Why Was Ibn Masud's Reading Not Included in the Uthmanic Mushaf? — A Comprehensive ResponseWhy Was Ibn Masud's Reading Not Included in the Uthmanic Mushaf? — A Comprehensive Response

Abu al-Walid al-Tayalisi narrated to us, Hammam ibn Yahya narrated to us, on the authority of Qatadah, on the authority of Yahya ibn Ya’mar, on the authority of Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza’i, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Ka’b, who said: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “O Ubayy, I was taught the Quran and it was said to me: On one or two letters? The angel who was with me said: Say: On two letters. I said: On two letters. I was told: On two or three letters? The angel who was with me said: Say: On three. I said: On three, until he reached seven letters. Then he said: There is nothing among them except healing and sufficient, if you say: All-Hearing, All-Knowing, All-Mighty, All-Wise, as long as you do not conclude a verse of punishment with mercy, or a verse of mercy with punishment.”

Abdullah told us, my father told us, Ya’la and Muhammad al-Ma’ni told us, they said, al-A’mash told us, on the authority of Abu Dhibyan, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, who said: Which of the two readings do you consider to be the first? They said: the reading of Abdullah. He said: No, rather it is the last. The Quran was presented to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once every year. In the year in which he died, it was presented to him twice, and Abdullah bore witness, so he knew what had been abrogated and what had been changed.

Ja’far bin Muhammad bin Naseer al-Khaldi informed us, on the authority of Ali bin Abdul Aziz al-Baghawi, in Mecca, on the authority of Hajjaj bin al-Minhal, who said: Hammad bin Salamah informed us, on the authority of Qatadah, on the authority of al-Hasan, on the authority of Samurah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “The Quran was presented to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in presentations.” They say: Our reading is the last presentation.

“If that is proven, then preference occurs in the reports that conflict, and it is not possible to reconcile them, and the later one is not known, so it is considered abrogating in two places: one of them: the chain of transmission and the second: the texts. As for preference by chain of transmission, then there are several aspects: the first: that one of the two reports is narrated in a famous case that is widely circulated among the people of transmission, and the one that opposes it is devoid of that, so the report narrated in a famous case is preferred, because the soul is more at peace with its authenticity and the assumption of its correctness is more likely. The second: That the narrator of one of the two reports is more knowledgeable and more precise, and the narrator of the one that contradicts it is less so, even if both of their hadiths are used as evidence, so the report of the one who has more knowledge and precision is preferred, because the soul is more at ease with his narration, and his memory is more trustworthy. The third: That the narrators of one of the two reports are more numerous than the narrators of the other report, so the report with many narrators is preferred, because forgetfulness and error are further from the group, and closer to the individual. Seventh: That the narrator of one of the two reports is the one who is involved in the story, and the narrator of the other report is a stranger, so the report of the one who is involved in the story is given precedence, because he is more knowledgeable about its outward and inward aspects, and more proficient in memorizing its ruling.”

“And it is preferable that one of them has a difference of narrators, so some of them narrate the hadith from him in confirming a ruling from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and some of them narrate it from him in denying that ruling, and the other has no difference of narrators in that he narrated one of them, and it is preferable that the narrator of the report is the one who is involved in the story, and the other is not, and this is similar to the narration of Maymunah bint al-Harith, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, married me while we were in ihram, so it is necessary to give precedence to her report over the report of Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, married her while he was in ihram. It is also preferred that one of the two conflicting narrations matches the actions of the nation according to it, because it is possible that they did that for it.”

Ismail bin Ibrahim told us, on the authority of Ayoub, on the authority of Ibn Sirin, who said: I was informed that the Quran was presented to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once a year in the month of Ramadan. When it was the year in which he died, it was presented to him twice. Ibn Sirin said: They see, or hope, that our reading is the most recent of the two readings in the last presentation.

