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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Study of Sunni and Shii Traditions Concerning Tahrif [of Holy Quran] Part 3 Fasl al-Khitab and Tahrif Some persons who seem to enjoy misleading people have written that the book Fasl al-khitab by Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Tabarsi on the topic of tahrif contains traditions on tahrif narrated solely by the Shiah.

Mentioning two of the twelve arguments offered by al- Nile which are based on Shii traditions, they ignore his ten other arguments nine of which refer to Sunni traditions54 Here we will mention al-Nuri's arguments one by one. He mentions traditions narrated by the Ahl al-Sunnah and some Shiis prophesying that developments similar to those which took place among the earlier peoples, such as the Israelites, will also take place within the Islamic ummah.

In this regard he cites traditions from the, Sihah of the Sunnis, concluding that since scriptural corruption has occurred among the Israelites it has also occurred among the Muslims. Overlooking the basic weakness of this argument - because that which the traditions imply is developments and trends of a socio-his­torical character, to which the Qur'an also alludes - the thing to be noted is that most of these traditions have been narrated by the Ahl al-Sunnah and some of them by the Shiah.

Al-Nuri cites Sunni traditions concerning the compilation of the Qur'an and the fictitious tales related to it -such as the Qur'an's being compiled on the testimony of two witnesses, or the exclusive possession of certain verses by some persons, etc. From these he concludes the absence of tawatur and the possibility of tahrif.

This story of the Qur'an's compilation in this form is something particular to the Ahl al-Sunnah, because the Shi`ah believe that the Qur'an was compiled during the Prophet's lifetime, as pointed out by al-Tabarsi in the preface of his exegesis Majma` al-bayan. In this argument mentions Sunni traditions concerning those verses and chapters whose reading is said to have been abandoned.

Then he refutes the concept of abandonment of reading, observing, "These traditions prove the existence of verses and surahs which were deleted by the caliphs." As can be seen, this argument of al-Nuri is also based on what the Ahl al-Sunnah have narrated.