Orientalist Suspicions About the Script of the Holy Qur’an: An Analytical Study

Abstract

The Qur'anic studies are an original field in the heritage of Orientalist studies. They have been concerned with the study of the Holy Qur'an in terms of: Its collection and readings, which cannot be studied without studying of its calligraphy ,Orientalist critiques of the Qur’an often rest on misinterpretations of Qur’anic sciences, producing accusations devoid of evidence and thereby undermining their credibility. Although certain narratives have been used to amplify doubts, the textual variations among the Uthmanic codices remain minimal and thoroughly catalogued. Documented differences include five letters between the codices of Kufa and Basra, twelve between those of Medina and Iraq, and approximately forty between the Levant and Iraq. These orthographic discrepancies are minor, without semantic impact, and reflect natural manuscript variation. Nevertheless, Orientalists have magnified them as grounds for questioning authenticity, despite the Qur’an’s demonstrable textual stability. They argue, based on their assumption that the Qur’an is divine revelation, that such differences undermine its divine origin. Consequently, they claim that the Qur’an is not truly from God, but rather a human endeavor by the Prophet ﷺ and his companions to refine the text. Through this line of reasoning, they attempt to substantiate their theory that the Qur’an is a human construct. Therefore, this study seeks to present their views through analytical and critical methodologies, aiming to demonstrate the weakness of the premises upon which their judgments are based—such as historical narratives, incomplete assumptions, and other speculative foundations.