Read In Search of the Original Koran: The True History of the Revealed Text for Free Online Page A

God's Messenger has stoned, and we have stoned after him. 1145

    There has also been attributed to the same Umar another verse that he was said to have been in the habit of reciting in Muhammad's lifetime: "Do not turn away from the customs of your fathers; this would be impious on your part."46 And this dialogue is also reported between Umar and a companion on the subject of a misplaced verse: "Umar said to Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf: `Did you not find among what was revealed to us this verse: "May you fight (jahidu) like you fought the first time!"? For I could not find it!' And he replied: `It has disappeared (usqita) from the Koran. "'47
    During the battle of bi'r ma`una, there was said to have been revealed a verse that puts into the mouths of the dead who fell on this occasion these words that Anas ibn Malik, Muhammad's companion, had the habit of reciting as Koranic text: "Make known to those close to us that we have met our Lord who was satisfied with us and who satisfied us." Anas concludes that this verse ended up "returning to Heaven (hatta rufi`)."48
    Here is another text taken by Tradition as a revelation received by Muhammad: "We have made riches (al-mal) descend [on men] in order that they might make prayers and offer the zakat (religious tax). And if the son of Adam had a river [of silver], he would want another one, and if he had two of them, he would want a third. But the belly of the son of Adam will only be filled with earth, and God only pardons he who mends his ways."49
    Also attributed to Abu Musa al-Ashlari is a verse from the noncanonic Koran that he is said to have preserved from oblivion: "0 you who believe! Do not say that which you do not do, to avoid a testi mony being written against you and having to answer for it at the Day of Judgment."

     

Among the characteristics of the corpus of Ubayy is the presence of two surahs absent from the canon of Uthman. Apparently they were also included in the corpus of Ibn Abbas, which has not survived. The first bears the title "The Denial" (al-Khal`) and reads as follows: "In the name of Allah, the merciful Benefactor! 1) 0, my God, from You we implore aid and pardon! 2) We praise you. We are not unfaithful to you. 3) We renounce and leave those who scandalize you." Ubayy's second noncanonical surah, "The Race" (al-Hafd), runs as follows: "In the name of Allah, the merciful Benefactor! 1) 0, my God, it is you we adore. 2) In your honor, we pray and we bow down. 3) Toward you we go running. 4) We await your mercy. 5) We fear your punishment. 6) In truth, Your punishment must strike the Infidels."51 I concur with Blachere's opinion that these apocryphal surahs are distinguished from the first surah ("The Opening"), "only through some nuances in the language and by the slightly clumsy style." He thinks, too, that they might have been removed from the Uthman edition due to the fact that they duplicated the Liminary.52
    It is of the greatest interest to note that whereas Ubayy included in his Koran these two short prayers, as extras to those in the opening Liminary (Fatiha) and to the two concluding surahs, 113 and 114, on the other hand Ibn Masud rejected in his Koranic rescension not only the two noncanonical surahs, but also the three canonical prayers: 1, 113, and 114. Why such important divergences? Here no doubt we are witnessing the confrontation of two philosophies of the content of the Koranic text: one "rigorous" viewpoint that considers that the prayer is a genre that properly belongs to humankind and that it must be held apart from the divine area, while the viewpoint that we will call "open" or "liberal" considers prayer as an integral part of sacred liter ature and thereby authorizes its integration into the canon. Let us draw two lessons from this divergence. First, there did not exist in Muhammad's era a very clear vision of the nature of the divine word: Is it a phonetic and literal phenomenon that is strictly codified, or else an authentic