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<THE 'TE QUR'AN)):
cI
A Reconsiderationof Goldziher'sInterpretation*
BY
JOSEPH ELIASH
g?ci schools from early Islam to the present time without differentiation,
either doctrinally or historically. His judgement is unequivocal and faithful
to his clarity of expression he states as follows: ((Wenn auch in der Schlciten-
sekte die von einer ihrer extremen Gruppen versuchte Lehre zuriickgewiesen
wird, nach welcher der uberlieferte Koran wegen der Bedenken gegen seine
Authentie und Integritat nicht einmal als Quelle der Religion anerkannt
werden 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 echten
Koran Muhammeds Zusatze und wesentliche Textanderungen; anderseits
seien wieder wichtige Stiicke des echten Korans durch Weglassung getilgt
worden >, 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 die
fortdauernde schIcitische Voraussetzung eines nicht unerheblichen Mankos
im cothmanischen Koran im Verhaltnis zu dem urspruinglichen echten
Kodex >, 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 Studi
Orientali, XVI (I936), 249; BUHL, Koran, in EI, ed. i; D. RAHBAR, Relation
of 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 Moslem
World, 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.
[31 ((THE SI'ITE QUR AN)> I7
S?ic topics, especially ?fIc Hadit, refersto the Usfil al-kdfiof Kulini 1
The articles by de Tassy and Kazembeg discuss the siura of
<(TheTwo Lights >which was published and translated by de Tassy
for the first time in a Europeanlanguage. De Tassy cited it from the
Dabistan-i-Maddhibascribed to Muhsin Fani, published a few years
earlierin India 2. This sfurais quoted in the Dabistan in Arabic and
entitled sarat al-niurayn3, referring to Muhammad and cAll. It
begins as follows:
(i)<< 0 ye who have believed, believe in the Two Lights which we
have sent down. They recite unto you my verses and they warn
you of the punishment of a great day (2) Two Lights one of them
from another: and verily We are the Hearer, the Knower 44
Verses (4) and (5) read as follows: (4) <(And those who have
disbelieved after that they have believed, through their breaking
their contract and what the apostle covenanted upon with them,
shall be cast into Hell (5) Verily those who have wronged their own
souls and have rebelled against the Executor (wasg)of the Apostle,
those men shall be made drink of boiling water# 5.
Verses (I7-20): (I7) <(And verily cAll is the Pious (I8) And verily
We shall surely pay him his whole due on the Day of Judgment (I9)
Nor are We regardless of his being wronged (20) And We have
honoured him above all thy family , 6.
Verse (23): ((Say thou to those who have disbelieved after they
believed: "Ye have sought the adornment of the lower life and were
over-hasty about it, and ye broke the convenants after confirming
i. Vorlesungen iuberden Islam., ibid.
2. The edition at my disposal was lithographed in Lucknow I294/I877.
3. idem., 272.
4. The translation of this passage and the following is by TISDALL,idem,
for <<one of them from another? read, The one is from the other. The original
text of these two lines reads as follows (as appears in the Dabistan, 272):
4pLs -UT&
auT 't iT AijT u
uAA tL(I)
4<A -ud
1~ oL.f (20) 4.'
ARABICA XVI 2
i8 J. ELIASH [41
them. And We have indeed stricken for you the likeness of those
who are beforehand that perchance ye might be guided aright" ,>1.
Verses (32, 34-36): (32) <(And We have made for thee from among
them an Executor (wasiyyan), that perchancethey may return (34)
O Apostle, We have believed [sic!]: accept thou it, therefore, and be
thou of the thankful ones (35) Verily, "Allis an adorer by night,
a worshipper; he dreadeth the next world and he hopeth for his
Lord's reward. Say thou: Are they equal [to him] those who have
acted wrongfully? And they shall know it in my punishing their
doings (36) He shall place [sic] 2 iron collars about their necks and
they shall be remorsefulof their doings# 3.
The other sura quoted by Goldziher is in fact the <siirat al-
walaya > published by Tisdall, who quotes it from the above men-
tioned manuscript of the Qur'dn discovered in Bankipore 4.
Tisdall quotes also from this manuscript the sgra of the Two Lights
(sfiratal-ngrayn) and adds that the manuscript contains in addition
to these two siiras, a number of odd verses, none of which are to be
found in the 'Utmanic Codex and that it is claimed that the manu-
scripts had been purchased from a nawwdbin Lucknow and that
it was 200-300 years old 5. This other suira, containing 7 verses
reads as follows:
(i) # 0 ye who have believed, believe in the Prophet and the
Governor (wali) both of whom we have sent: They shall guide you to
a right way (2) A Prophet and a Governor are the one from the
other, and I am the Knower, the Well-Informed (3) Verily, those
who faithfully performGod's covenant, to them belong the Gardens
I.AU j1,(23) J
wYI~~~~. Jo
IS Le I a1S
o!U (3)aXILpw
oA>o
y<.
J9Sl ~~(36) ),ai
""&&4)
of delight (4) And those who, when our verses are recited to them,
have accounted our verses lies (5) Verily to them belongeth in hell
a great place, when it is proclaimed to 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 in
the 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 the
Lord, 'Ali is [one] of the witnesses # '.