“And we have narrated from that what we have narrated and we have left out what is other than it, whose chains of transmission are not connected. And among those who also read this letter were Asim, Sulayman al-A’mash, and Hamza. And Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz mentioned to us from Abu Ubayd that he used to go to that and choose it because of the large number of readers; and because Asim’s reading is from the soundness of the way out… I heard Ahmad ibn Abi Imran say: I heard Yahya ibn Aktham say: If the reading is taken with the correctness of the way out, then we do not know of any reading with the correctness of the way out that is correct for the reading of Asim; because he says: I read the Quran to Abu Abd al-Rahman, and Abu Abd al-Rahman read to Ali, and Ali read to the Prophet, peace be upon him. He said: I used to leave Abu Abd al-Rahman and pass by Zirr ibn Hubaysh and read to him as I had read to Abu Abd al-Rahman, and he did not change anything for me. He said: Zirr read to Ibn Masud, and he read Ibn Masud to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Abu Ja’far said: He spoke the truth. We had taken the recitation of Asim word for word from Ruh ibn al-Faraj, and he told us that he had taken it from Yahya ibn Sulayman al-Ju’fi, and that he said to them: Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash narrated to us. He said: I read to Asim. Abu Bakr said: So I said to Asim: On whom have you read? He said: On al-Sulami, and he read on Ali, and Ali read on the Prophet, peace be upon him. Asim said: I used to make my way on Zirr, so I would read on him, and Zirr read on Ibn Masud, and he read on the Prophet, peace be upon him.”

“And Hamza read on Abu Muhammad Sulayman ibn Mihran al-A’mash by presentation, and it was said: the letters only. Hamza also read on the authority of Abu Hamza Humran bin A’yan, on the authority of Abu Ishaq Amr bin Abdullah al-Sabi’i, on the authority of Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman bin Abi Laila, on the authority of Abu Muhammad Talha bin Musarrif al-Yami, and on the authority of Abu Abdullah Ja’far al-Sadiq bin Muhammad al-Baqir bin Zain al-Abidin Ali bin al-Husayn bin Ali ibn Abi Talib al-Hashimi, and al-A’mash and Talhah read on Abu Muhammad Yahya ibn Waththab al-Asadi, and Yahya read on Abu Shibl Alqamah ibn Qays, and on his nephew al-Aswad ibn Yazid ibn Qays, and on Zirr ibn Hubaysh, and on Zayd ibn Wahb, and on Ubaydah ibn Amr al-Salmani, and on Masruq ibn al-Ajda’, and Humran read on the authority of Abu al-Aswad al-Daylami, and his chain of transmission was presented, and on the authority of Ubayd ibn Nadlah, and Ubayd read on the authority of Alqamah, and Humran also read on the authority of al-Baqir, and Abu Ishaq read on the authority of Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, and on Zirr ibn Hubaysh, and their chain of transmission was presented, and on the authority of Asim ibn Damrah, and on the authority of al-Harith ibn Abdullah al-Hamadhani, and he read Asim and al-Harith read on Ali, and Ibn Abi Laila read on al-Minhal ibn Amr and others, and al-Minhal read on Saeed ibn Jubayr, and its chain of transmission was presented, and Alqamah, al-Aswad, Ibn Wahb, Masruq, Asim ibn Damrah, and al-Harith also read on Abdullah ibn Masud, and Ja’far al-Sadiq recited it to his father Muhammad al-Baqir, and al-Baqir recited it to Zayn al-Abidin, and Zayn al-Abidin recited it to his father, the master of the youth of the people of Paradise, al-Husayn, and al-Husayn recited it to his father Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Ali and Ibn Masud — may Allah be pleased with them — recited it to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”

