Are there copyist errors in Quran manuscripts?

Copyist Errors in the Quran?

Muhammad Mustafa Al-Azami, Professor Emeritus at King Saud University, writes that there are copyist errors in Quran manuscripts:

We must nevertheless take into consideration that there are over 250,000 manuscripts of the Qur’an scattered all over the globe. When comparing them it is always possible to find copying mistakes here and there; this is an example of human fallibility, and has been recognized as such by authors who have written extensively on the subject of “unintentional errors.” Such occurrences cannot be used to prove any corruption within the Quran.¹The History of The Qur’anic Text: From Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments [Leicester: UK Islamic Academy, 2003], 13).
Later, Al-Azami writes something similar:
“In my estimate there are over 250,000 copies of the Qur’an in manuscript form, complete or partial, from the first century of Hijra onwards. Errors are classified in academic circles into the dual categories of deliberate and unintentional, and in this vast collection of manuscripts it is a certainty that many copyists must have committed unintentional errors” (Ibid. 151). 

Copyist errors in biblical manuscripts—the vast majority of which are similar to the unintentional copyist errors in the Quran—do not invalidate the Bible from being the Word of God.

The Qur’anic Teaching about the Injeel

The real issue Muslims have regarding the Christian Scriptures isn’t copyist errors (textual criticism) because Qur’anic manuscripts contain copyist errors.

Nor is the issue differences between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The real topic for discussion is that there are four Christian gospels written after Jesus’ life on earth while the Qur’an speaks of a single book (Injeel) given to Jesus from heaven which he gave to His disciples,

Qur’an 5:46-47
And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel [l-injīla],²Translating the Arabic l-injīla as “the Gospel” adds further confusion because the Greek word Christians translate as “gospel” (εὐαγγέλιον) means “good news.” Injeel does not mean “good news.” in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous.
And let the People of the Gospel [l-injīli] judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed – then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.

Muslims assume that the four gospels are evidence that the one Injeel has been lost/corrupted. The fact is that Jesus was never given a book from heaven (Injeel). The book the Qur’an calls the Injeel never existed; it is a forgery of Qur’anic imagination.

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