Shi'ite Qur'an

8/8/2019 Shi'ite Qur'an

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"The ite Qurn": A Reconsideration of Goldziher's Interpretation

Author(s): Joseph EliashSource: Arabica, T. 16, Fasc. 1 (Feb., 1969), pp. 15-24Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4055601Accessed: 02/02/2009 18:46

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I6 J. ELIASH [2]B. 'Ali possessed the complete and authentic copy of the Qur'dnwhich is three times longer in text than the cUtmanic Codex; it

also contained explanatory notes compiled on the authority of theProphet. This copy called ( Mushaf Fatima)> was given by theProphet to his daughter before his death. It was secretly kept bycAli and the Imdms after him. It disappearedwith the TwelfthImam on whose reappearance t will be revealed to the believers 1.C. In the meanwhile,true believers are to accept the recension ofcUtmanuntil the appearance of the Hidden IMdm2.Examining the references of Goldziher one finds, besides theSunni sources the Tirfh of Yacqflbi , who is considered as pro-cAld, a #? t's )>manuscriptof the Qur'dnwhich was discovered inBankipore, India, in June I9I2, containing the full text of theabove mentioned sfiras4 and two articles concerningthe siuraof published respectively by Garcin de Tassy5and Mirza Kazembeg6. In addition to those sources dealing withgenuine or alleged Ss'c material Goldziher, in discussing otherg?ci schools from early Islam to the present time without differentiation,either doctrinally or historically. His judgement is unequivocal and faithfulto his clarity of expression he states as follows: ((Wenn auch in der Schlciten-sekte die von einer ihrer extremen Gruppen versuchte Lehre zuriickgewiesenwird, nach welcher der uberlieferte Koran wegen der Bedenken gegen seineAuthentie und Integritat nicht einmal als Quelle der Religion anerkanntwerden k6nne, so hat sie seit der friihesten Zeit ihres Auftretens im all-gemeinen die Integritat der cothmanischen Textgestaltung verdachtigt.Dieselbe, so behaupten die Schiciten, enthalte im Verhaltnis zum echtenKoran Muhammeds Zusatze und wesentliche Textanderungen; anderseitsseien wieder wichtige Stiicke des echten Korans durch Weglassung getilgtworden >, Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung, 270, Leiden I952;and < Alle diese schicitischen Zutaten wurden durch W. St. Clair Tisdall,vorlaufig nur in englischer tYbersetzung, veroffentlicht. Alles Beweise fur diefortdauernde schIcitische Voraussetzung eines nicht unerheblichen Mankosim cothmanischen Koran im Verhaltnis zu dem urspruinglichen echtenKodex >, op. cit., 27I.

i. idem, 277-8.2. Cf. N6LDEKE-SCHWALLY, Geschichte des Qurans, 102-3, Leipzig I909;A. JEFFERY, The Qur'anic Readings of Zaid b. cAli, in Rivista degli StudiOrientali, XVI (I936), 249; BUHL, Koran, in EI, ed. i; D. RAHBAR, Relationof Sbica Theology to the Qur'an, in The Moslem World, LI, no 3 (July I96I),92-8, LII, no i (Jan. I962), 17-2I, no 2 (April I962), I24-8; and HOLLISTER,The Shica of India, 28-9, London 1955.3. Ed. HOUTSMA, II, I97, 152-4.4. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, Shica additions to the Koran, in The MoslemWorld, vol. III (I9I3), 227-41.5. Chapitre inconnu du Coran, in Journal Asiatique, XIII (1842), 431-9.6. Observations sur Chapitre inconnu du Coran, idem, XIV (I843), 37I-429.


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[31 ((THE SI'ITE QUR AN)> I7S?ic topics, especially?fIc Hadit, refersto the Usfilal-kdfiof Kulini1The articles by de Tassy and Kazembeg discuss the siura ofwhich was publishedand translatedby de Tassyfor the first time in a Europeanlanguage.De Tassy cited it from theDabistan-i-Maddhib scribedto MuhsinFani, publisheda few yearsearlier in India 2. This sfuras quoted in the Dabistanin Arabic andentitled sarat al-niurayn , referring to Muhammad and cAll. Itbegins as follows:

(i)


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i8 J. ELIASH [41them. And We have indeed stricken for you the likeness of thosewho are beforehandthat perchance ye might be guided aright" ,>1.