“Some people objected to this and said: Why did he single out Zayd ibn Thabit for this when there were companions who were older than him, including Abdullah ibn Masud, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari and others? He provided evidence with what Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin Arafa told us, he said: Shu’ayb bin Ayoub told us, he said: Yahya bin Adam told us, he said: Abu Bakr bin Ayyash told us, on the authority of Asim, on the authority of Zur, on the authority of Abdullah, that Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, gave him the good news that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘Whoever wants to read the Quran fresh as it was revealed, let him read it according to the reading of Ibn Umm Abd.’ Abu Ja’far said: The answer to this is that Zayd ibn Thabit was brought forward for things that were not combined for anyone else, including that he used to write the revelation for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and that he used to memorize the Quran during the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and that his reading was according to the last reading that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had presented to Gabriel, peace be upon him. The Prophet’s statement about Abdullah ibn Masud, which this opponent interpreted in a way other than its interpretation. The interpretation is not as he went, and if it were as he went, no one would have been able to read except with the letter of Abdullah. The interpretation according to the people of knowledge, including al-Husayn bin Ali al-Ja’fi, is that Abdullah ibn Masud used to recite the Quran in a recitation, so the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, urged recitation like his recitation and nothing else. This is indicated by the hadith that he was asked about Ta-Sin-Mim, and he said: I do not remember it. Ask Khabab about it. If it is said that Ibn Masud attended the last presentation, it is said that we mentioned what Zayd ibn Thabit had other than this, and that the correct letter of Abdullah is that it is in agreement with our Mushaf. This is indicated by the fact that Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash said: I read to Asim and Asim read to Zur and Zur read to Abdullah.”

“And Hamza was among those who devoted themselves to reading and appointed himself to it, and he tended towards the companions of Abdullah because the reading of Abdullah ended in Kufa with al-A’mash.”

“Abu Mu’awiyah told us, on the authority of al-A’mash, on the authority of Abi Wa’il, on the authority of Abdullah, who said: I heard the recitation and found them close together, so recite as you have learned. And beware of disagreement and extremism, for it is like one of you saying: Come and come.”

“Abu al-Sa’ib Salm ibn Junadah al-Suwa’i told me, he said: Abu Mu’awiyah told us — and Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna told us, he said: Ibn Abi ‘Adi told us, on the authority of Shu’bah — all on the authority of al-A’mash, on the authority of Shaqiq, he said: Abdullah said: I have listened to the recitation, and I found them to be close together, so recite as you were taught. Beware of extremism, for it is like one of you saying: Come and come. And Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us: Abu Dawud narrated to us, he said: Shu’bah narrated to us, on the authority of Abu Ishaq, on the authority of someone who heard Ibn Masud say: Whoever among you recites according to the letter, let him not change, and if I knew of someone more knowledgeable than me about the Book of Allah, I would go to him. Ibn al-Muthanna told us: Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi told us: Shu’bah told us, on the authority of Abd al-Rahman ibn Abis, on the authority of a man from the companions of Abdullah, on the authority of Abdullah ibn Masud, who said: Whoever recites according to one letter should not change from it to another.”

“Abu Ahmad narrated to us, he said: Aslam narrated to us, on the authority of Abu Ishaq, on the authority of Abu al-Ahwas, on the authority of Abdullah: that he said on the day he left Kufa: Whoever recites according to the letter — or recites according to something — of the Book of Allah, let him adhere to it, for both are the Book of Allah.”

Abu Dawud said: Muhammad bin Abaan al-Ja’fi told us that he heard it from Alqamah bin Marthad, and the hadith of Muhammad is more complete, on the authority of Uqbah bin Jarwal al-Hadrami, who said: When al-Mukhtar left, we were the first in this neighborhood of Hadhramaut to rush to him. Then Suwaid bin Ghafla al-Ja’fi came to us and said: You have a right over me, and you have a neighbor, and you have a kinship. By Allah, I will not tell you today except what I heard from al-Mukhtar. I came from Mecca and I was walking when someone nudged me from behind, and there was al-Mukhtar, and he said to me: O Sheikh, what is left in your heart of love for that man? Meaning Ali. I said: I bear witness to Allah that I love him with my hearing, heart, sight and tongue. He said: But I bear witness to Allah that I hate him with my heart, hearing, sight and tongue. He said: I said: By Allah, I refused except to discourage the family of Muhammad, and to burn the copies of the Quran. Suwaid said: By Allah, I will not tell you except something that I heard from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. I heard him say: O people, do not exaggerate in Uthman and do not say anything to him except good, or say something good to him about the copies of the Quran and burning the copies of the Quran, for by Allah, he did not do what he did to the copies of the Quran except with the approval of all of us. Ali said: By Allah, if I were in charge, I would do what he did.

