Twelver Shi'ite Hadith: Quran Was Originally Revealed in 17 Thousand Verses

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ السَّمَوَاتِ وَرَبَّ الأَرْضِ وَرَبَّ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ فَالِقَ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَى مُنْزِلَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَالإِنْجِيلِ وَالْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيمِ

Perhaps one of the most serious heresies of the Twelver Shi’ah sect is their belief that the holy Quran that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad via the Angel Gabriel عليهما السلام is not the same Quran that is present with the Muslims till this day.

Allah Most High declares:

اِنَّا نَحۡنُ نَزَّلۡنَا الذِّکۡرَ وَ اِنَّا لَہٗ لَحٰفِظُوۡنَ

Verily, We Ourself have sent down this Exhortation, and most surely We will be its Guardian

(Surah 15:9)

The Twelver Shi’ah heresy of tahrif al-Quran can be decisively demonstrated from countless narrations attributed to their Imams in their literature, as well as the statements of their heavyweight Ulama. The following Hadith is attributed to their sixth imam, Ja’far al-Sadiq عليه الرحمة:

علي بن الحكم عن هشام بن سالم عن أبي عبد الله عليه‌السلام قال إن القرآن الذي جاء به جبرئيل عليه‌السلام إلى محمد صلى‌الله‌عليه‌وآله سبعة عشر ألف آية

Ali b. al-Hakam, from Hisham b. Salim, from Abi Abdillah peace be upon him, he said: “Indeed, the Quran with which Gabriel peace be upon him came to Muhammad blessings of Allah upon him and his family [consisted of] seventeen thousand verses” (al-Kafi; v.2, p.350, Kitab Fadl al-Quran, Bab al-Nawadir, #29):

Mulla Baqir Majlisi declared this narration authentic, and further explained that the Shi’ite belief in the distortion of the Quran is based on narrations which are mutawatir in meaning:

الحديث الثامن والعشرون : موثق. وفي بعض النسخ عن هشام بن سالم موضع هارون بن مسلم فالخبر صحيح ولا يخفى أن هذا الخبر وكثير من الأخبار الصحيحة صريحة في نقص القرآن وتغييره ، وعندي أن الأخبار في هذا الباب متواترة معنى

(Mirat al-Uqul; v.12, pp.525-526):

Baqir Majlisi’s father, Taqi Majlisi, also a well known scholar of the Twelver madhhab, likewise declared this narration authentic (Rawdat ul-Muttaqun; v.10, pp.20-21):

Another major Twelver Shi’ite scholar and muhaddith, al-Hurr al-Amili (d.1104 H), concurred that this Hadith is authentic (al-Fawa’id al-Tussiyah, p.483):