The Quran is Protected from alterations

[Nur]

Salaam,

This is a very important topic and will be posted in several parts:

Introduction

The Qur'an is the eternal miracle and the living proof of the truth of Islam. It challenged the adversaries to bring its like, even a single chapter like its, if they thought that it was not from Allah. The enemies failed to do so; and tried to extinguish the light of Islam by waging war after war, which incidentally still continues on many fronts and in several disguises.

The most important target of the enemies of Islam was and is the Qur'an, which they have been trying to disparage in one way or the other. For example: They said that the Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny) had learnt these profound truths from some Jews or Christians! They claimed that there were contradictory statements in the Qur'an! They pontificated that the Qur'anic ethics fell far short of the "sublime ethical teachings" of the Christianity!
None of these claims could be sustained in the eyes of independent thinkers; the Muslims rebutted all such accusations.

The purpose of this talk is to show that there was no tahrif in the Qur'an. The word tahrif may denote several meanings; however, what we are concerned with here is alteration or omission. It is our belief that there is no alteration in, addition to or omission from the Qur'an. Allah has clearly and emphatically declared that He Himself was the Protector of the Book:
Surely We have revealed the Reminder and We most surely are its Guardian. (15:9)
In fulfilment of this promise, the Qur'an was collected in book form in the days of the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself.

Both external evidence (from the sunnah) and internal evidence (from the Qur'an itself) have clearly established that the Prophet had left a Book in the hands of the Muslims. As for the internal evidence, there are at least fifty-two verses in which the Qur'an has been called a "Book".

As for the external evidence, the famous mutawatir hadith of Thaqalayn proves the existence of the Book during the last days of the Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny). Here is the hadith from Sahih Muslim, where Zayd ibn Arqam mentions the Prophet's sermon in Ghadir Khumm:

"...And I am leaving among you two weighty things. First of them is the Book of Allah; in it is the guidance and the light; therefore take hold of it and adhere to it ... And (the second are) my Ahlu'l-bayt; I remind you of Allah concerning my Ahlu 'l-bayt, I remind you of Allah concerning my Ahlu'l-bayt, I remind you of Allah concerning my Ahlu 'l-bayt..."

There are some other traditions (apart from the Ghadir sermon) in which the words "the Book of Allah and my traditions" have come. But the word, "Book of Allah" is present in both versions.

There is a clear proof that the Qur'an was then written and compiled, because the word 'book' is not used for that which is retained in the memory, nor for scattered writings on the parchments, pieces of papers and bones, except metaphorically. But it is not right to construe any word metaphorically unless there is an evidence in its context. The word 'book' denotes existence of a collection and not of scattered scribbles, nor of things which are in the memory but not written.

The enemies of Islam from very early days had hit upon a plan which they thought would be very effective in weakening the belief in the authenticity and originality of the Qur'an. They looked at the prevailing condition of the Muslim world and found a ready and flourishing market for forged ahadith. They exploited it to their utmost advantage and began wholesale fabrication of traditions casting aspersion on the validity of the Qur'an by imputing that there were additions, deletions, alterations and even some mistakes in this Qur'an which is in our hands.
This idea was and is diametrically opposed to what the Muslims, the Shi'a and the Sunni alike, believe about the Qur'an. Insh’Allah the following topics relating to the Quran and its protection from alteration will be covered in the very near future.

1. The appearance of forged ahadith in the Muslim world.
2. Confessions of some of those who indulged in this practice.
3. Examples of forged ahadith showing that hundreds, if not thousands, of verses were deleted from the Qur'an.

[Nur]

Salaam,

Part 2:

The Appearance of forged hadiths

It is a most tragic fact that people had started attributing forged traditions to the holy Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny) even during his life time. The Prophet had to warn the Muslims of this fitnah in these words:

"Surely there are many who forge lie against me, and their number is sure to increase; whoever intentionally tells a lie against me should prepare his abode in the Fire. Therefore, whenever a hadith is narrated to you, put it (for testing) before the Book of Allah and my (established) sunnah, and whatever conforms with the Book of Allah, take it; and what goes against the Book of Allah and my sunnah, reject it." (Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 1 (kitabu l- ilm: bab ithm man kadhiba 'ala n-Nabi ) p. 38.

This well-known hadith is very important and I request you to keep it in mind. We should realize that the Prophet has appointed the Qur'an as the standard for judging a hadith, not that the Qur'an is to be judged by ahadith.
Amiru 'l-mu'minin 'Ali (a.s.) was asked as to why there were differences in the traditions attributed to the Prophet. In reply, he said, "Certainly what is current among the people is both right and wrong, true and false, repealing and repealed, general and particular, definite and indefinite, exact and surmised. Even during the Prophet's days false sayings had been attributed to him, so much so that he had to say during his sermon that 'Whoever attributes falsehood to me makes his abode in Hell'. Those who relate traditions are of four categories, no more."

