It is written in the Hadith, which is the official commentary of the Muslim faith, that the Qu'ran was not initially written down in the form it has today. There were 4 primary versions, and numerous handwritten copies of those 4 versions scattered all over the expanding empire, each believed to include significant doctrinal difference. The 4 primary were written by 4 of Mohammed's closest friends. Caliph Uthmann was concerned that with so many versions around, disunity would quickly arise, so he ordered all copies destroyed, and commissioned an official version created from the memory of a select few. Remember Mohammed was illiterate, so all written versions were dictated by him to a listener, and the Hadith says these dictated manuscripts were not full versions of the entire Qu'ran. So with the order out to burn all existing copies of the Qu'ran (which is lamented by many scholars in the Ummah), the official version was produced and distributed to the soldiers advancing the faith in Asia and Africa. All of this is recorded within Islam's own documents, and freely available to anyone to find for themselves.
The discovery in Yemen of these early copies of the Qu'ran were made by a multinational archaeological team, and the documents themselves were quickly acquired by Muslim officials. Again, to preserve unity of the faith. It is very difficult to find alot of information on this stuff; I came across it in an Arabic library in Jordan.
But that's really not how they preserve unity of the faith. Not unlike Latin in the early Church, Arabic has become the means by which the "clergy" control the "laity." Few Muslims are functionally literate in Arabic, much less Quranic Arabic which is like Shakepearean English is to Bubba. They do not follow along in their pew qurans as the Imam preaches. Only devout students learn more than surahs by memory, which is what most Muslims learn. And the sermons are very seldom from the Quran ... I was allowed to read some sermon manuscripts by an Imam in Al Anbar. Stuff you'd say to a sunday school class, but not doctrinal. I've also heard insurgent sermons which were all politics and death. The people don't know the holy language to be able to refute the teachings. If you look at those societies that do have high literacy rates in Arabic, they are highly westernized and the young people reject the faith. I've worked with Muslim college students in Muslim countries ... the conservative ones were clinging to the values, not the faith. The liberal ones were abandoning the values, and never had the faith.
For example, there's a popular ad on Jordanian TV of two roomates, 20 something males. One is clean shaven, in hip western clothes, sitting at his computer, playing a video game when the call to prayer goes off. The other is in full white dishdash, with hajji cap, flowing beard. He goes out on the balcony to pray, while the other laughs and turns back to his game. He has a heart attack, and they show his body at the bottom of the grave in darkness while the family is crying. Fades out with "repent and pray" in Arabic.
Mohammed wanted to use Islam to unify the tribes, which is why he destroyed all the idols but one, which remains in the Kabah, in honor of Allah, a Christian term used by Arab Christians in the Eastern church for 6 centuries prior to Mohammed. He failed, so to keep the tribes in unity, they use a common enemy (White Satan), exploit ignorance, and hold special knowledge (gnosticism) to the inner circle. Its not a faith, there is no guarantee of eternal life in the Qu'ran; no forgiveness of sins, nothing. If God is having a bad day when you stand before Him, your good works meant nothing. Its a tool used to build an empire out of chaos; always has been, always will be.
But is Islam any different than any liberation philosophy to come down the pipe? Its a large threat sure, but the larger threat here is the selfishness of average ignorant people that makes them easily suckered by any school of thought that appeals to that selfishness, elevates their sense of importance, permits them to hurt people they don't like, maybe gratifies sexual dominance, and makes them better than someone.
