Loading...
Loading...
جمع المصحف العثماني
The standardisation of the Quran into a single authoritative written codex stands among the most consequential decisions in Islamic history. Undertaken during the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), this effort preserved the exact text of divine revelation in a unified written form that remains unchanged to this day.
During the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, the Quran had been compiled into a single manuscript (mushaf) at the urging of Umar ibn al-Khattab, following the Battle of Yamama in 12 AH, where many huffadh (those who had memorised the Quran) were killed. Zayd ibn Thabit led that effort, producing a master copy that was kept first with Abu Bakr, then with Umar, and after his death with Umar's daughter Hafsah bint Umar.
By the caliphate of Uthman, Islam had spread across vast territories encompassing Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Persia, and beyond. Muslims in these regions had learned the Quran from different Companions, each transmitting one of the valid modes of recitation (ahruf) in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had taught the Quran. While all these readings were authentically transmitted, the differences in pronunciation, dialect, and phrasing began to cause confusion and disputes among people unfamiliar with the concept of multiple valid readings.
The immediate catalyst came when Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman returned from military campaigns in Armenia and Azerbaijan, where Iraqi and Syrian soldiers had been fighting side by side. Hudhayfah witnessed alarming disputes among the troops over the correct recitation of the Quran, with each group insisting its reading was superior. He went directly to Uthman and said, as recorded by al-Bukhari:
"O Commander of the Believers, save this ummah before they differ about the Book as the Jews and Christians differed about their scriptures."
This warning carried profound weight. The corruption of previous scriptures through human alteration was well known, and the prospect of the Muslim community fragmenting over variant readings of the Quran demanded immediate action.
Uthman convened a committee of distinguished Companions, led once again by Zayd ibn Thabit, who had served as the Prophet's primary scribe and had overseen the first compilation under Abu Bakr. Joining him were Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, Sa'id ibn al-As, and Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham. These three were from the Quraysh, and Uthman instructed that in cases of disagreement over orthography, the Qurayshi dialect should be followed, since the Quran had been revealed in their tongue.
The committee retrieved the master mushaf from Hafsah bint Umar. Their task was not a new compilation but a careful transcription. They copied the text of Abu Bakr's mushaf, verifying every verse against the memories of Companions who had memorised the Quran directly from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The methodology was rigorous: no verse was included unless it was confirmed by both the written record and the testimony of living memorisers.
The resulting copies were written in a consonantal script without diacritical marks, a deliberate choice that allowed the text to accommodate the authenticated variant readings (qira'at) within a single written framework.
Uthman ordered multiple copies of the finalised mushaf to be produced and sent to the major garrison cities: Makkah, Madinah, Kufa, Basra, and Damascus. Some reports mention a copy sent to Bahrain and another to Yemen. With each copy, a qualified reciter was dispatched to teach the correct reading.
Uthman then ordered that all other personal written copies of Quranic passages be destroyed. This was not a suppression of valid readings but rather the removal of personal notebooks (which might contain explanatory notes, abrogated verses, or non-standard arrangements) that could be confused with the revelation itself. The Companions overwhelmingly supported this decision. Ali ibn Abi Talib said regarding it:
"Do not say anything about Uthman regarding the mushafs except good, for by Allah, he only did what he did regarding the mushafs in the presence of all of us."
The Uthmanic Codex is the direct ancestor of every Quran in circulation today. Manuscript evidence, from the Sanaa palimpsest to the Birmingham and Topkapi manuscripts, confirms the textual stability of the Quranic text across fourteen centuries. The later addition of diacritical marks and vowel signs by Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali and subsequent scholars served only to make the existing text accessible to non-Arab Muslims without altering a single letter.
Allah's promise in the Quran, "Indeed, it is We who sent down the reminder, and indeed, We will be its guardian" (al-Hijr 15:9), finds its historical fulfilment in the meticulous work of Uthman's committee. What they preserved was not merely a book but the unaltered speech of Allah, transmitted from the Prophet to his Companions to the entire ummah in an unbroken chain that continues to this day.
For the Prophetic era, see the Seerah timeline.