Then the Imam said that the first category was of the lying hypocrites: "The hypocrite is a person who makes a show of faith and adopts the appearance of a Muslim; he does not hesitate in sinning nor does he keep aloof from vice; he wilfully attributes false sayings to the Messenger of Allah-may Allah bless him and his progeny. If people knew that he was a hypocrite and a liar, they would not accept anything from him and would not confirm what he says. But they say that he is a companion of the Prophet, has met him, heard (his sayings) from him and acquired (knowledge) from him. They, therefore, accept what he says. Allah too had warned you well about the hypocrites and described them fully to you. They have continued after the holy Prophet.

However, the situation became worse after the martyrdom of Imam 'Ali (a.s.), when amir Mu'awiyah established what may be called the first propaganda department in the world. This department developed stage by stage until the ahadith fabricated by them permeated the whole Muslim world; these 'ahadith were taught to the children in maktabs like the Qur'an. The malady had affected all groups and especially those who showed piety, recited the Qur'an, and were thought to be very God-fearing. They used to forge ahadith to seek favours with the rulers. Finally these 'ahadith' reached those who were really religious-minded and did not approve of lie and false attribution. They accepted the traditions as genuine and transmitted them thinking that they were genuine sayings of the Prophet.( Ibn Abi l-Hadid, Sharh Nahji 'l-Balaghah, vol. 11 (Cairo: Daru 'l-Ihyai 'l-Kutubi 'l-Arabiyyah) pp. 446.

There were hundreds of free-lancers who sold their religion for worldly gains. One incident is given here as an example.

Mu'awiyah once offered Samurah ibn Jundab one hundred thousand dirhams if he would narrate that the verse 204-205 of the second chapter of the Qur'an were revealed concerning 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, and that the verse 207 was revealed in praise of Ibn Muljam (the assassin of 'Ali).

The verses are as follows: "And among men is he whose speech about the life of this world causes you to wonder, and he calls on Allah to witness as to what is in his heart; yet he is the most violent of adversaries. And when he turns back, he runs along in the land that he may cause mischief in it and destroy the tilth and the stock, and Allah does not love mischief-making." These were to be attributed to 'Ali.

And the verse 207 which says "And among men is he who sells himself to seek the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is affectionate to the servants" was to be attached to Ibn Muljam.

However, Samurah did not agree. The price was raised to two hundred thousand and then to three hundred thousand, but to no avail. Finally Mu'awiyah offered him four hundred thousand dirhams, and Samurah agreed and narrated a 'hadith' to that effect. Ibid (vol. 4. p. 73. )

[Nur]

Salaam,

Part 3:

Confessions of some forgers

Unfortunately even supposedly good people indulged in this forgery. Abu Ismah, Faraj bin Abi Maryam al-Marwazi was asked: "From where have you got all these traditions narrated through 'Ikrimah, from Ibn 'Abbas, from the Prophet, describing the reward of reciting each and every surah (chapter) of the Qur'an?" He said, "I found people interested only in the fiqh of Abu Hanifah and maghazi of Ibn Ishaq; therefore, I forged these ahadith 'for the pleasure of God' to bring them back to the Qur'an." al Bayan, p. 37: Ahmad Amin, Fajru 'l-Islam, p. 215.


Once forgery of ahadith became the norm of the Muslim academic world, the atheists, zanadiqah, and hypocrites exploited it to their full advantage. They introduced thousands of ahadith all supposed to come down through well-known companions of the Prophet to destroy the fabric of Islam, to weaken its foundation and bring down the whole edifice. For example, the well-known atheist, 'Abdu 'l-Karim ibn Abi 'l-'Awja', was sentenced to death by the governor of Kufa. When he was about to be killed, he said, "Well, even if you kill me, I have fabricated four thousand ahadith turning halal into haram and haram into halal. By God, I have made you to break fast on the day of fasting and to fast on the day of 'Id." (at-Tabari, Tarikh at-Tabari, vol. 6 (Beirut: Mu'assasatu l-A'lami) p. 299: Ibn al-Athir, Tarikh al-Kamil, vol. 5 (Daru l-Kutubi l-Arabi. 1985) p. 39.)

But this plan could not succeed unless the Muslims were made to believe that the Qur'an was not collected during the Prophet's time, but was later collected piecemeal from papers, shreds of pottery and bones, some twenty three years after the Prophet's death.

