Sunnis and Shiites: One Qur’an or Two?
Is it not a factor of the disintegration of the Muslim Ummah that there are deep differences in opinion among the Muslims though they believe in one God, follow one Prophet and have one heavenly Book (the Qur’an)?My question revolves around Allah’s Book. The Salafis, an influential sect among Muslims, adopt the view that the Shiites are apostates, claiming that the Shiites do not believe in the Qur’an that the Sunnis believe in. According to the Salafis, the Shiites’ claim that they believe in the Qur’an is a kind of taqiyyah (professing a certain belief to ward off the wrath of the authority). I argue that the Shiites no longer need to practice taqiyyah. Why they should do so when they have a state under their authority and can protect themselves? Moreover, they declare whatever opinions they hold even if these opinions anger the Salafis and Sunnis. Besides, if they have a Qur’an other than that which the Sunnis believe in, why is there no copy that is different from the Qur’an that is compiled and agreed upon all over the world? Above all, does not Almighty Allah say, and most truthful are His words: ‘‘We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)’’ (Al-Hijr: 9)?Would the claim that the Shiite sect has another Qur’an not contradi ct the meaning of this verse? How would the Qur’an be guarded against corruption if there is another version of it? I also wonder if the Shiites do not really believe in the Qur’an, why some eminent scholars have tried to bring the views of the Shiites and Sunnis close together? On what bases and for what reasons would this closeness be founded?However, there are some controversial questions that a fellow Muslim has raised in this regard. In fact, this fellow seems to be concerned with proving that the Shiites do not believe in the Qur’an. He argues thus:The Imamite Shiites are unanimous that they all believe in the authenticity of the Qur’an without denial of even a letter of it. We have no alternative but to believe what they say in this regard, but some questions are raised that cast doubt about their truthfulness in this respect. We are almost sure that their saying so is but a matter of taqiyyah I wish we may be wrong in this belief, but the points that make us doubt their truthfulness are worthy of consideration, and I hope they have answers for them. These points can be summed up as follows.First, the majority of the early Shiite scholars were reported to have declared that the Qur’an is incomplete. The Shiites tried to claim that the incompleteness meant here has to do with the interpretation of the Qur’an, not with the Qur’an itself, but the words their imams were quoted to have said in this respect do not support this claim.Second, one of their eminent scholars wrote a book in which he tried to prove that the Qur’an has been altered, and he cited more than 1,200 hadiths to assert this claim.Third, the Shiite scholar Al-Jazairi said point blank that the belief that the Qur’an has not been altered contradicts the hadiths whose various chains of narrators lift them to the degree of authenticity, and all these hadiths indicate the alteration of the Qur’an.Fourth, the Shiites accuse the Sunnis of altering the Qur’an, too. I read what one of their scholars wrote on this. According to this scholar, the Shiites tried to prove that the Sunnis’ compilation of the Qur’an was incorrect, and, moreover, reported the Sunnis as saying that the Qur’an is incomplete. I have disregarded their, for it is groundless. It is widely known that the Sunni scholars’ belief in the completeness of the Qur’an and the authenticity of its compilation are beyond doubt.This Shiite attitude raises a very serious question: If the Sunnis have altered the Qur’an, as they say, why do they declare that they unanimously believe in this Qur’an?The Shiites either lie about their accusing the Sunnis of altering the Qur’an, or they lie about their belief in it. I wonder which of these attitudes they really follow.This fellow’s argument may be somewhat controversial, but, in my opinion, the question he has raised really needs a detailed and clear answer.I know my question is long, and I am sorry for this. But I am really concerned about this issue and I hope you may provide me with a clear answer that will help me form my opinion in this respect, which, I believe, I will be brought to account for before Almighty Allah.I consider this issue serious, especially as I heard that a Muslim who calls another Muslim an apostate has become an apostate himself, and a Muslim who calls a person whose disbelief is clear a Muslim has also become an apostate.