Thus Abū Mūsā warned the Qur’an-reciters not to let a long interval pass, lest their hearts grow hard.
Breaking the covenant, after all, includes violating the commands and prohibitions entrusted to them, and distorting words from their proper places by altering and misinterpreting the Book of God. Concerning something akin to this, Ibn Masʿūd related the following:
Al-Aʿmash narrated—from ʿImārah ibn ʿUmayr, from al-Rabīʿ ibn ʿAmīlah al-Fazārī—that ʿAbd Allāh said: “He told us a report the like of which I have never heard anything finer, save the Book of God or a narration from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him:
‘When the Children of Israel allowed a long period to pass, their hearts became hard, and they fashioned a book of their own, suited to the desires of their hearts…’”
(1) The word ʿan (“on the authority of”) is absent from the printed edition.
(2) In manuscripts A, B, and T the wording is tabdīl taʾwīl (“altering the interpretation”), whereas the printed edition reads wa-tabdīl wa-taʾwīl (“and alteration and interpretation”).
(3) The printed edition inserts the blessing “may Allah be pleased with him.”
(4) This is ʿImāra b. ʿUmayr al-Taymī al-Kūfī, a fourth-generation narrator. Ibn Ḥajar rates him trustworthy and reliable; he died shortly after 100 AH, though some say two years before that date. See: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, 2:50, no. 377.
(5) The printed text reads “b. Abī ʿUmayla,” contrary to the other manuscripts and to Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb.
(6) This refers to al-Rabīʿ b. ʿUmayla al-Fazārī al-Kūfī. Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb reports that Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn Saʿd, and al-ʿAjlī all declared him reliable. See: Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 3:249–250, no. 476. The nisba “al-Fazārī” is missing in manuscript At.
(7) That is, Ibn Masʿūd—may Allah be pleased with him.
(8) The printed edition has the word qāla (“he said”).