VARIANT READINGS IN THE QURAN
A number of Hadith mention that several of Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) companions wrote down their own collections of the revelations. ("Itqan I" by Suyuti, p.62)The most well known among them are: Ibn Masud He claimed to have learned some seventy Surahs directly from the prophet. Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) told other people to learn the Quran from him and three others. (Bukhari, 6, No.521) However, Surah 1, 113 and 114 were missing in his collection. (Fihrist, I, pages 53-57)
Ubay bin Kab The prophet's secretary in Medina. He is one of the other three mentioned above whom the prophet recommended as a teacher of the Quran. His collection contained two additional Surahs and an otherwise unknown verse. ("Itqan I" by Suyuti, p.65; "Masahif" by Ibn Abi Dawud, pages 180-181, also "Geschichte des Quran's" by Noeldeke, pages 33-38) His text was widely used in Syria before the appearance of Uthman's text.
Abu Musa His collection was used by the people of Basra. It was identical with the material of Ubai bin Kab.
These different collections of the Quran contained also many variant readings. More than 1700 are attributed to Ibn Masud alone. ("Materials for the history of the text of the Quran" by A. Jeffry,1937)
Muhammad Hamidullah divides them into four classes in the introduction to his French translation of the Quran (p.XXXIII):
A) Variants caused by a copy mistake. They can be detected easily by comparing with other manuscripts.
B) Variant readings caused by accidentally adopting marginal notes into the text of the Quran.
C) Variations caused by Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) permission to recite the revelations in different dialects.
D) Variations caused by the fact that the Quran was copied without vowel marks and without dots to distinguish between different letters that were written in the same way. (Only 15 different forms of letters present 28 letters)
Most of the variant readings have very little significance with regard to the meaning of the text. Only a rew present some problems, such as: Surah 5, Maida, verse 63 19 alternate readings have been identified, some of which change the actual meaning of the verse. 14 changes were caused by changing the vowel combinations. In the remaining 5 cases one or two consonants were added. (Ibid, by A. Jeffery, pages 39, 129, 198, 216, 237)
Surah 33, Alizab, verse 6 "The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers..."
"...In some Qiraats, like that of Ubai ibn Kab, occur also the word " and he is a father to them..." ("The Holy Quran" by A. Yusuf Ali, 1975, note 3674)
Only reports in the hadith about these variants have survived. But none of them changes any doctrine of the Quran in the slightest way.
VARIANT READINGS IN THE INJIL
There are about 5500 Greek manuscripts still existent which contain the whole or part of the New Testament. ("Answers to tough questions" By Josh Mc Dowell and Don Stewart, 1980, p.4)
Many of them contain a number of variant readings mostly caused by grammatical differences. They are often spread throughout all of the 5500 manuscripts. That is why a variant spelling of one letter of one word within one verse in 3000 manuscripts is considered to be 3000 variant readings. They are usually printed in the margin of today's translations which are based on manuscripts written from the second to the fourth century AD. All variant readings arising from mistakes that happened in later years have therefore no effect on the present translations. In order to get the right understanding of the problem it also needs to be studied in the context of the whole Injil. The well known textual scholars Westcott and Hort came to the conclusion that only one-sixtieth of all variant readings would rise above "trivialities." This leaves a text 98.33 percent pure. ("General Introduction to the Bible" by N.L. Geisler and W.E. Nix, Moody Press, Chicago, 1986, page 365). A. T. Robertson, another great expert in this field, said, that the real concern is only with a "thousandth part of the entire text." ("An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament" by A.T. Robertson, Broadman, Nashville, 1925, page 22)
Because all manuscripts have been carefully preserved a scholarly study is possible to determine the correct readings. The following criterias are important in this science:
A) The age of the manuscript If a variant occurs in younger manuscripts but is not found in older ones, this shows that it is incorrect.
B) The frequency of variants If a variant reading is only found in a few manuscripts but not in the majority of others it can also be identified as incorrect.
As seen above, most of the variant readings are of very little significance with regard to the meaning of the text. Only a few present some problems, such as:
1 John 5, verses 7,8 This verse, as it appears in some older English versions only, adds some words that speak about the Tri-unity of God. "But the addition is not found in any Greek manuscripts or NT translation prior to the 16th century." (N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, p. 1913) It was probably a marginal note that was translated by mistake as part of the text.
Mark 16, verses 9-20 These verses summarize the ministry of Jesus. The literal translation of verse 8 reads: "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone. They were afraid for..." The last word in this verse is a translation from the Greek conjunction "gar". Metzger, a leading scholar in New Testament greek says that in all Greek literature "no instance has been found where "gar" stands at the end of a book." ("Text of the New Testament" by Metzger, pages 226-229)
He lists two possible solutions to this problem: 1) Mark was interrupted in his writing and prevented (maybe by death) from finishing. 2) The last leaf was lost before other copies could be made.
Verses 9-20 therefore present a marginal note that accidentally became part of the text.
John 7, verse 53-8, verse 11 In these verses a woman who has committed adultery is brought before Jesus by Jewish teachers. They want to test how he judges her. "This story may not have belonged originally to the Gospel of John. It is absent from almost all the important early manuscripts, and those that have it sometimes place it elsewhere. But the story may well be authentic." (N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, p. 1611)
The famous historian Philip Schaff said that none of these variant readings affected "an article of faith or a precept of duty which is not abundantly sustained by other and undoubted passages, or by the whole tenor of Scripture teaching." ("Companion to the Greek Testament and English Version" by Philip Schaff, Harper, New York, 1883, page 177)
