An Analytical Approach to the Issue of Distortion in the Holy Qur’an and the Testaments

Document Type : The scientific research paper

Author

Researcher of Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

One of the important principles when studying religious texts, and especially interpreting sacred texts, is to pay attention to the historical debates on whether or not the sacred text has been distorted in the course of history. In other words, to what extent are these texts valid? Shiite and Sunni scholars have raised the issue of the Qur'an's immunity from distortion and falsification in their interpretations, which is in opposite to the view of Western scholars on the issue of distortion in the Testaments. Based on a qualitative method with a content analytical approach, this research examined the reasons for the distortion or non-distortion of the Holy Qur’an and the Testaments, in line with an investigation into the issue of distortion and its dimensions. Findings show that the distortion of the Qur’an may be considered only in terms of meanings while it is completely different in the Testaments. In fact, the problem of making Testaments by humans and the historic disappearance of the Torah and the divine Bible prove that we should speak of their falsification, not distortion.

Highlights

 

CONCLUSION

Distortion in the view of religions is a multifaceted category that needs to be studied with regard to these dimensions; also in the religion of Islam and according to rational and narrative arguments, there is no possibility of verbal distortion in the Holy Qur’an; but spiritual distortion is possible through interpretation.

On the other hand, according to the historical documents and sound evidence of Western scholars, the Old Testament and the existing New Testament were not written by the divine prophets, the occurrence of change is a proven issue, which shows that what the Bible says in the Western world - Judaism and Christianity - is far from the Torah and the original Bible sent to the two divine prophets; therefore, instead of distortion of the Testaments, given their humanity, they can be considered forged in comparison with the true Torah and Bible.

Keywords

Article Title [Persian]

رویکردی تحلیل‌مند به مسئله تحریف در قرآن کریم و عهدین

Author [Persian]

  • محمد شتا بدرا
پژوهشگر جامعة المصطفی العالمیة، قم، ایران
Abstract [Persian]

یکی از مبانی مهم در بررسی متون دینی و به­ ویژه تفسیر متون مقدس، توجه به این بحث تاریخی است، که آیا متن مقدس درگذر تاریخ دچار تحریف شده است؟ به بیان دیگر، این متون تا چه اندازه از اعتبار برخوردار هستند؟ مفسران شیعی و اهل سنت در عنایت به این نکته اساسی در تفاسیر خود، بحث سلامت قرآن از تحریف را مطرح کرده ­اند، که در نقطه مقابل نگاه محققان غربی به مسئله تحریف در عهدین است. در این پژوهش که به ابتنای روش کیفی و با رویکرد تحلیل محتوا بررسی شد، با توجه به بررسی محتوایی مسئله تحریف و ابعاد و انواع آن، به بررسی دلایل تحریف ­پذیری یا تحریف­ ناپذیری قرآن کریم و عهدین پرداخته است، و این نتیجه حاصل شد که تحریف در قرآن تنها از حیث معنوی امکان­پذیر است؛ اما تحریف در عهدین بحثی متمایز است؛ چرا که اساسـاً بـا توجه به بشری بودن و به‌اصطلاح دست‌ساز بودن عهدین و مفقود شدن تورات و انجیل الهی، به‌جای تحریف در عهدین فعلی باید قائل به جعل شد.
 

Keywords [Persian]

