Tahrif: Difference between revisions

'''{{transltransliteration|ar|ALA|Taḥrīf}}''' ({{lang-ar|تحريف}}, {{Translation|'distortion'}}) is an [[Arabic|Arabic-language]] term used by [[Sunni]] and [[Shia]] [[Muslims]] to refer to believed alterations made to the previous revelations of [[God in Abrahamic religions|God]]—specifically those that make up the ''[[Torah in Islam|Tawrat]]'' (or [[Torah]]), the ''[[Zabur]]'' (or [[Psalms]]) and the [[Gospel in Islam|''Injil'']] (or [[Gospel]]). ItThis belief has also been advocated by [[Quran alone]] Muslims. The term is also used to refer to what Muslims consider to be the corrupted [[Jewish]] and [[Christian]] interpretations of the previous revelations of God, known as “Tahrif al-Mana”. This concept holds that the previous revelations of God have been misinterpreted, as opposed to altered in text.

The origins of Tahrif are debated. [[Muqatil ibn Sulayman]] (8th century) claimed in his tafsir on Quran 2:79 that the Jews had distorted the ''[[Torah in Islam|Tawrat]]'' (or [[Torah]]), and removed the mention of [[Muhammad]] in the [[Quran]] <ref> [[Muqatil ibn Sulayman]] Tafsir 2:79 </ref> although some academics have doubted this as a true mention of tahrif .<ref> Early Muslim Accusations of Tahrif: Muqātil ibn Sulaymān's commentary on key qur'anic verses by Gordon D Nickel

</ref> alAl-Kasim b. Ibrahim (9th century), made the claim that the [[Jews]] and [[Christians]]. had misinterpreted the interpretations of The ''[[Torah in Islam|Tawrat]]'' (or [[Torah]]), the ''[[Zabur]]'' (or [[Psalms]]) and the [[Gospel in Islam|''Injil'']] (or [[Gospel]]). thisThis concept is referred to as "Tahrif al-mana".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lazarus-Yafeh|first=Haza|title=Tahrif|publisher=Brill|year=2000|isbn=9004112111|location=Leiden|pages=111}}</ref>

According to Camilla Adang. The early quranic exegete [[Al-Tabari]] believed that there was a Torah that there was a genuine ''[[Torah in Islam|Tawrat]]'' (or [[Torah]]), by [[Moses]] that had been lost and then restored by [[Ezra]] alongside a different Torah created by the [[Rabbis]] and ignorant Jews. Al-Tabari suspected that the Jews of his time were using this different ''[[Torah in Islam|Tawrat]]'' instead of the original Torah by [[Moses]] which is why Al-Tabari made the distinction of referring to the Torah of his time as "The Torah that they possess today" [[Al-Tabari]] says elsewhere in his [[Tafsir]] of Quran 2:42 that the [[Jews]] had introduced falsehood with their own hands in the ''[[Torah in Islam|Tawrat]]'' (or [[Torah]]), <ref>Camilla Adang. ''Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: From Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm''. BRILL, 1996. {{ISBN|978-9-004-10034-3}}. page 231.</ref> <ref> [[Tafsir al-Tabari]] 2:42 </ref>

It is worthy to note that some companions such as Uthman ibn Affan <ref> Tafsir Ibn Kathir 2:79 </ref> and most notably Ibn Abbas made some statements that imply he believed the scriptures of ‘the people of the book’ were distorted. In Sahih Bukhari he is quoted saying as narrated by Ubaidullah:

{{QuoteBlockquote|Ibn `Abbas said, "Why do you ask the people of the scripture about anything while your Book (Qur'an) which has been revealed to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) is newer and the latest? You read it pure, undistorted and unchanged, and Allah has told you that the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians) changed their scripture and distorted it, and wrote the scripture with their own hands and said, 'It is from Allah,' to sell it for a little gain. Does not the knowledge which has come to you prevent you from asking them about anything? No, by Allah, we have never seen any man from them asking you regarding what has been revealed to you!}}

He explains how the falsification of the Torah could have taken place while there existed only one copy of the Torah kept by the [[Kohen|Aaronic priesthood]] of the Temple in [[Jerusalem]]. Ibn Hazm's arguments had a major impact upon Muslim literature and scholars, and the themes that he raised with regard to tahrif and other polemical ideas were modified slightly by some later authors.<ref>''The Encyclopedia of Islam'', BRILL</ref><ref>''Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century'', chapter "An Andalusi-Muslim Literary Typology of Jewish Heresy and Sedition", pp. 56 and further, Tahrif: p. 58, {{ISBN|0-691-00187-1}}</ref><ref>''Under Crescent and Cross'': The Jews in the Middle Ages, p. 146, {{ISBN|0-691-01082-X}}</ref> The [[Shia]] Scholar [[Ibn Babawayh]] narrated a debate between [[Ali al-Rida]] and the [[Catholicos]] where [[Ali al-Rida]] claimed that the [[Four Gospels]] were created and changed after the original [[Gospel in Islam|''Injil'']] (or [[Gospel]]). became lost. <ref>[[Ibn Babawayh]] al-Tawhid, p. 417-441 </ref> <ref>[[Ibn Babawayh]] Uyun akhbar al-Ridha </ref>

# To translate a word that has two meanings in the meaning that is against the context. For example, the [[Aramaic]] word used for Jesus that is equivalent to the {{lang-ar|ابن}} ''{{transltransliteration|ar|ALA|ibn}}'' was translated as "son" whereas it also meant "servant" and "slave".

<ref>[https://www.scribd.com/document/45879709/Early-Debates-on-the-Integrity-of-the-Quran-by-Dr-Hossein-Modarressi Hossein Modarressi, Studia Islamica, No. 77., Early Debates on the Integrity of the Quran,1993, Page 13]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/AlItqanFiUloomIlQuran/Al%20Itqan%20Fi%20Ulum%20Al%20Quran%20English/page/n1/mode/2up Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an, Jalaluddin Suyuti, Muneer Fareed]</ref>