Verses (32, 34-36): (32)


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[5] ((THE SI'ITE QUR'AN )> i9of delight (4) And those who, when our verses are recited to them,have accounted our verses lies (5) Verily to them belongeth in hella great place, when it is proclaimedto them on the day of Resur-rection. Where are the wrong-doers,those who account the mes-sengers liars? (6) He created them not, the Messengers, except inthe truth; and God was not about to manifest them until an ap-pointed time near at hand (7) And land thou in the praise of theLord, 'Ali is [one] of the witnesses# .It has alreadybeen shown by St. ClairTisdall that these additionsare forgeries.What is relevant here, however, is to consider whetherthese referencesquoted by Goldzihercan be presented as evidencethat the ImdmiSi'a rejects the integrity of the text of the 'UtmanicCodex of the Qur'dn. The contents of the two support,indeed, the Imdmf-S'i claim that 'All is the walf of God and that hewas the direct successorof Muhammaddesignated to his office byGod,but in orderto accept these #siras ))as an Imdam-Si'ievidence,we have first to prove that they are consideredby the Imcmi-9S'athemselves as genuine siiras that have been omitted from the'Utmanic Codex.Concerningthe Bankipore text, its only


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20 J. ELIASH [6)few pages to the gf'a which he entitles ((Statements about thesecond sect of the Muslims who are known as the S!,"a 1 andprefaces his remarks by phrases such as , and the like. Heprecedes the ((Si7rat al-ni7rayn)>by the following statement:( Some of them [the Sf'a] say that 'Utman burnt the copies of theQur'an and excluded (rejected) some of the si7ras which were onthe subject of the dignity of "Aliand his excellence, one of thosesairas is this: >3. The Dabistcn-i-Maddhibwas critically edited andtranslatedinto Englishin the year I843 4, the editorsarenot certainof the identity of the author. They give the date of the death of thesupposed author, Muhsin Fani, as probably I08I/I670, and statethat he was , , but make no mention whatsoever thathe was a Ss's authority. Hence the Dabistan cannot be referred toas an Imami-S "isource and nor can its author be called an Imdmi-'Sic6.

In Kulini's Usfjl (written ca. 320/932)there are several traditionswhich, at first sight, may justify Goldziher'sconclusions. Amongthem are the following two traditions quoted on the authority ofthe fifth Imdm, Muhammad al-Baqir: ((Verily, whoever claimsthat he collected the Quryin,all of it as was sent down, is a liar; noone collected it and recited it, as God the Most High had sent it

I. ibid., 270. " . .1 IJ* ? 1 91 31 c5 4) JV1 "2. idem. *6.ltj I; j3 AS"rx>1i ,)-j ,^ - j3. ibid., 270. 1. jl 4D: A C-. 4 6 w oL..1 31 JvL" i bT 31 J" 41.,.s 9j4. The Dabistan or School of Manners, Transl. by D. SHEA and A. TROYER,3 vols., Paris I843.5. idem., Introduction, vol. I, p. VII.6. HOROVITzas the following to say about the author of the Dabistan-i-Madahib:


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[7] ((THE SI'ITE QUR'AN*) 2Idown, but 'Ali b. Abi Talib, may peace be upon him, and the Imams,may peace be upon them, after him >) . And ((No one is able toclaim that he possessesthe whole of the QuPrdn,ll of it, its apparent(zahir) and hidden (bdtin) meaning except the awsiyd' [i.e. theImdMs] >2. But on a closer examination and having regard toImdmf-St'c juristic terminology, it becomes clear that Kulini andother Imdmi jurists, in referringto such hadfts do not claim delib-erate corruption of the contents of the cUtmanicCodex, but onlycertaintextual differencesarisingfrom the variant readings (qira'at)and dialectical peculiarities,and a change in the order of some ofthe suiras as well as some of the verses 3. They also claim that cAliand the eleven Imdms are the only ones after Muhammadwhoknow the right order;that (Allpossesseda copy which is set in theright order; that this copy is in the possessionof the Twelfth Imamwho will bring it forth on his reappearance;and that this copycontains in the marginexplanatorynotes by cAllwhich they revereto the same extent as the revealed text 4. Their regard for thecUtmanicCodex is clearly shown in the following wordsof Saddfiqi(d. 38I/99I-2): ((Ourbelief is that the Qur'dn,which God revealedto His prophet Muhammadis [the same as] the one between thetwo boards (ma bayna 1-daffatayn).And it is [the same as] thatwhich is in the hands of the people, and it is not greater in extentthan that [i.e. nothing is omitted from it] ))5;


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22 J. ELIASH [8]disappearanceof the Twelfth Imdm, affected Imdmi-BS'c thoughtbut were not part of it.

