¶ Door Number Twenty-Nine
¶ The Corruption of the Qur’an
¶ “Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction.”
The Holy Qur’an is the book which was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). Most Muslims believe the book they currently hold to be infallible and protected against any form of corruption or misguidance. They believe the Holy Qur’an to be the greatest book ever written as they believe the author to be God Almighty and not a mere human being. When we look at the narrations of the Ahlul-Bayt (From Them is Peace) concerning the time of the Qaim/Riser, we find that the Qaim/Riser (From Him is Peace) comes with a new book, other than the one present with the people. Imam Mohammed Al-Baqir (From Him is Peace) said:
“The Qaim/Riser shall rise with a new matter, and a new book, and a new jurisprudence/rule.”
Imam Al-Baqir (From Him is Peace) also said:
“It is as if I’m looking at him between the Rukn and the Maqam, while the people are pledging allegiance to him upon a new book which is hard for the Arabs.”
Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) said:
“It is as if I am seeing our Shia in the mosque of Kufa with their tents set up, teaching the people the Qur’an as it actually came down, verily when our Qaim rises he will break it down and establish his qibla.”
¶ Was the Qur’an Lost?
It is a well-known fact that within Muslim sources, Sunni and Shia alike, there are many narrations which claim the Qur’an that we have today is incomplete or corrupted. Ibn Omar states in one narration:
“Let none of you say, ‘I have acquired the whole of the Qur’an.’ How does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur’an has disappeared? Rather let him say, ‘I have acquired what has survived.’ ”
In Sahih Muslim, Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari is recorded to have said:
“We used to recite a Surah which resembled in length and severity [Surah] ‘Bara’at’. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: ‘If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust.’ ”
He also said:
“We used to recite a Surah similar to one of the Musabbihaat, and I no longer remember it, but this much I have indeed preserved: ‘O you who truly believe, why do you preach that which you do not practice?’ (and) ‘that is inscribed on your necks as a witness and you will be examined about it on the Day of Resurrection.’ ”
Omar ibn Al-Khattab claimed there was a verse left out of the Qur’an that had to do with stoning:
“Allah sent Mohammed (PBUH) with the truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was the verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married persons, male and female, who commit adultery) and we did recite this verse and understood and memorized it. Allah’s Apostle (PBUH) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, ‘By Allah, we do not find the verse of the Rajam in Allah’s Book’, and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed.”
Other companions claimed that two thirds of Surah Al-Ahzab went missing. Zirr ibn Hubaish reported:
“Ubayy ibn Ka’b said to me, ‘What is the extent of Surah Al-Ahzab?’ I said, ‘Seventy-two, or seventy-three verses.’ He said, ‘Yet it used to be equal to Surah Al-Baqarah and in it we recited the verse of stoning.’ I said, ‘And what is the verse of stoning?’ He replied, ‘The fornicators among the married men (ash-shaikh) and married women (ash-shaikhah), stone them as an exemplary punishment from Allah, and Allah is Mighty and Wise.’ ”
Even the wife of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) Aisha claimed that part of the Qur’an was eaten by a goat, she said:
“No doubt, the verse of stoning and the breastfeeding of adults by 10 sucklings was revealed, and it was on a paper below my bedding. When the Prophet (PBUH) died, and we were busy, a goat entered and ate it.”
These are but few narrations from many which show that the early companions all admitted that the Qur’an which they compiled after the death of the Prophet (PBUH & His Family) was not complete and had many missing verses.
¶ The Full Qur’an Is With the Family of Mohammed
The narrations from the Family of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) clearly state that after the Prophet’s death, Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) compiled the entire Qur’an as it came down on Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and offered it to the Muslims but they rejected it. Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) narrated:
“When the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) died, I swore not to change my garments except for the Friday prayer until I have compiled the Qur’an, and I did.”
He (From Him is Peace) also said:
“Not a single verse from the Qur’an came down upon the Messenger of God (PBUH & His Family) except that he taught it to me and I wrote it with my own handwriting and he taught me its meaning and interpretation, its abrogating and its abrogated verses, its decisive and its allegorical meanings. He asked God that I understand it and memorize it and I have not forgotten a single verse from the Book of God, nor a knowledge that he taught me, and I wrote it down.”
When Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) took the Qur’an he had compiled to the people, they said, “We do not need it,” and they rejected it. To this Imam Ali (From Him is Peace) said:
“By God, you shall not see it after this day ever.”
And he passed it down from one Imam to the next until the time of the Riser/Qaim (From Him is Peace) when he will reveal it to the people in full. This belief was not strange amongst the early Shia scholars. Notable early Shia scholars supported the view that the qur’anic text compiled by Uthman was incomplete and/or distorted. Some examples are Al-Qomi, Al-Kulayni, and Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid. Over time as this view became controversial in the Muslim world, most scholars chose to be ambiguous or silent about the issue altogether until this day.
¶ Are All Copies of the Qur’an Today the Same?
The copies of the Qur’an which are present between the hands of the people today are not all the same. There are copies that have different words and extra letters compared to others. They are all accepted and used by Muslims today. Few Muslims realize this matter, and the majority are still under the illusion that there is only one copy of the Qur’an and it is as it came down upon the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). To demonstrate the differences between the different versions of the Qur’ans present on the streets and in the hands of Muslims, we bring forth to you a comparative study that was done by some non-Muslims. The following is a comparison between the 1924 Egyptian edition of the Qur’an, based on the version transmitted by Imam Hafs, and the Qur’an transmitted by Imam Warsh. Anyone can verify this by comparing these two copies of the Qur’an.
¶ EXTRA WORDS
| THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM HAFS | THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM WARSH |
 Allah huwa l-ghaniyu |
 Allah l-ghaniyu |
| The Hafs version has an extra word, huwa, in this verse. This makes the grammar different between these two Qur’ans. In the Hafs version it is a sentence, Allah is the self-sufficient, while in the Warsh version it is a phrase, Allah, the self-sufficient. Both Qur’ans are expressing the same idea but are doing it in different ways and as a result are recited differently. | |
 wasaari’uu |
 saari’uu |
| The Hafs version has the extra word waw (and). This does not change the meaning of the verse but does change the way it is recited. | |
¶ GRAPHICAL/BASIC LETTER DIFFERENCES
| THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM HAFS | THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM WARSH |
 wawassaa And Ibrahim enjoined (wawassaa) on his sons ... (2:132) |
 wa’awsaa |
| The Hafs version is a 2nd form verb, while the Warsh version has an extra alif to make a 4th form verb. This intensifies the meaning of the verb and changes how it is recited. | |
 yartadda |
 yartadid |
| The two words are recited differently but have the same meaning. They are two different examples of the 8th form jussive verb. This is most likely a difference in dialect. | |
 qaala He said (qaala), “My Lord knows ...” (21:4) |
|
| In the Hafs version qaala is the perfect tense and therefore Mohammed is the subject of the verb, but in the Warsh version qul is the imperative and therefore the subject is God who is commanding Mohammed/Muslims. This difference is repeated in 21:112. | |
 walaayakhaafu |
 falaayakhaafu |
| There are different letters at the beginning of these words. This changes the connection from “and” to “therefore”. | |
It is also well known that the early qur’anic manuscripts did not have diacritical marks and were devoid of any vocalization markers (harakat). Here are some examples (Figures 1 and 2):
Figure 1: Early Kufic Script
Blue Qur’an (Al-Muṣḥaf al-′Azraq) with early Kufic script showing Surah Rum (The Romans), Verses 28–32,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Figure 2: Samarkand Kufic Script
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Sana’a Manuscript is another example of one of the earliest qur’anic manuscripts discovered in 1972 in the Great Mosque of Sana’a, Yemen. It has been extensively studied using the latest technology and shows layers of text where the original was erased and written over. It contains many variations from the standard Uthmanic version in terms of words and sequence of chapters (Surahs) (Figure 3):
Figure 3: Sana’a Manuscript
¶ DIACRITICAL DIFFERENCES
Arabic uses dots (i’jam) to distinguish certain letters that are written the same way. For instance the basic symbol
represents five different letters in Arabic depending upon where the diacritical dots are placed:
baa’,
taa’,
thaa’,
nuun,
yaa’. Here we see another difference between these two Qur’ans; they do not have the dots in the same place. The result is that different letters are formed.
| THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM HAFS | THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM WARSH |
 nagfir |
 yughfar |
| The first letter is different in these two words. In the Hafs version the verb comes in the active form (We give) whereas in the Warsh version it comes in the passive form (You are given). Additionally in the Hafs version the verb comes in the form “we”, which changes the meaning. | |
 taquluna |
 yaquluna |
| The first letter is different in these two words. This difference changes the meaning from “you” to “they”. | |
 nunshizuhaa |
 nunshiruhaa |
| There are different root letters in these words and this makes two different words. The two words have a similar meaning but are not identical. | |
 ataytukum |
 ataynakum |
| There are different letters in the middle of these words. This difference changes the meaning from “I” to “we”. | |
 yu’tiihim |
 nuutiihimuu |
| There are different letters at the beginning of these words. This difference changes the meaning from “we” to “he”. | |
 hum `ibadu l-rahmani |
 hum `inda l-rahmani (43:18) |
| The middle letter of the middle word is different in these verses. This changes the meaning of these words significantly: In the Hafs version the word is a noun and means slaves while in the Warsh version the word is a preposition and means with. Thus, the verses have a different meaning. | |
¶ VOWEL DIFFERENCES
Arabic uses diacritical markers (tashkil) above and below the letters to indicate some of the vowels of a word. Here we see another difference between these two Qur’ans; they do not use the same vowels in the same place.
| THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM HAFS | THE QUR’AN ACCORDING TO IMAM WARSH |
 maaliki yawmi |
 maliki yawmi |
| The Hafs version has a long alif which makes an active participle, meaning owner, while the Warsh version is a nominal noun meaning king. | |
 yakhda’uuna |
 yukhaadi’uuna |
| There are different vowels on the first and second letters of these words. The Hafs version is a 1st form of the verb, while the Warsh version is a 3rd form. | |
 yakdhibuuna |
 yukadhdhibuuna |
| There are different vowels on the first and second letters of these words. The Hafs version is a 1st form of the verb, while the Warsh version is a 2nd form. (Note: This word appears twice in this verse.) | |
 hatta yaquula |
 hatta yaquulu |
| There is a different vowel on the last letter. The fatha vowel used in the Hafs version places the verb into the subjunctive mood which gives the preceding particle hatta the meaning so that. The Warsh version uses the damma vowel which places the verb into the imperfect indicative mood which gives the particle hatta the meaning until. | |
 ta’aamu miskiinin |
 ta’aami masakiina |
| There are several different vowels in these words. These change the noun from singular to plural; and hence changes the number of men you are required to feed to redeem yourself for failing to fast. | |
 qatala |
 qutila |
| There are different vowels in these words. These change the meaning from the active to the passive and thus change the meaning of the verse. | |
 risaalatahu |
 risaalatihi |
| There are different vowels on the last two letters of these words. These change the case and pronunciation of the word. The Hafs version is in the accusative case while the Warsh is in the genitive. This reflects a different understanding of the grammar of the sentence. | |
 sihraani |
 saahiraani |
| There are different vowels on the first two letters of these words. These change the word from an active participle in the Warsh version to a noun in the Hafs version, and thus changes the meaning of the verse. | |
 rabbiha wa kutubihi |
 rabbiha wa kitabihi |
| There are different vowels used for the word kitab (book). This difference makes the word plural in the Hafs version and singular in the Warsh version. This slightly changes the meaning of the verse because in the Hafs version Mary believes in all of God’s books, while in the Warsh version she believes in the book that is with her. | |
¶ Corruption in the Qur’an
Ibn Abi Yaafor narrates that he entered upon Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) who said,
“O Ibn Abi Yaafor, did you read the Qur’an?” so I said, “Yes, this recitation.” So he said, “It is this one that I asked you about and none other than it.” So I said, “Yes, may I be your ransom, why?” He said, “Because Moses (PBUH) spoke to his people a speech and they could not handle it so they rebelled against him in Egypt and they fought him, and he fought them, and he killed them. And Jesus (PBUH) spoke to his people a speech and they did not handle it and they rebelled against him in Tikrit and so they fought him, and he fought them, and he killed them. And it is the saying of God Almighty, ‘Then a group of the Children of Israel believed while another disbelieved. We then supported the believers against their enemies, so they prevailed.’ And the first Qaim from us, the Ahlul-Bayt, will speak to you a speech that you will not handle and you will go out against him in Rumaila Al-Daskara (Iraq) and you will fight him, and he will fight you, and then he will kill you, and this will be the last time someone rebels, then O Ibn Abi Yaafor, God will gather the first ones and the last ones and then he will bring forth Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) in the people of his time…”
One day I said to Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), “Are there verses and Surahs of the Qur’an that have never been published before or is the Qur’an complete as it is?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes there are, and there are also words in the Qur’an that were taken out. There is some corruption in the Qur’an but not all of it is corrupted.”
