Book of Allah says. So, such traditions must be regarded as groundless.

Book of Allah says. So, such traditions must be regarded as groundless.[1]

j. Shaykh Ḥurr al-‘Āmilī (d. 1104 AH), says:

A researcher of history and hadīth knows well that on account of the tawātur of traditions and narrations of thousands of the Companions, the Qur’an is intact and fixed and has been compiled with utter accuracy and arranged in the lifetime of the Prophet (ṣ).[2]

k. The great researcher, Kāshif al-Ghiṭā’, in his renowned book, Kashf al-Ghiṭā’, says:

No doubt the Qur’an, owing to the divine protection and preservation, has been preserved from any deletion (and alteration). This fact has been verified by the Qur’an and scholars’ consensus of opinion of all periods. And the opposition of a small group is not worth considering.

l. Also, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ḥaḍrat Āyatullāh al-‘Uẓmā Imām Khomeinī (q) has a statement in this regard. This statement which we shall quote below is another clear proof:

Anyone, who is aware of the great care taken by the Muslims in compiling, preserving, recording, reciting, and writing the Qur’an will testify to the groundlessness of the notion of “distortion of the Qur’an”, and consider it unbelievable. Also, the accounts that have been transmitted in this regard will be found either so ‘weak’ [ḍa‘īf] that they lack soundness of judgment, or so ‘unknown’ [majhūl] that they seem obviously fabricated, or are narrations of other sorts, the explication of which needs writing a comprehensive book. And were it not for the fear of deviating from the point in question, we would explain the course of history of the Qur’an over the past centuries and make clear that the Glorious Qur’an is exactly the same version of heavenly book which is in our hands, and concerning the difference of opinion among the reciters of the Qur’an, it is something new, which has nothing to do with what Jibra’īl al-Amīn (Archangel Gabriel the Trustworthy) has brought down onto the pure heart of the Holy Prophet (ṣ).[3]

Conclusion

The Muslims, both Shī‘ah and Sunnī, are of the opinion that the present version of this heavenly book is the same as the original version of the Qur’an which was sent down onto the Holy Prophet (ṣ), and that it is safe from any form of distortion, alteration, addition, and deletion.

This is solid evidence to the groundlessness of the unfair accusation against the Shī‘ah, and if the transmission of pertinent ‘weak’ narrations has led to this accusation, it is worth noticing that such narrations have not been transmitted only by a small faction of the Shī‘ah but also by a group of Sunnī exegetes [mufassirūn]. Below are some examples:

1. Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī in his exegesis narrates on the authority of Abūbakr al-Anbāzī from Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, that in the lifetime of the Prophet (ṣ) Sūrah al-Aḥzāb (with 73 verses) was the same size as Sūrah al-Baqarah (with 286 verses) and the ‘verse of stoning’ [āyah ar-rajam] was in that Sūrah. Now, such alleged verse is not found in Sūrah al-Aḥzāb![4]

And it is stated in the same book that ‘Ā’ishah is reported to have said:

“In the lifetime of the Prophet (ṣ) Sūrah al-Aḥzāb had 200 verses. Then, after the muṣḥaf was written, we do not find more than that which the present version has!”[5]

2. The author of the book, Al-Itqān narrates that the number of sūrahs in Ubayy ibn Ka‘b’s muṣḥaf was 116 because two other sūrahs called Ḥafd and Khal‘ were included therein.[6]

What we all know is that the Holy Qur’an has 114 sūrahs and there is no trace of such two sūrahs like Ḥafd and Khal‘ in the Qur’an.

3. Hibat Allāh ibn Salāmah, in his book, An-Nāsikh wa’l-Mansūkh, narrates that Anas ibn Mālik is reported to have said:

In the lifetime of the Prophet (ṣ), when we recited the Qur’an we used to read a sūrah which was similar in size to Sūrah at-Tawbah (Barā‘ah) in length, and all that I remember of it is only one verse, and that is:

انَّ لَوْ وَ ثالِثًا اِلَيْهِمَا لابْتَغَىٰ الذَّهَبِ مِنَ وَادِيَانِ آدَمَ لابْنِ انّ لَوْ”

وَ التُّرَابُ اِلاّ آدَمَ اِبْنِ جَوفَ وَلايَملأ رابِعًا اِلَيْهَا لابْتَغَىٰ ثَالِثًا لَهُ

“!تَابَ مَنْ عَلىٰ اللهُ يَتُوبُ

“Should the Children of Adam have two valleys of gold, he would ask for a third and should he have three he would ask for a fourth. Nothing can fill the bellies of the Children of Adam except dust. God accepts the repentance of those who repent.”

This is while we know that there is no such a verse in the Qur’an, and when we consider its eloquence [balāghah] we find that it is essentially inharmonious.

4. Jalāl ad-Dīn as-Suyūṭī, in his exegesis, Al-Durr al-Manthūr, reports on the authority of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb that Sūrah al-Aḥzāb was similar in length to Sūrah al-Baqarah and the verse of stoning was part of the former sūrah.[7]

A small group of both the Shī‘ah and the Sunnī schools have narrated ‘weak’ [ḍa‘īf] and untenable traditions on “the occurrence of alteration in the Qur’an”. According to the vast majority of the Muslims—both Shī‘ah and Sunnī—these weak narrations are not acceptable. According to the Qur’anic verses, authentic [ṣaḥīḥ] and mutawātir traditions, consensus [ijmā‘] and unanimity of thousands of the Companions of the Prophet (ṣ) and consensus of opinion of the Muslims of the world no such taḥrīf, alteration, addition, or deletion has taken place and it will never take place.?

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