The Study and Evaluation of the Sanad and Content of Amir Al-Mu’minīn’s Hadith, Regarding the Existence of Textual Errors in the Qur’an

James Bellamy, a former professor of Arabic literature at the University of Michigan and one of the greatest claimants of “textual criticism” and “correction of the official text of the Qur’an”, through citing  a narration from Imam Ali (AS) who after listening to the verse 56: 29 (و طلح منضود) denied the existence of the word “talh” in the Qur’an and despite the narrator’s request he considered the change of the Qur’an against the expediency, argues that this narration proves the definite existence of errors in the present text of the Qur’an. He believes that commentators, particularly the Companions including Imam Ali (AS), presumed the existence of errors in the text of the Holy Qur’an. Since this tradition is one of the reasons argued by James Bellamy to confirm the presumption of the existence of errors in the Holy Qur’an, this study examines its sanad (chain of transmitters) and content (implications) to show how scientific and reliable it is. Accordingly, reliable and important exegetical, rijāl and historical sources are used, as well as, the sayings of famous Islamic scholars are also referred. Additionally, as the issue of the existence of Qur’anic errors is a very important matter and has very serious effects, it should be examined that James Bellamy’s arguments have scientific accuracy and stability or his claim is a false premise that lacks sufficient evidence and, hence, his subsequent arguments and the amendment would be incorrect and unscientific.