robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)

How indeed? The answer to al-Kindi's question is not clear. What can be determined is that the
dominant Qur'anic text today appears to derive from Hajjaj, not Uthman.
Shaky Foundations
Even if the Dome of the Rock inscriptions are taken at face value as a declaration of the Islamic faith as
we know it today, it is exceedingly strange that they are the first clear declaration of Islamic faith. Dating
from 691, they were written six decades after the Arab conquests began. Meanwhile, the textual variants
in the Qur'an are striking enough simply for existing; after all, if the Qur'an was standardized and
distributed early on, and the alternate copies burned, variants should not have emerged. Similarly, if it
was well established that Uthman collected the Qur'an, and if a common Qur'an was in widespread use
among the early Arab conquerors, there is no clear reason why alternative explanations for the origins of
the book would have been invented.
All this and, as we have seen, much more demonstrates that the canonical account of the origins of
Islam is far shakier than most people realize.