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What is the meaning of Imam Al-Nawawi's saying, "a letter" (حرف), in the context of the ruling on one who denies a letter of what the Muslims have agreed upon? And does his saying, "The Muslims are agreed that whoever denies a letter of what they have agreed upon," mean the existence of verses whose inclusion in the Mus'haf is disputed, or that the scholars are agreed on affirming the verses of the Uthmanic Mus'haf and not affirming any verse outside of it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a person denies a Quranic letter, knowing it to be so, then he is considered a disbeliever. This includes one who denies a word or a sentence, or one who adds to the Quran what is not part of it. The scholars have unanimously agreed upon the authenticity of what is written in the Uthmanic Mushaf and have denied the Quranic nature of what is not written therein, and the variations in readings do not affect this.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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