In one of my previous articles I discussed how Sahabi Abdullah Ibn Abbas testified that the Quran is indeed corrupted multiple times and how scholars panicked at his testimonies. This time, we shall look at the testimony of Mujahid Ibn Jabr who according to Qatadah was “the most learned man in Tafsir”. He was one of the most prominent students of Ibn Abbas and went through the Quran with Ibn Abbas 3 times to ask him about the occasion of the revelations of revelation. The reason for the inclusion of Mujahids testimony is that he at the time had knowledge of the variations of the Qurans as he was born around the same time as the formation of the Uthmanic codex and the destruction of the other codexs. Here is what Mujahid Ibn Jabr said on the matter

.

Evidence: a “mistake” in Quran 3:81

.

In the Uthmanic Quran we read chapter 3 verse 81 in the following manner:

.

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ ٱللَّهُ مِيثَٰقَ ٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ لَمَآ ءَاتَيْتُكُم مِّن كِتَٰبٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَآءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مُّصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِۦ وَلَتَنصُرُنَّهُۥ ۚ قَالَ ءَأَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَخَذْتُمْ عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكُمْ إِصْرِى ۖ قَالُوٓا۟ أَقْرَرْنَا ۚ قَالَ فَٱشْهَدُوا۟ وَأَنَا۠ مَعَكُم مِّنَ ٱلشَّٰهِدِينَ Behold! Allah took the covenant of the prophets, saying: “I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you a messenger, confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help.” Allah said: “Do ye agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you?” They said: “We agree.” He said: “Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.”

Quran 3:81

.

However Mujahid Ibn Jabr in a Sahih hadith from tafsir Tabari with all trustworthy narrators, testifies that the verse should be read this way:

.

حدثني محمد بن عمرو قال : ثنا أبوعاصم عن عيسى عن ابن أبي نجيح عن مجاهد في قوله { وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ لَمَا آَتَيْتُكُمْ مِنْ كِتَابٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ } قال هي خطأ من الكاتب ، وهي في قراءة ابن مسعود { وإذ أخذ الله ميثاق الذين أوتوا الكتاب }. Muhammad bin Amro <– Abu Asim <– Isa <– Ibn Abi Nujaih <– Mujahid who said about the verse: “Behold! Allah took the covenant of the prophets, saying: I give you a Book and Wisdom” He said: ‘It is a mistake of the scribes. In the recitation of Ibn Masud it was in this manner: “And Allah made a covenant with the people who were given the book’.

Tafsir Tabari 3:81

.

These variations have multiple differences, the first is that in the Uthmanic version he names the people he made a covenant with as prophets, while the Mujahid version does not have this stating they were the people given the book. Furthermore, the Uthmanic version actually has a quote from God about what he said to the prophets in regards to the covenant while the Mujahid version simply matter of factly says what happened regarding the incident.

Furthermore Mujahid actually reveals where he got the idea of Quranic corruption from. Ibn Masud was a companion of Muhammad and was extremely close to Muhammad to the point that outsiders perceived Ibn Masud and his mother as members of Muhammad’s household. Muhammad also recognised Ibn Masud as one of the four foremost experts on the Quran, which is quite damning for the Quran in my view if the man you deem an expert says it is corrupted.

Furthermore, there is another interesting narration in Tabaris tafsir which goes back to al-Rabee bin Ana’s, another scholar of the Tabi’un. al-Rabee bin Anas’ version of the verse matched the version of Mujahid Ibn Jabr and Ibn Masud perfectly, however Rabee does not cite either of the men as the source of his reasoning for believing in the Quran corruption, rather he says that it is because it was found in the Ubai Bin Kab codex. Ubai Bin Kab was one of the three other men listed as Quranic experts.

Whilst the narration to al-Rabee bin Anas cannot be verified, this combined with the Sahih narration of Mujahid shows that there was a wide spread idea that the verse was not preserved in its purest form.

The four Quran experts