Question:

What does the Qur’an that Ali (a.) wrote after the death of the messenger (s.) contain?

Answer:

Abu Bakr Al-Hadrami reported that Imam As-Sadiq (a.) said: “The Prophet Muhammad (s.) said to Ali (a.): “O Ali, the Qur’an is behind my resting place in leaves and silk and paper, take it and collect it! You shall suffer no loss from it as the Jews suffered a loss from the Torah.” Ali (a.) set out and collected it in a yellow robe. Afterwards he put a seal on it in his house and said: “I will not put on a garment until I have collected it!” When a man came to him, he would come out to him without a robe until he had collected it. The Prophet Muhammad (s.) said: “If people would read the Qur’an as God sent down, then two would not disagree.” [Tafsir Al-Qummi, Volume 2 Page 451]

وعنه عن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله عن علي بن الحكم عن سيف بن عميرة عن أبي بكر الحضرمي عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله قال لعلي: يا علي القرآن خلف فراشي في الصحف والحرير والقراطيس فخذوه واجمعوه ولا تضيعوه كما ضيعت اليهود التوراة فانطلق علي عليه السلام فجمعه في ثوب أصفر ثم ختم عليه في بيته وقال: لا أرتدي حتى أجمعه فإنه كان الرجل ليأتيه فيخرج إليه بغير رداء حتى جمعه، قال وقال رسول الله: لو أن الناس قرأوا القرآن كما أنزل الله ما اختلف اثنان

Sulaim Ibn Qais reported that Talhah Ibn Ubaidillah said: “O father of Hasan, i want to ask you about something. I saw you come out with a sealed robe and said: “O you people, i was continuously busy with the washing of the dead of the Prophet Muhammad (s.) and his wrapping in a shroud and his burial. Then i went after the book of God until i collected it. So this is the book of God in a collection, not a single letter of which is missing.” But i didn’t see the book you wrote and compiled. I saw that Umar sent someone to you to send it to me in his time of succession, but you refused to carry it out and Umar called people to him. If two gave their testimony about a verse, he wrote it down and if none but one gave his testimony about it, he rejected it and did not write it down. I heard that Umar said: “On the day of Yamamah, men were killed who used to read the Qur’an that no one but them read, whereupon it disappeared and a sheep approached a page – and the scribes of Umar wrote down – and ate it, whereupon what was in it disappeared and on that day the scribe was Uthman. What do you say?I heard Umar and his companions, who were writing what was written at the time of Uthman, say: “The chapter Al-Ahzab had the extent of the chapter Al-Baqarah (286 verses) and An-Nur had 160 verses and Al-Hujurat had 90 verses.” What about that? What stopped you, God have mercy on you, from going out to them with what you wrote for the people? I saw Uthman taking what Umar wrote and he collected the book for him. He gave the people a single reading and tore and burned the copy of Ubayy Ibn Ka’b and Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud with fire. What about this?” Ali (a.) said: “O Talhah, every verse that God sent down to Muhammad (s.) in His book is with me, in that the Messenger (s.) dictated it and my hand wrote it down and the interpretation of every verse that God sent down to Muhammad (s. ) and every permitted or forbidden or boundary punishment or judgment or matter that the community needs until the Day of Resurrection is with me written down in that the Messenger (s.) dictated it and my hand wrote it down, all the way to the compensation for the smallest scratch.” Talhah said: “All things, whether small or great or special or general, whether it was or will be until the Day of Resurrection is written down with you?” Ali (a.) said: “Yes, and besides this, the Messenger (s.) entrusted to me during his illness a thousand gates of knowledge, each gate of which opens a thousand gates. If the community had followed and obeyed me from the time when God took His Prophet (s.) to Himself, they would have prospered above and below their feet until the Day of Resurrection.” [Kitab Sulaim, page 209 – 211]

