Additional Evidence for the Meaning of Ḥarf I have argued that the key term Ḥarf referred to a pre-standardization Qirāʾa (recitation) associated with a certain companion i.e. the specific wording by which a companion recited the Qur’an was his Ḥarf. Some of the evidence to support this has already been presented in a previous installment, … Continue reading Tahrif or Not? A Shi’i Perspective on the Seven Ahruf Reports (Pt. IV) →

Introduction In a previous article[1] I demonstrated how the contents of a Hadith could play a significant role in the early Sunni Hadith critics’ acceptance or rejection of it[2] and could even affect the evaluation of a narrator who chose to transmit it[3]. What this means is that it was the subjective judgment of the … Continue reading The Burnt Book: A Case of Hadith Censorship by Early Sunni Critics →

Introduction This study will delve into certain critical episodes in the lives of a number of very different men, men who may have subscribed to wildly different beliefs, lived in different time periods, and came from different places, yet are all interconnected by having an association of some sort with the famed Hadith scholar ʿAbd … Continue reading ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s Shīʿīsm and the Limits of Sunni Hadith Criticism →

Introduction The first two parts of this series were devoted to summarizing the nature of the 'Seven Aḥruf' problem and tracing the evolution of the different interpretations that were advanced historically to deal with it[1]. In this part I lay out what I believe to be the solution, beginning by unveiling the true meaning of … Continue reading Tahrif or Not? A Shi’i Perspective on the Seven Ahruf Reports (Pt. III) →

What Dialects? It is al-Ṭabarī (d. 310) who comes closest to deciphering the meaning of ‘the Qur’an was sent down per Seven Aḥruf’ when he interprets this prophetic statement as referring to seven different wordings being revealed for a common point in the Qur’an without changing the basic meaning. Al-Ṭabarī asserts that these alternative wordings … Continue reading Tahrif or Not? A Shi’i Perspective on the Seven Ahruf Reports (Pt. II) →