Information AboutTahrif |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT TAHRIF | |
| islam and other religions | |
| islamic terms | |
|
Tahrif ( verbal noun of the Consonantal Root '''', "to make oblique") is an Arabic term used by Muslims with regard to words, and more specifically with regard to what Islamic tradition supposes Jews and Christians to have done to their respective Scriptures . Most Muslims believe that Jews and Christians have deliberately changed the text of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible , through altering words from their proper meaning, changing words in form, or substituting words or letters for others. This is considered by Islam to be a deliberate change which distorted the word of God, and which thus necessitated the giving of the Quran to Mohammed , to correct this perceived distortion. Such substitution is also termed ' "alteration, substitution" (from the root ' "substitute"), a wider term used also in other contexts, but in the Qur'an and later literature practically synonymous with tahrif (e.g. Commentaries of Mudjahid B. Djabr Al-makki ). The doctrine is accepted by most Muslims, excepting groups such as the Mu'tazili and Ismaili sects (who account for a fairly small percentage of the total Muslim population), as well as a few Islamic scholars and members of various liberal movements within Islam. QUR'AN AND THE DOCTRINE OF TAHRIF The Qur'an accepts books known as the Tawrat (the Torah, or perhaps the entire Hebrew Bible), Zabur (the Book Of Psalms ) and the Injil (the Gospels , or perhaps the entire New Testament) as genuine divine revelations taken from the same Guarded Tablets as the Qur'an itself and brought by true messengers to both Jews and Christians respectively. Muslim tradition reads the Quran as accusing the Jews of having deliberately altered the Torah and the rest of Hebrew Bible , and Christians of deliberately altering the New Testament . The Qur'an does not specify exactly which parts are meant, however they are usually considered to be the places where the Qur'an and the Bible differ. Relevant verses on which the doctrine of tahrif is based are ( Yusuf Ali translation):
The Qur'an also contains different naratives of several Biblical historical accounts and stories. Muslims have commonly used the distortion of the text doctrine to justify these differences. See Similarities Between The Bible And The Qur'an for further details about the difference in naratives. ORIGIN OF TAHRIF The relevant Qu'ranic verses, if indeed referring to the alteration of biblical text, do not state explicitly how the alteration of the various biblical texts was done and when, but later commentaries give various explanations:
QUR'AN AND THE CLAIM OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE TEXT ITSELF Some claim that above explanations are against the Qur'an itself, since it states that the Tawrat and Injil were known by Jesus (5:110) "Then will God say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel (..)". Since Jesus knew all the Scripture and taught it, the alteration of these biblical texts has to fall between the period of Jesus and Muhammad. Furthermore the Qur'an states that those who follow the Law and the Gospel have to stand fast by them and that both the Law and the Gospels are revelations from God. The conclusion that could be drawn from this, since it not possible to stand fast by something when it is not known or altered, that the text of biblical texts were at least in the time of Mohammed not corrupted according to the Qur'an (5:68-69) Islamic scholars, such as Gary Miller, believe that Qur'an criticizes the handling of scripture by ''some'' Jews and Christians rather than their holy books. According to Gary Miller, Qur'an only makes the following three accusations {Link without Title} :
TYPES OF TAHRIF , '' Tadabbur-i-Qur'an '', 2nd ed., vol. 1, (Lahore: Faran Foundation, 1986), p. 252 # To deliberately interpret something in a manner that is totally opposite to the intention of the author. To distort the pronunciation of a word to such an extent that the word changes completely. For example, the word ‘مروه’ was changed to ‘موره’ or ‘موريا’. # To add to or delete a sentence or discourse in a manner that completely distorts the original meaning. For example, according to Islam, the Jews altered the incident of the migration of the Prophet Abraham in a manner that no one could prove that Abraham had any relationship with the Ka‘bah. # To translate a word that has two meanings in the meaning that is totally against the context. For example the Hebrew word ‘ابن’ was translated as ‘son’ whereas it also meant ‘servant’ and ‘slave’. # To raise questions about something that is absolutely clear in order to create uncertainty about it, or to change it completely. TAHRIF IN THE FIRST CENTURIES OF ISLAM In early Islam, tahrif was limited to an understanding that the Holy Books were misinterpreted for immoral purposes. There was no belief that the texts themselves of the Torah or Injil were changed. This early belief also contradicts the modern, popular belief that the books were misinterpreted through centuries of innocent and accidental mistranslation and copy errors. Originally, Muslims believed tahrif only occurred by a few Jews done purposefully. Therefore, the text of the Torah was the very same as the text of the Tawrat and the Gospels the same as the Injil. However, few Muslims read the Torah or Gospels because the Qur'an was considered by the pious to be vastly superior. Early scholars known to support the lack of change of the Tawrat and Injil are Ibn al-Layth, Ibn Rabban, Ibn Qutayba, Al-Ya'qubi, Al-Tabari, Al-Baqillani, Al-Ma'sudi.Camilla Adang, ''Muslim Writers on Judaism & the Hebrew Bible from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm'', ISBN 90-04-10034-2. Several different ideas existed as to the motivation of tahrif:
