Sunni Feedback on The Issues of Infallibility and Ahulbayt [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Early Debates on the Integrity of the Quran (Part I)

[ This article is written by Professor Hossein Modarresi from
Princeton University,NJ]

This short article attempts to shed some light on the origins
of the Sunnite-Shi'ite controversies on the integrity of the
text of the Quran.

The development of these debates
in the first Islamic centuries represents an interest example
of how ideas evolved in the early period through sectarian
disputes, as well as contacts and communication between
various Muslim sects and schools of thought.

Despite
severe mistrust, various factors existed to facili- tate the
give and take among different sects. Most prominent was a
group of hadith transmitters who frequented different
sectatrian camps and, thereby, introduced much of each sect's
literature to the others. Often confusion on the part
of these bipolar narra- tors of hadith helped naturalize segments of one
sect's literature into that of another sect.

This was particularly true in Shi'ism, many of transmitters
heard hadith from both Shitite and Sunnite sources, and later
misattributed much of what they had heard.

[1] The early
Shi'ite
[1] Kashshi, Marifat al naqilin = Kitba al Rijal, abridged by Muhammad b.
al Hasan al Tusi as
Ikhtiyar Marifat ar Rijal p 590-91, where Shadhan b.
Khalil
al Naysaburi askes the celebrated hadith transmitter, Abu Ahmad
Muhammad b.
Abi Umayr al Azdi, who heard from bothe Shi'ite and
Sunnite sources, why he never quoted any Sunnite hadith to his
tudents in his works.

He answered, that he deliberately avoided
that since he found many of the Shi'ites studied both Shi'ites and
Sunnites traditions, but later confused and ascribed Sunnite
material to the Shi'ites sources and vice versa.

mutakallimun also quoted statements from the Sunnite sources
in their polemics against the Sunnites as argumentum ad homi- nem.

But from the mid 3rd/9th century onward, it
was common for some Shi'ite authors and traditionisls to attribute a
Shi'ite origin to this material, since it was thought that whatever
the companions of the Imams and early Shl'ite mutakallimun said
or wrote, even what they used in their polemics, necessarily
represen- ted the views and statements of the Imams.

[2] This
assumption led to the introduction of much alien material into Shi'ite
thought.

[2] Kulayni, al Kafi, vol 1 p 99 Subhu al Salih, Mabahith fi ulum al Quran,
p 134
Many of these early interchanges were forgotten over time.
Hence it was not known that many of the ideas that were later labeled as Sunnite, Shi'ite, or the like were originally held
by a different group or, at least in the early period before the
sects took on their final shape, were shared by various mainstream
elements of Islamic society.

The question of the integrity
of the Uthmanic text of the Qur-an and the controversies surrounding it are a
prime example of that phenomenon.

The central issue in
these debates was whether the Uthmanic text comprehended the entire body of material that was revealed to the Prophet, or whether there
had been further material that was missing from the Uthmanic text.

In the following pages, we shall examine the
Sunnite-Shi'ite interchanges on this question.

* * * * *
The evidence in the text of the Qur'an itself as well as in
hadith indicates that the Prophet compiled a written scripture for
Islam during his own life-time, most likely in his first years in Medina.

[3] He reportedly continued until the end of his
life to
[3] Zarkashi, al Burhan fi ulum al Quran, vol 1 p 235, 237-38 256, 258 Suyuti, al Itqan fi ulum al Quran, vol 1 p
212-13, 216
personally instruct the scribes where to insert new passages
of the revelation in the scripture.

[4] There are also
indications that
[4] Ahmad b.

Hanbal, vol 1 p 57 Tirimidhi, Sunan, vol 4 p 336-37 al Hakim al Naysaburi, al Mustadrak, vol 2
p 229
parts of earlier revelations were not included in the scrip- ture.

One verse in the Quran acknowledges the
absence of a part of revelation which was abrogated or caused to be
forgoeten, [5]
[5] Quran Chapter II Verse 106
another spoke of verses that God substituted for uthers.

[6]
Early
[6] Quran Chapter XVI Verse 101
Muslims reportedly used to recall verses of the revelation
they did not find in the new scripture.

They were however,
aware that those passages were deliberately excluded by the Prophet,
since the Muslims frequently referred to them as what
abrogated (nusikha), lifted (rufi'a), caused to be
forgotten (unsiya), or dropped't (usqita).

[7] The concept of abrogation of
the revela-
[7] Abu Byad, al Naskih wa'l mansukh fi l Quran an al Karim, ed.
John Burton (Cambridge
1987), p 6 Muhasibi, Fahm al Quran an wa manih ed.
H.
Quwwatli
(in the collection of al Aql wa fahm al Quran [n.
p.
,
1971] p 261-502) p 399 (quoting Anas b.
Malik),
400 and 408 (quoting Amr b.
Dinar) 403 (quoting Abd al Rahman b.
Awf),
405 (quoting Abu Musa al Ashari), 406 Tabari, Jami al Bayan, vol 3 p 472-74,
476, 479-80 Ibn Salama, al Nasikh wa l mansukh, p 21
(quoting Abd Allah b.
Masud) Suyuti, al Durr al manthur, vol 5 p 179
(quoting Ubayy b.
Kab)
tion (naskh al Quran) apparently referred originally to those
parts that were not included by the Prophet in the scripture.

