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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Study of Sunni and Shii Traditions Concerning Tahrif [of Holy Quran] Part 1 Textual Alteration ===================== One can speak of three possible kinds of alteration in respect to the Qur'an: in letters and vowelization, in words, in verses and surahs. As to the first kind, it has definitely occurred, and this is borne out by the seven or ten different readings of some of the Qur'anic verses.

We believe that this difference did not originate from God Almighty or the Prophet (S); it emerged due to the lack of sufficient precision on the part of the early Muslims in recording the reading taught by the Prophet (S). It also occurred due to their dispersion in different regions, like Syria and Iraq, which resulted in the divergence of accent, leading in turn to the tahrif in letters and vowels.

Possibly, another reason of it was the absence of points and diacritical marks in the early copies of the Qur'an. This led to such different readings as فَتَثَبَّتُوا and فَتَبَيَّنُوا. Such differences have been recorded by the Sunnis in their works of tafsir and gira'ah and the Shi`is have also narrated them in their books. Al- Tabrisi, in his exegesis, Majma- al-Bayan, has recorded the differences of readings from Sunni scholars.

As to tahrif in words, it may be said that only a special kind of it has occurred in the Qur'an, and most of such differences have been narrated in the traditions of the Ahl al-Sunnah. The cause of this tahrif is partly a result of tahrif in letters and vowels, and partly the belief in the permissibility of substituting a synonym for a word has been responsible for it.

Ibn Masud is on record as having expressly declared his belief in such a permissibility.3 However, it should be pointed out that this kind of tahrif is not important, for, as we shall see later, the isolated traditions (akhbdr ahad) that purport the occurrence of tahrif in words do not deserve any credence. But as to tahrif in words, in the sense that some words be missing from the present Qur'an, it is something which is not accepted by Muslims in general, excepting a few individuals.

As to tahrif in the verses and surahs, most of the related traditions are of a Sunni origin and only some of them come from Shi`i sources. Of course, no credence is attached to such traditions by Muslims in general, excepting some traditionalists (akhbariyyun) among the Shi'ah and the Ahl al-Sunnah.

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