In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scholar of hadiths”. Today it says “islamic scholar from the princely state of hyderabad”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 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 October 6, 2023
Muhammad Hamidullah ( ; 19 February 1908 – 17 December 2002) was a scholar of hadiths ( muhaddith ) and Islamic law ( faqih ) and a prolific academic author. A polymath with competence in 22 languages, including Urdu (his mother tongue), Persian, Arabic, French, English, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Russian, his dozens of books and hundreds of articles on Islamic science , history and culture appeared in several languages. He was still studying Thai at the age of 84. "Hommage au Professeur Muhammad Hamidullah" . 29 December 2003.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1172348297.
The opening as it stood in 2015
A prolific writer, his extensive works on Islamic science, history and culture have been published in several languages and many thousands of articles in learned journals. His scholarship is regarded by many as unparalleled in the last century. A double doctorate ( D.Phil and D.Litt ) and a polymath , he was fluent in 22 languages including Urdu (his mother tongue), Persian, Arabic, French, English, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Russian etc. He learned Thai at the age of 84.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669039201.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Litt. , HI , was a Muhaddith , Faqih , scholar of Islamic law and an academic author with over 250 books. A prolific writer, his extensive works on Islamic science, history and culture have been published in several languages and many thousands of articles in learned journals. His scholarship is regarded by many as unparalleled in the last century. A double doctorate ( D.Phil. and D.Litt. ) and a polymath , he was fluent in 22 languages including Urdu (his mother tongue), Persian, Arabic, French, English, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Russian etc. He learned Thai at the age of 84.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963951691.
The opening as it stood in 2025 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Indian Islamic scholar (1908–2002) Muhammad Hamidullah (19 February 1908 – 17 December 2002) was an Indian Islamic scholar from the princely state of Hyderabad . He wrote dozens of books and hundreds of articles on Islamic science , history and culture .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1291614138. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scholar of hadiths”. Today it says “islamic scholar from the princely state of hyderabad”. Read the current article and compare.
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
scholar of hadiths
Now
islamic scholar from the princely state of hyderabad
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.
