The Sunni Attitude Our Sunni brethren's attitude towards such ahadith is influenced by their belief that the traditions of as-sihah as-Sittah (the six correct books of traditions), and especially those found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are all correct. Imam an-Nawawi writes in Sharh Sahih Muslim: 
"The fact that the ummah has willingly accepted [the Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim] has led us to the opinion that it is obligatory (wajib) to act on what is written in these two [books], and this is an unanimously agreed view. People are obliged to act on a khabaral-wahid (a hadith reported by a single narrator) found in other books only when its chain of narrators is correct; and even then it would not create but only a strong assumption. And the same applies to the two Sahihs; but these two differ from the other books in that all that is in these two is correct and there is no need to examine them; rather it is wajib to follow them unconditionally. But as for the ahadith in other books, they will not be followed until their credentials are checked and they are found to fulfil the conditions of a correct hadith."
This unconditional blanket acceptance of the ahadith found in these books has compelled our Sunni brothers to accept the theory of abrogation of recital (naskhut-tilawah); that is, they believe that recital of some verses was abrogated although the law contained in some of them continues. Two well-known examples of such supposed verses are the so-called verses of stoning (rajm) and of ten or five sucklings, which are found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim and other books. [29]
And the hadith of Sahih Muslim explicitly says:
"Ummu 'l-mu'minin 'Aisha said, "There was among what was revealed of the Qur'an (the verse) 'Ten known sucklings create prohibition' (i.e., foster relationship). Then it was abrogated by 'five sucklings', and the Messenger of Allah expired and they were among what was recited of the Qur'an." [30]
Ibn Majah has narrated another hadith from 'Aishah which explicitly says that the two verses were lost after the death of the Prophet. She is reported to say: 'The verse of stoning and of suckling an adult ten times were revealed, and they were (written) on a paper and kept under my bed. When the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) expired and we were preoccupied with his death, a goat entered and ate away the paper. [31]
It needs no great intelligence to see that this theory of abrogation of recital cannot be of any use in such cases. If a surah or verse was recited in the life of the Prophet and then it was lost either because the reciters were killed in a battle, or because a goat devoured it or for any other reason, then the question arises: Who had the right to abrogate a Qur'anic verse after the Prophet's death? Had any other prophet come after Muhammad (peace be on him and his progeny)? That is why Sayyid al-Khu'i has said, "It is clear that the theory of abrogation of recital (naskhu 't-tilawah) is exactly the same as belief in alteration in and omission from the Qur'an." [32]
Therefore we have to strictly adhere to the well established principle that any hadith going against the Qur'an must be discarded and 'thrown to the wall' - if it cannot be reinterpreted in an acceptable way.
[29] For the verse of stoning. see Sahih al-Bukhari, vol 4. p 179. 265: Sahih Muslim,vol. 3. p. 1317: Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, vol 1 (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami. 1969) p. 40: Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 2 (Cairo edition) p 853: Muwatta, Imam Malik, vol 2.p 623.For the verse of suckling, see: Sahih Muslim, vol. 4. p. 167: As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol. 2. p.
[30] Sahih Muslim, vol 1. p. 167: As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol2. p. 135.
[31] Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal. vol. 6. p. 269: Sunan Ibn Majah, p. 626: Ibn Qutbah, Tawil Mukhtalafi 'l-Hadith (Cairo: Maktaba al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyya. 1966) p. 310 which has been misprinted as 210-: As-Suyuti, ad-Durru 'l-Manthur, vol. 2. p. 13.
[32] al Bayan , p. 224.
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Now we should see how the Shi'as have solved the problem of such ahadith.The Shi'as do not believe in the immunity of any writer, commentator or narrator from mistakes, and, therefore, they do not take any collection of hadith to be completely valid and correct. The only book which is completely immune from any mistake is the Qur'an.
