2


What


the Shiites Say


About


the Qur’an


Dr. Umar Labdo


3


بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


The Shiites believe that the Qur’an is incomplete. According to them,


the Book is full of contradictions, interpolations, inaccuracies and


inconsistencies. And who is responsible for this falsification of the Qur’an?


The Shiites say it is the Sahabah, the Companions who were the custodians


of the Book and who preserved and compiled it after the Prophet. They say


the Companions embarked on this slanting of the Qur’an in order to cover


their scandalous and disgraceful acts, which are graphically exposed in the


Qur’an, and to hide the outstanding traits and qualities of the family of the


Prophet, the Ahlul Bait, including Ali’s right to be the Imam after the


Prophet, which are also explicitly set out in the Book.


A renowned Shiite scholar, Hashim bin Sulaiman al-Bahrani, says in


his book on Tafsir, “You should know (dear reader) that the incontrovertible


truth, according to multi-channeled narrations, is that this Qur’an, which is


in our possession, has been subjected to changes after the Prophet (peace be


upon him), and those who compiled it omitted from it a lot of words and


verses.”1


The author of al-Kafi, the most authentic book in Shi’ah tradition,


gives us an idea of the amount of the Qur’an which has been omitted. He


narrates from Abu Abdillah Ja’far Sadiq, the sixth Shi’ah Imam, who says,


“The Qur’an which Jibril (peace be upon him) brought to Muhammad (peace


be upon him), is made up of seventeen thousand verses.”2 If we consider the


fact that the Qur’an that is in our possession today is made up of just 6,236


verses,3 we realize that the part omitted, according to the Shiites, is about


two-thirds of the Book. This means that, in Shiite view, what the Muslims


have today of the Qur’an is just a leftover!


1 Hashim bin Sulaiman al-Hussaini al-Bahrani, al-Burhan fi Tafsir al-Qur’an, al-Matba’ah al-Ilmiyyah, Qum-


Iran, 1393 A.H., p. 36.


2 Muhammad bin Ya’aqub al-Kulaini, Usul al-Kafi, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyyah, Tehran, n.d., vol. 2 p. 634.


3 Imad al-Din Isma’il bin Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Azim, Maktabah al-Safah, Cairo, 2002, vol. 1 p. 17.


4


There are countless narrations in Shi’ah books, and from their


religious authorities, confirming this view about the Qur’an. Ni’matullah al-


Jaza’iri, the fiery Shiite scholar, says they are more than two thousand.1


Another Shiite scholar, Muhammad bin Nu’man, known as al-Mufid, asserts


that all the Shiite sects are unanimous on the view as a cardinal principle of


their faith.2


Historically, the Shiites have a number of “scriptures” which they


hold sacred and which they believe escaped the corrupting hands of the


“enemies of the Ahlul Bait” (meaning the Companions) and therefore


retained their purity. Among them are the following:


1. Mus’haf Fatimah. This is the authentic, uncorrupted “Qur’an”, which the


Shiites inherited from Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet and mother of


the Imams, and which has been preserved by the Imams and their closest


disciples and followers. Shiite scholars attribute to their sixth Imam, Ja’afar


Sadiq, the claim that, “Fatimah left behind a volume which is not the Qur’an


but it is the word of Allah revealed to her. It was the Prophet’s dictation and


Ali’s handwriting.”3 In another version of the same narration, he says: “It is


a volume three times the like of your Qur’an but, by God, it contains not a


single letter of your Qur’an.”4


2. Al-Sahifah al-Jami’ah. This is another sacred book in Shi’ah tradition.


Al-Kulaini quotes Ja’afar Sadiq as describing it in the following words, “It is


a scroll measuring seventy zira’ long (about 47.6 meters), dictated by the


Prophet and written by Ali. It contains all the lawful and the prohibited and


whatever is needed by the people to the minutest detail.”5


1 Hussain bin Muhammad al-Nauri al-Tabarsi, Fasl al-Khitab fi Ithbat Tahrif Kitab Rabb al-Arbab, locally


printed in Iran, n.d., n.p., p. 248.


2 Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Nu’man al-Mufid, Awa’il al-Maqalat fi al-Mazahib al-Mukhtarat, Dar


al-Kitab al-Islami, Beirut, 1403/1983, p. 49.


3 Abu Ja’afar Muhammad bin Hussain bin Farrokh al-Saffar, Basa’ir al-Darajat al-Kubra fi Fada’il Aali


Muhammad, Manshurat al-A’lami, Tehran, 1362 A.H., p. 176. See also, Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi, Bihar


al-Anwar al-Jami’ah li Durar Akhbar al-A’immah al-At’har, Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut, 1403 A.H.,


vol. 26 pp. 41-42.


