Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali Bin Ibrahim al-Qummi and the Accusation of Tahrīf al-Qur’an in Books of Shia Muslims: A Study on the Book Tafsir al-Qummi

Abstract

One of the most principal sources of Sunni-Shia conflict is the claim about the presence of ‘tahrīf Al-Qur’an’, or the distortion in the Qur’an, in many Shia literatures of Qur’an exegesis books. The claim ends in causing many Shia Muslims to suffer discrimination. For example, they are believed to have a different version of the Qur’an and the doctrin of taqiyyah with which they the true nature of their belif. This study focuses on the works of Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali bin Ibrahim al-Qummi which are considered to be the main reference for accusing Shia Muslims of distorting some Qur’anic verses (tahrīf). This study aims to review the thought of al-Qummi about tahrīf al-Qur’an as he claimed. This is library research using content analysis. The research found that al-Qummi when developing the concept of ‘tahrīf Al-Qur’an’ focused on exegetical exercises, not on actual distortion of the Qur’anic texts. This finding was based on the fact that the term ‘tahrif’ which that some classical ulama (figures) of Shia Muslims made did not deal with distortion of the Qur’anic verses (the corruption of texts), but with Qur’an interpretations which contradict the ‘intended meaning’ of the Qur’anic verses (the corruption of meaning).