Page 124 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

104 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

A few such Mushafs may have escaped destruction, being corrected in-
stead by erasure of the ink and a fresh coating with the scribe's pen. Some
might have erroneously interpreted this act as al-Hajjaj's attempt to alter
the Qjir'an.
Following 'Uthman's lead, al-Hajjaj also distributed copies of the Qur'an
to various cities. 'Ubaidullah b. 'Abdullah b. 'Utba states that the Mushaf of
Madinah was kept in the Prophet's Mosque and read from every morning;75
in the civil strife surrounding 'Uthman's assassination someone absconded
with it. Muhriz b. Thabit reports from his father (whowas among al-Hajjaj's
guards) that al-Hajja] commissioned several Mushafs," and sent one of
them to Madinah. 'Uthman's family found this distasteful, but when they
were asked to bring forth the original, that it may be recited from again,
they declared that the Mushaf had been destroyed (,-:--=""i) on the day of
'Uthman's assassination. Muhriz was informed that 'Uthrnan's master copy
stillsurvived in the possession of his grandson, Khalid b. 'Amr b. 'Uthman,
but we can assume that the Mushaf sent by al-J:Iajjaj was adopted for public
recitation in the Prophet's Mosque, in lieu of the original. According to as-
Sarnhudi, who quotes Ibn Zabala,
J>? ~.~...ll.\ J! J-w.J\j ,-...A>-~.(5,;)1 ,,:.Ai-...i J! J...Yo! J. Cb:J.-\ J-w)>>

77«(5,;)1 J!-...A>-L..d.4 J-w) 0" J)i yo) '4-:--
al-J:Iajjaj sent the Qur'an to major cities, including a large one to Mad-
inah, and was the first to dispatch the Mushaf to towns.

Ibn Shabba says,

And when [the Abbasid ruler] al-Mahdi became Caliph he sent another
Mushaf to Madinah, which is being read from even now. The Mushaf
of al-Hajja] was removed and kept inside a box next to the pulpit. 78

Al-J:Iajjaj's role as regards the Qur'an was not confmed to commissioning
further Mushafs. Abu Muhammad al-Himmani reports that al-J:Iajjajonce
called for a gathering of the ~vjja;;. and those who recited the Holy Book
professionally. Taking his seat among them, for he was of the former group,
he asked them to count the number of characters in the Qjir'an. Once

75 Ibn Shabba, Tdrikh. al-Madina, p. 7; also, Ibn Qutaiba, Ta'wllMushkil al-Qy.r'iin,
p.5l.
76 He did this to accommodate the increase in the Muslim population which had
occurred between 'Uthman's time and his own (over half a century), which had invar-
iably resulted in an increased demand for Mushafs, We have no account however as
to their number or where they were dispatched to.
77 As-Samhudi, Wqfii' al-Wqfii', i:668, as quoted by al-Munaggid, Etudes de Paleographic
Arabe, Beirut, 1972, p. 46.
78 Ibn Shabba, Tiilikh al-Madina, pp. 7-8.