4 See, al-Kulaini, Usul al-Kafi, op. cit., vol. 1 p. 171.


5 Ibid., vol. 1 p. 171.


5


3. Al-Jafar. This is another sacred book in Shi’ah tradition that they revere


and which they regard as a source of guidance and law. Al-Kulaini quotes


the sixth Shi’ah Imam as having said concerning the book, “Indeed in my


possession is al-Jafar. [The narrator said]: I asked him, ‘What is in it?’ [He]


replied: David’s Psalms, Moses’ Torah, Jesus’ Gospel and Abraham’s


Scrolls. It contains all the lawful and the prohibited.”1 What this means is


that al-Jafar is a sacred book which, like the Noble Qur’an, contains the


essentials of all the revealed scriptures.


There are other books held sacred by the Shiites, such as Sahifah al-


Zu’abah, Sahifah al-Namus and Sahifah al-Abitah, but the abovedescribed


ones are the most important.


Mus’haf Fatimah as “the word of Allah revealed to Fatimah, dictated


by the Prophet and hand-written by Ali,” is by far the most important of all


the Shi’ah sacred books. As the Shiite “Qur’an”, it has interesting contrast to


the Muslim Qur’an as we know it today and as it has been known ever since


it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), fourteen


hundred years ago.


We have a graphic description of Mus’haf Fatimah in many


important Shi’ah sources. For example, in Kitab Sulaim bin Qais, one of


the earliest Shi’ah sources and which, due to its importance, is known as


“the ABC of Shiism”, we read the following information. Surah al-Ahzab


(chapter 33), which in the Qur’an has 73 verses, in the Mus’haf it is 286


verses long (exactly the number of the longest chapter of the Qur’an – al-


Baqarah!). Surah al-Nur (chapter 24), which has a total of 64 verses in the


Qur’an, the same Surah in the Mus’haf is 160 verses long. Also, Surah al-


Hujurat (chapter 49), which in the Muslim Qur’an has 18 verses only, its


namesake in the Mus’haf has 90 verses.2


Above are examples of the differences in the length of same chapters


in both books. But the difference does not stop there; there are also


differences in words, phrases, verses and sometimes even whole chapters. In


1 Ibid., vol. 1 p. 173.


2 Kitab Sulaim bin Qais al-Hilali, edited by Muhammad Baqir al-Ansari al-Zanjani, Muassasah Nashr al-


Hadi, Qum-Iran, 1420 A.H., p. 122.


6


fact, hardly a single chapter is found to be identical in the two books. For


instance, Surah al-Fatiha in the Mus’haf concludes like this: Ihdinas siratal


mustaqim. Sirata man an’amta alaihim, gairil maghdubi alaihim wa


ghairid dalin, Surah al-Fil (chapter 105) opens thus: Alam ya’tika kaifa


fa’ala rabbuka bi ashabil fil, while Surah al-Asr (chapter 103) reads: Wal


asr innal insana la fi khusr. Wa innahu fihi ila akhirid dahar. Illallazina


amanu wa amilus salihat wa’tamaru bit taqwa, wa’tamaru bis sabr.1


These are just a few examples of the glaring contrast between the


Noble Qur’an and Mus’haf Fatimah, which is the holy book of the Shi’ah


religion. Interested readers may refer to al-Shi’atu wal Qur’an by the late


Pakistani scholar, Ehsan Elahi Zahir, who has compiled all the differences


between the two books from authentic Shi’ah sources in a chapter by chapter


style.


Needless to say, the Shiites do not believe in the Noble Qur’an as we


know it and as it exists today, at least not the whole of it. For example, they


do not believe in all the verses that praise and extol the virtues of the


Companions of the Prophet. Verses such as this: “And the first to lead the


way of the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and those who followed them in


goodness – Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with


him, and he has prepared for them Gardens beneath which rivers flow,


wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment.” (Qur’an,


9:100) are, to the Shiites, an interpolation because they contradict their belief


that the Companions, especially the first ones including Abubakar, Umar


and Uthman, had all committed apostasy after the death of the Prophet.2 To


the Shiites, therefore, this verse, and many others like it, was added by the


Companions in order to cover their apostasy and hypocrisy. In short, they


doctored the Book to suit their purposes!


But why do the Shiites apparently accept the Qur’an as the Sacred


Book of Islam from which they derive guidance, verdicts, rules and legal


opinions?


1 Ibid., p. 125.


2 See our booklet What the Shiites Say about the Companions of the Prophet.


7


The answer is that the Shiites do not accept the Qur’an in its entirety,


but they pretend to do so. Otherwise why do they regard the Companions of


the Prophet, the Muhajirun and the Ansar, as apostates? Why do they insist


that A’isha, the Wife of the Prophet and Mother of the Faithful, had


committed adultery when no less than sixteen verses of the Qur’an (in Surah


al-Nur) have exonerated her?1 It is clear, therefore, that the Shiites accept


parts of the Qur’an which agree with their faith and reject other parts, which


they regard as an interpolation.


