[Dan Gibson]

One of the topics that was introduced in the book, but not expanded on, is the issue of variant readings of the Qur'an. These variances in the Qur'an can be found in two areas:
1. Variant versions of the Qur'an as quoted by early writers, who's quotations differ from what is in the Qur'an today.
2. Early manuscripts of the Qur'an which have different text than what is in the Qu'ran today.

As time permits I will post examples of these, and links to websites where these are discussed. The second area will take the most time, but it is here that there is the most material. Many of these early Qur'an come from the caches found in the main mosque in Sana'a. Gerd-R Puin and his coworkers have painstakingly cleaned, treated, sorted, cataloged and photographed over 15,000 pages from these Qur'ans. But there are also other early Qur'ans with variant readings. I will try and post photos of some of these pages and give some opinions on them.

If readers wish to post information, where possible they should include a photograph of the early Qur'anic material, plus a transcription into today's Arabic script, plus the way it is presented in modern Qur'ans. This will allow readers to compare the materials themselves, rather than relying on someone else's translation and interpretation.

I look forward to exchanging materials with those of you who have asked about specifics in this area.

Dan Gibson

[Dan Gibson]

There is more on this area of discussion in the Arabic area, but most of the posts are in English. If you are interested in early Qur'ans, please check out the Arabic discussion area: نقاش بالعربية begun by abd el ouahed in Algeria.