A Critique and Examination of the Theory of Goldziher on Differences in (different ways of) Readings in the Qur'an

Reading (the Qur'an) is one of the Qur'anic sciences that plays an important role in understanding the Qur'an, and differences in reading will be effective in receiving different meanings of the Qur'an. Golddecher, an Orientalist (1850-1921), relying on the differences in the readings and attributing it to the ijtihad of the Qaris (Qur'an reciters), seeks to make the Qur'an have an incoherent text and without unity, as well as a text not protected from distortion, and then he has referred to some verses. In this paper, in addition to responding to some of his evidence, an attempt has been made to prove the existence of a single text documented in revelation, referring to great efforts of Muslims in learning the Qur'an from the tongue of the Prophet. However, this single text, at the time of writing, due to the limitations of the official Arabic calligraphy of that time and its lack of full stop, movement and I'rab (the change of the vowel marking on the final letter of the word) has been faced with differences in readings. However, the next Qaris and commentators of the Qur'an only allowed choosing a reading based on personal ijtihad from the narrated readings and not only doesn't this ijtihad have the sense of validity of every reading based on the one's personal wishes and opinions, but also it means finding a reason for autonomy reading, and it does not affect main text of the Qur'an. The paper has been conducted by a descriptive-analytical method and the method of data collection is documentary-library.