Another question often asked is: Where is the Shiite “Qur’an” and


why can’t it be bought in the market? The answer to this question is


provided by a Shi’ah scholar named Hussain al-Khurasani. He says, “We the


Shiites believe that there was a Qur’an which was written by Imam Ali with


his own blessed hand after he had finished preparing the Prophet’s body for


burial and had executed his will. The book continued to be in the custody of


the Imams as a trust from Allah until it reached the Imam Mahdi who kept it


and will bring it out when he appears.”2 This means that the book was in


existence for about 250 years from Ali’s time until the time of Imam Mahdi


(born 255 A.H.) who took it with him in his great disappearance.3 The book


will be in circulation again when the Imam reappears at the end of time.


Another Shi’ah scholar gave the same explanation. He said, “After the


death of the Prophet, the Amir al-Muminin (meaning Ali) carried it (the


Qur’an) in his outer garment [rida’] and brought it to Abubakar and Umar


while they were seated with a group of men in the mosque. He presented it


to them but they said, ‘We have no need for you and your Qur’an. We have


our Qur’an; it is sufficient for us.’ Whereupon, he said, ‘You will never see


it after today until the Mahdi arises.’”4


1 For their false accusation of A’isha, see our booklet What The Shiites Say about A’isha and Hafsah?


2 Hussain al-Khurasani, al-Islam ala Dau’ al-Tashayyu’, n.d., n.p., p. 204.


3 The last Imam (the 12th), who is known as the Mahdi, had two disappearances: the lesser disappearance,


which continued for 65 years during which a handful of trusted disciples had contact with him, and the


great disappearance which has lasted since 259 A.H. and will terminate with his reappearance at the end


of time. See, Imam Musa Musawi, A Critical Revision of Shi’ah, the Supreme Islamic Council, Columbia,


Maryland (USA), 1412/1992, pp. 77-78.


4 Ni’matullah al-Jaza’iri, Nur al-Anwar fi Sharh al-Sahifah al-Sajjadiyyah, Dar al-Mahajjah al-Baida’, Beirut,


1420 A.H., p. 175.


8


So the book is not physically in existence today, but excerpts of it are


found scattered in Shi’ah books, ancient and modern.


The View on the Scale of the Shari’ah


If we put this Shiite belief on the scale of the Shari’ah, we will see


that it is in grave error. This is because it contradicts the clear verses of the


Qur’an and many traditions of the Prophet, as well as the consensus of the


Ummah. Even non-Muslim scholars and researchers have acknowledged the


purity and immutability of the Qur’an.


The Qur’an challenges mankind to ponder and consider its contents if


they could find any contradiction:


Will they not then consider the Qur’an carefully?


Had it been from other than Allah, they would


have found therein much contradiction. (Qur’an, 4:


82)


The Shiite belief also denies Allah’s promise to guard his Book


against any human interference:


Verily, we, it is we who have sent down the


Reminder (i.e., the Qur’an) and surely we will


guard it (from corruption). (Qur’an, 15: 9)


Indeed, Allah has protected his Book so that “it is unassailable Scripture.


Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or behind it. It is a revelation


from the Wise, Owner of Praise.” (Qur’an, 41: 42)


The Shiite view of the Qur’an has grave consequences. It amounts to a


denial of the Qur’an and a rejection of its verses. This, when done


knowingly, will render one’s Iman null and void. Admittedly, many Shi’ah


followers, especially in Nigeria where there is lack of Islamic knowledge,


may not be aware of this belief. But this is not an excuse. Another dangerous


part of the belief is the saying that a book was revealed to Fatimah (may


Allah be pleased with her). This implies the existence of a prophet, even a


9


prophetess, after Prophet Muhammad. This also is a negation of the Qur’an,


which will make a Muslim an apostate.


It is for the above reasons that Muslims who are fascinated by Shiism


are counseled to be careful of their faith. May Allah guide us all to the


straight path, amin.


Important Notices:


1. Sunni Muslims consider the twelve Shi’ah Imams and other members of


the Prophet’s household, the Ahlul Bait, as belonging to the rank of the


leadership of the Ahlus Sunnah. They also believe that statements attributed


to them by the Shiites, which are contrary to the teachings of the Qur’an and


Hadith, such as the ones we have seen, are mere lies and the Imams are


innocent of them.


2. Shiite sources consulted in preparing this booklet are available at the


library of Markazus Sahabah in Sokoto. The library is open to the public.