Question:

I read an ariticle by a shia and he stated this hadith, is this hadith true and if so what is our response to the shia on this

In the SAHIH of Ibn MAJAH, Ayesha, the wife of our Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, is reported as under:

"The verse of RAJM and about suckling a child at least 10 times, had indeed been revealed and they were written on a page which was under my bed, but when the Prophet died, while we were occupied with the tragedy, a domestic animal entered and ate the page up." (SUNAN ibn MAJAH: Hadith no 1944 and 2553).
 

Answer:

Al salam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh,


Before answering your question regarding this narration, we have to point out that Sunan ibn Majah are not called Saheeh (authentic). Not every single hadeeth is considered authentic in Sunan ibn Majah, Sunan Al-Darumi, Sunan Abi Dawoow or any other hadeeth compilations. These books include purely authentic (Saheeh), partially authentic (Hasan), weak (da’eef), very weak (da’eef jiddan), and fabricated (mawdoo’a) hadeeths. The only exceptions to these compilations are Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim. These two scholars, Al-Bukhari and Muslim, had established strict conditions to evaluate hadeeths. They only accepted purely authentic hadeeths.

However, the hadeeth that you mentioned is Hasan, partially authentic. It is of less important than Saheeh hadeeths, but scholars of hadeeth take Hasan hadeeths as valid arguments.

This hadeeth deals with a very important concept in Islam i.e. “naskh” or abrogation.

When the books under Aysha’s bed were eaten, it does not mean that the content of the books is gone. The Quran was memorized and present in the hearts of the Companions. Moreover, there were many other books that contained the Quran. So if one book gets lost, it does not mean that the Quran got lost.

The verses that were mentioned in this narration were abrogated, and the Prophet pbuh had informed the Muslims about that. However, Aysha kept the book that contains these abrogated verses until the domestic animals i.e. chicken ate it.

Nashkh, or abrogation means invalidation. Abrogation consists of three parts:

1) The abrogation of the actual verses and the abrogation of the judgment that these verses contain.
2) The abrogation of the actual verses, but the judgment remains.
3) The abrogation of the judgment of these verses, but the actual verses remains.

The evidence that abrogation is true:

1) Allah’s actions do not need reasons. He might order us to do something at a particular time, and then order us not to do it at other times.

2) Allah even mention abrogation in the Quran:

a) “When We substitute one revelation for another, - and Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages), - they say, "Thou art but a forger": but most of them understand not.” [Al-Nahl, 101]

b) “None of our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar.” [Al-Baqarah, 106]

c) “Allah doth blot out or confirm what He pleaseth: with Him is the Mother of the Book.” [Al-Ra’d, 39]

d) "If it were Our Will, We could take away that which We have sent thee by inspiration" [Al-Isra’s, 86]

Wa al salam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh

Question:

Asalam wa alaikum

You said that the verse was abrogated, so does not that mean that the original verse which was lost in the hadith is in the quran, if so where and if not why is it not in the quran?
 

Answer:

Al salam alaykum,

This verse had been abrogated during the life time of the Prophet peace be upon him. Therefore, it was not supposed to be in the Quran. However, Aysha’s book contained it, but not as a part of the Quran. The Companions knew that the above verse had been abrogated, and hence, they did not include it in Abu Bakr’s Quran or Uthman’s.

In other words, originally the verse was part of the Quran, then Allah abrogated it, and abrogation means invalidation as we said earlier. Please refer back to our first answer to know the three types of invalidations. Hence the verse became no longer part of the Quran. This verse belongs to the second type of abrogation.

wa al salam alaykum