Section 6: The Holy Quran, Q35 - Do Shias believe in a different Holy Quran? Do Shias believe that the Holy Quran is incomplete?

Moving on to discuss the Holy Quran and two very specific questions that often gets asked to Shias. The answer to both queries is a definitve "No!" Shias have been accused of this for centuries, we apparently have a different Quran or feel that there are some missing verses. However, we believe in the same Holy Quran as the Ahle Sunnah, there is only one Holy Quran and no other.

The Ahle Sunnah believe that the Holy Quran was actually compiled and put together into one book during the reign of the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan. Shias believe that the Holy Quran was compiled by the Holy Prophet during his lifetime. At Ghadeer-e-Khumm the Holy Prophet announced: "I leave you the book..." How can the Holy Prophet refer to a book if it was not yet in existence?

The Holy Quran is protected from change or human tampering as Allah (SWT) confirms:

"We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)." (Surah 15, Verse 9)

This is a guarantee that the Holy Quran will always be preserved. Unlike any other holy book, wherever you go in the world the Holy Quran is always the same. Unfortunately there are some Shias narrations which suggest that some changes to the text have been made but they are not considered authentic by the majority of Shia scholars and should be disregarded. The sixth Shia Imam, Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (as) declared in a hadith narrated in Usul al-Kafi: "Test the various reports by the Book of God; whatever agrees with it take it, whatever disagrees with it reject it."

Despite a few narrations which suggest changes have been made to the Holy Quran, the overwhelming majority of traditions by renowned Shia scholars all agree that the Holy Quran as not been changed at all since its existence during the time of the Holy Prophet. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq wrote: "Our belief is that the Holy Quran which Allah (SWT) revealed to His Prophet Muhammed (SAW) 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. And he who asserts that we say that it is greater in extent than that, is a liar."

Ayatullah Abul-Qassim al-Khoei, one of the most influential Shia scholars in the 20th century, teacher to the great contemporary marja, Ayatullah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani, writes in his Tafsir al-Bayan that to hold a belief in: "...tahriff (corruption of the Holy Quranic text) is nothing more than a delusion and imagination, maintained by those with weak reasoning."

If you chose to continue to focus on the unreliable Shia traditions which suggest that we believe in another version or form of the Holy Quran, then let's turn to some Sunni traditions which (wrongly) suggest that corruption of the Holy Quran has occurred.

For example, according to Umar and Aisha, there were once verses in the Holy Quran that were called the "verse of stoning" and the "verse of suckling" that were subsequently lost from the Holy Quran after the death of the Holy Prophet. According to Sunan ibn Majah: "When the verse of stoning and the verse of suckling descended, they were written on a piece of paper and kept under my pillow. Following the demise of Prophet Muhammed (SAW) a goat are the piece of paper while we were mourning." (Book of Suckling, Hadith 20.20) A goat?!

Then there are Sunni traditions suggesting that the Holy Quran was once longer than it is now. Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti narrates from Aisha in his book, Al-Durr Al-Manthur: "Aisha narrated that during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet 200 verses were recited in Surah Ahzab, but when Uthman collected (the text of the Holy Quran), he only successed in locating the present number of verses (which is 78)."

So where do the Sunni ulema believe the other 122 verses went? Such traditions are of course nonsense and there won't be a Shia who accuses Sunnis of having a different version of the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran is the same Quran that the Holy Prophet left behind and that Allah (SWT) says He will protect and preserve. Any tradition that suggests otherwise - Shia or Sunni - should be rejected as false.

Next time I will be answering some questions about prayer (Salaat) and in the meantime I would highly recommend a view of this lecture by Sayed Ammar Nakshawani who speaks in more detail about today's question.


(Source: Thaqlain)