Muhammad The Great Exemplar — Page 44
Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad 44 word, his point would have been proven. Again, this foolish soul failed to realise that an error is that by which people are led astray. A mistake which is recognisable on a second reading even to the scribe who wrote it, does not go against the promise made to preserve the Holy Qur’an. The Qur’an is preserved in the minds of people and in its various editions. Typographical errors have no bearing on its teachings or commentaries, as these types of inaccuracies do not lead to mistaken translations or interpretations. I will say nothing from myself of the divine pro- tection received by the Holy Qur’an. Instead, I will cite the testimony of a devout Christian who has made every effort to undermine the notion the Holy Qur’an has been preserved in its original form. Ultimately though, even he was forced to accept that any such criticism was erroneous and out of place and that the Qur’an of today is the same as the one which existed when the Holy Prophet sa departed this world. In his book, The Coran , Sir William Muir variously writes: The recension of Zeid has been handed down unaltered. So carefully has it been followed, that there is but one and the same Coran in use throughout the vast bounds of the Mahometan world.