The Shi’ah Belief First...

The Shi’ah Belief First, our belief about the Qur’an may be seen from the following quotation from our Kitabu ‘l-I’tiqadat (the Book of Creed) written by Shaykh as-Saduq Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Husayn ibn Musa Babuwayh, (the first “Priest” mentioned above): “It is our belief that the Qur’an which Allah has revealed to His , is the same which is between the two boards ( daffatayn ): and it is that which is in the hands of the people, and is not more than that” Then he says: “And he who asserts that we say that it is more than that is a liar.” Then he gives some of the reasons for our belief that the Qur’an is not more than the text which is in the hands of the people.

Those reasons are as follows: a. The traditions which describe the thawab (reward) of each and every surah of the Qur’an: b. The traditions which describe the thawab of the person who recites the whole Qur’an: c. The permission to recite two surahs in one rak’ah (in nafilah): d. The prohibition of reciting two surahs in one rak’ah in Farizah prayers. “All these verify what we have said about the Qur’an and that its total amount is what is in the people’s hands.

Likewise, what has been narrated from the Prophet forbidding the recital of the whole Qur’an in one night and that it is not allowed to finish recital of the Qur’an in less than three days, All this too confirms what we have said.” Then pointing to Ahad ith Qudsiyah, (which were also sent by Allah but not as part of the Qur’an), he says: “We say that so much of revelation was sent down, but not as a part of the Qur’an, that if all of it were collected, its extent would undoubtedly be equal to seventeen thousand verses.

And this, for example.