Fatwa ID: 04151

Answered by: Alimah Nasima Umm Hamza

Question:

I found this quote from an anti-Islamic website :

"The opinion of the majority is that these readings are Mutawatir. However, one opinion is that they are Mashhur. The truth in this regard is that they are Mutawatir from these seven [Qurr’a]. As far as their Tawatur from the Prophet (sws) is concerned, this is debatable. For the chain of narrators of these seven are found in the books of Qira’at. These chains are transmission from a single person to another and do not fulfill the condition of Tawatur either from the first narrator to the last or in between. (Zarkashi, Burhan, 2nd ed., vol. 1, [Beirut: Darul-Fikr, 1980] p. 319)"

Can someone shed some light on this matter? Did Imam Zarkashi had doubts over the veracity of the Qur'an?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

No, he did not have any doubts about the veracity of the Quran. In Volume two of this book, Al-Burhan Fi Uloom al-Quran, Imam al-Zarkashi names chapter 39 ‘Knowledge of the necessity of it (the Quran) being mutawatir’. In this chapter, he states that there is no difference that the Quran must be mutawaatir. [1]

This portion which you have quoted only points out that there are a few scholars who differ regarding the tawaatur of the narrations from the Prophet (pbuh) to the reciters.

However, the vast majority of scholars have clearly stated that the seven recitations are mutawatir from the Prophet (pbuh) himself.

Only Allah Knows Best.

Answered by Alimah Nasima Umm Hamza

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

[1] Imam al-Zarkashi, Al-Burhan Fi Uloom al-Quran, Volume 2, page 125