  • مسئله تحریف
  • رویکردی تحلیل‌مند
  • قرآن کریم
  • عهدین

References

The Holy Quran.
Nahj al-Balāghah.
Ibn Abi al-Ḥadīd, Abdullah ibn Hibatullah (1404 AH), Sharḥ-u Nahjulbalāghah, Research: Muhammad ʼAbulfaḍl Ibrahim. Qom: Ᾱyatullāh Marʻashī Najafī Library.
Ibn Fāris, Ahmad (1404 AH), Mu’jam-u Maḳāyīs al-Lughah. Research: ‘Abdusalām Muhamad Harun, Qom: Maktabat-u ʼAʼlām al-ʼIslāmī.
Bukay, Morris (1979), Testaments, Quran and Science, Translated by Hassan Habibi, Tehran: Hosseinieh Ershad.
Tawfiqi, Hussein (2005), An Introduction to Great Religions, Tehran: Samt.
Jafarian, Rasool (2003), The Legend of Distorting the Qur’an, Translated by Mahmoud Sharifi, Tehran: Amirkabir.
Javadi Amoli, Abdullah (2005), The Purity of the Qur'an from Distortion, Research: Ali Nasiri, Qom: Isrā’.
Javan Arasteh, Hossein (2008), Textbook of Quranic Sciences, Qom: Boostan-e Ketab.
Hosseini Shah Abdul Azimi, Hussein Ibn Ahmad (1984), The Commentary of Ithnā Asharī, Tehran: Miqāt.
Khorramshahi, Bahauddin (1992), Quran Research (seventy Quranic discussions and researches), Tehran: Eastern Culture Publishing Center.
Khū’ī, Abu al-Qāsem (1430 AH), Al-Bayān fī Tafsīr Al-Qur’an, Qom: Institute for the Revival of the Works of Imam Al-Khū’ī.
Rāghib Isfahani, Hussain bin Muhammad (1412 AH). Al-Mufradāt. Ṣafwān ‘Adnān Dāwūdī. Research: Safwān ‘Adnān Dāwūdī, Damascus: Dar al-‘lm al-Shāmīya.
Zibaeinejad, Mohammad Reza (2003), Comparative Christianology, Tehran: Soroush Publications.
Saeedi Roshan, Mohammad Baqir (2000), Quranic Sciences, Qom: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute Publications.
Shamkhi, Mina (2011), “Quranic Sciences: Distortion or non-Distortion of the Words of the Qur’an and the Bible,” Bayyināt, 71: p. 84-100.
Shoushtarī, Qazi Noorullah (1988), Al-Sawārim al-Muharraqa fī Jawāb al-Sawā'iq al-Muharraqah, Tehran: Nehzat Publishing House.
Taheri Khorramabadi, Seyed Hassan (2006), No Distortion of the Qur’an, Qom: Boostan-e Ketab.
Tabātabā’ī, Sayed Mohammad Hossein (1997), Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qur’an, Tehran: Allameh Tabātabā’ī Scientific and Intellectual Foundation Publishing House.
Ţabrisī, Fadl ibn Hassan (1993), Majmaʽ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’an, Tehran: Naser Khosrov Publications.
Faryab, Mohammad Hussein (2009), “Distortion of the Torah and the Bible from the Perspective of the Qur’an,” Ma'rifat, 143: p. 137-153.
Fayḍ Kāshānī, Molla Muhsen (1415 AH), Al-Tafsīr al-Sāfī, Research: Hussein ʼAʻlamī, 2nd ed., Tehran: Al-Sadr.
Qurashī, Sayed Aliakbar, (1992), Qāmūs Qurʼān. 6th. Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
Sadūq, Muhammad ibn Ali (1979), AL-Tawhīd, Qom: Hashem Hosseini Tehrani.
Sadūq, Muhammad ibn Ali (2006), ‘Uyūn Akhbār al-Ridā (AS), Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
Kuleinī, Muhammad ibn Ya'qūb (1986), Al-Kāfī, Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
Lufmark, Carl (1986), What is the Bible? (Introduction and Critique of the Old and New Testaments), Translated by Mohammad Kazem Shaker, Tehran: Dastan.
Rashid Reza, Mohammad (1414), Tafsir Al-Qur’an Al-Hakim Al-Shahir, Tafsir Al-Minar, Beirut: Dar Al-Marifah.
Mustafawī, Hassan (1430 AH), Al-Tahqīq fī Kalamāt al-Qurʼan al-Karīm, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyah.
Ma'rifat, Mohammad Hadi (2002), Quranic Sciences, Qom: Al-Tamheed Publishing Cultural Institute.
Ma'rifat, Mohammad Hadi (2007), Sīyānat al-Qur’an min al-Tahrīf, Qom: Al-Tamheed Publishing Cultural Institute.
Ma'rifat, Mohammad Hadi (2009), Al-Tamhīd fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’an, Qom: Al-Tamheed Publishing Cultural Institute.
Michelle, Thomas (2012), Christian Theology, Translated by Hussein Tawfiqi, Qom: Publications of the Center for the Study of Religions and Schools.
Najarzadegan, Fathullah (2005), The Non-Distortion of the Qur'an, Tehran: Mash'ar.
Najafi Khomeini, Mohammad Javad (2018), The Commentary of Asān, Tehran: Islamic Publications.
 
 
Quran and Religious Enlightenment
Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
October 2021
Pages 37-50

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 16 November 2019
  • Revise Date: 15 July 2020
  • Accept Date: 07 September 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics