Part Four: Tampering with the word of God Ali and the “False verse” conspiracy

 

Part Four: Tampering with the word of God

Ali and the “False verse” conspiracy

The essence of Dr. Khalifa’s conspiracy theory relies on the interaction between Ali and the members of Uthman’s scribal committee. The Appendix 24 gives Ali a role in the Quranic production tasks that are shared by other members commissioned. The committee is alleged to have added something to the Quran. Here, our Conspiracy creator wants us to believe that two “false” verses (9:128-129) were added to the Qur’an for the purpose of deifying Muhammad. Dr. Khalifa produces a narration from Ali that allegedly argues against the work of the commission. How reliable is any of this information?

We learn quickly that Dr. Khalifa’s historical knowledge is faulty. Dr. Khalifa’s claim that the two verses (9:128.129) were added to the Qur’an nineteen years after the Prophet’s demise. He picks the number 19 because he believes this will give the event special meaning. This when Dr. Khalifa believes that Uthmanic canonization process began. Muhammad died in 632 C.E. and Uthman became the Caliph in 644.AD. Some classical scholars such as ibn Khaldun place the date for canonization at 30 AH which is 23 years after Prophet Muhammad’s death. Ibn Hajar argues for an earlier date and places the canonization 13 after Muhammad’s death There is no source we are aware of that shows anything significant happening in the canonization process 19 years after the demise of the Prophet. (The ?Uthm?nic Codex: Understanding how the Qur’an was Preserved: Published: June 22, 2022 • Edited: July 28, 2022 Authors: Ammar Khatib and Dr. Nazir Khan https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/the-uthmanic-codex-understanding-how-the-quran-was-preserved)

Who were the members of Uthman’s committee? Dr. Khalifa writes that the “committee was supervised by `Uthman Ibn `Affaan, `Ali Ibn Abi Taaleb, Zeid Ibn Thaabet, Ubayy Ibn Ka`ab, `Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubair, Sa`eed Ibn Al-`Aas, and `Abdul Rahman Ibn Al-Haareth Ibn Heshaam.” Dr. Khalifa is wrong again on who composed the committee and what the roles were. He give Caliph, Uthman ibn afan, the same role as the other members. But Uthman’s only role was to select the scribes for the committee’s work. Uthman made the decision on who was to create the Quranic manuscripts so he selected the members of the committee. Uthman did not do any of the scribal work himself as he was the person that commissioned the work.

Aside from wrongly putting Uthman on the committee, Dr. Khalifa lists Ali, Zayd, Ubay, Abdullah ibn Zubair , Abdur Rahman ibn Hisham and Sa’eed ibn ‘As. However only Zayd, Abdullah ibn Zubair and Saee’d ibn ‘As and Abdul Rahman ibn Harth were members of the committee. (Bukhari 4987, Mishkat al-Masabih 2221) Ali in Talib and Ubay ibn Ka’ab were never members of Uthman’s committee and did not participate in the scribal process.

We are not sure why Dr. Khalifa listed Ubay. Ubay was known to have had his own copy of the Qur’an and he was involved in some apparent controversy but he did not participate in the commission. Ali ibn Talib is reported according to some sources to have had his own copy of the Qur’an according to some sources but no authority ever placed him on the panel. The sources are clear about who served on the panel and Dr. Khalifa’s ability to cite 3 correct members shows that he did research and has no excuse to make such an obvious error. The only possible conclusion is that Dr. Khalifa “placed” Ali on the scribal board so the doctor could create the fiction that there was altercation between Ali and the rest of the scribes.

What was Ali’s response to the insertion of the “false” verses by the majority? Dr. Khalifa cites the following narration from Suyuti’s itiqan:

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`Ali was asked: "Why are you staying home?" He said, "Something has been added to the Quran, and I have pledged never to put on my street clothes, except for the prayer, until the Quran is restored." (Khalifa’s translation. Pg 59 Itiqan)

At this point in time Suyuti’s Itiqaan ha not been translated into English but we decided to find the Arabic which is accessible online. Dr. Khalifa cites the wrong page number for the hadith. We found the hadith on page 381 under the section “compilation of the Qur’an.” We will provide a rough translation of the entire hadith:

'I said: It was reported from another route that Ibn Al-Durais included in his virtues: Bishr bin Musa told us, Hawdhah bin Khalifa told us, Awf told us, on the authority of Muhammad Ibn Sirin, on the authority of Ikrimah, he said: When it was after the pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr, Ali bin Abi Talib sat in his house. It was said to Abu Bakr: He hates your allegiance, so he sent for him, and he said: You hate my allegiance? He said: No, by God. He said: What kept you from me? He said: I saw God's book being added to it, so I told myself that I would not wear my dress except for prayer until I had collected it. Abu Bakr said to him: Yes, what you saw."

The particular narration of Ali is well known and found in different places. Another source writes ,” When the Messenger of Allah (S) passed away, I made an oath to Allah, that I would not put the cloak on my shoulder except for the Friday prayer, till I do not compile the Quran.’

(Revelation and Preservation of Quran: Prophethood and the Prophet of Islam :Ibrahim Amini

https://www.al-islam.org/prophethood-and-prophet-islam-ibrahim-amini/revelation-and-preservation-quran)

As we can see above, the tradition from Ali is well known and the statement has minimal variations in meaning. There are some scholars who deny Ali said the above based on the fact it is not found in the “sahih” books and on ground it was not believed that Ali ever produced a Qur’an. However are task is not to question the veracity of the hadith but only what Rashad wants it to say.

Based on the Arabic and English translations provided, we can see that Dr. Khalifa was dishonest in the translation. Dr. Khalifa tried to make Ali say that agenda was to “restore” the Qur’an, as if the Qur’an was corrupted. However the word “restore” is Dr. Khalifa’s translation of the Arabic “jam3.” The Arabic word means “to gather.” This is a gross mistranslation of the term that an Arabic speaker like Dr. Khalifa has no excuse to make.

Furthermore we can see Dr. Khalifa took the hadith out of context. The conversation took place with Ali shortly after the prophet Muhammad’s death as is made clear by Ali’s own words. Furthermore, the conversation happened with Abu Bakr, according to the variant of the narration cited by Rashad Khalifa himself. Dr. Khalifa took the narration out of context and placed the conversation 13 years after the Prophet’s demise. Furthermore, Abu Bakr was dead 11 years prior to Uthman’s committee. Would a Khalifa apologist have us believe Ali was talking to a ghost?

Ignorance cannot be an excuse for such gross negligence of history. Rashad Khalifa did not just happen to be a native Arabic speaker but a PHD who claimed complete knowledge of Islam. Dr. Khalifa not only took the narration about Ali out of context but twisted what was left of it so it could mean something else. Dr. Khalifa committed a gross injustice against not only Ali but the Qur’an itself.