Question 524: Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you. May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon your infallible fathers and your mother Al-Zahraa’ and you and the Mahdis after you.
Question 1: My question is concerning the following verse, is it the same as how it came down upon Prophet Muhammad (sawas)? And what is its interpretation? And who are meant by “Ahlul Bayt” in it? {O wives of the Prophet, you are not like anyone among women. If you fear Allah , then do not be soft in speech [to men], lest he in whose heart is disease should covet, but speak with appropriate speech * And stay in your houses and do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance. And establish prayer and give Zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Verily Allah desires to keep off from you every kind of impurity O’ People of the House (Ahlul Bayt), and purify you with a perfect purification * And remember what is recited in your houses of the verses of Allah and wisdom. Indeed, Allah is ever Subtle and Acquainted [with all things]} [Surat Al-Ahzab 33:32-34] ?
Question 2: Who is meant by “Ahlul Bayt” in the following verse: {They said, “Are you amazed at the decree of Allah ? May the mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, people of the house (Ahlul Bayt). Indeed, He is Praiseworthy and Honorable”} [Surat Hud 11:73]?
Question 3: Is Hadith Al-Kisaa’ (Hadith of the Cloak) true? What is its text?
Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you.
Sender: Ahmed – The United Arab Emirates
Answer: In the Name of Allah The Merciful The Intensely Merciful
All Praises belong to Allah the Lord of the Worlds
O Allah send Your Peace and Blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad the Imams and the Mahdis and send great greetings
As for the order of the Qur’an, chapters and verses, no one says that they are the same as it came down except an ignorant person. As for the difference in the order of the chapters, it has been confirmed/proven with all the Muslims that there is more than one order at least according to the Masahif (copies of Qur’an) of the companions. And you can revise the books which addressed the history of Qur’an and what had been narrated about that [1].
As for the order of the verses and the fact that it is not as it came down, contemplate over these two verses, and they are Allah’s (swt) saying: {And those who are taken in death among you and leave wives behind – they, [the wives, shall] wait four months and ten [days]. And when they have fulfilled their term, then there is no blame upon you for what they do with themselves in an acceptable manner. And Allah is [fully] Acquainted with what you do} [Surat Al-Baqarah 2:234] and {And those who are taken in death among you and leave wives behind should make a bequest in favor of their wives of maintenance for a year without turning (them) out, but if they (wives) leave, there is no sin on you for that which they do of themselves in an acceptable way. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise} [Surat Al-Baqarah 2:240]
So those two verses, one of them is abrogating, and the other is abrogated, and they are about the iddah ([period of waiting, meaning the period that woman must observe after the death of her spouse during which she may not marry another man]) of the woman whose husband died. So in the beginning, the ruling was that the iddah is one year, as it is in the Abrahamic Hanif. Then the ruling got abrogated, so the iddah became 4 months and 10 days. Therefore the conclusion is, verse number 234 abrogates verse number 240. Meaning, that in Chapter Al-Baqarah, the abrogating verse is [in a position in the chapter] before the abrogated verse, while if you contemplate over the matter you would know that the abrogated verse should come before the abrogating verse in the sending down [of the verses]. Consequently, it gets clarified to you that the two verses in Surat Al-Baqarah are not in the same order as they came down. And this is an enough proof that [no one can say that] all the verses in the Mushaf (the copy of Qur’an) that we have now between our hands are absolutely in the same order as they came down.
I have given you that introduction in order that the following may be clarified to you:
And that is that, the verse which you are asking about: {Verily Allah desires to keep off from you every kind of impurity O’ People of the House (Ahlul Bayt), and purify you with a perfect purification} in fact it is not upon the same order by which it came down and this is not its position. And also the Prophet (sawas) specified this verse to the house of Ali and Fatima (a.s), for he would read it at their door [2], so there is no need to generalize it after the Prophet (sawas) specified it except for stubbornness and obstinacy.
