The Ahulbayt in Quran [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Tabarsi and incompleteness of Quran

A Wahhabi wrote:

As for Khomeini, in his book Alhukumatul Islamia he speaks
very highly of Nuri Tabrasi.

He has even quoted from
certain

of his books in support of his teories. Tabrasi is the
very

same person who wrote a book titled "Faslul
Khitaab fi

tahrifi kitaabi Rabbil Arbaab" (the
decisive say on the proof of Alteration of the book of the
lord of lords) printed in Iran,

1298 A.H.

to see that not only he claims the Quran is not complete
but also he present examples of Surah that is deleted
from the Quran

There are three individuals with the title of Tabarsi among
the Shi'a.

The one you mentioned who wrote a booklet on the
incompleteness of Quran, is al-Nuri al-Tabarsi (Husain Ibn
Muhammad Taqi al-Nuri al- Tabarsi) (c 1254/1838 - 1320/1902).

Those
who call the Shi'a Kafir due to this booklet will be surprised
if they know that many of the Hadiths that al-Nuri al-Tabarsi
has quoted are, in fact, from the Sunni documents and were
quoted from their most authentic books!

Actually his book has two parts.

In one part he has
gathered the Sunni reports and in the other part he provided
the Shi'a reports in this regard.

The Wahhabis, who
have recently distributed copies of this book to attack the
Shi'a, have intentionally omitted the part related to the
Sunni reports!

Nonetheless, the Shi'a scholars of his time disagreed with his
conclusion regarding the alteration of Quran.This shows that
the Shi'a scholars strongly believed nothing is missing from
Quran.

One important remark, here, is that, we cannot call any person
(Shi'a or Sunni) who claims Quran is incomplete, as Kafir.

This
is simply because believing in the completeness of Quran is
not an article of

faith, nor do we have any tradition saying that anyone who
claims

Quran is incomplete, is a Kafir.

Also, the verse of Quran
that states that Allah is the protector of the Reminder, can
be interpreted differently.

(Logically we cannot
prove the lack of alteration in Quran by Quran!)

We can not add anything to the articles of faith after the
demise of the Prophet (PBUH&HF), specially something like
completeness of a Quran that was compiled at the time of
Uthman long after the demise of the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Thus
claiming Kufr would be an innovation and a false accusation
and according to Islamic teachings such accusation will result
in serious consequences for the accuser.

If a Muslim
dose not agree with completeness of the Quran at hand, such
wrong idea does not make his belief deficient if he still
believes in all what have been revealed to the Prophet (PBUH&HF)
is truth.

Much the same as all Muslims agree that
all the Sunna of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) is truth, though
some of his Sunna may not have reached us.

What we can say about those individuals, who do not believe in
completeness of the Quran that we have at hand, is that they
are sadly mistaken in understanding the meaning of the
traditions on which they based their proof.

Also one
should distinguish between a person who believes Quran is
incomplete, and a person who has recorded some weak traditions
among others in his book, simply because he wants to pass down
all the information he has received (which are subject to
verification at a later time).

The second person with the title of Tabarsi is Abu Mansoor
Ahmad Ibn Ali who lived in the sixth century after Hijrah.
He is famous for some of his works.

He never wrote any
book to prove Quran is incomplete! Ayatullah Khomeini (RA)
quoted from this person in his book, and not the first person
as you alleged.

The highly-acknowledged Tabarsi in the Shia world is yet
another person.

His name is Abu Ali al-Fadl Ibn al-Hasan al-Tabarsi (c
486/1093 - 548/1154), who is one of the famous Imami
traditionists and the commentators Quran.

His book on
Tafsir is well-known.

He believed in the completeness of
Quran as other Shia scholars do.

Abu Ali al-Tabarsi
mentioned:

"There are no words added to the
Quran.

Any claim of added

words is unanimously denied by the
Shi'ites.

As to the deletion,

some Shi'ites and some Sunnis said
that there is deletion.

but

Our scholars deny that.

