ulum-al-quran
ulum-al-quran
ulum-al-quran
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'A'isha, S<strong>al</strong>im, Umm S<strong>al</strong>ama, 'Ubaid bin 'Umar. [See Ibn Abi Dawud: Masahif, p 14 Ansari, M.: The qura'nic Foundations<br />
and Structure of Muslim Society; Karachi, 1973, drawing upon various sources, says (1, p.76, note 2) that there existed at<br />
least 15 written copies of the Qur'an in the Prophet's lifetime. In addition to the list of 15 names quoted above, he<br />
includes Abu Bakr, 'Uthman, Mu'adh b. Jab<strong>al</strong>, Abu Darda', Abu Ayyub Ansari, 'Ubada b. <strong>al</strong>-Samit, Tamim Dari. This would<br />
add up to 23 written copies of the Qur'an, which existed while the Prophet was <strong>al</strong>ive.]<br />
It is <strong>al</strong>so known that 'A'isha and Hafsa had their own scripts written after the Prophet had died. [Rahimuddin, M. (transl.):<br />
Muwatta) Imam M<strong>al</strong>ik, Lahore, 1980, No. 307, 308; M<strong>al</strong>ik b. Anas: <strong>al</strong>-muwatta', Cairo, n.d., p. 105.]<br />
The following is a very brief description of some of the masdhif, which are attributed to the Companions of the Prophet.<br />
All the information is based on classic<strong>al</strong> sources. [For details see Ibn Abi Dawud, <strong>al</strong>so fihrist and Itqan]<br />
The Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud (d. 33/653)<br />
He wrote a mushaf, in which sudras 1, 113 and 114 were not included. Ibn <strong>al</strong>-Nadim [Fihrist, I, pp. 57-8.] however said<br />
he had seen a copy of the Qur'an from Ibn Mas'ud which did not contain <strong>al</strong>-fatiha (Sura 1). The arrangement of the suras<br />
differed from the 'Uthmanic text. The following is the order attributed to Ibn Mas'ud's copy: [Fihrist, I, pp. 53-7.]<br />
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,<br />
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,<br />
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,<br />
90, 93, 94, 86, 100, 107, 101, 98, 91, 95, 104, 105, 106, 102, 97, 110, 108, 109, 111, 112.<br />
This list is obviously incomplete. It contains only 106 suras and not 110, as Ibn Nadim wrote.<br />
In Sura <strong>al</strong>-baqara, which I take as an example, there are a tot<strong>al</strong> of 101 variants. Most of them concern spelling, some<br />
<strong>al</strong>so choice of words (synonyms), use of particles, etc.<br />
Examples:<br />
Pronunciation:<br />
2:70 Ibn Mas'ud reads <strong>al</strong>-baqira<br />
in place of <strong>al</strong>-baqara<br />
Spelling:<br />
2:19 He reads kulla ma<br />
Synonyms:<br />
in place of kullama<br />
2:68 He reads s<strong>al</strong> (seek, beseech)<br />
in place of ud'u (beseech)<br />
Assuming that <strong>al</strong>l these are reliable reports, the copy of Ibn Mas'ud would then have been prepared for his person<strong>al</strong> use<br />
and written before <strong>al</strong>l 114 suras were reve<strong>al</strong>ed.<br />
Nadim, who lived in the tenth century (4th century Hijra) <strong>al</strong>so added: 'I have seen a number of Qur'anic manuscripts,<br />
which the transcribers recorded as manuscripts of Ibn Mas'ud. No two of the Qur'anic copies were in agreement and most<br />
of them were on badly effaced parchment ... [Fihrist, I, p. 57.]<br />
This note indicates that the question of authentic manuscripts of Ibn Mas'ud needs to be treated with some caution.<br />
The Mushaf of Ubay bin Ka'b (d. 29 H/649)<br />
He wrote a mushaf, in which two 'addition<strong>al</strong> suras and another 'addition<strong>al</strong> aya' were reportedly found.<br />
[Itqan, I, p. 65; Ibn Abi Dawud, masahif, pp. 18S1; <strong>al</strong>so Noldeke, T. et <strong>al</strong>.: Ceschichte des Qorans,<br />
Leipzig, 1909-38 (abbr. as GdQ), 11, pp. 33-8.