Tabarsi and incompleteness of Quran

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                  Tabarsi and incompleteness of Quran

A Wahhabi wrote:

    As for Khomeini, in his book Alhukumatul Islamia he speaks
    very highly of Nuri Tabrasi. He has even quoted from certain
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    of his books in support of his teories. Tabrasi is the very
                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    same person who wrote a book titled "Faslul Khitaab fi
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    tahrifi kitaabi Rabbil Arbaab" (the decisive say on the proof of
    Alteration of the book of the lord of lords) printed in Iran,
    1298 A.H., to see that not only he claims the Quran is not complete
    but also he present examples of Surah that is deleted from the Quran

There are three individuals with the title of Tabarsi among the Shi'a.
The one you mentioned who wrote a booklet on the incompleteness of
Quran, is al-Nuri al-Tabarsi (Husain Ibn Muhammad Taqi al-Nuri al-
Tabarsi) (c 1254/1838 - 1320/1902). Those who call the Shi'a Kafir due
to this booklet will be surprised if they know that many of the
Hadiths that al-Nuri al-Tabarsi has quoted are, in fact, from the
Sunni documents and were quoted from their most authentic books!
Actually his book has two parts. In one part he has gathered the Sunni
reports and in the other part he provided the Shi'a reports in this
regard. The Wahhabis, who have recently distributed copies of this
book to attack the Shi'a, have intentionally omitted the part related
to the Sunni reports!

Nonetheless, the Shi'a scholars of his time disagreed with his
conclusion regarding the alteration of Quran. This shows that the
Shi'a scholars strongly believed nothing is missing from Quran.

One important remark, here, is that, we cannot call any person (Shi'a
or Sunni) who claims Quran is incomplete, as Kafir. This is simply
because believing in the completeness of Quran is not an article of
faith, nor do we have any tradition saying that anyone who claims
Quran is incomplete, is a Kafir. Also, the verse of Quran that states
that Allah is the protector of the Reminder, can be interpreted
differently. (Logically we cannot prove the lack of alteration in
Quran by Quran!)

We can not add anything to the articles of faith after the demise of
the Prophet (PBUH&HF), specially something like completeness of a
Quran that was compiled at the time of Uthman long after the demise of
the Prophet (PBUH&HF). Thus claiming Kufr would be an innovation and a
false accusation and according to Islamic teachings such accusation
will result in serious consequences for the accuser. If a Muslim dose
not agree with completeness of the Quran at hand, such wrong idea does
not make his belief deficient if he still believes in all what have
been revealed to the Prophet (PBUH&HF) is truth. Much the same as all
Muslims agree that all the Sunna of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) is truth,
though some of his Sunna may not have reached us.

What we can say about those individuals, who do not believe in
completeness of the Quran that we have at hand, is that they are sadly
mistaken in understanding the meaning of the traditions on which they
based their proof. Also one should distinguish between a person who
believes Quran is incomplete, and a person who has recorded some weak
traditions among others in his book, simply because he wants to pass
down all the information he has received (which are subject to
verification at a later time).

The second person with the title of Tabarsi is Abu Mansoor Ahmad Ibn Ali
who lived in the sixth century after Hijrah. He is famous for some of his
works. He never wrote any book to prove Quran is incomplete! Ayatullah
Khomeini (RA) quoted from this person in his book, and not the first person
as you alleged.

The highly-acknowledged Tabarsi in the Shia world is yet another person.
His name is Abu Ali al-Fadl Ibn al-Hasan al-Tabarsi (c 486/1093 -
548/1154), who is one of the famous Imami traditionists and the
commentators Quran. His book on Tafsir is well-known. He believed in the
completeness of Quran as other Shia scholars do. Abu Ali al-Tabarsi
mentioned:

     "There are no words added to the Quran. Any claim of added
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     words is unanimously denied by the Shi'ites. As to the deletion,
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     some Shi'ites and some Sunnis said that there is deletion. but
     Our scholars deny that."
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

- Shi'i reference: Quoted from al-Tabarsi, in the Commentary of the Holy
                   Quran, by al-Safi
- Sunni reference: Quoted from al-Tabarsi, by Professor Muhammad Abu Zahrah
                   in his book "Imam al-Sadiq".

First of all, Tabarsi has confirmed that nothing has been added in to the
Quran (as opposed to some of the traditions in Sahih al-Bukhari which claim
otherwise). Second, he has mentioned that our scholars (the Shia scholars)
rejected the idea that anything has been deleted from the Quran. His saying 
clearly shows that the Shi'a scholars disagreed with any idea concerning that 
Quran is missing something. Thus the very small number of the traditions that 
might imply otherwise should have proper interpretation. Also as
Tabarsi mentioned, such traditions which might imply deletion, are not
exclusive to the Shi'ite books, and can be found in the most important
Sunni collections of traditions such as Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Bukhari.

The Wahhabi opponent further wrote:

     Nuri al-Tabarsi present examples of Surah that is deleted from the
     Quran, like the Surah of Wali " Oh you who belive, belive in the
     prophet and wali, the two whom we sent to guide you to the straigth
     path. A prophet and wali who are of each other...and celebrate the
     praise of your lord, and Ali is among the witnesses... What do you
     have to say to this!!!

All the Shia scholars unanimously rejected the opinion of Noori al-Tabarsi
that there was a Chapter called Wali. But since you tried to solve all the
problems concerning numerous traditions reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and
Sahih Muslim on the deletion of two chapters of Quran with the * length *
of chapter of al-Bara'ah! (ch. 9) by saying that they were abrogated (even
after the death of Prophet!!!), then let's suppose for the sake of argument
that the above small chapter called Wali was revealed, and then it was
abrogated. How does that sound?

As for the concept of Wali, we do not need any new chapter to prove it. The
concept of Wali has been mentioned in Quran with its general as well as its
special meaning. Here is just one of the verses with its special meaning:

     * Only * Allah is your WALI, and His Messenger and those among
     believers who keep alive prayer AND pay Zakat while they are in the
     state of bowing. (Quran 5:55)

The above verse clearly suggests that * not * all believers are your WALI
with the special meaning of WALI in this verse which is "master" and
"leader". Here again, WALI does not mean just friend, because all the
believers are friends of each other. The above verse mentions that only
three items are your special WALI: Allah, Prophet Muhammad, and Imam Ali
for he was the only one at the time of Prophet who paid Zakat while he was
in the state bowing (ruku'). Muslim scholars are unanimous in reporting
this event. Here are just some of the Sunni references which mentioned the
revelation of the above verse of Quran in the honor of Imam Ali:

(1) Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v5, p38
(2) Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari, Egypt 1373, v1, pp 505,649
(3) Tafsir al-Kabir, by Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi
(4) Tafsir al-Bayan, by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, v6, pp 186,288-289
(5) Tafsir Jamiul Hukam al-Quran, by Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Qurtubi, v6, p219
(6) Tafsir al-Khazin, v2, p68
(7) Durr al-Manthur, by al-Suyuti, v2, pp 293-294
(8) Asbab al-Nuzool, by Jalaluddin al-Suyuti, Egypt 1382, v1, p73 on the
    authority of Ibn Abbas
(9) Asbab al-Nuzool, by al-Wahidi
(10) Sharh al-Tjrid, by Allama Qushji
(11) Ahkam al-Quran, al-Jassas, v2, pp 542-543
(12) Kanzul Ummal, by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, v6, p391
(13) al-Awsat, by Tabarani, narrated from Ammar Yasir
(14) Ibn Mardawayh, on the authority of Ibn Abbas
... and more ...

Please see the article of Ghadir Khum, Part II, for more information and
clarification about the above verse.