Suppose India's Supreme Court or any other court in the world decides to accept a petition to expunge certain passages from religious books or ban sacred text on the presumption that they promote violence, nudity, or disorder. In that case, the world has to invent a new religious text different from what more than 5,000 religions have believed so far. The Supreme Court should have refused to accept the petition filed by a man who claims to be a Shia. His community organizations have ostracized him and called him a non-Muslim, and his family had abandoned him. But Waseem Rizvi is adamant about seeking the removal of the 26 verses from the Quran.
Why?
There are two main reasons.
He has the Hindu fascist group's backing, the RSS, and its ruling BJP party.
His religious upbringing has convinced him that the Quran the first three Muslim Caliphs changed the Quran and the only valid copy of the divine guidance is with Imam Ali, the fourth Muslim Caliph.
In the interest of the RSS and its fanatics is to see the already divided Muslim community and the Muslim world keep fighting religious issues, neglecting their masses poverty, education, and powerlessness. Hindu fascists perceive Islam and Muslims, regardless of their sectarian divisions, as Hinduism and India's enemies and are willing to go to any strength to destroy both. They will always find someone to implement their plan. The Muslim world, especially the Gulf kingdoms, must understand this as they choose to ally with their faith and culture's destroyers.
The Claim that three Muslim Caliphs changed the divine guidance is a serious one. The Shia and Sunni religious scholars need to look into it seriously.
The Quran's distinction is in its accuracy and authenticity. It claims that God revealed it and he would protect it. If anyone claims that people changed it due to their political views, the divine promise to protect it becomes invalid. It also raises questions on Shia or Sunni scholars who refused to restore the original after discovering the changes.
Rizvi quoting the Shia sources, claims that the later scholars overlooked the first three Caliphs' changes. Among them were Imam Ali and 12 Imams of Shias. In this situation, Shia Imam's are as much guilty of promoting a changed divine guidance. Every copy of the Quran recited in Shia religious seminaries include all the 26 verses, Rizvia wants the Supreme Court to remove.
Sunni scholars are no better. Their books of ahadith say that God revealed the verse on stoning to death, but the compilers did not include it because a goat ate it. Why didn't the later scholars restore it and allowed the incomplete Quran to circulate?
It's a serious issue, and the Shia and Sunni scholars must sot together to explain the narrations that challenge the accuracy and authenticity of the Quran. They should make it known to the world that the Quran they follow is the same without any changes.
The Supreme Court is not an authority on religious matters and cannot delete a single letter of the Quran. The Quran is in the hearts and the memory of the people. Even if a court decides to delete any passage, no Muslim will ever accept it.
The need of the hour is the unity of Muslims around the Quran. India's Sunnis and Shias should take a united stand and declare to the world that any interference in the Quran is unacce[table. In the US, the two communities must also hold a united summit of its religious scholars to assert their unwavering belief in the Quran's authenticity.