The Compilation of the Quran Under Uthman

Among Uthman ibn Affan's most enduring contributions to Islamic civilization is the standardization of the Quranic text — a project that has preserved the divine revelation in its pristine form for over fourteen centuries and continues to be the Quran that every Muslim in the world uses today. Sallaabi's treatment of this event combines historical documentation with theological reflection on its significance.

The background to Uthman's compilation was a practical problem that emerged as Islam spread rapidly beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Different regions had preserved slightly different recitation traditions — some variations reflecting the legitimate diversity of the ahruf (the seven modes of revelation), others representing dialectal differences or transmission peculiarities that had entered local practices. When soldiers from different regions camped together on campaigns, disputes arose about correct recitation. Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, one of the leading Companions, reported to Uthman with urgency: 'Take charge of this community before they differ about the Book as Jews and Christians differed about theirs.'

Uthman's response was measured and methodical. He appointed a committee of four: Zayd ibn Thabit — who had led Abu Bakr's compilation project and was the most qualified Quranic scholar of the time — and three senior Companions from the Quraysh: Abdullah ibn Zubayr, Sa'id ibn al-As, and Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith. Their instructions were explicit: produce a standard text in the Qurashi dialect, and in cases of disagreement between Zayd and the three Qurayshis about the pronunciation or spelling of a word, follow the Qurashi form.

The committee worked from the Abu Bakr mushaf (the primary reference text held by Hafsa, Umar's daughter) and from the memories of the senior Companions who had received the Quran directly from the Prophet. The resulting official mushaf was copied multiple times — traditionally seven copies, though some sources give different numbers — and distributed to the major Muslim cities: Makkah, Madinah, Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Bahrain, and Yemen. Each distribution was accompanied by a qualified teacher who could teach the correct recitation.

The decision to request that non-conforming private copies be surrendered was the most controversial aspect of the standardization. Companions who had personal copies that differed in organization or contained marginal notes about occasions of revelation were asked to submit them. Some senior Companions, notably Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, initially resisted. Sallaabi contextualizes this resistance as reflecting the attachment of devoted scholars to their personal study copies, not as evidence that alternative Quranic texts existed — a critical distinction that orientalists have sometimes obscured.

The historical result speaks for itself: the Uthmanic mushaf became the standard text across the entire Muslim world, and fourteen centuries of universal usage confirms that it accurately represents the revelation that the Prophet received, taught, and had his Companions memorize. The achievement is without parallel in the history of religious texts.