I said, “My Father, is any of the Qur’an that is currently present between our hands inspired by the devil? You had told me before that some of the previous Messengers before Jesus (PBUH) were inspired by Iblis at times.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The Qur’an that is present between the hands of the people is a mixture of true stories and imaginary ones, some lies and some truth, it is a mixture.”
I said, “Were the corruption and mistakes in it from Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) listening to the devil or from those who came after him?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It was from after Mohammed.”
I said, “My Father, there are some matters in the Holy Qur’an that when you read them, it is as if the one who wrote it was either correcting a mistake or made a mistake when copying the story.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Definitely.”
I said, “For example, the story of Talut and Jalut and the crossing of the river and then David killing Jalut, the thing is, there is no incident of crossing a river in the story of David and Goliath. The story of the river and the 10,313 is the story of Prophet Gideon and this happened hundreds of years before the incident of David and Goliath. Saul was the King in the time of David (not Talut) and the Bible says that he lost his soul and fought David, and there are many examples of this, stories that got mixed up in the Qur’an. In the book of Judges it states: “Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.” While in the Qur’an it says: “And when Talut went forth with the soldiers, he said, “Indeed, Allah will be testing you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of me, except one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand.” But they drank from it, except a [very] few of them. Then when he had crossed it along with those who believed with him, they said, “There is no power for us today against Goliath and his soldiers.” But those who were certain that they would meet Allah said, “How many a small company has overcome a large company by the permission of Allah. And Allah is with the patient. ”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, with all certainty.”
I said, “Was it Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) who was correcting what came in the Torah and the Bible or was it that Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) told the story wrong, or was it corrupted after Mohammed (PBUH & His Family)?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It was corrupted after Mohammed (PBUH & His Family).”
I said, “There is no power nor strength except through God.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “This book is not the same book that came down on Mohammed (PBUH & His Family).”
I said, “How do we know what the truth is?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “There is a time which will come in which we shall reveal the true Qur’an that came down upon Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) just as we revealed the matter of the Kaaba and the true month of Ramadan. Wait and you shall have great pleasure in reading it and you shall laugh, and you shall weep, and you shall be amazed. I believe you shall not sleep for three straight nights when you read and contemplate on it.”
¶ Ishmael or Isaac or Both?
I said, “The oldest available copies of the Torah mention that Isaac is the one who was to be slaughtered by Abraham and the Qur’an states it was Ishmael. Either the Torah is corrupted or the Qur’an in this regard or both of them were offered as slaughters, where is the truth?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Ishmael was the one offered to be slaughtered.”
I said, “So the Torah is corrupted there?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes.”
¶ Jesus’ Words in the Qur’an
I said, “There is a verse in the Qur’an about Jesus (PBUH) that says: ‘He declared, I am Abdullah (a servant of Allah).’ Someone is asking, is the meaning here that he is a servant from the servants of God, or that the soul of Abdullah pronounced on his tongue while the look-alike was in the form of an angel or what does this verse mean?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The meaning is that he is a servant from the servants of God, if the verse is correct, but in general, he means he is a servant from the servants of God.”
I said, “So it is corrupted then?” but the Imam (From Him is Peace) remained silent.