They understood very well the psychology of various groups of the Muslims, and they presented their anti-Qur'anic themes disguised as a distinction (fazilat) of the sahabah (the companions) and the Imams of Ahlu 'l-bayt in order to mislead the Sunnis or the Shi'as, respectively. The poison was administered in sherbet and it was unhesitatingly swallowed.

The distinction of collecting the Qur'an was given to Hazrat Abu Bakr or Hazrat 'Uthman. Every fabricator has used his own imagination and it resulted in a lot of traditions contradictory to each other.

Sayyid al-Khu'i has reviewed in detail all the traditions concerning the later days collection of the Qur'an, and has come to the conclusion that the third Caliph had not "collected" the Qur'an. What he had done was to unite the Muslims on the recital which was followed in Medina, and forbid all other recitals, which had sprung up here and there. Those interested to study this in depth should refer to his al-Bayan from p. 187 to p. 278.

However, once this story of later days collection was established it was easy to circulate ahadith showing that a lot of verses, even some surahs, were lost and could not be found at the time when Hazrat Abu Bakr and/or Hazrat 'Uthman wanted to collect it in Book form. They attributed such statements to great companions and wives of the holy Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny).

Mesmerized by those traditions, the Muslims forgot that Allah Himself is the Protector of His Book and that the Prophet had appointed the Qur'an as the standard to test the authenticity of traditions. They turned the table and began testing the authenticity of the Qur'an through those alleged ahadith!

[Nur]

Salaam,

Part 4:

Some ahadith of ommission

It is not possible to give detail of all the verses, sentences and phrases which allegedly were lost at the time the Qur'an was collected. A few glaring examples are as follows:
1. The thirty-third chapter of the Qur'an, al-Ahzab, is alleged to have contained 200 or nearly 300 verses, all of which except 73 are said to have been lost. The claim of 200 verses is attributed to Ummu 'l-mu'minin, 'A'ishah. "It has been narrated by Abu 'Ubayd in al-Fada'il and by Ibn al-Anbari and Ibn Mardawayh from Aishah that she said, 'The surah al-Ahzab was recited in the days of the Prophet two hundred verses, but when 'Uthman wrote the Qur'an, he was unable to find more than what is there at present." (As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol. 5, pp. 179-180; As-Suyuti, al-Itqan, vol. 2. p. 25.). Now there are only 73 verses in this surah.

Hudhayfah is said to claim that 70 verses of this chapter were lost. (Al-Bukhari, at-Ta'rikh, as quoted by as-Suyuti in the above books). But Ubayy ibn Ka'b is made to say that this surah was equal to, or even bigger than the second chapter al-Baqarah (Az-Zamakhshari, Tafsir al-Kashshaf, vol. 2 (Calcutta: Lees. 1856) p. 1117: Mulla Ali al-Muttaqi, Kanzu 'l-Ummal).

Also, 'Ikrimah (a tabi'i, disciple of the companions) has reportedly said the same. (As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol. 5. p. 179). Now the chapter al-Baqarah contains 286 verses. It means accordingly that 213 or even more verses were lost, including the verse of stoning.

2. The ninth chapter, at-Tawbah: It is alleged that two-thirds or three-fourths of this surah has been lost. This report is attributed to Hudhayfah al-Yamani (As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol. 3. p. 208: al-Itqan, vol. 2. p. 26: al-Hakim an-Nishapuri, al-Mustadrak alas-Sahihan, vol. 2 (Hyderabad: Dairatul-Ma'arif. 1340 AH) p. 331).

Imam Malik ibn Anas was asked as to why there is no "Bismillah" in this surah. He said, "It was lost with its earlier parts, because it is confirmed that it was equal to surah al-Baqarah in length." (As-Suyuti, al-Itqan, vol. 1, p. 65).


But there are only 129 verses in this surah of the Qur'an.

2. Then come the putetic surahs of al-Hafd and al-Khal' which were recorded by such famous companions as Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (As-Suyuti, al-Itqan, vol. 1, p. 65) and which the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab used to recite in his qunut. (Ibid, pp. 25-26). The surahs were as follows:

4. A surah equal to the ninth chapter al-Bara'ah: Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, a companion of the Prophet, is reported to say, 'We used to recite a surah which we likened to al-Bara'ah in length and severity; but I forgot it, and now remember only this verse:

If a son of Adam had two valleys full of wealth he would still covet a third; and nothing can fill the stomach of a man except dust (As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol 1 p 105: Ibn al-Athir. Jami 'u 'l-Usul, vol 3 (Egypt: 1370 AH) p. 8 hadith no. 904).

