Page 116 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

96 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

Figure 7.1: Example if a very early MUI~qf written in the ljq/izz script. Note the
lack if skeletal dots. Courtesy if the National Archive Museum if Yemen.

v. 'Uthman's Instructions with the Mushafs He Sent

I. 'Uthman decreed that all personal Mushafs differing from his own
should be burned, as failure to eliminate these would engender further
strife. Anas bin Malik reports,
u:-l-ll ~~icr~ J5" Jl J.-},» ... ..:.lJt.. J. ~i .)..;;>-1 :(,$Y")I JL;
41« ~ J.-)(,$.DI ~\ JJt>..; ~ J5" \~f<!. .)1 ~..r'1) ~.
SendingeachMuslim armyitsownMushaf, 'Uthrnan instructed
them to burn all other copieswhich differedfrom his.

Anas' statement represents only one possible scenario out of many.
According to other narratives, 'Uthman ordained that all earlier
copies were to be torn or burned.f In another account, by erasing
away the ink. Abu Qilaba states, "'Uthman wrote to every centre,
'I...have erased what was in my possession, now erase what is in
yours'."43 Once, a delegation travelled from Iraq to Madinah and
visited Ubayy's son, informing him that they had journeyed with
great hardship solelyto see Ubayy's Mushaf He replied that 'Uthman
had taken it away. Perhaps thinking that he was simply reluctant,
they repeated their request and he repeated his answer.44
Ibn Hajar says that despite most reports incorporating the word
at-tahriq (J<..rd l : burning), every possibility must be considered. The

41 Ibn AbI DaW11d, al-Masahif, pp. 19-20; see also al-Bukhari, $~f~, Babjam'i al-
Qjir'an, hadtth no. 4987; Ibn Kathir, Fatjii'il, vii:442.
42 Ibn Hajar; Fat~1l1 Barf, ix:20.
43 ibid, ix:21.
44 Ibn AbI Dawud, al-Masahif, p. 25.