"

- Shi'i reference: Quoted from al-Tabarsi, in the Commentary
of the Holy

Quran, by al-Safi

- Sunni reference: Quoted from al-Tabarsi, by Professor
Muhammad Abu Zahrah

in his book "Imam al-Sadiq".

First of all, Tabarsi has confirmed that nothing has been
added in to the

Quran (as opposed to some of the traditions in Sahih al-Bukhari
which claim

otherwise).

Second, he has mentioned that our
scholars (the Shia scholars)

rejected the idea that anything has been deleted from the
Quran.

His saying

clearly shows that the Shi'a scholars disagreed with any idea
concerning that

Quran is missing something.

Thus the very small
number of the traditions that

might imply otherwise should have proper interpretation.

Also
as

Tabarsi mentioned, such traditions which might imply deletion,
are not

exclusive to the Shi'ite books, and can be found in the most
important

Sunni collections of traditions such as Sahih Muslim and Sahih
al-Bukhari.

The Wahhabi opponent further wrote:

Nuri al-Tabarsi present examples of
Surah that is deleted from the

Quran, like the Surah of Wali "
Oh you who belive, belive in the

prophet and wali, the two whom we
sent to guide you to the straigth

path.

A prophet and wali
who are of each other.

.

.

and celebrate the

praise of your lord, and Ali is among
the witnesses.

.

.

What do you

have to say to this!!!

All the Shia scholars unanimously rejected the opinion of
Noori al-Tabarsi

that there was a Chapter called Wali.

But since you
tried to solve all the

problems concerning numerous traditions reported in Sahih al-Bukhari
and

Sahih Muslim on the deletion of two chapters of Quran with the
* length *

of chapter of al-Bara'ah! (ch.

9) by saying that
they were abrogated (even

after the death of Prophet!!!), then let's suppose for the
sake of argument

that the above small chapter called Wali was revealed, and
then it was

abrogated.

How does that sound?

As for the concept of Wali, we do not need any new chapter to
prove it.

The

concept of Wali has been mentioned in Quran with its general
as well as its

special meaning.

Here is just one of the verses with
its special meaning:

* Only * Allah is your WALI, and His
Messenger and those among

believers who keep alive prayer AND
pay Zakat while they are in the

state of bowing.

(Quran
5:55)

The above verse clearly suggests that * not * all believers
are your WALI

with the special meaning of WALI in this verse which is
"master" and

"leader".

Here again, WALI does not mean
just friend, because all the

believers are friends of each other.

The above verse
mentions that only

three items are your special WALI: Allah, Prophet Muhammad,
and Imam Ali

for he was the only one at the time of Prophet who paid Zakat
while he was

in the state bowing (ruku').

Muslim scholars are
unanimous in reporting

this event.

Here are just some of the Sunni
references which mentioned the

revelation of the above verse of Quran in the honor of Imam
Ali:

(1) Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v5, p38

(2) Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari, Egypt 1373, v1, pp
505,649

(3) Tafsir al-Kabir, by Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi

(4) Tafsir al-Bayan, by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, v6, pp
186,288-289

(5) Tafsir Jamiul Hukam al-Quran, by Muhammad Ibn Ahmad
Qurtubi, v6, p219

(6) Tafsir al-Khazin, v2, p68

(7) Durr al-Manthur, by al-Suyuti, v2, pp 293-294

(8) Asbab al-Nuzool, by Jalaluddin al-Suyuti, Egypt 1382, v1,
p73 on the

authority of Ibn Abbas

(9) Asbab al-Nuzool, by al-Wahidi

(10) Sharh al-Tjrid, by Allama Qushji

(11) Ahkam al-Quran, al-Jassas, v2, pp 542-543

(12) Kanzul Ummal, by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, v6, p391

(13) al-Awsat, by Tabarani, narrated from Ammar Yasir

(14) Ibn Mardawayh, on the authority of Ibn Abbas

.

.

.

and more .

.

.

Please see the article of Ghadir Khum, Part II, for more
information and

clarification about the above verse.