The Shi‘ah scholars have consensus of opinion that the Holy Prophet (S) has said...

The Shi‘ah scholars have consensus of opinion that the Holy Prophet (S) has said: “Verily, I am leaving among you Two Weighty Things: the first is the Book of Allah (Qur’an) and the other is my progeny, the members of my Household { }. If you hold fast to them, you will never go astray.” This hadith is among the mutawatir hadith s, which has been narrated by both the Shi‘ah and the Sunni.

From the aforementioned statement, it is obvious that the Shi‘ah believe that the Book of Allah (the Qur’an) will undergo no alteration; for, if it undergoes any tahrif {distortion}, holding fast to it will neither guarantee guidance nor eliminate misguidance, and this does not accord with what has been confirmed by the text { nass } of this mutawatir hadith . 4.

The traditions of the Imams followed by the Shi‘ah, which have been narrated by all our scholars and jurists confirm that the Qur’an is the criterion for distinguishing truth from falsehood and the standard by which good is separated from evil in the sense that any statement, including the “ hadith s” that came down to us should be judged according to the Qur’an. If it is in agreement with its verses, it is correct and authentic; otherwise, it is deemed a fabrication and incorrect.

The Shi‘ah books of jurisprudence and hadith include a lot of narrations in this regard. We shall only quote one of them: Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ) says: "ما لم يُوافق من الحديث القرءان فهو زُخرف." “Any statement that is not in accord with the Qur’an is futile and false.”[^5] It is also clear from these hadith s that alteration has no place in the Qur’an, and thus, this sacred book can forever be a criterion for recognizing the difference between truth and falsehood. 5.

Great Shi‘ah scholars, who have always been the forerunners of the Islamic and Shi‘i culture acknowledge that the Holy Qur’an will never be altered. These great figures are too many to enumerate, therefore we shall point to only some of them: a. Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Husayn Babawayh al-Qummi, known as “Saduq” (d.

381 AH), says: Our belief regarding the Qur’an is that it is God’s Word and revelation; it is a book which is free from falsehood and incorrectness and it has been sent down by God, the All-wise, and He is its guardian.[^6] b. Sayyid Murtada ‘Ali ibn Husayn Musawi ‘Alawi, known as ‘Alam al-Huda (d.