5. Yet another Surah: The same companion is reported to say, "We used to recite a surah which we likened to one of the musabbihat; (Musabbihat: those surahs which begin with the words. yusabbihu or sabbih) but I forgot it; yet I remember this 'verse' from it:

O you who believe! Why do you say what you do not do? As it would be recorded as an evidence against you and then you shall be asked about it on the day of resurrection (Jami 'u 'l-usul, vol. 3. p.


6. Loss of the major part of the Qur'an: There are a lot of traditions which show that the Qur'an was much much more than what the Muslims have in their hands. "At-Tabarani has narrated with trustworthy chain of narrators from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab that he said, 'The Qur'an is one million and twenty seven thousand letters..." (As-Suyuti, al-Itqan, vol. 2. p 70). But the total of the letters in the whole Qur'an is not more than 267,053 as is recorded at the end of many editions of the Qur'an. In other words, three-fourth of the Qur'an was lost!

And the companion 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar is reported as saying, "None of you should ever say, 'I have got the whole Qur'an.' And what would make you know what the whole Qur'an was. Certainly a lot of Qur'an has gone. One should rather say, 'I have got what has appeared from it." (As-Suyuti, al-Itqan, vol 2. p. 25: As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol 1. p. 106)

Unfortunately the 'ahadith' of major or minor deletions are attributed to many famous personalities of Islam, like Ummu 'l-mu'minin 'A'ishah, Ummu 'l-mu'minin Hafsah, Ummu 'l-mu'minin Umm Salimah, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Abdu'r-Rahman ibn 'Awf, 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, Zayd ibn Arqam, Jabir ibn 'Abdullah, Buraydah, Maslamah ibn Makhlad, Abu Waqid al-Laythi, and the aunt of Abu Amamah ibn Sahl, in addition to the tabi'in (disciples of the companions) 'Ikrimah and Imam Malik ibn Anas. These traditions are found in all well-known books of traditions, including as-Sihahas-Sittah (the six correct books of traditions): Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Sahih at-Tirmidhi, Sunan an-Nasa'i, Sunan al-Bayhaqi, Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muwatta' of Imam Malik, Ta'rikh of al-Bukhari, Fathu 'l-Ba'ri (Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari) of Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, Kanzu 'l-'Ummal of Mulla 'Ali al-Muttaqi, Tafsir ad-Durru'l-Manthur and al-Itqan of As-Suyuti, Jami'u 'l-Usul, al-Muhadarat of Imam ar-Raghib al-Isfihani, Jami 'u 'l-Jawami, Hilyatu 'l-awliya' of Hafiz Abu Nu'aym and al-Mustadrak 'alas-Sahihayn of Imam al-Hakim an-Nishapuri. (For details, see Mir Hamid Husayn al-Musawi al-Hindi, Istiqsa'u 'l-Ifham, vol. 2 (Lucknow) the section on tahrif of the Qur'an )

Also 'ahadith' were attributed to the Imams of Ahlu 'l-bayt too, and they found their way into Shi'a books of traditions. In short the Sunni and Shi'a books of ahadith contain a lot of such traditions (of Quran being incomplete).

[bornagain]

Nur,

One only has to look at the evidence to ascertain that what you said has lot of problems.

You just have to look at this to know the truth:
http://www.debate.org.uk/topics/book...ins-koran.html

Bornagain

[The_Oshik-kitoe]

Salaam to those who follow true guidance

-Andrew Rippin
-Charles Cutler Torrey
-W. St. Clair-Tisdall
-Abraham Geiger
-David Margoliouth
Arthur Jeffrey
-Alphonse Mingana
-Leone Caetani
-Theodor Nöldeke

These are the authors of the books mentioned by Born-again.
they are not books of evidence, but their opinions.

These are the people who have tried their entire life trying to destroy Islam. (Notice the names they are not Muslim names)

These are the people who deeply resent the spread of Islam. But their allegations are clear to all of us Muslims

If these people had knowledge of the holy QURAN then they would have not spelt the QURAN as 'Koran'
(There is a difference it these two words.)

These people also refer to us MUSLIMS as' Muzlims' when they should pronounce the word MUSLIM (and there is a different meaning to these 2 words as well!}

dont have time to explain now more later


From the student of life the Oshik-kitoe


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[This message has been edited by The Oshik-kitoe (edited 12 August 2000).]

[Abdur_Rahman]

Born agin is that all you have for answer url nad copy and paste stuff form other sites? please try to be original once!