261- Preservation of the Holy Qur’an by Caliph 'Uthman R.A. and Issuance of Official Recension (Series: Inviting Reflections)

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the Holy Qur'an was collected in a book form by the Qur'an Commission appointed by the first Caliph Abu Bakr R.A. without restricting to a specific dialect. The intermingling of dialects, in world languages, has always been a complex issue. In 'Uthmanic era the boundaries of the Islamic state stretched to Europe, Central Asia and Africa. Non-Arabs embraced Islam in a large number and the problem of reciting the Qur'an in multiple dialects developed into a grave issue. Reports were received from Erzurum, Turkey; and Azerbaijan that the people engaged in military expeditions, who were from various Arab tribes, are contesting for their dialects or the dialect they had learnt. Caliph 'Uthman R.A. took immediate action and summoned the same members of the Qur'an Commission and asked them to compile the Qur'an afresh restricting to one dialect/reading-style used by the Prophet, peace be upon him, in Medina (Please see for details: M. Hamidullah Dr: Khutubat e Bahawalpur, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, 1401 A.H. pp. 20-21; Al-Qaysi Abu Muhammad Makki, Kitab al-Ibanah fi Ma’ani al-Qira’at, Damascus, 1979, pp. 96-97).  It is also interesting to note that at least 12000 Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and people from the next generation or who have professed Islam after the sad demise of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him i.e. “the Followers (تابعين: Tabi’in)” implemented the new version and all copies/writings in other dialects were destroyed ( Please see: Al-Qaysi Abu Muhammad Makki, Al-Ibanah, pp. 22-23). 

 It should be remembered that the primary function of a prophet of Allah is to introduce Almighty Allah and to purify the people by implementing a social order based on the concept of social justice. It was a divine design that, before the advent of Islam, every prophet A.S. has been interacting with his people in the native language they understood. In this regard, the Holy Qur’an has explicitly declared about the foregoing nations, and the verse reads:

"وَمَا أرْسَلْنَا مِنْ رَسُوْلٍ إلّا بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهِ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ"  (And We never sent a Messenger except with the language of his people, that he might make (the message) clear for them). Surah Ibrahim, Verse: 4

For the final and universal message, the Arabic language was chosen, after giving it an environment and conditions to develop, that it could have the capacity to become the vehicle for the universal and everlasting message i.e. al-Qur’an al-Karim. It was a regular practice of the Prophet, peace be upon him that while interacting with different tribes, he, peace be upon him, addressed them in their tribal dialect, allowing them to understand the contents of the conversation fully. An interesting story has been narrated by ‘Allama ‘Ajaluni in his book Kashf al Khifa’ that a delegation from the tribe Banu Sulaym visited the Prophet, peace be upon him, and held detailed talks with him. When the delegation left, Abu Bakr R.A., who was also there and exclaimed addressing the Prophet:

"مَا قَالَ لَكَ وَ مَا قُلْتَ لَهُ، لَمْ نَفْهَمْ هَذَا، مَا رَايْتُ أفْصَحُ مِنْكَ، فَمَنْ أدَّبَكَ، يَا رَسُوْلَ اللهِ؟" (O Prophet of Allah! We did not understand what you said to him (the leader of the delegation) and what he said to you. You are the most eloquent. Who has taught you this [dialect of Banu Sulaym]?).

 In response to this query, the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, gave out his the often-quoted answer: "أدَّبَنِىَ اللهُ فَأحْسَنَ تَاْدِيْبِى، وَ نَشَئْتُ فِىْ بَنِى سَعَد"   (Allah has taught me [these tribal dialects] and He (Allah) taught me very well). Moreover, I was brought up in Bani Sa‘ad [the most eloquent tribe of the Qureysh]. (Al-‘Ajaluni: Kashf al Khifa’ , vol. 1, p. 70).

In fact, the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, used to interact with various tribes in their colloquial dialects and allowed them to read the Holy Qur’an in their permissible dialects. When the intermingling of the allowed dialects/readings of the Qur’an started threatening the unity of Ummah, the Caliph ‘Uthman R.A, through an executive order, though did not abrogate the allowed dialects of reading the Qur’an, instead, he ordered to prepare a Canon Version of the Qur’an using the dialect that was used by the Prophet in Madina known as Qureshi dialect. He also ordered to destroy the written materials having other dialects (Please see for details, Al-Qaysi, Abu Makki bin Abi Talib: Kitab al-Ibanah ‘an Ma‘ani al-Qira’at, pp. 96-97). Some people hastily went to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib R.A. complaining that other copies of the Qur’an are being destroyed. On this occasion, ‘Ali b. Abi Talib R.A, who had a personal codex before the official recension, is reported to have shown his gratitude and satisfaction with the ‘Uthmanic recension by saying:  "لَوْ وُلِّيْتُ لَفَعَلْتُ كَذَلِكَ" (If I were in command in place of ‘Uthman, I would have done the same) (Please See: Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, Cairo 1972, p.23).

The Qur'an Commission prepared five or seven copies of the Qur'an. One copy remained in the Mosque of the Prophet, peace be upon him, for a long time. It was read by the Companions R.A. and others; and history did not record any objection accusing deletion or redaction of any verse of the Qur'an. Rest of the copies were sent to various important and big cities except one copy which was kept in the custody of the Caliph and this copy was named as Al-Mushaf al-Imam (the Mother Version). Out of these copies, four are extant now, including the copy which was in custody of Third Caliph ‘Uthman RA. It still carries the stains of blood as he was reading it when he was slain martyred. This copy of ‘Uthmanic Recension can be seen in Topkapi Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. The other three extant copies are in Tashkent; in Kabul; and, in India Office Library, London. Regarding the copy of India Office Library, inside the cover of the Recension, it bears signatures and writing of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan that this is ‘Uthmanic Recension and very dear to me (Please See: M. Hamidullah Dr. Khutubat e Bahawalpur, pp.19-20).

In the last century the University of Munich, Germany established an institute for Qur’anic Studies [can be named as Qur’anic Archive]. Prof. Gotthelf Bergstrasser (1888-1933 C.E.), Professor of Semitic Languages, was the first director of this institute. The institute collected 42000 copies of the Qur'an scribed or printed in 1400 years from all parts of the world. After collation of the available 42000 copies of the Qur'an, no textual error was found in any copy of the Qur’an. However, there were some orthographic mistakes in some copies, which were not repeated in other copies of the Qur’an---obviously, these were mistakes of the copyists and not the textual differences (M. Hamidullah Dr. Khutubat e Bahawalpur, pp.19-20).

The Holy Qur’an is safe from any adulteration or corruption because Allah Almighty has guaranteed its safety. Allah says: "إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَ إِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ" (We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We (Allah) will assuredly guard it (from corruption). Surah Al-Hijr, Verse: 9