His saying, exalted is He:
بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُوا مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا عَلَيْهِ شُهَدَاءَ
“By that with which they were entrusted of the Book of Allah, and they were witnesses over it.”
Allah informs in this noble verse that the rabbis and monks were entrusted with the Book of Allah. This means it was placed in their care and they were asked to preserve it.
The verse here does not clarify whether they fulfilled the command and preserved it, or whether they did not fulfil the command and neglected it. However, He clarified in other places that they did not fulfil the command and did not preserve what they had been entrusted with. Rather they distorted and altered it deliberately.
Among His words are:
يحرفون الكلم عن مواضعه
“They distort the words from their proper places.” (Surah Al Ma’idah 13)
يحرفون الكلم من بعد مواضعه
“They distort the words after their proper places.” (Surah An Nisa 46)
And His saying:
تجعلونه قراطيس تبدونها وتخفون كثيرا
“You make it into scattered pages, showing some of it and hiding much.” (Surah Al An’am 91)
And His saying:
فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم ثم يقولون هذا من عند الله
“So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands then say: ‘This is from Allah.’” (Surah Al Baqarah 79)
And His saying, exalted is He:
وإن منهم لفريقا يلوون ألسنتهم بالكتاب لتحسبوه من الكتاب وما هو من الكتاب
“And indeed among them is a group who twist their tongues with the Book so that you think it is from the Book, while it is not from the Book.” (Surah Aal Imran 78)
And there are other verses besides these.
If it is asked: what is the difference between the Tawrah and the Qur’an, when each of them is the speech of Allah which He sent down upon a messenger from His messengers, may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon them? The Tawrah was altered and changed, as explained earlier, while the Qur’an is preserved from distortion and alteration.
If anyone were to change even a single letter from it, replacing it with another, or adding a letter, or removing one, thousands of Muslim children, let alone the elders, would correct him.
The answer is that Allah entrusted the Tawrah to them and placed it in their care. They betrayed the trust and did not preserve it. Rather they neglected it deliberately. As for the mighty Qur’an, Allah did not entrust its preservation to anyone so that it could be neglected. Instead, He Himself, exalted and majestic, took responsibility for preserving it with His noble and sacred self, as He clarified in His saying:
إنا نحن نزلنا الذكر وإنا له لحافظون
“Indeed We sent down the Reminder and indeed We will surely preserve it.” (Surah Al Hijr 9)
And His saying:
لا يأتيه الباطل من بين يديه ولا من خلفه
“Falsehood does not approach it from before it nor from behind it.” (Surah Fussilat 42)
And other verses besides these.
The letter ب ba in His saying بما استحفظوا Bima ustuhfidhu “by that which they were entrusted to preserve” is connected to the monks and rabbis, because they only reached that rank due to what they were entrusted with from the Book of Allah. It is also said that it is connected to the word يحكم yahkumu “he judges”, and the meaning in both explanations is close.
Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān fī Īḍāḥ al-Qurʾān bi-al-Qurʾān by Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Shanqīṭī 2/120–121
