TheQuran.com
Differences Analysis · argument tier

Questions raised about the text

Linguistic, historical, scientific and internal-consistency questions, verse by verse. Each item is an argument, with the sources it cites and a place for the responses.

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Codex Parisino-petropolitanus, c. late 7th–early 8th century
Codex Parisino-petropolitanus, c. late 7th–early 8th century · credit
items
191191 original · 0 proposed
verses covered
3035% of 6,236
suras
26of 114
cite a source
100%0 cite none
Browse by category

The old site's categories

60 Open question 31% of items 60 original · 0 proposed · old “Question” 39 Linguistic 20% of items 39 original · 0 proposed 24 Internal contradiction 13% of items 24 original · 0 proposed · old “Quranic Contradiction” 24 Historical background 13% of items 24 original · 0 proposed · old “Historical Background” 21 Historical 11% of items 21 original · 0 proposed 15 Ambiguity 8% of items 15 original · 0 proposed 5 Parallels with earlier sources 3% of items 5 original · 0 proposed · old “Copied from other sources” 3 Scientific 2% of items 3 original · 0 proposed 0 Geographical 0% of items 0 original · 0 proposed

Each item is filed under one category from the old site's list (its most specific one); the other categories it carries still show as tags.

All category tags

What the questions are about

CSV JSON PNG
  1. Open question · old label “Question” 99 52%
  2. Linguistic 39 20%
  3. Historical background · old label “Historical Background” 36 19%
  4. Historical 24 13%
  5. Internal contradiction · old label “Quranic Contradiction” 24 13%
  6. Ambiguity 22 12%
  7. Parallels with earlier sources · old label “Copied from other sources” 5 3%
  8. Scientific 3 2%
  9. Geographical 0 0%
  10. Numerical 0 0%

original site proposed · an item can carry more than one category, so the bars sum to more than 191.

