Ni’mat Allah al Jaza’iri and the Distortion of the Qur’an
Ni’mat Allah al Jaza’iri and the Distortion of the Qur’an
Al Jaza’iri[1] mentions in his book al Anwar al No’maniyyah (vol. 2 pg. 357):
To accept the Tawatur (mass-transmitted nature) of the (seven Qira’at) as the divine revelation and to say that all of it was what has been revealed by Jibril results in discarding Mustafid (wide-spread) narrations, rather the Mutawatir (mass-transmitted) narrations, which clearly indicate the occurrence of interpolation in the Qur’an in terms of the wording, the subject and the grammatical analysis. Despite that, our scholars — may Allah be pleased with them — are unanimous on the authenticity (of these narrations) and believe in them.[2] Yes, a few of them have differed, the likes of al Murtada, al Saduq and al Tabarsi, they say that the entire Qur’an which is between the two covers is the Qur’an which was revealed from Allah nothing else, no distortion took place.
Al Jaza’iri explains to us their statement that distortion did not take place is not on account of belief, rather due to some other interests and that the doctrine of Taqiyyah (dissimulation) does not necessitate open declaration of this belief. He says (vol. 2 pg. 358):
It appears that this statement (regarding distortion not having occurred) was uttered due to many interests, like closing the door of disparagement on these narrations;[3] in the sense that if distortion is permissible then how is it possible to act upon its laws while affirming the distortion.[4]
Ni’mat Allah al Jaza’iri continues in his path of darkness affirming that the hand which was involved in distorting the Qur’an and omitting some verses indicating towards the virtues of the Imams was, and he says (vol. 1 pg. 97):
Do not be astounded by the abundance of fabricated ahadith[5], for indeed after the demise of the Rasul salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam they changed and distorted in the religion matters more grave than this, like changing the Qur’an, distorting its words, omitting the merits of the family of the Nabi and the pure Imams, omitting the ignominies of the munafiqin and exposing their shortcomings; as will be explained in the (section) Light of the Qur’an.[6]
Al Jaza’iri plays the famous melody of the Shia by saying that none besides ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu documented the entire Qur’an as it was revealed, and that the correct (version of the) Qur’an is with the so called Mahdi. He also says that the Sahabah did not accompany the Rasul salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam except with the intention of changing his din and distorting Qur’an. He says (vol. 2 pg. 360.):
It has been abundantly reported in many narrations which say that none besides Amir al Mu’minin documented Qur’an as it was revealed, at the bequest of the Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He was engaged in documenting the Qur’an for six months after the demise of the Rasul salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. After documenting it exactly as it was revealed he brought it to the detractors after Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and said to them, “this is the Book of Allah in the manner it was revealed,” ‘Umar ibn al Khattab then said to him, “we have no need for you, or of your Qur’an. We do have a Mushaf written by ‘Uthman.” ‘Ali then said to them, “in that case you will never see it again after this day, and no one will see it until my son, al Mahdi, comes.” In that Qur’an there are many additional things and it is free from distortion. This is so because ‘Uthman was one of the scribes in the time of the Rasul salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam due to some benefit that the Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam saw in appointing him to do so; and that is so that they do not reject him with regards to the Qur’an, He did not want them to say that the Qur’an is fabricated or to say that Jibril did not bring down the Qur’an as their predecessors said. Yet, they have also said it. Similarly he appointed Muawiyah as a scribe six months before his demise for the same purpose. ‘Uthman, and his ilk, would only attend the Masjid together with everybody, which means they only wrote and documented that which Jibril ‘alayh al Salam used to bring there. As for the revelation that came while the Rasul salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was inside his home, none documented it except Amir al Mu’minin simply because he had the honour of being the family member of the Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam which allowed him to go and come out from the Nabi’s house at any time, so he was the only one that could document this. The present Qur’an found with the people nowadays is the writing of ‘Uthman. When they gave him the title of Imam he burnt all the other Mushafs or hid them, and sent them during his reign as khalifah to different regions and places.
‘Umar ibn al Khattab, during his reign as khalifah, sent a message to ‘Ali to send the original copy of the Qur’an that he documented to him. ‘Ali knew that ‘Umar is asking for it in order for him to burn it like what he did with the Mushaf of ibn Mas’ud, or to conceal it with him so that people would say; the only Qur’an is the one which was written by ‘Uthman, so he refused to send the Qur’an to him. This Qur’an is now with our master al Mahdi together with all the other heavenly books and the heritage of the Prophets. When Amir al Mu’minin took the post of khilafah, he was unable to reveal this Qur’an and to hide the other one, because in so doing there is an exposure of ugliness to those before him, like how he was unable to prevent Salat al Duha. He was also unable to establish the two kinds of Mut’ah; Mut’ah of Hajj and the Mut’ah of women. The Mushaf that ‘Uthman documented remained in the same condition until it reached the hands of the Qurra’ they changed it through madd, idgham and meeting of the two sakin letters as ‘Uthman and his people changed it. They changed some verses to such an extent that even the natural disposition (of the rational human mind) does not accept these changes, and reason alone suffices in judging that it was not revealed thus.
If it is said, “how is it permissible to read this Qur’an despite it having changes and distortions?” I would say, “it is reported in many ahadith that the Imams commanded their Shia to read from this present Qur’an in prayer, as well as outside prayer, and to act upon its laws until our master, Sahib al Zaman (al Mahdi) appears. Then this Qur’an will be lifted up from the people to the heaven, thereafter the Qur’an which was documented by Amir al Mu’minin will come out, it will be read and its laws acted upon.