There are four early collections of Shi'a ahadith which are together called "al-Kutub al-Arb'ah" (the four books): al-Kafi of Kulayni, Man la Yahdhuruhu' l-Faqih of Saduq, Tahdhibu 'l-Ahkam and al-Istibsar of Tusi. Although these books are held in great esteem, the Shi'as have never called them "sihah". Consequently, they are not fettered by any hadith written there simply because it is in one of the four books. Instead, they subject all ahadith in all these books to strict tests, as to their narrators (asnad) and dirayah, and examine whether a given hadith conforms with the Qur'an, the accepted sayings of the Ma'sumin and the known facts. If a hadith passes these tough test, then it is accepted. If not, then it is re-interpreted in an acceptable way, failing which it is rejected outright.
It should be mentioned here that an overwhelming part of traditions concerning tahrif is defective and weak as far as their chains of narrators are concerned. Even then, some of those traditions maybe taken to denote that there has occurred misinterpretation in some verses, giving them wrong meaning. Another group of traditions may easily be construed to mention marginal explanatory notes of the reciters.
But there still remain many traditions which cannot be explained in either way. And our scholars unhesitatingly have rejected them because they go against the Qur'an and the sunnah, and are contrary to the ijma' of the ummah that there has never been any addition in or omission from the Qur'an.
Muhaqqiq al-Kalbasi has said, "All these reports which speak of tahrif are against the ijma' of the ummah (with exception of a few insignificant persons)." [33]
The commentator of al-Wafiyah, Muhaqqiq al-Baghdadi has clearly stated, by quoting from Muhaqqiq al-Karaki (who has written a complete tract on the subject) that: "The traditions which speak of omission must either be reinterpreted or rejected. Any tradition which is contradictory to the Qur'an, the acknowledged sunnah and the ijma' must be discarded if it has no room for interpretation or justifiable explanation." [34]
A tradition, recorded in al-Kafi is quoted here to give an example in practice of what we mean when we speak of reinterpretation or justifiable explanation: Abu 'Abdillah [al-Sadiq] (peace be upon him) said, "The Qur'an which was brought by Jibrail (peace be upon him) to Muhammad (Mercy of Allah be on him and his progeny) is seventeen thousand verses." [35]
Shaykh as-Saduq has written in his Kitabu'l-Itiqaddat, what in my view amounts to a reinterpretation of this hadith. He writes, "We say that so much of revelation has come down, which is not a part of the Qur'an, that if it were to be collected, its extent would undoubtedly be 17,000 verses. And this, for example, is like the saying of Gabriel (a.s.) to the Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny): 'Allah says to thee, O Muhammad, deal gently with My creatures, in the same manner as I do."'
He goes on quoting many such ahadith qudsiyah until he concludes by saying: "There are many such (ahadith qudsiyah) all of which are revelations, but do not form part of the Qur'an. If they had been (part of the Qur'an), they would surely have been included in it, and not excluded from it." [36]
If one is not prepared to accept this explanation because the tradition speaks about "the Qur'an", then we will discard this hadith without hesitation. Although the number (17,000) given in this tradition is much smaller than the one given by the 2nd Caliph (one million and twenty seven thousand letters in the Qur'an), [37] it is never-the-less three times bigger than the actual number of the verses (which is some six thousand two hundred and thirty six verses). [38]
This is the Shi'a method of resolving the problem of the ahadith on tahrif. Anyone studying it with unbiased mind and heart would readily accept it as the only correct solution for such ahadith because it is based on the method formulated by the Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny) and expressed by Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) as follows: "...And so whatever conforms to the Book of Allah, take it; and whatever is contrary to the Book of Allah, leave it .. " [39]
[33] Quoted in al Bayan, p. 253
[34] Ibid.
[35] al Kulayni, al Kafi, vol. 2 (Tehran: a; Matba'a al Islamiyya, 1388), p. 463
[36] Saduq, Kitabu 'l-Itiqadat, p. 63-65
[37] As-Suyuti, al-Itqan, vol. 2, p. 70
[38] See Mahmud Ruhani, al Mu'jamu 'l Ihsai (Mashad: 1990) p. 168. Those who do note take the trouble of counting, go on writing that there are 6666 verses in the Qur'an. It is one more example of Muslims tragic carelessness towards the Qur'an.
[39] al Hurr al Amili, Wasailu 'sh Shiah, vol. 3 (Kitabu 'l qadha: bab wujuhi 'l jam bayna 'l ahadithi 'l mukhtalifah), p. 380
[40] Died in 1994.