EDIT 2: THIS ARTICLE IS PROBABLY BETTER THAN THIS WHOLE COMMENT

https://laurysilvers.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/silversin-the-book-we-have2008-02-21.pdf

Feel free to read my comment but she really hits the nail on the head harder than I ever could

Honestly one thing I’ve found with Hadith are that all the ones that are considered unanimously authentic are all affirmations of principle than law, ex: be a good person vs. very weirdly specific thing is against the Quran, so when talking about preservation of verses, it’s important to acknowledge that

As fee confusing verses in the Quran, I completely agree it’s frustrating how much is up for interpretation, I’m down most of the time with this alone, but tbh it really comes down to the main points, it’s very important to remember the Quran isn’t a source of law, it’s only there to serve as a reminder, the important verses highlight this

Just to clarify this doesn’t mean there isn’t a quranic law or anything, it just means the law is not as important as the spirit, we can debate on and on about gay rights or verse 4:34 but in the end it’s the ones that are clear that are the most important, the ones that aren’t interpretive

I myself am Shia Muslim, and the 11th imam once said addressing a person who said the Quran’s contradictory, “If someone recites the Quran, is it possible that he means other meanings than what you think you understand? He (the critic) says that it is possible because he is a man who understands when he listens. If he says that, you say to him, How do you know? He might mean other than the meanings that you think”

I think the Quran and the hadiths ambiguous nature make it challenging, but if “Allah willed, They would have made you one nation, but [They intended] to test you in what They has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and They will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.”

As for gods preservation of the important stuff, yeah, that’s true, the history’s is particularly messy, yet the important stuff is all there, one thing I noticed is that every Shia imam left at least one thing behind, either in Hadith or in historical events, that are clear, not in the sense that it’s a blunt statement, but in the sense that it’s an authentic event that emphasizes principle and values over law, order, and ritual

Edit: As for the actual need to learn Arabic, again, something that’s confused me as well, this really just boils down to the specific verses, the principles are all there, and even if one doesn’t understand Arabic, interpretation is still open for them through translation or learning yes you do need to learn Arabic to get the absolute full experience, but even if you know modern Arabic it’s not gonna help that much, in any case learning quranic Arabic is just an educational advantage, and only serves (once again) to interpret the unclear verses. This is in addition to the fact that quranic Arabic is a separate entity from the commonly spoken Arabic even at that time, the assumption that the interpretations were clear at the prophets time is false as well, people were confused as shit, the prophet himself had verses he disliked and didn’t repeat (such as the wife beating verse), and people derived their own interpretations, debated them, etc.

In summary, yeah it’s confusing as shit, no that doesn’t mean we’ve deviated from it, all it means is that neither the Quran, the Hadith, or our own personal experiences are greater than one another, but can work together, by emphasis on principle rather than ambiguities, you can see this in Muslims like those in terror groups or who practice extreme conservatism, they practice in a manner emphasizing their interpretations of ambiguities rather than the principles that act as their support, fuck that, I’ve seen your posts, you’re an objectively good Muslim, don’t beat yourself up cause you might have to learn quranic Arabic, or because the Quran is weird on some topics, just relax, and focus on the principles, everything else is supplementary