Preservation of the QuranAgainst Distortion

The Noble Quran is unlike the other divinely revealed Books for Allaah
The Almighty has undertaken to preserve it against distortion and
change. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}Indeed, it is We who
sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.{]Quran 15: 9[
Scholars said that Allaah The Almighty has protected it from the least
additions or deletion of words. Had not Allaah The Almighty promised
to preserve it with Himself, it would have met the same fate of the
other divinly revealed books in the way they were distorted and
altered. That is because Allaah The Almighty entrusted the
preservation of these Books to those to whom such books were revealed.
Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}Indeed, We sent down the Torah,
in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted ]to
Allaah[ judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by
that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allaah, and
they were witnesses thereto.{]Quran 5: 44[
The wisdom behind preferring the Quran to the other divinely revealed
Books with this great privilege is that it is the last of them.
Allaah The Almighty has prepared for it the favorable factors of its
preservation unlike the other divinely revealed Books. Amongst such
factors is what the rightly guided Caliph Abu Bakrdid concerning
collecting the Quran in a single Mus-haf. This happened when many of
the Companions who had memorized the Quran were killed in the Battle
of Al-Yamaamah. Abu Bakrwas afraid that the Quran would be lost by the
demise of its memorizers, as authentically proved in Saheeh
Al-Bukhaari.
Then the rightly guided Caliph 'Uthmaan ibn 'Affaanafter obtaining the
agreement of all the Companions of the Prophetcompiled it in one
unified version in which he combined the authentic recitations of the
Quran. He then distributed it to the various regions so as to put an
end to the emerging discrepancies, and burnt any copy other than that
one.
Furthermore, one of the greatest factors that Allaah The Almighty made
for the preservation of the Noble Quran is that Allaah The Almighty
has made it easy to remember and be memorized so that all people;
young, old, illiterate, literate, Arab, and non-Arab may learn it by
heart. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}And We have certainly
made the Quran easy for remembrance, so is there any who will
remember?{]Quran 54: 32[
Moreover, there is an amazing story which acts as clear-cut evidence
proving that Allaah The Almighty has protected and preserved the Quran
from the distortions of the hands of humans: "Once a Jewish man
entered upon Caliph Al-Ma'moon while he had people gathered in his
court and he spoke with much eloquence. When the gathering disbanded,
Al-Ma'moon called him and asked if he was Jewish. The man answered
that he was. Al-Ma'moon invited him to Islam and encouraged him with
gifts. The Jewish man said: It is my religion and the religion of my
forefathers then he left. A year later, the same man came again and
spoke about Islamic Fiqh with much eloquence. So Al-Ma'moon said: Are
you that man who came to us last year? He answered in the affirmative.
Al-Ma'moon said: What made you embrace Islam? He said: When I left you
a year ago, I decided to examine those religions, and you know that I
am clever in calligraphy. I started with the Tawraah )Torah(. I wrote
three copies of it. I introduced additions and deletions in it. Then I
presented them to the synagogue and they were bought from me. Then I
did the same with the Injeel )Gospel( and introduced three copies to
the church and they were bought from me. Then I did the same with the
Quran. I wrote three copies and introduced some additions and
deletions to it and presented them to the booksellers. When they read
them, they found additions and deletions in them. They immediately
threw them away and did not buy them from me. Thus I became sure that
the Quran is a preserved book. This was the reason I embraced Islam.
Consequently, the issue of the preservation of the Noble Quran is
decisively settled in the minds of Muslims and taken for granted by
every believer. Scholars stated that whoever claims that there is the
least addition or deletion in the Noble Quran, would be denying what
Allaah The Almighty Stated, and whoever does so would put himself
beyond the pale of Islam.