¶ The Verse of Cutting the Hand
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “In the Qur’an there is a verse: ‘The male thief and the female thief: then (eqta’u) cut off the hands of both, as a recompense for what they (both) have earned, as a torture from Allah; and Allah is Ever-Mighty, Ever-Wise’ ”
I said, “Was this verse corrupted?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, it really came down as ‘The male thief and the female thief: then (baqqi’o) stain the hands of both, as a recompense for what they (both) have earned, as a torture from Allah; and Allah is Ever-Mighty, Ever-Wise.’ ”
I said, “So there is no verse in the Qur’an commanding that the hands of the thief be cut off?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “No, there was a special plant that was dark in color and contained a dye which was hard to remove. They would dye the hands of the thief so he could be an example to others.”
¶ Al-Murtada
One day Adam (PBUH) and I were speaking about the Qur’an and he pointed towards a verse of the Qur’an that I had hanging in the room and said, “I heard from Abraham (PBUH) the manner in which this verse ‘And verily your Lord shall give you, so that you shall be well-pleased’ came down.”
I said, “What did you hear?”
Adam (PBUH) said, “He said it came down as ‘And verily your Lord Al-Murtada shall give you so that you shall be well-pleased.’ ”
Whose Words Are the Qur’an?
Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) said, “I shall give you something son, let me ask you a question, whose words are the Qur’an?”
I said, “God’s?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Does God say: ‘It is You that we worship, and it is You that we seek help from?’ Does God say about Himself, ‘It is You that we worship’ ?”
I said, “No, I suppose not.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The Qur’an is the words of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). He is the one who wrote the Qur’an by divine inspiration, but the words are his words.”
I said, “So it wasn’t that Gabriel brought him word for word the Qur’an and made him recite it like Muslims think?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “No, it was an inspiration into his heart, and he spoke the words.”
¶ The Governments Hid the Truth
We can see just in the last century that collections such as the Nag Hammadi library, lost Gospels, and manuscripts like Al-Haft Al-Shareef and The Sana’a Manuscript are well known amongst scholars and experts, but the public is still largely unaware. The Imam (From Him is Peace) said to me one day,
I want you to make a program that makes people understand that it is not in the interest of America and Israel to disprove Islam in its current form and schools of thought, because this religion and its sects bring in a lot of money and security for them. They could, if they wanted to, prove to the people that these religions have been corrupted from many centuries ago. They have found so much evidence and proofs for this while they were searching and digging for artifacts, and yet they hide many secrets from the Muslims especially, as well as the rest of the followers of the divine religions, because it is not in their interest to divulge the facts to the people.
¶ Sources
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 236
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 269
- Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 331
- Al-Itiqan fi’ulum Al-Qur’an (The Perfect Guide to the Sciences of the Qur’an), Al-Suyuti, Vol. 2, p. 66
- Sahih Muslim, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj Al-Naysaburi, Book 12, Hadith 156
- Sahih Muslim, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj Al-Naysaburi, Book 12, Hadith 156; Musabbihat refer to the chapters of the Holy Qur’an that begin with glorification of God (e.g. subhana, sabbaha, yusabbihu).
- Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Bukhari, Book of Limits and Punishments set by Allah, Hadith No. 6830
- Al-Itiqan fi’ulum Al-Qur’an (The Perfect Guide to the Sciences of the Qur’an), Al-Suyuti, Vol. 2, p. 66
- Sunan ibn Majah, Mohammed ibn Yazid Al-Qozwiny, Vol. 1, p. 626; Musnad Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Vol. 6, p. 269
- Kitab Al-Masahif, Ibn Abi Dawud, p. 169
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 89, p. 99
- Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 2, p. 633
- Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 2, p. 633
- The Different Arabic versions of the Qur’an, Samuel Green
- Early qur’anic parchments discovered in the Great Mosque in Sanaa, Ursula Dreibholz, German Archaeological Institute
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 7, p. 284
- The Holy Bible, Book of Judges, Chapter 7, Verses 1-8
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 249
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 19 (Maryam), Verse 30
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 5 (Al-Ma’idah), Verse 38
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 93 (Al-Dhuha), Verse 5
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 1 (Al-Fatiha), Verse 5