Answer:
It would not be possible for us to study and discuss the article in detail. I will however, refer you to some of the discussions which bring out view on the issues. As for the view on the verse promising security of the Qur'an from tempering, corruption and loss, we believe that it refers to the Qur'an as we have it in our hands. If you study the verse in its context you will learn that it clearly refers to the text revealed to the Prophet (sws). Here is the translation of the first nine verses of the Surah by Abdullah Yusaf Ali:
Alif Lām Rā. These are the Ayats of the revelation,- of a Qur'an that makes things clear. Again and again will those who disbelieve, wish that they had bowed (to Allah’s will) in Islam. Leave them alone, to enjoy (the good things of this life) and to please themselves: let (false) hope amuse them: soon will knowledge (undeceive them). Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand. Neither can a people anticipate its term, nor delay it. They say: "O thou to whom the Message is being revealed! truly thou art mad (or possessed)! "Why bringest thou not angels to us if it be that thou hast the Truth?" We send not the angels down except for just cause: if they came (to the ungodly), behold! no respite would they have! We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). (Q. 15:1-10)
This a very coherent set of verses which stresses that the Qur'an which the Quraysh rejected was from God and that it was the word of God and not of the Prophet (sws) under influence of jinn etc. The Quraysh put forward questions and objections on the Qur'an that was read out to them by the Prophet (sws) and that the Prophet (sws) had with him as God's message to mankind. It does not refer only to the text secured in loh-e mahfooz prior to revelation. The question of the nature of the verse in which the words loh-e mahfooz occurs and what does it refer to is also not necessarily a tablet upon which the Book was previously written. This discussion however is not relevant here and I omit it.
As for the authenticity of the ahadith, the scholars like Bukhari and Muslim tried to investigate the traditions and then put what they thought to be reliable. But that does not mean that what they put has to be considered absolutely authentic. All the individual to individual narratives are to be tested on the scale of the Qur'an, establish sunnah and other definitive arguments before they are to be accepted. For details on the principles of interpretation of the hadiths please refer to: http://al-mawrid.org/pages/dl.php?book_id=9 |
