The Claim of Abdullah ibn Saad ibn Abi al-Sarh’s Distortion on the Qurʾan from the Perspective of the Books of Hadith

Abstract

This article investigates the claim of the Qurʾan’s distortion by ibn Abī Sarḥ, from the perspective of the books of Hadith. The historical approach, which is critically and analytically based, is used to analyse the narratives which are related to this issue in the books of Hadith. In addition, the author of this article has used the al-jarḥ wa al-taʿdīl. The conclusion is that there is no authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) hadith or even weak (daʿīf) in the books of Hadith that mentions ibn Abī Sarḥ’s distortion of the Qurʾan. All narratives which are mentioned in the books of Hadith and that are associated with him, do not refer to his distortion of the Qurʾan. Those narratives only indicate that Satan made ibn Abī Sarḥ turn his back on Islam, then later return to Islam. Narratives which indicate that ibn Abī Sarḥ altered the Qurʾan or that he was inspired by the final part of the 14th verses of Al-Muʾminun, are fabricated. Finally, the story of distortion of the Qurʾan had been imputed to more than one revelation scribe. This indicates that the whole story is a fabrication.