Quran - The Divine Speech of Allah ﷻ | GM

Why previous revelations could not be preserved

but the Quran has successfully remained unchanged?

There is a big difference between the previously revealed scriptures by Allah ﷻ such as Gospel, Torah as well as non-Biblical scriptures vs His Divine Speech in the Quran. The former were spiritual divine messages revealed to the Messengers from the unseen world and they translated those (spiritual divine) messages in to their local language and delivered to the people. Their followers collected those teachings in to book formats to recite for themselves and preserved them for subsequent generations. This is the meaning of the following verse: “We have never sent a messenger who did not use his own people’s language to make things clear for them.”[1] Those Prophets & Messengers used their own words to explain Allah’s message.

However with time the previous texts of Bible and similar books got corrupted because the human languages, in which they were copied, could not sustain against corruption for a long time. Not to forget the fact that Bible has also been lost and rewritten (from people’s memory, whatever they could remember) due to the dramatic events that happened in Israeli history. As per linguists no language can sustain corruption for more than 500 years. With time, a nation's culture and language are bound to get corrupted and changed, for e.g. modern English vs Shakespearean English, a huge difference. But Allah’s divine words and speech called Kalaam-e-ilahi can never be changed. The previous books did not contain divine words of Allah ﷻ. Hence the difference between the previous scriptures and the final revelation called Quran is the fact that Quran is not only revealed in the language spoken by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ but that it is also a Divine Speech of Allah ﷻ. Allah ﷻ actually conversated in classical Arabic. Due to this Quran teaches: “This is truly a glorious Quran. (Recorded) in the Preserved Tablet (Law Al Mahfuz).”[2] Law Al Mahfuz i.e. The Preserved Tablet of Allah ﷻ that lies on His Arsh (Throne) and all that is going to happen, from the time when creation came in to being was penned in to it, including the Quran. Since this tablet existed before creation therefore Quran existed before creation. Quran is also the speech of Allah ﷻ and His speech is one of His Attributes like His Knowledge (99 names) which is Pre-eternal. Also Allah ﷻ said: "...There is none who can change His words..."[3] i.e. He will protect His divine speech in which He spoke and delivered the final message, and that is why Quran successfully remains unchanged despite passage of almost 15 centuries.

What can be compared in Islam to the previous scriptures is what we call Hadith e Qudsi (Sacred Traditions). Hadith e Qudsi (sacred traditions) are found in hadith literature and are at par with the wording of Gospel & Torah and the words founds in similar books. Apart from Quran, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ also delivered divine messages from Allah ﷻ which he interpreted in his own words to explain, and his followers copied them like they would copy & memorize the Quran. These messages were called Hadith Qudsi (Sacred Traditions). Hadith Qudsi differ from the Quran in that the former are expressed in Prophet Muhammad's words, whereas the latter are the direct words or divine speech of Allah ﷻ. Hence what the previous Prophets/Messengers delivered from Allah ﷻ were similar to what we call Hadith Qudsi, which were divine messages translated in to the wording of their local language but not divine speech of Allah ﷻ.

References:

[1] Al Quran 14:04

[2] Al Quran 85:21–22

[3] Al Quran 18:27

[Courtesy of Zaid Shah | Rizqan Kareem | Most Excellent Sustenance]