EARLY REFUTATION Among the earliest Christian documents on Islam in retrospect are the letter Maximus the Confessor wrote between the year 634 and 640 to Peter the Illustrious and the three writings of Sophronius , Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 639) ranging from 634 till 637. Absent from these writings is any sense that the Arabs were spurred by a new religion. The Melkite s, those who had lost their empire, ascribed the success of the Muslims to Christian sins. The '' Apocalypse Of Pseudo-Methodius '', written between 685 and 692 (Syriac version), state among other things that the Muslims were given to rule over the Christians for their punishment and purification. The first Melkite example of doctrinal refutation is Anastasius of Sinai (d.c. 700). See also: John C. Lamoreaux, Early Eastern Christian Responses to Islam (chapter 1) in Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam: A Book of Essays The argument of tahrif is also refuted in an early polemical text attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Leo III A. Jeffery, Ghevond's text of the correspondence between Umar II and Leo III, in Harvard Theol. Review, xxxvii {Link without Title} , 269–321 with the statement that Jews and Christians share the same, widely-known divine text, and that Ezra , the convenental architect of the Second Temple , was a pious, reliable person. The same arguments appear in later Jewish writings. IBN HAZM The personality of Ezra becomes very involved in the polemics in the 10th (4th) century, and especially with Ibn Hazm , an Andalusian savant, who explicitly accused Ezra of having falsified and added interpolations into the Biblical text. The theme of tahrif found its first detailed elaboration in the writings of Ibn Hazm. He also arranged systematically and in scholarly detail the arguments against the authenticity of the Biblical text in the first () of the text. He explains how the falsification of the Torah could have taken place while there existed only one copy of the Torah kept by the Aaronic Priesthood of the Temple in Jerusalem . Ibn Hazm’s impact on later Muslim polemics was great, and the themes which he raised with regard to tahrif and other polemical ideas were updated only slightly by some later authors. ''The Encyclopeadia of Islam'', BRILL ''Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century'', chapter "An Andalusi-Muslim Literary Typology of Jewish Heresy and Sedition", pp. 56 and further, Tahrif: p. 58, ISBN 0-691-00187-1 ''Under Crescent and Cross'': The Jews in the Middle Ages, p. 146, ISBN 0-691-01082-X CRITICAL VIEWS ON MOHAMMED'S REFERENCE TO THE BIBLE According to some scholars on the field of Middle East studies, Muhammad 's attachment to the Bible was doubtless born of a desire to give legitimacy to his own message, to stress the affinity of Islam to the two better established and more widely accepted monotheistic faiths, and most specifically to Judaism. The "religion of Abraham " motif served that end, as did the Qur'an extensive citation of biblical material and Muhammad's acceptance of Jews as "People of the Book". But if that was Muhammad's intent, the situation was quite different for later Muslims. Their problem was to separate and distinguish themselves from those other two groups, to disengage themselves, so to speak, from their prophetically bestowed biblical heritage. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1. (Feb., 1994), pp. 147-148. JEWISH/CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO TAHRIF Christians and Jews deny that any person or group ever committed tahrif to their scriptures. They note that none of the teachings that Muslims believe were removed from the scripture are found in the most ancient scriptural manuscripts. Christians and Jews readily discuss that biblical manuscripts have textual variants. The entire science of biblical Textual Criticism has been devoted to this. These variants exist most often as misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and the existent of two similar words. The substantial changes of theology and narration that tahrif describes have not been found. Certain English-speaking Roman Catholics who use the old Douay-Rheims Version of the Bible claim that the King James Version (the most common Protestant translation) was created using corrupted Greek and Hebrew texts, and that the Douay-Rheims, being a direct translation of the Latin Vulgate , created from unadulterated Greek and Hebrew