THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENCES IN QUR’ANIC READINGS AND DISTORTION OF THE QUR'AN FROM ORIENTALIST’s PERSPECTIVE

Two issues of distortion and difference in the readings of the Qur'an are among the issues that have provoked many discussions among Qur'anic scholars since the first centuries of Islam. On the other hand, the existence of weak narrations in the books of the two sects has created the illusion of distortion in the Qur'an. On the other hand, due to the close connection between the distortion and the difference in recitation, the different readings of the Qur'an have raised the issue of distortion of the Qur'an. Orientalists have used the historiography of the Qur'an to show the human process in forming the Qur'an, and in the meantime have attached great importance to the differences in readings and the distortion of the Qur'an. Using a library method and through analytical-descriptive method, this article seeks to show that the differences in the Qur’anic readings along with the motivations and research methods of orientalists have had a significant effect on the formation of the illusion of the distortion of the Qur'an.