** I guess now, your question comes down to this, and I need to think about it a while: Do the Baha'i writings really say that the Qur'an is absolutely the perfect Book of God, word-for-word, and that (1) all the revelation given to Muhammad is really in the Qur'an, and (2) that "other things" didn't creep into the Qur'an? **
Gilberto,
I thought about it a while, and here are some what i can think of:
1. Shoghi Effendi taught that religious truth is relative, therefore, none of the Books of God, including the writings of Baha'u'llah, contain all of God's guidance. What each of the Books do contain is the *perfectly appropriate* amount of guidance for their particular time. Therefore, The Gospel was perfectly appropriate until the coming of the Qur'an, which was perfectly appropriate until the coming of the Bayan, which was perfectly appropriate until the coming of the Aqdas.
2. Then any absolutist statements made in the writings must be taken in context. Shoghi Effendi does say that the Qur'an is authentic, and the Qur'an itself says that it is complete. But since religious truth is *relative* in nature (the only absolute is God Himself), then the statement that the Qur'an is authentic and that it is complete is *made in relation to what came before it*. In relation to the Gospel, the Qur'an is perfect, fully authentic, and the complete testament of God.
3. This two points above are backed up by history as well. There was division in early Islam about who's Qur'an was the really Qur'an. See the references below:
---
The second tradition in Usul Kafi which has been widely misinterpreted,
states that what has been revealed to Prophet was as much as 17000 verses.
Although this tradition is not rated authentic, there are two
explanations for that. The first possibility mentioned by our scholars
is that, the verses of Quran were originally shorter, and when the
companions compiled the Quran, they appended short verses and thereby
the number of verses reduced without any change to content of Quran.
The second possibility is that which was given by Shaikh Saduq (RA)
who is the number one Shi'a scholar in the field of Hadith:
"We say that so much of revelation has come down which is not
embodied in the present Quran that if it were to be collected, its
extent would undoubtedly be 17000 verses ... Although all of
them were revelation but they (the extra ones) are NOT a part of
Quran. If they would be a part of Quran, it would surely have been
included in the Quran we have."
Shi'i reference: Shi'ite Creed (al-I'tiqadat al-Imamiyyah), by Shaykh
Saduq, English version, pp 78-79.
The transcript of the Quran that Imam Ali wrote contained commentary
and hermeneutic interpretation (Tafsir and Ta'wil) from the Holy
Prophet some of which had been sent down as revelation but NOT as a
part of the text of Quran. A small amount of such texts can be found in
some traditions in Usul al-Kafi and else. These pieces of information were
Divine commentary of the text of Quran which was revealed along with
Quranic verses but were NOT parts of Quran. Thu! s the commentary verses
and Quranic verses could sum up to 17000 verses. As Sunnis know, Hadith
Qudsi is also revelation, but they are not a part of Quran. In fact Quran
testifies that anything that Prophet said was revelation. Allah Almighty
said in Quran about Prophet Muhammad that:
"Nor does he (Muhammad) speak out of his desire. It is no less than
a revelation that is revealed." (Quran 53:3-4).
Thus all the speeches of Prophet were revelation, and surely the speeches
of Prophet was not limitted to Quran. It includes interpretation of Quran
(part of which were direct revelation) as well as his Sunnah (part of which
were indirect revelation).
states that what has been revealed to Prophet was as much as 17000 verses.
Although this tradition is not rated authentic, there are two
explanations for that. The first possibility mentioned by our scholars
is that, the verses of Quran were originally shorter, and when the
companions compiled the Quran, they appended short verses and thereby
the number of verses reduced without any change to content of Quran.
The second possibility is that which was given by Shaikh Saduq (RA)
who is the number one Shi'a scholar in the field of Hadith:
"We say that so much of revelation has come down which is not
embodied in the present Quran that if it were to be collected, its
extent would undoubtedly be 17000 verses ... Although all of
them were revelation but they (the extra ones) are NOT a part of
Quran. If they would be a part of Quran, it would surely have been
included in the Quran we have."
Shi'i reference: Shi'ite Creed (al-I'tiqadat al-Imamiyyah), by Shaykh
Saduq, English version, pp 78-79.
The transcript of the Quran that Imam Ali wrote contained commentary
and hermeneutic interpretation (Tafsir and Ta'wil) from the Holy
Prophet some of which had been sent down as revelation but NOT as a
part of the text of Quran. A small amount of such texts can be found in
some traditions in Usul al-Kafi and else. These pieces of information were
Divine commentary of the text of Quran which was revealed along with
Quranic verses but were NOT parts of Quran. Thu! s the commentary verses
and Quranic verses could sum up to 17000 verses. As Sunnis know, Hadith
Qudsi is also revelation, but they are not a part of Quran. In fact Quran
testifies that anything that Prophet said was revelation. Allah Almighty
said in Quran about Prophet Muhammad that:
"Nor does he (Muhammad) speak out of his desire. It is no less than
a revelation that is revealed." (Quran 53:3-4).
Thus all the speeches of Prophet were revelation, and surely the speeches
of Prophet was not limitted to Quran. It includes interpretation of Quran
(part of which were direct revelation) as well as his Sunnah (part of which
were indirect revelation).
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