Page 111 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

'UTHMAN'S MU~I:IAF 91

reign, an excessivelytalkative man approached the Caliph and told him
that the people were differing in their pronunciation of the Qur'an,
'Umar resolved therefore to collect all copies of the Qur'an and stand-
ardise their pronunciation, but he suffered that fatal stabbing before he
could carry the matter any further. During 'Uthman's reign this same
man came to remind him of the issue, so 'Uthman commissioned [his
independent] Mushaf Then he sent me to [the Prophet's widow] 'A'isha
to retrieve the parchments upon which the Prophet had dictated the
Qur'an in its entirety. The independently-prepared Mushaf was then
checked against these parchments, and after the correction of all errors
he ordered that all other copies of the Qur'an be destroyed." 23

There are some useful details in this narration regarding the acquisition
of parchments from 'A'isha's custody, though by traditionist standards the
narrative chain is weak." The following report however lends strength to
the previous one. Ibn Shabba narrates on the authority of Harun bin 'Umar,
who relates that,

When 'Uthman wanted to make an official copy, he asked 'A'isha to
send him those parchments which were dictated by the Prophet and
which she kept in her house. He then ordered Zaid bin Thabit to correct
accordingly, as he himself was not free since he wanted to devote his
time to governing the people and judging among them. 25

Similarly Ibn Ushta (d. 360 AH./97 1 c.s.) reports in al-Mafa~ifthat
'Uthman, resolving on an autonomous copy using primary sources, sent
to 'A'isha's house for the $u~zif. In this account a few differences were
found, with 'Uthman's copy being corrected as necessary'"
Gathering these narratives together gives us the following: 'Uthman pre-
pared an independent copy relying entirely on primary sources, which
included the Companions' parchments along with additional material
held by 'A'ishaY

23 Ibn Shabba, Tiifikh al-Madina, pp. 990-991;Alsoas-Suyuti,al-Itqan, ii:272,quoting
Ibn Ushtah's al-Masdhi].
24 One of the narrators is of very low repute (!l)y: matruk).
25 Ibn Shabba, Tiifikh al-Madina; p. 997.
26 As-Suyuti, al-Itqiin; ii:272
27 This can also be concluded from the followinghadiths in Sa~0 of al-Bukhari:
')r.f-I ..:.>..l>:-) ~ ,Jl>:-)1 )),)..,0) J\>J.JI) ~I Cr' ~i ,01,;JI~» :~~ <J. -'!j Jl>
,;,I/- at\>. ~ ( ... ~io- J r ) r->,l>:- ..uiJ) "pp..\>-it: Lo..l>:-it <,?)~,>q .....;- <'pit: ,-<'pI
«~ ~ ~ ~.J.:.>. ~ ,oil,>- ~.J.:.>. ~ ,.JJ\,l>j ~ ..$v. <'pi.J.:.>. ~I ~t5:.;
Zaid bin Thabit reports that when he was compiling the Qur'an during the
reign of Abu Bakr,he could not locate two ayahs from the end of Sura Barii'a
tillhe found them with Abu Khuzaima al-An~arI, with no one elsepossessing
a first-hand copy. The completed Su~ufwere kept in Abu Bakr's custody till
he passed away ... [al-BukharI, Sa~'i~, hadlth no. 4986]. - cont.