[8]
Later,
[8] Abu Ubayd, al Naskih, p 6 Bayhaqi, Dalail al Nubuwwa, vol 7 p 154

(where it is argued that the Prophet never put the Quran together
since there was always the expectation that some verses might be
abrogated and some later modification was thus in-evitable in any
collection of the Quran put together during his lifetime.

Underlying
this argument is the assumption that the abrogated verses had
to be physically removed from the scripture.
)

Zarkashi, vol 2 p 30 (the first
interpretation of the concept of naskh)
however, the concept was developed in the Sunnite tradition
to include several hypothetical categories, most of them with examples preserved in the present text of the Quran.

With
a single possible exception,[9] however, it is highly doubtful
that the Qur'an includes any abrogated verse.

[9] Abu al Qasim al Khui, al Bayan, p 305-403

The Sunnite account of the collection of the Quran is comple- tely different from the above.

It contends that the
Quran was not compiled in a single volume until after the Prophet died
in the year 11/632.

[10] The recorders of the
revelation (kuttab al-
[10] Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al Tabaqat al Kabir, vol 3 p 211, 281 Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al Masahif, p
10 Ibn Babawayh, Kamal ad Din, p 31-32 Bayhaqi, Dalail, vol 7 p 147-8 Zarkashi, vol 1 p 262 Ibn al Hadid, Sharah of Nahj al
Balagha.

vol 1 p 27 Ibn Juzayy, al Tashil li ulum al
tanzil, vol 1 p 4 Suyuti, Itqan, vol 1 p 202 Ibrahim al Harbi, Gharib al hadith,
vol 1 p 270
wahy) used to jot down the verses immediately after the
Prophet received and recited them.

Others among the
faithful memorized portions of the revelation or occasionally recorded them on
whate- ver primitive writing material was available.

According
to the supporters of this account, the fact that the Quran was not
compi- led as a book until the death of the Prophet is perfectly
logi- cal.

As long as he was alive there was always the
expectation of further revelation as well as occasional abrogations.

Any
formal collection of the material already revealed could not
properly be considered a complete text.

[11] Many people had memorized
[11] Bayhaqi, Dalail, vol 7 p 154 Zarkashi, vol 1 p 235, 262 Suyutim Itqan, vol 1 p 202 Ahmad al Naraqi, Manahij al ahkam, p
152
large parts of the revelation, which they repeated in their
prayers and recited to others.

As long as the Prophet was
living among the faithful as the sole authority there was no need for a
formal reference book of religion or a code of law.

All of
these considera- tions would change after his death and the new circumstances would necessitate the collection of the Qur'an.

The
story as reported by the Sunnis sources is as follows
Two years etfter the Prophet died, the Muslims were engaged
in a bloody battle with a rival community at Yarnama in the
deserts of Arabia.

Many of the memorizers (qurra) of the
Qur'an lost their lives at this time.

[12] Fearing that a great portion of
the Qur'an
[12] Yaqubi, Kitab al Tarikh, vol 2 p 15, most of the bearers
of the Quran were killed during the
battle.

All together, some 360 persons among the distinguished
companions of the Prophet lost their lives on that occasion.
)

Tabari, Tarikh, vol 3 p 296 Larger figures upto 500 for Ibn al
Jazari, al Nashr, p 7 Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al Quran, vol 7 p
439 Qurtubi, al Jami li Ahkam al Quran,
vol 1 p 50 and a figure of 1200 for Abd al
Qahir al Baghdadi, Usul al Din p 283 are also given.

The last
figure is however the number of all Muslims who were killed in the battle,
Companions and others see Tabari vol 3 p 300
would be lost should a similar situation arise and more
memorizers of the Quran die, Abu Bakr, the first successor to the
Prophet, ordered that the Qur'an be collected.

To this end,
the Prophet's companions and the memorizers of the Quran were asked to come forward with any parts of the revelation they had memorized
or written down in any form.

Abu Bakr ordered 'Umar,
his succes- sor to be, and Zayd b.
Thabit, a young recorder of
revelation during the Prophet's lifetime, to sit at the entrance to the
mosque of Medina and record any verse or part of the revelation that
at least two witnesses testified that they had heard from the
Prophet.

In one particular case, though, the testimony of a single
witness was accepted.

[13] All of the material gathered in this manner
was
[13] The case in question was the last two verses of Sura 9
in the present Quran which was added on the
authority of Khuzayma b.