Another tradition quoted by Kulini, on the authority of theImam (acfar al-$adiq, which determines the attitude of theImdmf-9i cato the Qur'dn is the following:


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[9] . In thiscategory of Hadit, the gf' jurists include the explanatory noteswhich cAliwrote in the margin of his copy of the Qur'Jn, or, theyclaim, these notes arose out of his conversations with the Prophet.Concerning he #mushafFdtima))referredto by Goldziheras a copyof the Qur'dnthree times longer in text than the 'Utmanic Codex,the Sif' tradition,as quoted by Kulini, is most explicit in conveyingthat the word mushafimplies a bookand not the Book, the Qur'dn,as shown by the following description on the authority of theImdm Oa'faral-Sadiq, < a book (mushafUn) hree times aslarge asthe Qur'dn containing knowledge of all events until the Day ofResurrection*)3and (xt contains nothing which is in the Qur'an *4.The Imdm is quoted as stating, also, the circumstances of thecompilation of this mushaf. He relates that when Fatima was indespair after the death of her father, the Prophet, God sent anangel to console her. She heard the angel's voice speaking to her"tc 1s:i,I - i k.v.i " (XXIX: i6) in order to explainthat " L4 L;1> J1Zj tSZ. < k Z.U 4 1 'v. For adetailed discussion of the terms muhdat and gayr mahliiq as used bythe ?fci authorities not in the sense quoted by WOLFSONee Bihdr, ibid.SADDUQ states the following also: "Our belief concerning the Qur'yn is thatit is the word (kaldm) of Allah and His revelation, sent down by Him, Hisspeech and His book. And falsehood cannot come to it from before it orbehind it. A revelation from the Wise, the Praiseworthy (4I: 42). VerilyAllah, Blessed and Exalted is He above all, is its Creator and Revealer andMaster and Utterer". Risala, 84-5. See also Bihar, idem, 4-5.I. Risala, 87.

2. idem. For a discussion concerning the integrity of the cUtmanic Codexbased on reasoning, see Aw2'il, 54-6.3. al-Kaff (Usfil), I, 240.4. idem.


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24 J. ELIASH [Io]

and tolcd All about it. "All nstructed her to tell him whenever sheheard the voice. She did so, and he wrote down everything the angeltold her. The Imam is quoted as adding that it was all about whatto be and nothing about what is lawful and what is unlawful 1.Considering the views of the Imdmi jurists concerning theirattitude to the Qur'dn, t is suggested that Goldziher'sconclusionsas referredto, above, be modified as follows:A. The Qur'dn in the form accepted by the Sunnis as the HolyQuyr'n revealed to the Prophet, is the same book accepted by theImdmi-Si'a as the Holy Qur'Jn.B. The ImdmfT-S_amaintain that only the order of some of thesuras as well as some of the odd verses, and not theircontent (exceptas far as differences which arose from various readings, qird'dt,areconcerned) was corrupted in the 'Utmanic Codex.C. 'Ali and the eleven Imdms are the only ones after Muhammadwho know the right order. "All'scopy of the Qur'dncontained thesiiras and verses in their revealed order. It did not contain anyadditional revealed text and included "Ali's explanatory notes.'All's notes are revered by the Sfca to the same extent as therevealed text.

Discussionof the questionof the integrity of the 'Utmanic Codexby the early Imdmi-S;i' jurists confirmsthe opinionthat amongtheImdmf-Ss'a there were some who rejected the 'Utmanic Codex.But, it is beyond any doubt that at least as early as Kulini (d. 329/940), the 'Utmanic Codex had been accepted by the Imdmi jurists.They elevated the interpretation of the Qur'dnascribed to "Alltothe same degree as the revealed Qu?r'dn hile continuing to sharethe reverenceof the generalcommunityof the Muslims o it, promul-gating that its infallible exegesis (kept by the absent TwelfthImdm)will be available to the believers only at the end of time 2.

i. idem.2. It is interesting to note that a Sunni scholar as distinguished as Mu-hammad Rasid Rid, the late editor of al-Manar published the following:((The Rdfida (meaning the Imami-gica) claim that what is between the twoboards is not all God's word and that the Companions of the Prophet omittedfrom it some verses and the siQraof al-wilaeya i.e. the wilaya of cAll *. And,

#... . the Qur'ln is altered in their [the Imlmi-gica] claim. They [the Sunnis]omitted about a third of it as their books declare #. al-Sunna wa-l-g?ca,43, 55 respectively, Cairo I347/I928. Cf. ASCARI Maqaldt al-Islamiyyin,ed. Hellmutt RITTER, 47, 2nd edition, Wiesbaden I382/I963.

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