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[2] Translator’s note: This is present in Sunni books. According to Anas ibn Malik, Prophet Muhammad (sawas), for six months straight used to pass by the door of Fatima whenever he left for Fajr prayers and said, “it is time for Prayer, O people of the house (Ahlul Bayt)! {Verily Allah desires to keep off from you every kind of impurity O’ People of the House (Ahlul Bayt), and purify you with a perfect purification} – Sunan al-Tirmidhi- Vol. 2 sahih 902
As for His (swt) saying: {They said, “Are you amazed at the decree of Allah ? May the mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, people of the house (Ahlul Bayt). Indeed, He is Praiseworthy and Honorable”} [Surat Hud 11:73], Abraham (a.s) and his wife Sarah (a.s), both are from one house, for she is the daughter of Abraham’s (a.s) uncle.
And Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you
Ahmed Alhasan
Muharram Al-Haram 1432 Hijri
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[1] Translator’s note: Not only has it been proven with all the Muslims that there is more than one order of the chapters of the Qur’an, but also in Sunni books there are narrations that point to the fact that the Qur’an present now is not “complete” (Of course we know the true Qur’an in its order and completion is with the Ahlul Bayt (a.s) and they commanded their Shia to recite the Qur’an like the people recite it until the Qa’im rises and brings out the Qur’an which was written by Ali (a.s) as it came down upon the Prophet sawas). Now let’s see one of those narrations on the tongue of A’isha herself:
(Abu Ubayd said that Ibn Abi Maryam said that Ibn Luhay’a said that Abi AlAswad said that Zubayr said that A’isha said: Surat Al-Ahzab (Chapter 33) used to be recited as 200 verses during the time of the Prophet, so when Uthman wrote the Masahif (the copies of the Qur’an) he did not include except what is present now) – Al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum Al-Qur’an by Al-Siyouti Volume 3 Page 66
Another narration from Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal:
(Ahmed ibn Hanbal narrated that Abdullah narrated that Wahb ibn Baqiyyah narrated that Khaled ibn Abdullah Al-Tahan narrated that Zayd ibn Abi Ziyad narrated that Zirr ibn Hubaysh narrated that Abi ibn Ka’b narrated: “How many verses do you read in Surat Al-Ahzab (chapter 33]?” He said: “Seventy and some verses”. He said: “I have read it with the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him like Surat Al-Baqarah (chapter 2) or more and it had in it the verse of stoning”)– Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal Volume 5 Page 132, and in Al-Musnad Al-Jam’i by Bashar Awwad Volume 1 Page 53
More:
(The Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever wants to read the Qur’an as it came down then let him read it according to the reading of Ibn Umm Abd (Ibn Mas’oud)“) – Musnad Ahmad Volume 1 Page 7. Sunan Ibn Maja Volume 1 Page 49. Fadha’il Al-Sahaba Volume 46. Mustadrak Al-Hakim Volume 2 Page 227. Al-Sunan Al-Kubra Volume 1 Page 452. Majma’ Al-Zawa’id Volume 9 Page 287. And more.
According to that last narration, Ibn Mas’oud is from the best companions to have memorized the Qur’an, and from Sunni sources.
Now look at the following narration from Sunni books as well:
(Ibn Malik said: The Masahif (the copies of Qur’an) were ordered to be changed, so Ibn Mas’oud said: “Whoever among you can hide their Mushaf (copy of Qur’an) then hide it, for whoever hides anything he will come with it on the Day of Resurrection”. Then he said: “I have recited/read from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah (sawas) seventy chapters! So do I leave what I have taken from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah (sawas)?!!”) – Musnad Ahmed Volume 2 Page 414. Fath Al-Bary Volume 9 Page 44. Tafsir ibn Kathir Volume 1 Page 433. Musnad Abi Dawoud Al-Tayalsi Volume 54. Tarikh Dimishq Volume 33 Page 138. Sayr A’lam Al-Nobalaa’ Volume 1 Page 486. And the Isnad (chain of narrators authenticity) with them is Sahih (authentic/credible) as it was said by Ahmed Muhammad the explainer of Musnad Ahmed.
