Linguistic Mistake in the Quran, Indicating Its Human Origins

Quran 4:11:

يُوصِيكُمُ ٱللَّهُ فِىٓ أَوْلَٰدِكُمْ ۖ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ ٱلْأُنثَيَيْنِ ۚ فَإِن كُنَّ نِسَآءً فَوْقَ ٱثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ ۖ وَإِن كَانَتْ وَٰحِدَةً فَلَهَا ٱلنِّصْفُ ۚ 

Instructs you Allah concerning your children - for the male like (the) portion (of) two females. But if there are (only) women (i.e. daughters) more (than) two, then for them two thirds (of) what he left. And if (there) is (only) one, then for her (is) half. (Word by Word Translation by Corpus Quran)

Allah is incorrectly using the phrase “more than two daughters” when He actually wanted to say “two or more daughters”.

Please read the detailed article here.

It is a clear linguistic mistake, and it happened while no Allah is present in the heavens, and Muhammad was making the revelation on his own, and he was not safe from making human mistakes like these. 

All Muslim Scholars agree that two daughters will get 2/3 of the estate.

Muhammad himself distributed 2/3rd of the estate between two daughters. 

Sunan Tirmidhi, 2092:

“The wife of Sa’d bin Rabi’ came with the two daughters of Sa’d to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, these are the two daughters of Sa’d. He was killed with you on the day of Uhud, and their paternal uncle has taken all that their father left behind, and a woman is only married for her wealth.’ The Prophet (ﷺ) remained silent until the Verse of inheritance was revealed to him. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called the brother of Sa’d bin Rabi’ and said: ‘Give the two daughters of Sa’d two thirds of his wealth, and give his wife on eighth, and take what is left.’”

Grade: Sahih (Authentic) by Imam Tirmidhi and Hassan (i.e. Fair) by Al-Albani and al-Arnaut.

Tehrif (Distortion) Case:

It was such a big error, that modern Muslims Quran Translators have to make a TEHRIF (Distortion) in its translation, and change it to “two or more daughters”. For example, look at the translation of Yousuf Ali. 

(Quran 4:11) Allah (thus) directs you as regards your Children's (Inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females: if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half. (Yusuf Ali, Saudi Revised Edition,1985)

And here are some other modern Quran Translators, who followed this distorted translation of “two or more daughters”. 

  1. Mustafa Khattab
  2. Study Quran
  3. Shabbir Ahmed
  4. Syed Vickar Ahamed
  5. Umm Muhammad (Sahih International)
  6. Abdel Haleem
  7. Bilal Muhammad
  8. Mohammad Shafi

Compared to these modern translators, we have other translators too, who didn't make any Tehrif in the translation, and they translated it correctly, i.e. “more than two daughters”. They are:

  1. Word by Word Translation by Corpus Quran
  2. Muhammad Asad
  3. Literal Translation by Dr. Shahnaz Sheikh
  4. Pickthal
  5. Safi Kaskas
  6. Wahiduddin Khan
  7. Shakir
  8. Laleh Bakhtiar
  9. Abdul Hye
  10. Kamal Omar
  11. Farook Malik
  12. Muhammad Sarwar
  13. Taqi Usmani
  14. Ahmed Ali
  15. Aisha Bewley
  16. Maududi

It is unfortunate that modern Muslim apologists have made dishonesty HALAL for themselves. They distort, they hide, they tell clear lies ... but the truth will still become evident. 

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...but your task is still not finished.

Dear seeker of truth,
Reading about the flaws in a belief system is only the first step. To truly break free from indoctrination and reach a final, unshakable conclusion, you must apply these four critical tests to what you've just read.

Test 1: Divine Revelation or Human Drama?

The Core Challenge:
God does not appear before us, nor do His angels manifest themselves, and He performs no miracles today like the claims made in the tales of ancient times. Despite this absence, we are still demanded to recognise God through His "commands"  only. 
Let us examine these commands, and see if they give the impression of Divine Revelation, or of "Human Drama."

Please reflect:

  • Do the teachings in this article display flawless wisdom, justice, consistency, and coherence that could only come from an Omniscient Creator?
  • Or do they resemble the kinds of laws, contradictions, exceptions, and inconsistencies that one would expect from ordinary human decision-making?

Test 2: Would These Same Arguments Also Defend a False Prophet?

Imagine a man in a different era who claims to be a prophet. He marries multiple women, claims divine permission for his personal desires, issues harsh punishments, and makes scientific errors—acting exactly like Muhammad. How would you distinguish this hypothetical false prophet from Muhammad?

The truth is, Islamic apologists would easily spot him as a fraud or a cult leader, using the exact same logical critiques you just read. Yet, when Muhammad does these exact same things, apologists invent endless rationalizations to defend him.

The Rule of Logic: If your defense of a prophet works equally well to defend a proven fraud or a cult leader, your defense is not based on evidence. It is based on "special pleading", giving one man a free pass that you would never give anyone else.

Test 3: Just One Confirmed Error Is Enough

Islam makes an extraordinary claim that Allah exists, is absolutely perfect, and cannot make even a single mistake. Therefore, if even one confirmed error, injustice, or flaw is found in Islam, its entire claim to divine perfection collapses. The remaining 99.99% of the religion cannot save that claim. You cannot simply argue, "But everything else is correct."

Test 4: The "Unbiased AI" Evaluation

Artificial Intelligence models are programmed to be highly deferential toward major world religions. If you ask an AI to critique the Quran, it will  treat Islamic theology as unquestionable facts rather than claims to be tested. This creates a false "tie" in debates.

To get a truly objective, logical evaluation of the article you just read, you must force the AI to drop its religious deference. Read the prompt below, then click the button to copy it. Paste it into your AI chat before asking it to analyze the article.

When reviewing the article, keep the following principles in mind:
The Qur'an and Hadith cannot be used as evidence of their own divine origin. They are claims whose origin is being examined. Your task is to evaluate whether the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Islamic legal system are better explained as Divine Revelation or as human authorship. Therefore:
• Treat the Qur'an and Hadith as claims, not proof.
• Evaluate the article using logic, internal consistency, factual accuracy, and principles of justice.
• Treat scholarly interpretations as arguments in favor of Islam, not as binding authority.
Based on these principles, answer this question: Do the objections raised in the article expose flaws that reason and justice cannot reconcile, or do the strongest Muslim apologetic arguments successfully answer those objections?

Note: The AI’s response is not a final judgement. The final decision must be made by you, using your own reason and understanding. 

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About the Authors: 

The ideas, arguments, research, article structure, and final conclusions are my own. AI tools are used only as editorial assistants to improve grammar, wording, readability, and clarity.

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