Page 115 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

'UTHMAN's MU~f.lAF 95

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"Each of these scholars recited to the people of his respective city in
the manner he had learned it through authenticated, multiple channels
going back to the Prophet, insofar as these channels lay in complete
agreement with each other and fit the Mushaf''s consonantal skeleton.
Any mode of recitation arriving through a single channel (or containing
verses that had been abrogated during the Prophet's lifetime) was dis-
carded. Dispatching reciters with the Mushafs meant limiting the possi-
bilities that were compatible with the consonantal script to only those
that enjoyed authenticated and multiple backing.... Sending a scholar
with every Mushaf was, therefore, elucidating that proper recitation was
dependent on the learning through direct contact with teachers whose
transmission channels reached to the Prophet, not simply a product of
script or spelling conventions.t'''?

Early copies of 'Uthman's M~J:.1afwere largely consonantal, frequently
dropping vowels and containing no dots," much like the image in Figure
7.1 which is taken from a Mushaf in the I:Iejazi script. 39
These copies could be read erroneously in many different ways.t" In
undertaking this second compilation, 'Uthman's main purpose was to elim-
inate all occasion for disputes in recitation; sending a Mushaf by itself, or
with a reciter at liberty to devise any reading, was contrary to the unity
'Uthman sought to establish within the populace. The existence of total
unity in the Qur'anic texts throughout the world for fourteen centuries,
between all countries and all divergent Muslim sects, is proof enough of
'Uthman's unparalleled success in gathering all Muslims upon a single text.

36 'Abdul-Fattah al-QadI, "al-Qjra'at fi Nazar al-Mustashriqin wa al-Mulhidin",
Mojallatal-Azhar, vol. 43/2, 1391 (1971), p. 175.
37 The English rendering is not verbatim but is only meant to convey the narration's
gist.
38 For a detail discussion on dots, see pp. 135-41.
39 Some of the first official'Uthmani Mushafs were most likelywritten in the J:IejazI
script. There are a handful of Mushafs attributed to 'Uthman worldwide [see pp.
315-8]. While it is impossible to confirm or deny such claims, given that the copies
themselves are mute on this point, such attributions may imply that they were actually
copied from one of the Mushafs dispatched by 'Uthman,
40 One of the allegations is that the 'Uthmani Mushaf being void of dots caused
divergences in the readings of the Qur'an. See Chapter II for a thorough analysis of
this subject.