and so the rest of the custodians of the manuscripts would see that particular copy differing from their own copies and would reject it, for every motive and incentive exists to denounce such a thing. The same would happen today: were someone to tamper with a book well known to the public, of which numerous copies exist, then once his altered copy reached a person familiar with the standard copies, that person would repudiate it.

It may therefore be said: This safeguard works only when the tampered copy reaches a group whose collusion upon falsehood is impossible, for just as collusion is impossible in akhbār mutawātira (mass-transmitted reports), it is likewise impossible for them all to agree on concealing something that customarily cannot be hidden.

It is, however, plain that a small circle can indeed agree to alter certain manuscripts. The manuscripts are kept exclusively in the hands of the learned among the People of the Scripture, and their layfolk do not memorize the wording as the ordinary Muslims memorize the wording of the Quran. Thus, if a faction among them resolved to alter one or more copies in their possession, they could do so; and if another faction agreed to keep silent about it, that too would be attainable. Only when the parties involved are of the sort who cannot possibly conspire to lie or to conceal does such a scheme become impossible among them.

Indeed, we have encountered among the People of the Scripture certain writings they claim come to them from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—written in the hand of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, containing matters that serve their own purposes. Their status has become confusing to many Muslims, who have venerated what is in those writings and granted the People of the Scripture what was written for them therein, believing that in so doing they were obeying its contents.