Belief of Shia in the Completeness of Quran

[Syed KamiL Abbas Jafri]

A Wahhabi contributor mentioned that Shia believe Quran is not complete.
My answer to this matter is:

"Glory to (Allah), this is a big slander! (Quran 24:16)."

Shia do NOT believe that Quran is missing something. There are few weak
traditions which * might * imply to the contrary. Such reports are rejected
and unacceptable if they want to imply such a thing.

It is interesting to point out that there are numerous traditions reported
in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which allege that many verses of Quran
are missing. Not only that, but also they these Sunni reports allege that
two chapters from the Quran are missing one of them was similar to chapter
9 (al-Bara'ah) in length!!! Some Sunni traditions even claim that the
Chapter al-Ahzab (Ch. 33) was as lengthy as the Chapter of Cow (Ch. 2)!!!
The Chapter of Cow is the biggest Chapter of the present Quran. The
traditions inside Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim even present some of the
missing verses. (Some of these traditions will be mentioned in the
following articles with full references.). Yet, fortunately Shia never
accuse the Sunni brothers and sisters of believing that the Quran is
incomplete. We say that either these Sunni reports are either weak or
fabricated.

The completeness of Quran is so indisputable among Shia that the greatest
scholar of Shia in Hadith, Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Ali Ibn al-Husain Ibn
Babwayh, known as "Shaykh Saduq" (309/919-381/991), wrote:

"Our belief is that the Quran which Allah revealed to His Prophet
Muhammad is (the same as) the one between the two covers (daffatayn).
And it is the one which is in the hands of the people, and is not
greater in extent than that. The number of surahs as generally
accepted is one hundred and fourteen ...And he who asserts that we say
that it is greater in extent than that, is a liar."

Shi'i reference: Shi'ite Creed (al-I'tiqadat al-Imamiyyah), by Shaykh
Saduq, English version, p77.


It should be noted that Shaykh Saduq (RA) is the greatest scholar of Hadith
among the Imami Shia and was given the name of Shaykh al-Muhaddithin (i.e.,
the most eminent of the scholars of Hadith). And since he wrote the above
in a book with the name of "The beliefs of the Imami Shia," it is quite
impossible that there could be any authentic Hadith in contrary to it.
It is noteworthy that Shaykh Saduq lived at the time of minor occultation
of Imam Mahdi (AS) and he was one of the earliest Shia scholars. He had the
honor that he was born with the prayer of Imam Mahdi (AS).

Another prominent Shia scholar is Allama Muhammad Ridha Mudhaffar who wrote
in his Shia Creed book that:

"We believe that the Holy Quran is revealed by Allah through the Holy
Prophet of Islam dealing with every thing which is necessary for the
guidance of mankind. It is an everlasting miracle of the Holy Prophet
the like of which can not be produced by human mind. It excels in its
eloquence, clarity, truth and knowledge. This Divine Book has not been
tampered with by any one. This Holy Book which we recite today is the
same Holy Quran which was revealed to the Holy Prophet. Any one who

claims it to be otherwise is an evil-doer, a mere sophist, or else he

is sadly mistaken. All of those who have this line of thinking have

gone astray as Allah in Quran said: "Falsehood can not reach the Quran
from any direction (41:42)"

- Shi'i reference: The Beliefs of Shi'ite School, by Muhammad Ridha
Mudhaffar, English version, pp 50-51


Sayyid al-Murtadha, another prominent Shi'ite Scholar said:

"... our certainty of the completeness of the Quran is like our
certainty of the existence of countries or major events that are self
evident. Motives and reasons for recording and guarding the Holy Quran
are numerous. Because the Quran is a miracle of the Prophethood and
the source of Islamic Knowledge and religious rule, their concern with
the Quran made the Muslim Scholars highly efficient concerning
grammar, its reading, and its verses."

With this various concern by the most eminent Shia scholars, there is
no possibility that the Quran was added or deleted in some parts.

Besides what Allah mentioned in Quran about its protection, we can use our
logic to derive the same result. Allah sent his last Messenger to show
people (to the end of the time) His Right Path. Therefore if Allah does not
preserve His message, He would be contradicting His own aim. Obviously,
such negligence is evil according to reason. Thus, in essence, Allah
preserves His message as He preserved Moses in the house of His Enemy,
Pharaoh.

May Allah Bless Muhammad and his pure Ahlul-Bayt.