Surah 87:6–8:
We will make you recite, and you will not forget, Except what Allah wills. Indeed, He knows what is declared and what is hidden. And We will ease you to the state of ease.
Verse 6 delivers a bold, absolute guarantee to Muhammad regarding the perfect preservation of his revelations: "We will make you recite, and you will not forget." However, the very next breath introduces a massive theological qualifier: "Except what Allah wills."
The Text-Critical Reality:
To a secular historian or text critic, this clause functions as an emergency editorial loophole. During the chaotic Early Meccan phase, Muhammad was under intense pressure to consistently repeat lengthy, structurally complex rhyming oracles. Naturally, when a prophet relies on spontaneous oral recitation under stress, memory slips, overlapping verses, and absolute dropouts occur.
The Concept of Naskh:
Classical Islamic jurisprudence later formalised this loophole into the doctrine of Naskh (Abrogating and Abrogated verses)—explicitly admitting that certain verses were caused by God to be wiped clean from Muhammad's memory or completely removed from public circulation (e.g., Sahih al-Bukhari 5038, where Muhammad hears someone reciting and remarks, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has reminded me of such-and-such verses which I missed").
To a logical analyst, this construction destroys the internal verifiability of the text's preservation. By framing human cognitive exhaustion (forgetting) as a sovereign, active choice of the deity ("Allah willed you to forget it"), the text constructs an unassailable shield against charges of human fallibility. It turns structural textual loss into intentional divine editing on the fly.