texts available in the fourth century, is purer than the King James. The , used by Judaism and many Christian demoninations, and the Greek Septuagint , the version of the Old Testament used by the Eastern Orthodox Church . http://www.septuagint.net In addition, the historical era in which the earliest extant versions of the New Testament were compiled is so close to the time period of the events that they discuss (less than a hundred years), that many scholars, both Christian and secular, would find the idea of such a massive textual and topical distortion as alleged by charges of tahrif to be unfounded. http://www.carm.org/evidence/textualevidence.htm SUNNI ISLAM, SHI'A ISLAM, AND CLAIMS OF TAHRIF REGARDING THE QU'RAN According to Shmuel Bar, some Sunni classical religious literature contains accusations that "The Shiites have a Qur’an that includes verses ( Surah Of Wilaya And Nurayn ) which are not in the Sunni Qur’an and that were forged in order to justify Ali’s right to succession. In doing so, the Shiites distort the Qur’an (tahrif)". It is also claimed that the Shiites have forged hadiths in order to justify their doctrines." Current trends in Islamist ideology (Volume 2) , Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World (Hudson Institute), p. 91. Article about this publication: Sunnis and Shiites: Between Rapprochement and Conflict In “Kashf-ul-Irtiyab fe Radd Fasl-el-Khitab” (i.e., Exposing Suspicion in Answering the Decisive Speech) has transmitted a group of quotations by eminent Shiite scholars concerning the textual authenticity of the Qur’an, he quotes the scholars:
These are the quotations of some of the most authentic Shi'i scholars: Shaikh Saduq : "Our belief is that the Qur’an is what is between the two covers and it is what is in people’s hands, nothing more. Whosoever attributes to us that we say rather than this is a liar Is the Qur’an Corrupted? Sheikh As-Sadouq, "Al-I'tiqadat", Volume 1, page 57. ." Sayyid Murtada : "The knowledge of authentic transmission of the Qur’an is like the knowledge of great countries and events, prominent accidents, famous books and written Arabic poetry for care is intensified and causes are available to properly transmit and guard it, and it reached such an extent that nothing else has ever reached. Shaykh Tusi or Shaykh al-Ta’ifah (i.e., Authority of the Sect): "Talking about it being increased or decreased is unacceptable because increasing is agreed upon its falsehood. As for decreasing, different Muslim sects are apparently against it and this matches the authentic belief of our sect and was affirmed by Al-Murtada (may Allah be pleased with him). This is explicit in various reports, however, some reports were related about decreasing parts of it and moving parts from place to place, but they are loner reports and do not indicate decisive knowledge. So, it prior to ignore them and quit being preoccupied with them because they cannot be interpreted. Even if they were authentic, it would not be against what is between the two covers for its authenticity is well known and none among the Ummah objects to or rejects it. Our reports agree upon reading it, holding by it and displaying any disagreement in branches before it, whatever agrees with it is accepted and whatever disagrees is rejected. An irrefutable tradition is reported on authority of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he says: “I’m leaving in you the two weights (Ath-Thuqlain) by whom if you hold by, you will never be lost: Allah’s Book and my family, the inhabitants of my house. They will never separate till they join me in the Hawd”. This indicates that it is present every time because he cannot command us to hold by it if it is corrupted "Tafsir-us-Safi", Volume 1, page 55 " The above two Sura's are considered as a forgery and do not appear in the Shia published Qur'ans. Shia Muslims consider the accusation that they are using a different Qur'an as one of the Misconceptions About The Shi'a . However, all the Qur'ans published in all the Shi'a countries such as Iran are the same as those published in Sunni countries. Shi’ites recite the Qur’an according to the Qira’t of Hafs on authority of ‘Asim which is the prevalent Qira’t in the Islamic world. Is the Qur’an Corrupted? Shi’ites’ View OTHER CLAIMS Some Muslims have also pointed that the different denominations (Jews, Samaritans, Greek/RC/Reform) have different texts and do not agree regarding their Canon. The Samaritans only admits the Pentateuch, RC use Apocrypha as the Greek Septuagint has more books than the Massoretic text. The latter, in turn, has problems regarding written words that are changed in reading (Qere/ Kethib). On the other hand, all Muslims - Sunnis and Shi'a, have the same Quran. With more manuscripts being studied by scholars, many passages in the bible are generally acknowledged as interpolations. Examples include:
An Egyptian scholar, Rashid ReDa , pointed out that the Pentateuch speaks about Moses and Joshua in the third person. The unavoidable question is: if it is not Moses, who is the author? Can it be trusted if we know nothing about authorship? NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
SEE ALSO |
|
|