Yet More Ahadith

So far we have mentioned only a few of the ahadith which deal with the missing of just one or two verses from the Qur'an. Let us now turn to those which concern the omission of large chunks:

8. On page 32 of Volume Two of al-Itqaan, it is stated that Lady 'Aisha (the wife of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.w.) said: "During the days of the Prophet s.a.w.w, Sura al-Ahzaab used to be recited in 200 (two hundred) verses. But when 'Uthman collected (the Qur'an) together, we did not get except what it (the Sura) is today!"
   
   However, what we have in the copies of the Qur'an today is the Sura al-Ahzaab which contains a total of 73 (seventy three) verses. If Sheikh M. al-Khatib and his associates were to be asked about the missing 127 verses, what would their answer be?

9. Again on page 32 of al-Itqaan and immediately after the Hadith mentioned above, it is written that Dharr bin Hubaysh was asked by Ubayy bin Ka'b. "How many verses does Sura al-Ahzaab have?"
   
   He answered: "Seventy two or seventy three verses."
   
   Ubayy remarked: "Although it was like Sura al-Baqarah or longer!"
   
   As we all know, Sura al-Baqarah has a total of 286 verses. In that case, therefore, where have the rest (that is 213 verses) of Sura al-Ahzaab disappeared to? Or how could the missing of the seven verses from Sura al-Wilaya in the Qur'an be comparable to the 213 verses of Sura al-Ahzaab?
   
   The above mentioned Hadith can also be found in Muntakhab Kanzil Ummaal, which is on the margins of Musnad Ahmad, Volume Two, page 1.

10. Turning to Sura Bara'ah - which, in the Qur'an we read from, consists of 129 verses - we are told that it is like Sura al-Baqarah in length which contains 286 verses! (see page 80 of Volume One of al-Itqaan). If that is the case, where are the missing 157 verses?

11. Furthermore, on page 34 of Volume Two of al-Itqaan, we are told that it has been said by Hudhayfa (in the al-Mustadrak) that Sura Bara'ah, as is being recited today, is only a quarter of it!
    
    According to that Hadith, therefore, nobody knows where the three quarters (that is 387 verses) are.
    
    The Hadith in question also appears on page 31 of Volume Seven of Majma'uz Zawaid, where it is said that its narrators are thuqaat (reliable).

12. Apart from all that, according to 'Umar ibn Khattab, number of letters which make the whole Qur'an is 1,027,000 (one million and twenty seven thousand). The same is stated on page 517 of Volume One of Kanzul Umaal (Hadith No. 2308). But what is generally known is that the letters in the Qur'an are only a third of the figure quoted! What this means is that twice the number of letters in the Qur'an used by Muslims today is missing. In other words, the Qur'an which 'Umar ibn Khattaab had in mind, is three times bigger than the one we have.
    
    Please compare that maswhaf (of Umar) with the one of Fatimah, which Sheikh M. al-Khatib mentioned on page 10 of his book; then have a look at our response on page 28-29 of this booklet. After that ask yourself: Is it the Shias or the Sunnis who have the Qur'an which is three times the size of the one known to all of us?