Islam
A false religion - for many reasons
7) There were different versions of the Quran
Mohammed was born in Mecca, in what is now Saudia Arabia and claimed to received his first “revelation” in 609 AD, when he was about 40. About two thirds of the Quran were revealed over the next 13 years. These revelations were written down on leather, white stones, shoulder-blades of cattle and anything else at hand. In 622 AD, Mohammed and his followers were forced to flee to Medina. Over the next 10 years, the last third of the Quran was revealed to Mohammed when he died in June of 632 AD. About a year after Mohammed died, the first Quran was put together by Zaid ibn Thabit at the command of the Khalifa Abu Bakr.
But other Qurans were put together by people who made their own collections of suras, either as they heard them from Mohammed, or by copying them from those who had. Abdeullah Ibn Masud, who was the personal servant of Mohammed, had his own collection of Suras, but this did not include Suras 1,113, and 114. Ubai b. Kab, Mohammed’s secretary after he came to Medina, had his own version, known as Ubai’s codex. There were other collections by Mohammed’s son in law, Ali Ibn Abi talib, and others. As time went on, this issue of who had the correct Quran became extremely contentious. Finally, the third Khalifa, Othman, decided to make sure there were no variations in the Quran. He decided to keep the collection put together by Thabit and ordered all other copies destroyed. If Othman had not ordered all the other copies of the Quran to be burned, there would be four (or more) separate testimonies to its validity. He burned Qurans which were the primary collections, made by eyewitnesses and earwitnesses of what Mohammed said.
Moslems are very fearful about anything that may cast doubt on the accuracy of the Quran. For instance, there are at least 4 ancient Quranic manuscripts - in Istanbul, Tashkent, Cairo and Damascus - that Moslem authorities keep under wraps - the belief being that they differ considerably from the officially recognized version of the Quran.