Page 21 - Ulum Al Quran An Introduction To The Sciences Of The Quran

'A'isha, Salim, Umm Salama, 'Ubaid bin 'Umar. [See Ibn Abi Dawud: Masahif, p 14 Ansari, M.: The qura'nic Foundations
and Structure of Muslim Society; Karachi, 1973, drawing upon various sources, says (1, p.76, note 2) that there existed at
least 15 written copies of the Qur'an in the Prophet's lifetime. In addition to the list of 15 names quoted above, he
includes Abu Bakr, 'Uthman, Mu'adh b. Jabal, Abu Darda', Abu Ayyub Ansari, 'Ubada b. al-Samit, Tamim Dari. This would
add up to 23 written copies of the Qur'an, which existed while the Prophet was alive.]
It is also known that 'A'isha and Hafsa had their own scripts written after the Prophet had died. [Rahimuddin, M. (transl.):
Muwatta) Imam Malik, Lahore, 1980, No. 307, 308; Malik b. Anas: al-muwatta', Cairo, n.d., p. 105.]

The following is a very brief description of some of the masdhif, which are attributed to the Companions of the Prophet.
All the information is based on classical sources. [For details see Ibn Abi Dawud, also fihrist and Itqan]

The Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud (d. 33/653)

He wrote a mushaf, in which sudras 1, 113 and 114 were not included. Ibn al-Nadim [Fihrist, I, pp. 57-8.] however said
he had seen a copy of the Qur'an from Ibn Mas'ud which did not contain al-fatiha (Sura 1). The arrangement of the suras
differed from the 'Uthmanic text. The following is the order attributed to Ibn Mas'ud's copy: [Fihrist, I, pp. 53-7.]
2, 4, 3, 7, 6, 5, 10, 9, 16, 11, 12, 17, 21, 23, 26, 37, 33, 28, 24, 8, 19, 29, 30, 36, 25, 22, 13, 34, 35, 14,
38, 47, 31, 35, 40, 43, 41, 46, 45, 44, 48, 57, 59, 32, 50, 65, 49, 67, 64, 63, 62, 61, 72, 71, 58, 60, 66,
55, 53, 51, 52, 54, 69, 56, 68, 79, 70, 73, 74, 83, 80, 76, 75, 77, 78, 81, 82, 88, 87, 92, 89, 85, 84, 96,
90, 93, 94, 86, 100, 107, 101, 98, 91, 95, 104, 105, 106, 102, 97, 110, 108, 109, 111, 112.

This list is obviously incomplete. It contains only 106 suras and not 110, as Ibn Nadim wrote.

In Sura al-baqara, which I take as an example, there are a total of 101 variants. Most of them concern spelling, some
also choice of words (synonyms), use of particles, etc.

Examples:
Pronunciation:

2:70 Ibn Mas'ud reads al-baqira

in place of al-baqara

Spelling:

2:19 He reads kulla ma
in place of kullama

Synonyms:

2:68 He reads sal (seek, beseech)
in place of ud'u (beseech)

Assuming that all these are reliable reports, the copy of Ibn Mas'ud would then have been prepared for his personal use
and written before all 114 suras were revealed.

Nadim, who lived in the tenth century (4th century Hijra) also added: 'I have seen a number of Qur'anic manuscripts,
which the transcribers recorded as manuscripts of Ibn Mas'ud. No two of the Qur'anic copies were in agreement and most
of them were on badly effaced parchment ... [Fihrist, I, p. 57.]
This note indicates that the question of authentic manuscripts of Ibn Mas'ud needs to be treated with some caution.

The Mushaf of Ubay bin Ka'b (d. 29 H/649)

He wrote a mushaf, in which two 'additional suras and another 'additional aya' were reportedly found.

[Itqan, I, p. 65; Ibn Abi Dawud, masahif, pp. 18S1; also Noldeke, T. et al.: Ceschichte des Qorans,
Leipzig, 1909-38 (abbr. as GdQ), 11, pp. 33-8.