Commenting on the above hadith Imam Ahmed Alhasan a.s said:
The meaning of the Hadith is clear: and that is that Ibn Mas’oud sees that the Qur’an that Uthman wrote was incomplete or some changes took place in it at least, for his saying: (So do I leave what I have taken from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah (sawas)?!!) means that what he took was different by one way or another from what Uthman wrote. And Ibn Mas’oud may Allah have mercy upon him remained insisting on his opinion and insisting on his rejection to what Uthaman wrote, until Uthman killed him when he burned the Masahif (the copies of the Qur’an) and burned his (Ibn Mas’oud’s) Mushaf and whipped him until he died. End of Imam’s words
The story of what Uthman did to Ibn Mas’oud is narrated in Sunni books as well. Ya’qoubi said in his book Volume 2 Page 170 that which means that Uthman had ordered that all the copies of Q’uran be burned except his (Uthman’s) copy ([which actually is Hafsa’s copy and Uthman ordered that copies be made of her copy, according to Sahih Bukhari Volume 5 page 210 and other sources]), so Ibn Mas’oud refused to give his copy, so Uthman ordered to drag Ibn Mas’oud’s so he got dragged by his leg until they broke two ribs of his.
Also Ibn Hajar said:
(When the Mushaf (copy of Qur’an) of Uthman came to Kufa, Ibn Mas’oud did not agree on its reading nor did he agree that his Mushaf(copy of the Qur’an) be burned, for his (Ibn Mas’oud’s) Mushaf was different than the Mushaf of Uthman) – Fath Al-Bary Volume 9 Page 36
So any Sunni brother or sister should contemplate over this, how could Uthman kill and burn the Mushaf written by Ibn Mas’oud when in their very own narrations and books the Messenger of Allah (sawas) said (Whoever wants to read the Qur’an as it came down then let him read it according to the reading of Ibn Umm Abd (Ibn Mas’oud)?! And they said that this hadith was Sahih (authentic/credible/reliable). Isn’t this worth contemplation, rather, waking up to see the lies and manipulations they have been feeding people?
More: A’isha herself admits “mistakes” in the Qur’an:
Urwa said that he asked A’isha about grammatical mistakes about some verses in Qur’an. So A’isha said: “O son of my sister, this is a mistake from the writers while writing the Book” – Al-Durr Al-Manthour Volume 2 Page 246, and similar narration in Fath Al-Qadeer Volume 1 Page 754.
Last but not least, one of the most shocking:
The writers would not write anything except after Uthman revises, according to Sunnis. Now Ibn Shihab said:
(One day they were confused about the word “Tabut”; Zayd said it is: “Tabua” but Sa’ed ibn Al’as and Ibn Al-Zubayr said it is: “Tabut”. So they raised their argument to Uthman. So Uthman said: “write it as “Tabut” for it is in their language”) – Dala’il Al-Nubuwa by Al-Bihqi Volume 7 Page 151.
So look at how Uthman would solve the argument! He said “write is as Tabut for it is in their language”! Is this how he gathered Qur’an? It is obvious that he is not the most knowledgeable of Qu’ran for if he was he would have at least said “write it as “Tabut” for this is how I heard it from the Prophet” for example, but instead, he used his own “logic” and said: “write is as Tabut for it is in their language”!! Why did he not ask the most knowledgeable of Qur’an (according to what the Prophet sawas made it clear for them over and over) like Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s)?! Why did he kill Ibn Mas’oud and burn his copy when The Prophet himself testified that he is among the most reliable of people to have memorized it? Perhaps he killed him and burned his copy because Ibn Mas’oud once said: (I have recited to the Prophet sawas 70 chapters , and completed the Qur’an’s recitation to the best of people Ali ibn Abi Talib a.s) – Al-Mo’jam Al-Awsat by Al-Tabarani Volume 5 page 101. Al-M’ojam Al-Kabir Volume 9 Page 76. Mojma’ Al-Zawa’id Volume 9 Page 116
Eye opening questions to the ones who are truly seeking the truth without being biased to any backgrounds or preconceptions. Be biased to just the truth. And as Imam Ali (a.s) said that which means: “There is enough light for the one who wants to see”
First Mahdi : Yamani : Ahmed Alhasan 