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.