CHAPTER ONE The Preservation of the Quran

This elaborate arrangement of the Quran was made so that there should not be even the minutest discrepancy vis-à-vis the original revelation. If this extraordinary care had not been taken, differences would have resulted from the slightest lapse in memorizing and transcription. For instance, when Umar recited this verse to Zayd ibn Thabit, “As for those who led the way, the first of the muhajirs and the Ansar, those who nobly followed them,” Zayd said, that he remembered this verse with waw, that is, with ‘and’ after Ansar. So, the investigation started, and finally the other memorizers of the Quran came and confirmed that the opinion of Zayd was right. So, in the volume the verse was written with the addition of ‘and’. In former times, when the accepted way of disseminating the subject matter of a book was to memorize it, then recite it, it was quite exceptional that the Quran should have been preserved in writing as well as memorized. This was like having a ‘double checking’ system, whereby memory plus written words and written words plus memory could be constantly compared for verification. After Zayd ibn Thabit had prepared the entire Quran and bound it in the form of a book, all other materials collected from different companions, for the purpose of checking and rechecking, were all burnt. Now this volume was handed over to the caliph. After Abu Bakr’s death it remained with Umar, the second caliph. After the death of Caliph Umar, it remained in the custody of Hafsa, daughter of Umar and wife of the Prophet. During the caliphate of Uthman, Islam had spread far and wide, and the number of Muslims was legion. Moreover, the companions who taught the Quran had gone to different countries that had come within the fold of Islam. For instance, the Syrians learned the Quran from Ubayy ibn Kaab, the Kufans (the inhabitants of Kufa, a city in Iraq) learned the Quran from Abdullah ibn Masood and the Iraqis in general from Abu Musa Ash’ari. However, due to differences in accent and styles of writing, controversies again began cropping up. People even called one another heretics owing to such differences. Ibn Abi Daud writes in his book, Al-Masahif, quoting Yazid ibn Muawiyah Nakhai, that once when Huzayfa ibn AI-Yaman was present in the mosque of Kufa, he found a group reciting the Quran. One of them recited a certain verse and said: “This is the way of recitation of Abdullah ibn Masood.” Another recited it with a different accent and said that was how Abu Musa AI-Ashari recited it. Huzayfa, enraged on hearing this, stood up and admonished this group: “Those before you (people of the book) differed just like this. By God, I will go riding to the leader of the believers, Uthman, the third caliph.”