Across the Qur'an

Items per sura

CSV JSON PNG
1114sura order · darker = more items · none = blank
99 items · page 1 of 3 Clear
  1. 1:15 verses Parallels with earlier sources Historical backgroundOpen question Argument In the Islāmic books that recount the history of the codices, records show that Ibn Mas‘ūd refused to include Q 1, Q 113, and Q 114 in his codex of the Qur’ān, because he believed that these sūras were never intended to be a part…
  2. 2:1 Linguistic AmbiguityOpen question Argument The first verse of this sūra begins with individual letters of the alphabet called muqatta‘āt. They are also called fawātih, or “openers,” because they form the opening of multiple sūras. For a discussion about their possible ori…
  3. 2:30 Open question Argument This verse recounts Allah telling the angels that he was planning to create a human being, yet they replied with an implied objection, saying, “‘Wilt Thou place therein one who will do evil therein and shed blood?...’” (Q 2.30). …
  4. 2:313 verses Open question Argument Verses 31–33 are a continuation of the conversation between Allah and the angels concerning the creation of man. These verses state that Allah taught Adam the names of “all of them.” Then Allah asks the angels to repeat these nam…
  5. 2:552 verses Historical AmbiguityOpen question Argument This verse describes a scene from Moses’ journey with the Israelites in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. According to al-Tabarī’s commentary, prior to this response from Moses (verse 55), he was with a group of Jewish people w…
  6. 2:62 Historical Open question Argument This verse puts the Jews, Christians, Sabaeans, and Muslims into one group (the believers in Allah) and promises them their reward at the end of time (Q 2.62). Another verse, Q 5.69, repeats this promise word for word. However, i…
  7. 2:972 verses Internal contradiction Open question Argument This verse states that the angel Gabriel (Jibrīl) is the one who transmitted the Qur’ān to Muhammad. However, another Qur’ānic text states that the Holy Spirit is the one who carried out this task: “Say, ‘The Holy Spirit brought …
  8. 2:1062 verses Internal contradiction Open question Argument In the midst of the doctrinal controversy between Muhammad and the Jews in Medina, the Jews noticed that Muhammad was annulling, time and again, rulings that he had enacted. This issue became a subject of their criticism. They sa…
  9. 2:221 Internal contradiction Open question Argument In this verse, the Qur’ān forbids Muslim men and women from marrying “unbelievers”: “Wed not with idolatrous women…And wed not to idolatrous men….” Because the Qur’ān accuses the Christians of being unbelievers (idolaters), marri…
  10. 2:223 Historical background Open question Argument This verse views women as farms (or tilth, meaning “tilled earth or soil”) that men plow. In the commentary by al-Tabarī, al-Suddiy describes a woman as “a farm that can be plowed” by a man. It also allows Muslim men to have sexu…
  11. 2:2293 verses Historical background Open question Argument The Qur’ān justifies, or approves, repeated divorces. According to verse 229, the man is given the right to divorce his wife twice and to remarry her after the first and second divorces. But, if he divorces her a third time, she …
  12. 3:14 Open question Argument Regarding this verse, most of the scholars said, “Allah has beautified to people the love of desires and things they covet.” Al-Zamakhsharī explains that Allah beautified for people the love of desires and things they covet to te…
  13. 3:54 Open question Argument The closest translation to the Arabic is found in the Pickthall translation: “Allah is the best of schemers” (Q 3.54). The Arabic text is clear in discussing Allah’s fight against evil by stating that Allah answers deception with…
  14. 3:55 Historical Open question Argument Allah is addressing Jesus, telling him that Allah will deliver him from those who rejected him (Jews). Allah also promises Jesus that Allah will make Jesus’ followers (Christians) above the disbelievers and that Allah will judge …
  15. 3:59 Open question Argument This verse demonstrates the similarity of the origin of Jesus and Adam as they were both created without a father. However, the difference is that Adam was created from dust or clay, while Jesus was created by the word of Allah, …
  16. 3:144 Open question Argument This verse was unknown to the Muslims of Muhammad’s day, even to Muhammad’s friends. The account of its revelation was recorded by the scholar al-Qurtubī: When Muhammad died and the news spread, ‘Umar Ibn al-Khattāb went to Muham…
  17. 3:192 Open question Argument This verse declares that whoever Allah sends to hell will be humiliated: “Lord! verily, whomsoever Thou hast made to enter the fire, Thou hast disgraced him.” It is well known that the Qur’ān states that everyone will go to hell:…
  18. 4:22 verses Linguistic Historical backgroundOpen question Argument In the first verse, the Qur’ān warns Muslims against seizing the money of orphans, considering it a great sin (Q 4.2). In the next verse, it tells Muslim men “if ye fear” that they shall not be able to deal justly with orphans, t…
  19. 4:49 Internal contradiction Historical backgroundOpen question Argument The reports state that the Jews and Christians used to boast, saying, “We are the sons of God and His beloved...” (Q 5.18). So Muammad answered them by saying that it was not permitted for people to praise themselves, and that pr…
  20. 4:512 verses Historical background Open question Argument This verse accuses “those to whom a portion of the Book has been given” that they “believe in Gibt and Taghut.” According to the Arabic concordance al-Qāmūs al-Muhīt., Gibt means idols or other false deities and Tāghūt means the …
