Evaluating Study of the Opinions of Sunni Exegetes on the Narrations of the Rajm Verse

One of the most challenging issues in Qur’anic and hadith studies is concerned with the narrations that refer to the distortion of Qur’anic verses. Among them one may points to the famous narrations speaking of the Qur’anic “Rajm (shooting)” verse. Reporting and accepting these narrations, many Sunni exegetes proposed the theory of Naskh al-Talāwah (abrogation of reading). Findings of this research show that: 1) Among 58 Sunni exegeses that have reported the narrations there are three approaches: a- abrogation of reading and non-abrogation of the command: 40 exegeses, b- reporting narrations without comments: 12 ones, c- doubt in the authenticity of the narrations: 6 ones. 2) The common feature of the sanads of all narrations is that they end with Companions, i.e. there is a possibility of applying Companions’ opinions. 3) The content of the narrations of the Rajm verse is criticized by Qur’anic, narrative, jurisprudential, intellectual and literary arguments. 4) It seems that the narrations of the verse are rooted in the Torah, which have found their way to Islamic sources as well.