عن أبان بن أبي عياش عن سليم بن قيس عن طلحة بن عبيد الله قال: يا أبا الحسن شئ أريد أن أسألك عنه رأيتك خرجت بثوب مختوم عليه فقلت يا أيها الناس إني لم أزل مشغولا برسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله بغسله وتكفينه ودفنه ثم شغلت بكتاب الله حتى جمعته فهذا كتاب الله مجموعا لم يسقط منه حرف فلم أر ذلك الكتاب الذي كتبت وألفت ولقد رأيت عمر بعث إليك حين استخلف أن ابعث به إلي فأبيت أن تفعل. فدعا عمر الناس فإذا شهد اثنان على آية قرآن كتبها وما لم يشهد عليها غير رجل واحد رماها ولم يكتبه وقد قال عمر وأنا أسمع إنه قد قتل يوم اليمامة رجال كانوا يقرؤون قرآنا لا يقرأه غيرهم فذهب وقد جاءت شاة إلى صحيفة وكتاب عمر يكتبون فأكلتها وذهب ما فيها والكاتب يومئذ عثمان فما تقولون؟ وسمعت عمر يقول وأصحابه الذين ألفوا ما كتبوا على عهد عثمان: إن الأحزاب كانت تعدل سورة البقرة، والنور ستون ومائة آية، والحجرات تسعون آية فما هذا؟ وما يمنعك يرحمك الله أن تخرج إليهم ما قد ألفت للناس؟ وقد شهدت عثمان حين أخذ ما ألف عمر فجمع له الكتاب وحمل الناس على قراءة واحدة ومزق مصحف أبي بن كعب وابن مسعود وأحرقهما بالنار فما هذا؟ فقال أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام: يا طلحة إن كل آية أنزلها الله في كتابه على محمد صلى الله عليه وآله عندي بإملاء رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وخطي بيدي، وتأويل كل آية أنزلها الله على محمد صلى الله عليه وآله وكل حلال أو حرام أو حد أو حكم أو أي شئ تحتاج إليه الأمة إلى يوم القيامة عندي مكتوب بإملاء رسول الله وخط يدي حتى أرش الخدش. قال طلحة: كل شئ من صغير أو كبير أو خاص أو عام، كان أو يكون إلى يوم القيامة فهو مكتوب عندك؟ قال: نعم، وسوى ذلك أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله أسر إلي في مرضه مفتاح ألف باب من العلم يفتح كل باب ألف باب. ولو أن الأمة منذ قبض الله نبيه اتبعوني وأطاعوني لأكلوا من فوقهم ومن تحت أرجلهم رغدا إلى يوم القيامة

Sulaim Ibn Qais reported that Talhah Ibn Ubaidillah said: “O father of Hasan, i do not see that you have answered to what i asked you about the Qur’an. Do you not bring it out for the people?” Ali (a.) said: “O Talhah, i have intentionally withheld my answer to you.” Talhah said: “Tell me about what Umar and Uthman wrote down. Is all of it a Qur’an or is there something in it that is not a Qur’an?” Ali (a.) said: “Yes, all of it is a Qur’an. If you obey what is in it, you will be saved from the fire and enter Paradise, for in it is our proof and the statement of our authority and our right and duty of obedience to us.” Talhah said: ” It is enough for me, because if it is a Qur’an, then it is enough for me. Tell me about what is in your hands of the Qur’an and its interpretation and knowledge of what is allowed and forbidden! To whom do you hand it over and who is master of it after you?” Ali (a.) said: “To whom the Prophet Muhammad (s.) ordered me to hand it over.” Talhah said, “Who is it?” Ali (a.) said: “The patron authorized by me, and the one who is more entitled to it by the people after me, my son Al-Hasan. After that, on his death my son Al-Hasan hands it over to my son Al-Husain. Then it passes from one to another among the descendants of Al-Husain until the last of them reaches the Messenger (s.) at the Pool of Paradise. They are with the Qur’an and the Qur’an is with them, for neither they separate from him nor he separates from them.” [Kitab Sulaim, page 212]

عن أبان بن أبي عياش عن سليم بن قيس عن طلحة بن عبيد الله قال: ما أراك يا أبا الحسن أجبتني عما سألتك عنه من أمر القرآن ألا تظهره للناس؟ قال عليه السلام: يا طلحة، عمدا كففت عن جوابك. قال: فأخبرني عما كتب عمر وعثمان، أقرآن كله أم فيه ما ليس بقرآن؟ قال عليه السلام: بل هو قرآن كله، إن أخذتم بما فيه نجوتم من النار ودخلتم الجنة، فإن فيه حجتنا وبيان أمرنا وحقنا وفرض طاعتنا. فقال طلحة: حسبي، أما إذا كان قرآنا فحسبي. ثم قال طلحة: فأخبرني عما في يديك من القرآن وتأويله وعلم الحلال والحرام، إلى من تدفعه ومن صاحبه بعدك؟ قال عليه السلام: إلى الذي أمرني رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله أن أدفعه إليه. قال: من هو؟ قال: وصيي وأولى الناس بالناس بعدي، ابني هذا الحسن، ثم يدفعه ابني الحسن عند موته إلى ابني هذا الحسين، ثم يصير إلى واحد بعد واحد من ولد الحسين، حتى يرد آخرهم على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله حوضه. وهم مع القرآن والقرآن معهم، لا يفارقونه ولا يفارقهم