Orientalists and the Challenge of Distorting the Qur’an from Imāmīyya Point of View

In spite of various statements about Imāmīyya's distortion of the Qur'an belief, the orientalists of the early decades of twenty century all shared the same view of proving the Shi'a belief about distortion in the current Qur'an verses. The criticism and lack of credit of the Uthman’s muṣḥaf (written copy of the Qur’an), the different understanding of the verses, Imāmīyya's exclusive ṣuhuf such as Muṣḥaf Imam Ali (A.S.) and muṣḥaf Fatemeh (S.A.), arecited to prove the Imāmīyya's belief in Qur’an distortion. According to some orientalists, the belief in distorting the Qur’an in its various forms is one of the most accepted preconditions for the Imāmīyya; hence, in the orientalist writings, this claim has been repeated, and it seems to be a constant and indisputable one. Late orientalists are also attempting to consolidate the view of previous ones; however, sometimes there are precise and nongeneralized evaluations that are very rare. This article critically analyzes the statements of orientalists' "hypotheses", "methodology" and "documentation" in the assignment of Imāmīyya's belief in distorting the Qur'an, beside their statements.