The doubt about Al-Zuhri’s statement: “We were informed that he had recited a lot of the Qur’an.”

 Praise be to God, and may blessings and peace be upon our Master, the Messenger of God, and upon his family, companions, and those who follow him.

And then:

This is a series of responses to the doubts of Christians and Shiite Rafidis about the Holy Quran.

_They said that a lot of the Holy Quran has been lost!!

They cited what was narrated by Ibn Abi Dawood:

Abu al-Rabi’ narrated: Ibn Wahb informed us: Yunus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihab, who said: “It has reached us that a large portion of the Qur’an was revealed, and its scholars were killed on the day of Yamamah, those who had memorized it, so it was not known after them and it was not written down. Then when Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman collected the Qur’an, it was not found with anyone after them, and that is…” As far as we have been informed, he urged them to follow the Qur’an, so they compiled it into manuscripts during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, fearing that some Muslims would be killed in the battlefields while they had a large amount of the Qur’an with them, and they would go with what they had of the Qur’an, and it would not be found with anyone after them. So God granted success to Uthman, so he copied those manuscripts into manuscripts, and sent them to the provinces. And he spread it among the Muslims.” (1)

Their evidence was based on the words of Al-Zuhri: “It has reached us that much of the Qur’an was revealed, but its scholars were killed on the day of Yamamah, those who had memorized it, so it was not known after them and it was not written down.”

In response to this slander, I say:

First: The narration is weak:

This narration is weak and cannot be used as evidence because its chain of transmission contains a large time gap between Al-Zuhri and the Companions, may God be pleased with them.

Muslims do not accept in their religion anything but an authentic hadith that meets five conditions, which are:

1- Bond connection.

2- The justice of the narrators.

3- Controlling the narrators.

4- Absence of anomaly.

5- Absence of cause.

Abu Amr bin Al-Salah (2) said:

As for the authentic hadith: it is the hadith with a chain of transmission that is connected by the transmission of a just and accurate person from a just and accurate person to the end, and it is not anomalous or defective.

If we look at the chain of transmission through which this narration was narrated, we will find that it contradicts the first condition, which is the connection of the chain of transmission.

The meaning of the chain of transmission being continuous is that each narrator heard the hadith from his sheikh from whom he is narrating.

In this narration, Al-Zuhri says, “It has reached us!”

Who told Al-Zuhri this? We don't know!

Is he trustworthy or not, is he honest or a liar? We don't know!

Hadith scholars have always warned against mursal narrations, especially the mursal narrations of Al-Zuhri.

Imam Al-Dhahabi said: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan said: Al-Zuhri’s mursal is worse than the mursal of others, because he is a hafiz, and he names everything he is able to name, and he only leaves out those he does not like to name.

I said (Al-Dhahabi): Al-Zuhri’s letters are like a complex one.

Abu Hatim: Ahmad bin Abi Shuraih told us, I heard Al-Shafi’i say:

Al-Zuhri’s transmission is nothing, because we find him narrating on the authority of Sulayman ibn Arqam. (3)

Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said: Al-Zuhri’s mursal hadiths are among the weakest mursal hadiths. (4)

Ibn Abd al-Hadi al-Maqdisi said: The mursal hadiths of al-Zuhri are weak. Yahya al-Qattan did not consider the mursal hadiths of al-Zuhri and Qatadah to be anything, and he said: It is like the wind. (5)

Therefore, the narration is weak and cannot be used as evidence against us.

Second: The book’s investigator acknowledged the weakness of the hadith.

Dr. Muhibb al-Din said: Its chain of transmission is authentic to al-Zuhri and the trace is from his reports. (6)

In his saying that the trace is from the reports of Al-Zuhri, there is an indication of its weakness because the scholars of hadith, as we have mentioned, do not accept the mursal and reports of Al-Zuhri.

Third: The Prophet left only the Qur’an that is in our hands.

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, left behind nothing after his death except what is between the two covers, that is, what is between the two covers.

This is what Al-Bukhari narrated on the authority of one of the Companions and one of the Followers, may God be pleased with them.

