The doubt about Ibn Omar’s statement: “Let none of you say, ‘I have taken the entire Qur’an,’ when much of it has been lost.”

The doubt about Ibn Omar’s statement: “Let none of you say, ‘I have taken the entire Qur’an,’ when much of it has been lost.”

Praise be to God, and may prayers 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 Abu Ubaid narrated :

He said: Ismail bin Ibrahim narrated to us, on the authority of Ayoub, on the authority of Nafi’, on the authority of Ibn Umar, who said: “Let none of you say, ‘I have taken the entire Qur’an. How does he know what all of it is?’ A great deal of the Qur’an has been lost. Rather, let him say, ‘I have taken from it what is apparent of it.’”

Their evidence was based on the words of Ibn Omar: “A great deal of the Qur’an has been lost from him” (1).

_ In response to this slander, I say:

First: The narration is correct:

This narration is authentic and there is absolutely no problem with its chain of transmission or text.

As for the chain of transmission, it is authentic and continuous between Saeed bin Mansour and Ibn Omar, may God be pleased with them both.

As for the text, there is no doubt about it.

Second: The narration was mentioned by Abu Ubaid under the chapter:

{Chapter: What was removed from the Qur’an after its revelation and was not proven in the copies of the Qur’an}

If there are verses that were revealed to the Chosen One, may God bless him and grant him peace, then they were lifted and abrogated by God Almighty, and among these verses, by agreement of all Muslims without opposition, is this hadith that falls under this abrogation.

I repeat that there is no disagreement on this issue.

So Imam Abu Ubaid put this narration under this section:

{Chapter: What was removed from the Qur’an after its revelation and was not proven in the copies of the Qur’an}

An ignorant, pretentious person should not come out and claim that something from the Holy Qur’an has been lost, citing this narration as evidence.

Here are the rest of the scholars’ words that agree with Abu Ubaid on this issue:

_ Imam Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani says:

Ibn Al-Durais narrated from the hadith of Ibn Umar that he disliked a man saying, “I have read the entire Qur’an,” and saying, “Some of it has been lifted up.” There is nothing in that which contradicts the hadith of the chapter, because all of that is from the things whose recitation was abrogated during the life of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace. (2)

Al-Suyuti says in Al-Itqan:

The third type: what its recitation was abrogated but not its ruling.. and there are many examples of this type (3)

Then Al-Suyuti mentioned this narration directly!

Abu Ubaid said: Ismail bin Ibrahim told us, on the authority of Ayoub, on the authority of Nafi’, on the authority of Ibn Umar, who said: None of you should say: I have taken the entire Qur’an. How does he know what all of it is? A great deal of the Qur’an has been lost. Rather, let him say: I have taken from it what is apparent.

_ And the scholar Al-Alusi said:

{They agreed that there was no deficiency in what was transmitted in the Qur’an as it exists between the two covers today. Yes , the friend omitted what was not transmitted in the Qur’an and what its recitation was abrogated.. and upon this is based what Abu Ubaid narrated on the authority of Ibn Umar who said: No one among you should say I took the entire Qur’an and how does he know what is all of it? A lot of the Qur’an has been lost from it, but let him say I took from it what appeared , and the narrations in this chapter are more than can be counted, but they are based on what we mentioned.} (4)

The researcher of Sunan Saeed bin Mansour said, explaining and clarifying the meaning of the narration, although it is clear to every rational person, and he said, in summary:

(I took the entire Qur’an) meaning: everything that was revealed to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, of which the recitation was abrogated and what was recited in the original, (much of the Qur’an was lost) meaning: it was omitted from it during the life of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, or was omitted in the two collections agreed upon after him because it did not meet the conditions for its being proven to be Qur’anic according to the final presentation and other conditions besides it (5).

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 skins.

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 bin Maqil and  I entered upon Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. Shaddad bin Maqil said to him: Did the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, leave anything behind?  He said: He left nothing behind except what is 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 (6).

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 (7).

Badr Al-Din Al-Aini said:

This chapter was translated to respond to the Rafidis who claimed that much of the Qur’an was lost because its bearers were lost, and that the explicit mention of the Imamate of Ali ibn Abi Talib and his entitlement to the caliphate upon the death of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, was established in the Qur’an, and that the Companions concealed it. This is a false and rejected claim, and God forbid that the Companions would do so. His statement: (Except what is between the two covers) means: the Qur’an. (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, the Blessed and Exalted, remains as it is. It has not been distorted or changed, in fulfillment and confirmation of the promise of God, the Blessed and Exalted, to preserve it. Our Book is not like the Book of others, the Jews and Christians.

