Al-Majlisi and the Distortion of the Qur’an

Al Majlisi and the Distortion of the Qur’an

There is no difference between al Majlisi^{^[1]} and the other scholars of the Shia who believe in Tahrif. They also believe that the Sahabah erased from the Qur’an the merits of Imam ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu, as well as their own ignominies. We find that he mentions in his book Tadhkirat al A’immah (pg. 9):

Indeed ‘Uthman erased three things from the Qur’an; the merits of Amir al Mu’minin ‘Ali, the merits of the Ahlul Bayt and the condemnation of the Quraysh and the three Khulafa’, for example the following verse was omitted:

يا ليتني لم أتخذ أبا بكر خليلاً

Woe to me! I wish I had not taken Abu Bakr as a friend.^{^[2]}

He also mentions in his book Hayat al Qulub (vol. 2 pg. 681):

Indeed the munafiqin usurped the khilafah of ‘Ali, they did this to the (first) khalifah, as well as the second khalifah which is the Qur’an, and they ripped it apart.^{^[3]}

Al Majlisi is of the opinion that the narrations of Tahrif are Mutawatirah [so widely transmitted to the extent that they provide certainty]. There is no way of denying this. Any claim for the rejection of the Ahadith of Tahrif is tantamount to the rejection of the Mutawatir Ahadith of Imamah, according to this claim. He says in his book Mir’at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul ^{^[4]} (vol. 12 pg. 525) in his commentary of the Hadith of Hisham ibn Salim, narrating from Abu ‘Abdullah (al Sadiq) who said:

“The Qur’an that Jibril ‘alayh al Salam brought to Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam consists of 17000 verses.” (Al Majlisi says about this hadith: ) This Hadith is reliable. In some of the copies (the name) Hisham ibn Salim appears instead of Harun ibn Salim, therefore the narration is authentic. It should be noted that this hadith as well as many of the ahadith on this topic are Mutawatirah in their meaning. Abandoning all these ahadith necessitates abandoning the reliance upon hadith altogether. Rather it is known that the ahadith on this topic are exactly on the same level with the ahadith of Imamah; so how do they (the rejecters of the ahadith of Tahrif) establish Imamah with these ahadith?

In other words, how is it possible to establish the doctrine of Imamah with these ahadith if they are rejected regarding the belief of Tahrif?

NEXT⇒ Ni’mat Allah al Jaza’iri and the Distortion of the Qur’an

^{^[1]} He is Muhammad Baqir Taqiyy ibn Maqsud ‘Ali well known as al Majlisi. He passed away in the year 1111 of the hijrah. He is the author of many books, of which some are: Bihar al Anwar, Tadhkirat al A’immah, Hayat al Qulub, Mir’at al ‘Uqul fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul, Kitab al Towhid, Kitab Qasas al Ambiya’, Kitab al Imamah, among many others. Al Bahrani mentions his biography in al Lu’lu’ah (pg. 55) he says: “This Sheikh was an Imam of his time in the field of hadith, as well as all the other sciences. He was Sheikh al Islam of the Sultanate of Isfahan, a leader of two leaderships, i.e. worldly and religious leadership, Imam for Jumu’ah and Imam of the Jama’ah, he is the one who spread hadith especially among the non-Arabs. He translated the different types of Arabic ahadith into Persian. In addition to this he was also firm in commanding good and prohibiting evil. He extended a hand of giving and generosity for anyone who came for assistance. The kingdom of Shah Sultan Hussain was protected because of the presence of our Sheikh despite his (the king’s) severe weakness and inadequate planning for the kingdom. When al Majlisi died some portions of this kingdom started diminishing, deviation crept in. In this same year the city Kandahar was taken from him. Destruction and decimation continued until his kingdom was taken away from him.” ^{^[2]} Quoting from al Sunnah wa al Shi’a by Ihsan Ilahi Zahir (pg. 113) ^{^[3]} Refer to the previous reference. ^{^[4]} This book was published after the establishment of the racist system of Khomeini, i.e. in the year 1400 A.H by the Haydari Printing house in Tehran. The publication of the bookstore of Waliyy al ‘Asr with the supervision of al Sayed Jafar al Hussaini.

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents