Page 118 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

98 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

the Mushaf of Madinah in twelve places.t" To illustrate the nature of
these differences, I have listed them all in the table below'?
Sura: Mw;l;ajs of 'Uthman,
Mw;l;qfof Madinah Present-Day Mw;l;qf50
verse lllffa andBasra
1 2:132 I'"="'IA 4-tLS""i, 1'"="'1A 4-t ;:..,JJ 1'"="'1A 4-t;:..,JJ
2 3:133 ·~J1IYjL.. ·~J1IYjL..J ·~J1IYjL..J
3 5:53 Iy.-T.:r-l.ll Jyi; Iy.-T.:r-l.ll Jyi;J Iy.-I.:r-l.ll Jyi;J
4 5:54 ~~.r;fl0" ~~.l-0" ~~hr'
5 9:107 (~ IJ..i;.;I.:r-l.l1 (~ IJ..i;.;1 .:r-l.lIJ (~ IJ..i;.;1 .:r-l.lIJ
6 18:36 l.,l.;.:... 51~ I?- 0.b:-Y ~ 4-'- I?- 0.b:-Y ~ 4-'-1?- 0.b:-Y
l
l
7 26:217 I'""'")I prl Js- J5'.P 1'""'")1 prl Js- J5'YJ I'""'")I prl l Js- J5'YJ
8 40:26 ~L..AJI c/jYI J ~ 0i J ~L..AJI c/j YIJ ~ 0i Ji ~L..AJI c/}il J ~ 01 }
9 42:30 ~'-"~<f ~I...,i~<f ~I...,i~<f
10 43:71 52 ..,....o.;YI ~ L. 4,,>J ..,....o.;YI ~ L. 4,,>J ..,....o.;YI ~L. 4,,>J
11 57:24 ¥\~1.J)101' ¥I ~I Y' .J)I 01' ¥I ~I Y'.J)I 01'
12 91:15 4#Jl>.;)\> 4#Jl>.; 'iJ 4# Jl>.; 'iJ

Clearly, 'Uthman's personal copy isperfectly congruent with the present
Mushaf circulating in our hands/" while the Mushaf of Madinah contains
minor deviations that can be summed up as follows: (I) an extra Iin <.S"")1);

48 The fact is that the Mushaf of Madinah was lost (or destroyed) during the civil
strife which ensued the day 'Uthman was assassinated. [Ibn Shabba, Tiifikhal-Madina,
pp. 7-8.] How then were various scholars able to examine the Mushaf reserved for
Madinah? The answer is two-fold. Firstly, Abu ad-Dania', a highly renowned Com-
panion who died the same year as 'Uthrnan, carried out extensive studies on the
Mushafs dispatched by 'Uthman including the one kept in Madinah. His fmdings,
tabulated before the Mushaf of Madinah had disappeared, served as a template for
subsequent scholars. [See for example Abu 'Ubaid, Fadd'il. pp. 330-2.] Secondly (and
perhaps more importantly) these scholars, who could no longer analyse the Mushaf
of Madinah perse, often state in their writings that they examined "the Mushafs of the
people of Hejaz [western Arabia]." Meaning, that what they examined were authen-
ticated duplicates of the Mushaf of Madinah, made by well-known Companions or
scholars for their own personal use prior to the Mushaf''s disappearance (see this
work, the text following the table p. 101). In this way they were able to sidestep the
actual Mushaf''s loss, and carry out detailed analysis of its text anyway.
49 Ibn Abi Dawud, al-M~iil;ij,pp. 37-38,41. The same information but through a
different isnad; see also Abu 'Ubaid, Fat/ii'il, pp. 328-9.
50 Based on the narrative of Hafs from <~im (representing one of the seven unani-
mously accepted authoritative reciter's of the Qur'an).
51 See Ibn Mujahid, Kitiib as-Sab'a, p. 390. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', and Ibn 'knir read:
(l..+-'?-) as found in the Mushafs of Makkah, Madinah and Syria. While Abu 'Amr,
<~im, Hamza and al-Kasa'i read: (~ '?-) as found in the Mushafs of Basraand Kufa.
52 In this entry there is an error, in that the first two columns appear to be swapped.
I have tried to correct this; Allah knows best.
53 By which I mean the narrative of Hafs from <~im.