It has already been shown by St. ClairTisdall that these additions
are forgeries.What is relevant here, however, is to consider whether
these references quoted by Goldzihercan be presented as evidence
that the Imdmi Si'a rejects the integrity of the text of the 'Utmanic
Codex of the Qur'dn. The contents of the two <(siras)> support,
indeed, the Imdmf-S'i claim that 'All is the walf of God and that he
was the direct successor of Muhammaddesignated to his office by
God, but in orderto accept these #siras ))as an Imdam-Si'ievidence,
we have first to prove that they are considered by the Imcmi-9S'a
themselves as genuine siiras that have been omitted from the
'Utmanic Codex.
Concerningthe Bankipore text, its only < connection ))with the
Imdmf-SfTais the claim that the manuscript was bougth from a
nawwJbin Lucknow which was a centre of Imdmi learning in India.
This alone does not constitute it into an authoritative Qur'an for
the Imdmi-Si'a.
As to the Dabistdn-i-Maddhib,it is significant to note that the
author does not identify himself with the Ss'a. He discusses twelve
different religions practised in his time in India and devotes just a
i. The Arabic text as quoted in the Dabistdn (op. cit.) reads as follows:
[sic] Cyvp ;,
rj19I 4J1 K
jiJ1 p6<Jb 1I
JX I,U T ,T oiJI [sic] Lv I (I)
4?o + ji bl (3)
o 9 1S 1w;a 2
~~~~~J
~ ~ ~
H
"
, (5) Z
g
(4) o R
rtai- L (6) ZA1X, Zj.X1< 4otILW 4S :
LLZJ sj1, t
9,rv (7)
C5t.7- -.-jj sis
J-. a4 fW Gf
,
AI
20 J. ELIASH [6)
down, but 'Ali b. Abi Talib, may peace be upon him, and the Imams,
may peace be upon them, after him >)1. And ((No one is able to
claim that he possesses the whole of the QuPrdn,all of it, its apparent
(zahir) and hidden (bdtin) meaning except the awsiyd' [i.e. the
ImdMs] > 2. But on a closer examination and having regard to
Imdmf-St'c juristic terminology, it becomes clear that Kulini and
other Imdmi jurists, in referring to such hadfts do not claim delib-
erate corruption of the contents of the cUtmanic Codex, but only
certain textual differencesarising from the variant readings (qira'at)
and dialectical peculiarities, and a change in the order of some of
the suiras as well as some of the verses 3. They also claim that cAli
and the eleven Imdms are the only ones after Muhammad who
know the right order; that (All possessed a copy which is set in the
right order; that this copy is in the possession of the Twelfth Imam
who will bring it forth on his reappearance; and that this copy
contains in the margin explanatory notes by cAllwhich they revere
to the same extent as the revealed text 4. Their regard for the
cUtmanicCodex is clearly shown in the following words of Saddfiqi
(d. 38I/99I-2): ((Our belief is that the Qur'dn,which God revealed
to His prophet Muhammad is [the same as] the one between the
two boards (ma bayna 1-daffatayn).And it is [the same as] that
which is in the hands of the people, and it is not greater in extent
than that [i.e. nothing is omitted from it] ))5; <(And he who asserts
that we say it is greater in extent than this [the present text] is
a liary)6. Mufid (d. 4I3/I022) tells of different views, unacceptable
to the Imami-Ss'a, held among others by the Banu Nawbaht7.
These different views, relating mainly to the period before the
w X, 1E Y!
J lI l 51w- bT WI L1a,1s
4L-- I- L.
I Di w _,II S
WI
~~~~wA 4JI4w
"?~~~~~~jI rU *1c, IlJt
4w- ?g1^
L> L.; Jls
I1 L
al-Kafi (Usul), I, 228, Tehran 1374/I954.
2. &.c A_91vvj
; Jxljtt9 "D
ts:i.,I
"tc 1 - i Lv.i k. " (XXIX: i6) in order to explain
and tolcd'All about it. "Allinstructed her to tell him whenever she
heard the voice. She did so, and he wrote down everything the angel
told her. The Imam is quoted as adding that it was all about what
to be and nothing about what is lawful and what is unlawful 1.
Considering the views of the Imdmi jurists concerning their
attitude to the Qur'dn,it is suggested that Goldziher'sconclusions
as referredto, above, be modified as follows:
A. The Qur'dnin the form accepted by the Sunnis as the Holy
Quyr'n revealed to the Prophet, is the same book accepted by the
Imdmi-Si'a as the Holy Qur'Jn.
B. The ImdmfT-S_amaintain that only the order of some of the
suras as well as some of the odd verses, and not their content (except
as far as differenceswhich arose from various readings, qird'dt,are
concerned) was corrupted in the 'Utmanic Codex.
C. 'Ali and the eleven Imdms are the only ones after Muhammad
who know the right order. "All'scopy of the Qur'dncontained the
siiras and verses in their revealed order. It did not contain any
additional revealed text and included "Ali's explanatory notes.
'All's notes are revered by the Sfca to the same extent as the
revealed text.
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 two
boards is not all God's word and that the Companions of the Prophet omitted
from 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.