Shias And The Quran
A Wahhabi friend mentioned that Shia believe Quran is not complete. My answer to this matter is:
"Glory to (Allah), this is a big slander!" (Quran 24:16).
Shia do NOT believe that Quran is missing something. There are few weak traditions which might imply to the contrary. Such reports are rejected and unacceptable if they want to imply such a thing.
It is interesting to point out that there are numerous traditions reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which allege that many verses of Quran are missing. Not only that, but also they these Sunni reports allege that two chapters from the Quran are missing one of them was similar to chapter 9 (al-Bara'ah) in length!!! Some Sunni traditions even claim that the Chapter al-Ahzab (Ch. 33) was as lengthy as the Chapter of Cow (Ch. 2)!!! The Chapter of Cow is the biggest Chapter of the present Quran. The traditions inside Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim even present some of the missing verses. Yet, fortunately Shia never accuse the Sunni brothers and sisters of believing that the Quran is incomplete. We say that these Sunni reports are either weak or fabricated.
The completeness of Quran is so indisputable among Shia that the greatest scholars of Shia in Hadith wrote: "
Our belief is that the Quran which Allah revealed to His Prophet Muhammad is (the same as) the one between the two covers (daffatayn). And it is the one which is in the hands of the people, and is not greater in extent than that. The number of surahs as generally accepted is one hundred and fourteen ...And he who asserts that we say that it is greater in extent than that, is a liar." (Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Ali Ibn al-Husain Ibn Babwayh, known as "Shaykh Saduq" (309/919-381/991))
"We believe that the Holy Quran is revealed by Allah through the Holy Prophet of Islam dealing with every thing which is necessary for the guidance of mankind. It is an everlasting miracle of the Holy Prophet the like of which can not be produced by human mind. It excels in its eloquence, clarity, truth and knowledge. This Divine Book has not been tampered with by any one. This Holy Book which we recite today is the same Holy Quran which was revealed to the Holy Prophet. Any one who claims it to be otherwise is an evil-doer, a mere sophist, or else he is sadly mistaken. All of those who have this line of thinking have gone astray as Allah in Quran said: "Falsehood can not reach the Quran from any direction (41:42)"
"... our certainty of the completeness of the Quran is like our certainty of the existence of countries or major events that are self evident. Motives and reasons for recording and guarding the Holy Quran are numerous. Because the Quran is a miracle of the prophethood and the source of Islamic Knowledge and religious rule, their concern with the Quran made the Muslim Scholars highly efficient concerning grammar, its reading, and its verses." (Allama Muhammad Ridha Mudhaffar who wrote in his Shia Creed book)
With this various concern by the most eminent Shia scholars, there is no possibility that the Quran was added or deleted in some parts.
Besides what Allah mentioned in Quran about its protection, we can use our logic to derive the same result. Allah sent his last Messenger to show people (to the end of the time) His Right Path. Therefore if Allah does not preserve His message, He would be contradicting His own aim. Obviously, such negligence is evil according to reason. Thus, in essence, Allah preserves His message as He preserved Moses in the house of His Enemy, Pharaoh.
Following are textual evidences of Tehreef in Quran from Sunni sources. I in no way claim that sunnis believe in the incompleteness of the Quran.
Umar during his last Hajj as Khalifa: "Certainly Allah sent Muhammad with the truth, and revealed to him the Book. One of the revelations which came to him was the verse of stoning. We read it and understood it”. "The Messenger of God stoned and we stoned after him. I am concerned that if time goes on, someone may say, 'By God, we do not find the verse of stoning in the Book of God;' thus, the Muslims will deviate by neglecting a commandment the Almighty revealed.” "Stoning is in the Book of God. It is the right punishment for a person who commits adultery if the required witnesses are available, or there was pregnancy without marriage or adultery is admitted." (Sahih al Bukhari Volume 8, pages 209-210,)
Hadhrath Ayesha also testified to a ‘missing’ verse on stoning. “When the verses “Rajm” [Stoning] and ayah “Rezah Kabir” descended, they were written on a piece of paper and kept under my pillow. Following the demise of Prophet Muhammad (S) a goat ate the piece of paper while we were mourning. (Sunan Ibne Majah, Volume 2, Page 39, Published Karachi)
Ibn Mardawayh reported that Hudhayfah said: 'Umar said to me 'How many verses are contained in the chapter of al-Ahzab?' I said, '72 or 73 verses.' He said it was almost as long as the chapter of the Cow, which contains 287 verses, and in it there was the verse of stoning. (Al-Muttaqi 'Ali bin Husam al-Din in his book "Mukhtasar Kanz al-'Ummal" printed on the margin of Imam Ahmad's Musnad, Volume 2, page 2, in his hadith about chapter 33)
Alqama went to Sham and when he entered the mosque, he said, "O Allah! Bless me with a pious companion." So he sat with Abu Ad-Darda. Abu Ad-Darda' asked him, "Where are you from?" 'Alqama replied, "From the people of Kufa." Abu Ad-Darda said, "Isn't there amongst you the keeper of the secret which nobody else knows, i.e., Hudhaifa?" Alqama said, "Yes." Then Abu Ad-Darda further said, "Isn't there amongst you the person whom Allah gave refuge from Satan through the invocation of His Prophet, namely Ammar?" Alqama replied in the affirmative. Abu Ad-Darda said, "Isn't there amongst you the person who carries the Siwak (or the Secret) (i.e. of the Prophet, namely Abdullah bin Masud)?" Alqama said, "Yes." Then Abu Ad-Darda asked, "How (Abdullah bin Masud) used to recite the Sura starting with: 'By the night as it envelops; By the day as it appears in brightness?' " (92.1-2). Alqama said "And by male and female." Abu Ad-Darda then said, "These people (of Sham) tried hard to make me accept something other than what I had heard from the Prophet." (Sahih al Bukhari Volume 5 Hadith number 86)
We Shi’as, believe that the Qur’an is the Divine Revelation (wahi) sent down from Allah, the Exalted, upon his noble Prophet (s), containing an exposition of all things. It is also His everlasting miracle disabling all mankind from keeping pace with it in respect of rhetoric and eloquence, and the realities and sublime knowledge it contains, being guarded against any alteration or changing or mutation (tahreef). The Qur’an we have today is the same exact one revealed to the Prophet. Anyone claiming to the contrary is a violator, misguided, mistaken, or ignorant, for it is surly Allah’s Word, and falsehood can never come at it from before it or from behind it.
|