Mushaf.

The vast majority of the Lower Text agrees with the 'Uthmānic text, and the scribe often merges phrases of one verse into another, this is known as "assimilation of parallel verses".

For example, at Sūrah 63:3, the lower text has an entire additional phrase. The lower text reads:

{ذلك بأنهم آمنوا ثم كفروا ثم ازددوا كفرا ...}

The phrase {ثم ازدادوا كفرا} however is not found in the standard text *here*.

It is,however, found elsewhere in the Quran, such as at Sūrah 4:137

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا ثُمَّ آمَنُوا ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا ثُمَّ ازْدَادُوا كُفْرًا لَّمْ يَكُنِ اللَّهُ لِيَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ وَلَا لِيَهْدِيَهُمْ سَبِيلًا

This phenomenon occurs throughout the Lower Text

There are two ways to understand the Lower Text.

1. Most of these differences are scribal errors, especially the "assimilation of parallel verses".

2. The text shows the type of minor variation that would have been present under the "7 Ahruf" before 'Uthman's standardization.

However, Iam more inclined towards the second interpretation, that there was some degree of flexibility in recitation before 'Uthmān's standardization.

But I am definitely happy to accept other interpretations of the evidence.