The difference of scholarly opinion as to whether the Basmalah counts as a verse of al-Faatihah does not come under the heading of distortions of the Qur’aan

Question

Praise be to Allah.

The Muslims
did not disagree that Allah, may He be exalted, has preserved His Book from
additions and subtractions, in fulfilment of His words (interpretation of
the meaning):

“Verily
We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Quran) and surely, We
will guard it (from corruption)”

[al-Hijr
15:9].

The Muslims
are unanimously agreed that anyone who disagrees with this and claims that
there is something in the Book of Allah that is not part of it, or that
something that Allah revealed has been taken away from it, is a
disbeliever.

Al-Qaadi
‘Iyaad (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The Muslims
are unanimously agreed that the Qur’aan which is recited in all parts of the
world and is written in the Mushaf that the Muslims have, that is contained
between the two covers, from the first soorah “All the praises and thanks
be to Allah, the Lord of the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)”
to the last soorah, “Say: “I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of
mankind”, is the Book of Allah and His Revelation that He sent down to
His Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and that
everything in it is true, and that anyone who deliberately takes away a
single letter from it or changes one letter for another or adds a letter to
it, that is not included in the Mushaf on which there is consensus, and
there is consensus that it is not part of the Qur’aan – the one who does any
of these things deliberately is a disbeliever. End quote.

ash-Shifa
bi Ta‘reef Huqooq al-Mustafa, 2/304, 305

With regard
to the difference of opinion among the scholars as to whether the Basmalah
is counted as a verse of the Qur’aan or not, this does not come under this
heading, because the scholars of Qur’aan recitation did not differ with
regard to reciting it at the beginning of the soorahs. And the Sahaabah (may
Allah be pleased with them) were unanimously agreed that it must be written
at the beginning of all soorahs apart from Soorat at-Tawbah, and that is in
the Mushaf that was written by ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan (may Allah be pleased
with him) and sent to all regions.

Ash-Shawkaani
(may Allah have mercy on him) said, when discussing the Basmalah:

It should be
noted that the ummah is unanimously agreed that neither the one who affirms
it nor the one who denies it is to be described as a disbeliever, because of
the difference of scholarly opinion concerning it. This is different from
the case of a person who denies a letter on which there is consensus or who
affirms something that no one said; he is to be regarded as a disbeliever
according to scholarly consensus.

There is no
difference of opinion concerning the fact that it is a verse in Soorat an-Naml,
or that it is a line to be written at the beginning of the soorahs in the
Mushaf, apart from the beginning of Soorat at-Tawbah.

Nayl al-Awtar,
2/215

Some of the
scholars regard the difference of opinion as to whether the Basmalah is a
verse of the Qur’aan as being like the difference of opinion among the
leading scholars of recitation about some words and letters that may be
proven in some recitations and not in others.

Shaykh
Muhammad al-Ameen ash-Shanqeeti (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The scholars
differed concerning the Basmalah: is it a verse at the beginning of each
soorah, or only at the beginning of al-Faatihah, or is it not a verse at
all? As for the words of Allah in Soorat an-Naml, “Verily! It is from
Sulaiman (Solomon), and verily! It (reads): In the Name of Allah, the Most
Beneficent, the Most Merciful” [an-Naml 27:30], this is a verse of the
Qur’aan according to scholarly consensus.

With regard
to Soorah Baraa’ah (at-Tawbah), the Basmalah is not a verse thereof,
according to scholarly consensus. But there is a difference of scholarly
opinion concerning other cases. Some of these scholars of Usool stated that
the Basmalah is not part of the Qur’aan, and some said that it is part of it
in al-Faatihah only. And it was said that it is a verse at the beginning of
every soorah. This is the view of ash-Shaafa‘i (may Allah have mercy on
him).

One of the
best things that have been said concerning this matter, to reconcile between
all the opinions, is that in some recitations, such as the recitation of Ibn
Katheer, the Basmalah is a verse of the Qur’aan, and in some other
recitations it is not a verse, and there is nothing strange about that.

In the verse
in Soorat al-Hadeed, “Fa inna Allaha huwa al-Ghaniy ul-Hameed
(then Allah is Rich (Free of all wants), Worthy of all praise)”
[al-Hadeed 57:24], the word “huwa” is part of the Qur’aan according to the
recitations of Ibn Katheer, Abu ‘Amr, ‘Aasim, Hamzah, and al-Kasaa’i, and it
is not part of the Qur’aan according to the recitations of Naafi‘ and Ibn
‘Aamir, because they recited it “Fa inna Allaha al-Ghaniy al-Hameed”.
And in some Mushafs the word “huwa” is present and in others it is not
present.

In the
passage “so wherever you turn yourselves or your faces there is the Face
of Allah (and He is High above, over His Throne). Surely! Allah is
All-Sufficient for His creatures needs, All-Knowing. And they (Jews,
Christians and pagans) say: Allah has begotten a son (children or
offspring)” [al-Baqarah 2:115-116], the waw (in the phrase
wa qaalu attakhadha Allahu waladan/and they say: Allah
has begotten a son) is present in the recitation of the seven, except for
Ibn ‘Aamir; according to the recitation of Ibn ‘Aamir it is not part of the
Qur’aan, because he recited it as “Qaalu attakhadha Allahu waladan (They say
Allah has begotten a son)”, without the waw. So it is omitted in the Mushaf
of the people of ash-Shaam (greater Syria), and there are other exaples.

Thus it is
known that it does not matter whether the Basmalah is regarded as a verse in
some recitations and not others. The scholars are agreed on this point.

End quote
from al-Madhkarah fi Usool al-Fiqh, p. 66, 67.

And Allah knows best.