THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE QURAN: THEOLOGICAL VIEWS ON THE TAHRIF AMONG SUNNI AND SHIA SCHOLARS

Abstract

The dispute between Sunni and Shia does not only revolve around the problems of theological leadership, ways of worship, but also points to the authenticity of the Quran. Among the Sunnis, the authenticity of the Quran has been conserved since the revelation times. As for the Shiites, some scholars of this school state that there has been a distortion (tahrif) of the Quran. They also allege that several verses and chapters in the Quran have been changed even they were deleted, especially those concerning the leadership. This study aimed to find out the differences in the Sunni-Shia views on the Quran’s authenticity, genealogically, its process, and its legal status. Based on qualitative research methods, this study used a comparative approach to analyze the details of the differences between these theological views. The result indicates that according to the Sunnis, the Quran will always be preserved as words of God. Meanwhile, in the Shiites, there are two different views about the authenticity of the Quran. The first states that the Quran was distorted during the first three caliphate era. The second states that the Quran is forever in its originality. Among Indonesian Shiites, there is no discourse on the distortion of the Quran.