Al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih: On the authority of Abdul Aziz bin Rufai’, who said:

Shaddad ibn Maqil and I entered upon Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them both.

Then Shaddad bin Maqil said to him: Did the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, leave anything behind?

He said: He left nothing but what was between the two covers.

He said: We went to Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and asked him:

He said: He left nothing but what is between the two covers. (7)

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said: This translation is in response to those who claimed that much of the Qur’an was lost because its bearers were lost. (8)

Fourth: It is impossible for anything of the Qur’an to be lost because God Almighty promised to preserve it.

God promised the nation that He will preserve this noble book and nothing of it will ever be lost.

{And indeed, it is a noble Book. Falsehood cannot approach it from before it or from behind it. It is sent down by One Full of Wisdom, Worthy of Praise.} (9)

The Book of our Lord, Blessed and Exalted be He, remains as it is. It has not been distorted or changed, in fulfillment and confirmation of the promise of God, Blessed and Exalted be He, to preserve it. Our Book is not like the Book of others, the Jews and Christians!

The great historian Will Durant says:

The oldest copies of the four Gospels that we have date back to the third century. As for the original copies, they appear to have been written between 60 and 120 AD, and then after being written over two centuries, they were subject to errors in transmission, and perhaps they were also subject to deliberate distortion intended to reconcile them with the sect to which the copyist belonged or its purposes (10).

He says: The crux of the matter is that there is a great deal of contradiction between some of the Gospels and others, and that they contain historical points of questionable authenticity, and many stories that arouse suspicion and are similar to what is told about the gods of the pagans.

Many incidents seem to have been deliberately placed to prove the fulfillment of prophecies in the Old Testament, and many passages may have been intended to provide a historical basis for a later doctrine of the Church or a ritual of its rites. (11)

Thank God it's done

_ Written by Abu Omar Al-Baheth, may God forgive him and his parents.

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Research references:

(1) The Qur’ans by Ibn Abi Dawood al-Sijistani, p. 208, published by Dar al-Bisharat al-Islamiyyah - Beirut, edited by: Muhibb al-Din Abd al-Subhan Wa’iz.

(2) Hadith Sciences by Imam Abu Amr bin Al-Salah, p. 11, published by Dar Al-Fikr Al-Mu’aser, Lebanon and Dar Al-Fikr, Syria, edited by: Nour Al-Din Antar.

(3) Biographies of the Nobles by Imam Al-Dhahabi, Vol. 5, p. 338, published by Al-Risala Foundation - Beirut, ed.: Sheikh Shuaib Al-Arna’ut.

(4) Fath Al-Bari, Explanation of Sahih Al-Bukhari by Imam Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali, Vol. 9, p. 448, published by the Al-Ghuraba’ Al-Athariyyah Library - Medina.

(5) The revision of the investigation by Ibn Abd al-Hadi al-Maqdisi, Vol. 4, p. 585, Adwa’ al-Salaf edition - Riyadh, ed.: Sheikh Abdullah bin Abd al-Rahman al-Saad.

(6) The Qur’ans by Ibn Abi Dawood Al-Sijistani, p. 208, published by Dar Al-Bisharat Al-Islamiyyah - Beirut, edited by: Muhibb Al-Din Abd Al-Subhan Wa’iz.

(7) Sahih Al-Bukhari, p. 1282, Hadith 5019, Dar Ibn Kathir edition - Beirut.

(8) Fath Al-Bari by Imam Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, Vol. 11, p. 251, published by Dar Taybah - Cairo, ed.: Nazar Muhammad Al-Fariabi.

(9) The Holy Qur’an, Surat Fussilat, verses (41, 42).

(10) The Story of Civilization Encyclopedia by historian Will Durant, Vol. 11, p. 207, Dar Al-Jeel Publishing House - Beirut, translated by Zaki Najib Mahmoud.

(11) The Story of Civilization Encyclopedia by historian Will Durant, Vol. 11, p. 210, Dar Al-Jeel Publishing House - Beirut, translated by Zaki Najib Mahmoud.