Al Kulayni narrates with his isnad to Salim ibn Salamah who says, “a person read to Abu ‘Abdullah (al Sadiq) — while I was listening — a different Qira’ah, contrary to what people read. Abu ‘Abdullah then said, ‘abstain from this reading and read as everybody is reading until al Qa’im (al Mahdi) rises up, when he will rise he will read the Qur’an in its proper manner, and he will bring out the Mushaf which was written by ‘Ali.’ In this hadith it is mentioned that ‘Ali when he completed documenting the Qur’an said to them, “this is the Book of Allah as He has revealed it upon the Rasul salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. I have documented it in a book form.” They replied by saying, “we do have our own Mushaf, (there is) no need to take yours”, ‘Ali then said, “I swear by Allah you will never see this Qur’an again, I just wanted to show you what I documented so that you may read it.” The narrations found on this topic are many.
The synopsis of this is that none documented the Qur’an except ‘Ali, whosoever claims otherwise this is a liar. He presented this Mushaf to the Sahabah but unfortunately they refused to accept it, the (original) Qur’an has been raised until the emergence of the so-called Mahdi, and he will present it to the people. Imam ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu was unable to read the Qur’an that he documented out of fear for the people. This is sufficient as a fault or deficiency of ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu, Allah forbid. The Shia are commanded to recite this distorted Qur’an according to their claim until the emergence of the so-called Mahdi.
[1] His full name is Ni’mat Allah ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Hussain al Jaza’iri, born in 1050 A.H and passed away 1112 A.H, one of the students of al Khowansari, al Fayd al Kashani, Hashim al Bahrani and al Majlisi. He wrote many books, approximately 24 books in total. The most famous, yet toxic, of his books is al Anwar al No’maniyyah. It is the most despicable book of the Shia that I have ever read to date. No book surpasses it in terms of filth besides al Kafi of al Kulayni and the book Abu Hurairah of ‘Abdul Hussain Sharaf al Din — the Ibn Saba’ of the 20th century. Many of the scholars of the Shia have endorsed him and praised his books, especially al Anwar al No’maniyyah due to what this book contains of the exaggeration when discussing about the Imams, slandering the Sahabah, admission of Tahrif of the Qur’an and its deficiency. None will ratify such a person except one who has similar qualities. Agha Buzurg al Tehrani describes this book in his book al Dhari’ah (vol. 2 pg. 446). He says; the book al Anwar al No’maniyyah contains; “academic benefit as well as divine information.”
Al Hurr al ‘Amili gives his biography as, “al Sayed Ni’mat Allah al Jaza’iri, outstanding, very learned, Muhaqqiq (investigator) with high status.”
Al Khowansari describes him in Rowdat al Jannat: “He was one of our great later scholars, most outstanding scholar, unrivalled in his era in terms of Arabic language, literature, fiqh and hadith. He is a person of pure heart, very handsome, with an upright nature and beautiful books.” He then describes his books: “The most comprehensive book in terms of it points of benefit is a one volume book by the name of al Anwar al No’maniyyah.”
Al Qummi says in al Kunna wa al Alqab (vol. 3 pg. 298): “… A great master, noble muhaddith, a unique scholar of his time in the Arabic language, literature, fiqh, hadith, and in tafsir. He was a phenomenal scholar, outstanding, an expert researcher, a person of high status, the author of many famous books.” He also says in his book al Fawa’id al Ridwiyyah (vol. 2 pg. 294): “A pure descendant, a father of the noble, great, respected, many good descendants, generation after generation, found all over, the possessor of secrets, affable, a great pious scholar.” He says in Safinat al Bihar (vol. 2 pg. 610): “He is al Sayed, al Jalil, al Muhaddith, a distinguished personality, the author of famous books, all his sons and grandsons are outstanding scholars”
Al Mudarris al Tibrizi mentions in Rayhanat al Adab (vol. 2 pg. 253): “He is one of the great later scholars of the Shia, a great muhaddith, with a high status, an expert researcher, highly respected and very good in fiqh and hadith.”
Yusuf al Bahrani says in Lu’lu’at al Bahrayn (pg. 111): “This Sayed was an outstanding scholar, a muhaddith, a mudaqqiq (erudite researcher) he had a wide range in understanding the hadith of the Shia, and in investigating the narrations on Infallibility. He was in the company of great scholars and the rulers while being revered by them.” He describes the book al Anwar al No’maniyyah by saying: “The book al Anwar al No’maniyyah is a huge book; it contains a great deal of knowledge and abundance of research. We will suffice ourselves with this much of the biography for the reader to know that al Jaza’iri is thiqah (reliable); he is not suspected.” The reader should also take note to what extent the Shia went in praising and authenticating a person who discredits the Sahabah and admits that Tahrif did occur.
[2] He refers to the narrations which indicate to the distortion of the Qur’an and its incompleteness. These narrations also indicate to the verses which were omitted from the Qur’an consisting of the virtues of the Ahlul Bayt and the ignominies of the Sahabah.
[3] The narrations indicating Tahrif and incompleteness.
[4] Most of the Islamic laws are distorted according to the belief of the Shia in addition to deviance in belief.
[5] He refers to the ahadith that mention the virtues and the merits of the Sahabah.
[6] This “Light” has been omitted from the book due to its heinous examples of distortion and incompleteness found in it. I think that what is in this section overpowers that which al Qummi mentions in his Tafsir, al Kulayni in al Kafi and al Kashshi in al Safi. If it was not because of the danger of this light, it would not have been omitted from the book. How excellent would be if al Tabataba’i, the editor and supervisor over the publication of the book, includes it. Perhaps this will shed light to the path of the opponent.