Some people have pointed out the dissenting views of some
Muslims on the authenticity and completeness of the Qur’ān. The fact is that not
only are these dissenting points of view unacceptable viz a viz the arguments
for the contrary view point (as the main text of the article attempts to show),
but such people as have these dissenting views are also in a negligible minority
both among the Shī‘ah and the Sunnī sects of the Muslims. Imam Khū’ī, a
prominent Muslim scholar records the opinions of the Shī‘ah authorities in the
following words:
It is a known fact among the Muslims that the Qur’ān has
not been tampered with in any way and that all of the Qur’ān we have with us
today is the same that was revealed to the Prophet (sws). This has been
specified by many authorities. Among them is the bona fide, Muhammad Ibn Bābwih,
the chief of all the Muhaddithīn. He maintains that the view that the Qur’ān has
not been tampered with is among the beliefs of the Imāmiyyah. The great Abū
Ja‘far Muhammad Ibn Hasan Tusi also holds this view. He has explicitly mentioned
it in the beginning of his exegesis Al-Tibyān. He has also quoted the exactly
similar opinion of his learned teacher and profound scholar Sayyid Murtadā . His
arguments on it are the best of all. Similarly, the celebrated exegete of the
Qur’ān Tabrasī has also expressed this same view in the preface of his exegesis
Majma‘atu’l-Bayān. Another person who has asserted this view is the leading
jurist Shaykh Ja‘far in his book Kashfu’l-Ghitā; he has also claimed a consensus
on it. Allamāh Shahshahānī in his book Al-‘Urwah Al-Wuthqā is an exponent of
this view also. He has attributed it to many Mujtahidīn as well. Among them is
the famous Muhaddith Muhsin Qāsānī (who has mentioned this view in his two books
Al-Wāfī and ‘Ilmu’l-Yaqīn) and the learned Muhammad Jawād al-Balāghī who has
referred to this view in the preface of his exegesis Ālā’u’l-Rahmān. (Imam Khū’ī,
Al-Bayān, 5th ed., [Qum: Al-Matba‘ah Al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1974], pp. 218-9)
Sufficient sources and examples have already been cited in
the main text of this dissertation that any dissension from the view that the
Qur’ān the Muslim Ummah has with it today is the very one revealed to the
Prophet (sws), is held at best by a negligible minority both among the Shī‘as
and the Sunnīs. Tabrasī records:
Everyone agrees that the view that any addition has been
made in the Qur’ān is baseless. As far as the view that there has been some
omission in its text is concerned, one of our [Shī‘ah] groups and the
Hashawiyyah sect of the Sunnīs say that there have been omissions and
alterations in it. However, the correct view of our sect is against this and
Sayyid Murtadā has endorsed this view. In his answer to the issues of Tabrasiyāt,
he has comprehensively dealt with this topic. At various places, he has written
that the knowledge of the authenticity of the Qur’ān is exactly the same as that
of cities, great events, famous books and the written record of poetry of the
Arab poets. This was because there were abundant reasons and motives for the
transfer and protection of the Book of Allah. Such was the extent of these that
nothing could parallel them, since the Qur’ān is the miracle of Prophethood and
the source of law and other directives of Islam. The scholars of this Ummah
undertook every effort to safeguard it so that they even recorded the
differences in its reading, in its declensions and in its letters. In view of
this extreme caution, how can it be believed that any part of the text was
omitted or altered .… Sayyid Murtadā has also said that the Qur’ān was written
and compiled in the time of the Prophet (sws) and we have it in same form today.
This is corroborated by the fact that it was read in those times and learnt by
heart by many companions and recited out to the Prophet (sws). Many of the
companions of the Prophet (sws) like ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd and Ubbayi Ibn Ka‘ab
recited the whole of the Qur’ān before the Prophet (sws) many a time. All this
shows that the Qur’ān was properly compiled in the time of the Prophet (sws); it
was not unarranged or scattered about. Sayyid Murtadā is also of the opinion
that those among the Imāmiyyah and the Hashawiyyah sects who have differed from
this view are of no significance because the ones who have differed are from
among the Ahli Hadīth and have based their view on weak Ahādīth considering them
to be correct. Consequently, on the basis of such weak Ahādīth, a proven and a
certain reality cannot be rejected. (Tabrasī, Majma‘atu’l-Bayān, vol.1, [Beirut:
Dāru’l-Fikr, 1994], pp. 15-16) |