I'm saying it can only be dated back 700 years old. You have to look into the rationale given by the 'scholars' for this difference in wording. They claim that the Quran was recited in 6 (or more by other accounts) dialects. They add that the reason for the difference in wording is that Arabic is written phonetically, therefore these two verses could mean the same thing, the only caveat being that one of the dialects is extinct. I find this to be a hilarious explanation, but let's work with it. So let's take the one that is 1,300 years old. It says "and they didn't". Now logically speaking, since this is the oldest one known to mankind, and is identical to the two next oldest ones known to mankind, you would assume that every copy produced thereafter would be based off that one, right? Wrong. Because the Quran which is in circulation today is not a copy of that manuscript. It contains textual differences. I would understand if the reason was that it's further adapted to modern day Arabic, but any Muslim will tell you that the Quran is not specifically adapted to modern day Arabic. Taking the scholars explanation, it must be rooted from another of the 6 dialects. That would be fine, except that there are no manuscripts showing the dialect used in today's version of the Quran going back more than 600 or so years. As far as evidence goes, this version of the Quran started existing when a group of humans wrote it down roughly 600 years after Muahmmad PBUH passed away. So now you ask yourself, "then the older one must be the right one?!" That's the logical conclusion, but the problem is here... If the Quran states that God will protect the Quran, and the Quran was in fact revealed in 6 dialects, all of which can be called "Quran", and now at least 4 of them have disappeared and two conflicting, then God has not succeeded in protecting it all. And if there is any error in the Quran's claims, then it is not divine. Certainly, the older one is realer. But given that a copy with a new dialect can be produced out of memory 600 years later without any outrage, it makes you wonder how real it ever really was to begin with. After all, even the first written manuscript was compiled in the absence of Muhammad PBUH, in the aftermath of sect-related civil unrest, with much disagreement about what should be included, after the loss of the lives of many of the official "Quran memorizers", and when finally completed all other manuscripts were destroyed.