  21. 4:136 Linguistic Historical backgroundOpen question Argument This verse demands of Muslims to believe in Allah and his messenger. Linguistic scholars call these forms of speech “clarifying the obvious.” How could a believer be asked to believe? This is why scholars attempted to remove the …
  22. 4:157 Internal contradiction Historical backgroundOpen question Argument This verse recounts a discussion where the Jews said that they were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. But Muhammad twisted this declaration in order to enforce his own teachings that Jesus was not crucified. Therefore, he…
  23. 4:158 Internal contradiction Historical backgroundOpen question Argument This verse recounts a discussion where the Jews said that they were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. But Muhammad twisted this declaration in order to enforce his own teachings that Jesus was not crucified. Therefore, he…
  24. 5:1 Linguistic Historical backgroundOpen question Argument This verse first commands Muslims to keep all their obligations ( compacts, covenants or contracts). Then it adds this declaration: “Lawful for you are brute beasts....” This statement means that these animals, al-an‘ām or “cattl…
  25. 5:6 Linguistic Historical backgroundOpen question Argument This verse points out the causes that would break one’s ablution, including, “if one of you come from the privy, or if ye have touched women...” (Q 5.6). This phrase is also found verbatim in Q 4.43: “...or one of you come from t…
  26. 5:14 Open question Argument This verse tells us that Allah mandated that Christians enter into a covenant with him. Al-Rāzī clarifies that this covenant was the belief in Muhammad; however, when Christians broke the covenant, Allah declared, “...we excited …
  27. 5:15 Historical background Open question Argument This verse addresses both the Jews and Christians, stating that Muhammad had come to them, “to explain to you much of what ye had hidden of the Book.” However, Muhammad did not present or explain the documents that were allegedly…
  28. 5:38 Historical background Open question Argument This verse outlines the punishment of theft as the amputation of the thief’s hand. Most modern Muslims do not know that this punishment was practiced before Islām. In fact, the first person to order this form of punishment was al…
  29. 5:64 Historical background Open question Argument This verse attributes the phrase “God’s hand is fettered” as coming from the Jews. This expression of “tightfistedness” is descriptive of stinginess. Therefore, the verse accuses the Jews of blasphemy because they are calling All…
  30. 6:19 Historical background Open question Argument Historic sources cite that the leaders of the Quraysh tribe told Muhammad they did not believe in his prophetic calling. They informed him of their attempts to verify his claims to prophethood with the Jews and the Christians. Ho…
  31. 6:23 Internal contradiction Open question Argument The verse states that those who worship many gods will deny their polytheism on the Day of Judgment: “By God our Lord, we did not associate (others with thee)!” (Q 6.23). Yet, in another part of the same sūra, it reads that they …
  32. 6:38 Linguistic Open question Argument There are three comments regarding this verse: A.First comment: There is a redundancy in the verse. It says “a bird that flies with both its wings,” which is what the Arabic literally says. The verse clarifies something that does…
  33. 6:108 Open question Argument This verse says that Allah makes the people’s bad deeds attractive to them. If Allah lures people into doing bad deeds and then justifies them in their own eyes, would he be fair (just) to judge them for those same deeds? (See th…
  34. 6:130 Internal contradiction Open question Argument The verse says that “messengers” came to mankind and also to the jinn (ginn), who are believed to be invisible beings that coexist with humans. According to the way the verse reads in the Arabic text, Allah sent these messengers …
  35. 7:13 Open question Argument In this verse, Allah orders Satan to leave heaven, for he is not allowed to exalt himself there, as if the passage implies that it is allowable for Satan to exalt himself on earth. Al-T. abarī responded to this ambiguity: [T]he m…
  36. 7:16 Open question Argument After Satan was ordered to leave al-Janna, he accused Allah of being the one who tempted him: “I will repel the sons of Adam from worshipping and obeying You; I will lure them as You lured me and mislead them as You misled me.” T…
  37. 7:157 Open question Argument The verse describes Muhammad as the ummī prophet, translated by Palmer as “the illiterate prophet”. The exegetes explain that the meaning of the ummī prophet is one who is sent to the Arabs (who were an illiterate people). The ve…
  38. 7:176 Open question Argument This verse likens the unbeliever to a dog: “and his likeness was as the likeness of a dog, whom if thou shouldst attack he hangs out his tongue, or if thou should leave him, hangs out his tongue too...” (Q 7.176). The verse uses …
  39. 8:222 verses Historical background Open question Argument The people of Mecca were critical of Muhammad and his revelations. When a group of the tribe of Banū ‘Abd al-Dār defeated him in a debate, Muhammad responded by reciting, “...the worst of beasts in God’s sight are the deaf, the d…
  40. 8:313 verses Historical background Open question Argument Muhammad was reciting Qur’ānic verses to the Quraysh people and telling them tales and news of the ancients as proof of his calling as a prophet. But all of this recitation was not convincing to most of the people of the Quraysh …