Ibn Mas'ud's Reading of Q 3:19: "al-Hanifiyya"

When One Word Stands in Another's Place

Open the Qur'an at the nineteenth verse of Surah Al 'Imran and you meet a sentence Muslims have carried in their hearts for fourteen centuries: "Inna al-dina 'inda Allahi al-Islam" — "The religion with Allah is al-Islam." It is among the most quoted lines in the whole Book, a verse that appears to name the faith itself.

Yet turn to one of the oldest and most respected works of Qur'anic commentary — the Jami' al-Bayan of Imam al-Tabari (d. 310 AH) — and you find, written down and preserved by the scholar's own hand, a different word standing in that exact place. The report is traced to 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, one of the closest Companions of the Prophet and among the very first teachers of the Qur'an: "Inna al-dina 'inda Allahi al-hanifiyya" — "The religion with Allah is al-Hanifiyya," the pure, upright monotheism of Abraham.