Wikipedia's first sentence called it “a 9th-century arab skeptic scholar and critic of islam and religion in general”. Today it says “a 9th-century arab scholar”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Abu 'Isa al-Warraq , full name Abu 'Isa Muhammad ibn Harun al-Warraq ( Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Warrāq, 889 – 24 June 994), was a 9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic of Islam and religion in general. He was a student of Ibn al-Sarrāj and Ibn Duraid and mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work The Book of the Emerald he appears.1A modern scholar of the Quran and critic of Islam , Ibn Warraq , derives his pseudonymous name from al-Warraq. History of the Arabic Written Tradition .2 A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 914420923.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Muhammad al Warraq ( ) was a 9th Century skeptical scholar and critic of Islam . He was a mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work "The Book of the Emerald" he appears. Some Muslim sources have described him as being a Muslim and others a Manichaean . The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Michael Hecht, HarperOne, 2004 pg 224
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 344022484.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Abu 'Isa al-Warraq , full name Abu 'Isa Muhammad ibn Harun al-Warraq ( Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Warrāq), was a 9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic of Islam and religion in general. He was a mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work The Book of the Emerald he appears. Some Muslim sources have described him as being a Muslim and others a Manichaean . The modern scholar of the Qur'an and critic of Islam, Ibn Warraq , derives his pseudonymous name from al-Warraq. A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 664091463.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic Abu Isa al-Warraq , full name Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Warrāq ( , died 861-2 AD/247 AH ), was a 9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic of Islam and religion in general. He was a mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work The Book of the Emerald he appears. A modern critic of Islam , Ibn Warraq , derives his pseudonym from al-Warraq. A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178320971.
The opening as it stood in 2025
9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic Abu Isa al-Warraq , full name Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Warrāq ( Arabic : أبو عيسى محمد بن هارون الوراق , died 861–2 AD/247 AH ), was a 9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic of Islam and religion in general. He was a mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work The Book of the Emerald he appears. A modern critic of Islam , Ibn Warraq , derives his pseudonym from al-Warraq. A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1291906975. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “a 9th-century arab skeptic scholar and critic of islam and religion in general”. Today it says “a 9th-century arab scholar”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since October 7, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
a 9th-century arab skeptic scholar and critic of islam and religion in general
Now
a 9th-century arab scholar
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.