Finally : Riad Youssef Daoud says:

The book was copied by hand at the beginning of the Christian era, and they copied with primitive writing tools, from copied copies. The copyists introduced many changes and modifications to the texts, and some of them piled on top of each other, so the text that arrived in the end was burdened with the types of changes that appeared in a large number of readings. As soon as a new book was issued, copies of it were published that were full of errors. (10)

Is it possible for someone whose book is in this state to attack the most honorable, wisest, and most accurate of books without evidence, proof, or proof?!

Let none of you say: I have taken the entire Qur’an. How does he know what is all of it? A great deal of the Qur’an has been lost.

Abu Ubaid said: Ismail bin Ibrahim told us, on the authority of Ayoub, on the authority of Nafi’, on the authority of Ibn Umar, who said: But let him say: I have taken from him what is apparent.

Close to it is this narration: “O people, do not be alarmed by the verse of stoning, for it is a verse that was revealed in the Book of God and we read it, but it was lost in much of the Qur’an that went with Muhammad. The evidence for that is that the Prophet, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace, stoned, and Abu Bakr stoned, and she was stoned after him and his son. A people will come from this nation who will deny stoning.” However, I did not find any chain of transmission for it.

Al-Suyuti mentioned it in (Al-Itqan 2/33 Al-Durr Al-Manthur) within the chapter on what was abrogated in recitation but its ruling remained.

Assuming the hadith is authentic, there is no problem with it, because his statement is interpreted as abrogation. And there are many abrogated verses from a relative perspective. But are the alleged omissions in your view, such as the verses, “Convey what has been revealed to you concerning Ali” (2:100) “There is no rebuttal for the disbelievers in the guardianship of Ali” (2:100) “And those who have wronged the family of Muhammad will come to know to what place of return they will be returned” (2:100) abrogated or intentionally deleted?

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Let none of you say, “I have taken the entire Qur’an.” How does he know what all of it is? A great deal of it has been lost.

Imam Saeed bin Mansour said  : “140- Saeed told us, he said: Ismail bin Ibrahim told us, on the authority of Ayoub, on the authority of Nafi’, on the authority of Ibn Umar, he said: None of you should say: I took the entire Qur’an, and he does not know what all of it is, a great deal of the Qur’an has been lost, but he should say: We took what was apparent from it. [140] Its chain of transmission is authentic.” End quote. [1]

This trace is evidence that the abrogated is called the Qur’an. As for his saying that much of the Qur’an has been lost, what is meant by it is the abrogated, that is, much of the Qur’an has been abrogated. Imam al-Suyuti mentioned this trace in al-Itqan in the chapter on what was abrogated in recitation but not in ruling,  where he said  : “The third type:  what was abrogated in recitation  but not in ruling. Some of them mentioned a question about it, which is: What is the wisdom in removing the recitation while the ruling remains? Why does the recitation not remain so that the action is combined with its ruling and the reward for its recitation?”
The author of Al-Funun answered: That is to show the extent of this nation’s obedience in hastening to sacrifice their lives based on conjecture, without seeking a definite path, so they hasten to do the easiest thing, just as the friend hastened to slaughter his son in a dream, and a dream is the lowest path of revelation. Examples of this type are: Many.

Abu Ubaid said: Ismail bin Ibrahim told us, on the authority of Ayoub, on the authority of Nafi’, on the authority of Ibn Umar, who said: “Let none of you say: ‘I have taken the entire Qur’an.’ How does he know what all of it is? A great deal of the Qur’an has been lost. Rather, let him say: ‘I have taken from it what has become apparent.’” [2]
So the hadith is related to abrogation, as Imam al-Suyuti explained, and abrogation has rulings according to the people of the Sunnah and the community, who have spoken about it in the principles of jurisprudence and explained its divisions.

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1 - Sunan Saeed bin Mansour - edited by Dr. Saad bin Abdullah Al Hamid - Vol. 2, pp. 432-433.
2 - Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Quran - Abd Al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr Al-Suyuti - Vol. 3, pp. 81-82.