Abdullah told us, he said: Ahmad ibn Sinan told us, he said: Abd al-Rahman told us, he said: Shu’bah told us, on the authority of Abu Ishaq, on the authority of Mus’ab ibn Sa’d, he said: I found the people gathered together when Uthman burned the Quran, and they were amazed by that. And he said: None of them denied that.

Yunus told us: He said: Na’im bin Hammad told us: Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad told us, on the authority of Amara bin Ghaziya, on the authority of Ibn Shihab, on the authority of Kharijah bin Zayd ibn Thabit, on the authority of his father, who said: When the companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were killed in Yamamah, Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, entered upon Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: The companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rushed to each other on the day of Yamamah, and I fear that they will not bear witness. There is no homeland except that they did that in it until they were killed, and they are the bearers of the Quran, so the Quran is lost and forgotten, so if you collected it and wrote it… When Abu Bakr died, Umar had written all of that in one page, so it was with him, and when he died, it was with Hafsa, then Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman came on a raid that he raided the valley of Armenia, and he did not enter his house until he came to Uthman, and he said: O Commander of the Faithful, save the people, so Uthman said: What is that? He said: I invaded Armenia, and the people of Iraq and the people of Syria attended it. The people of Syria read according to the reading of Ubayy, and they came up with something that the people of Iraq had not heard, so the people of Iraq considered them infidels. And the people of Iraq read according to the reading of Abdullah ibn Masud, and they came up with something that the people of Syria had not heard, so the people of Syria considered them infidels. Zayd said: So Uthman ordered me to write a copy of the Quran for him, and he said: I will appoint with you an intelligent and eloquent man, so whatever you agree upon, write it down, and whatever you disagree upon, submit it to me, so he made Abaan bin Saeed bin al-Aas with him. When he heard: “Indeed, the sign of his kingship is that the Ark will come to you” [al-Baqarah: 248], Zayd said: So I said: The Ark, and Abaan said: The Ark. So we took that to Uthman, so he wrote: The Ark. Then I showed it — meaning the Mushaf — another showing, but I did not find anything in it. Uthman sent to Hafsa to give him the document and he swore to her: He will return it to her, so she gave it to him. So I showed the Mushaf to her, and they did not differ on anything, so he returned it to her, and his soul was at peace, and he ordered people to write the Quran.

“Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Salami said: The reading of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Zayd ibn Thabit, the Muhajireen and the Ansar was one; they used to read the general reading, which is the reading that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, read to Gabriel twice in the year in which he died. Zayd had witnessed the final presentation and used to teach the people with it until he died. Therefore, al-Siddiq relied on him in his collection, and Uthman appointed him as the scribe of the Quran.”

Abdullah told us, Hisham bin Khalid told us, al-Walid told us, Abdullah bin al-Ala bin Zabar told us, on the authority of Atiyah bin Qays, on the authority of Abu Idris al-Khawlani, that Abu al-Darda’ rode to Medina with a group of people from Damascus. And with them was the Quran that the people of Damascus had brought to show to Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Zayd ibn Thabit, and the people of Medina. One day, he recited it to Umar ibn al-Khattab. When they recited the verse “When those who disbelieved put into their hearts the fanaticism of the times of ignorance. And if you had been as they were, the Sacred Mosque would have been ruined,” Umar said: Who taught you the Quran? They said: Ubayy ibn Ka’b. So he said to a man from Medina: Call Ubayy ibn Ka’b to me. And he said to the man from Damascus: Go with him. So they went and found Ubayy ibn Ka’b at his house, congratulating a camel of his in his hand. So they greeted him, and then the Medinan said to him: Answer the Commander of the Faithful, Umar. So Ubayy said: Why did the Commander of the Faithful call me? Al-Madani told him what had happened, and my father said to al-Dimashqi: You, the group of riders, would not have stopped or I would have been harmed by you. Then he came to Umar, his face covered with tar, and when he came to Umar, Umar said to them: Read, so they read “And if you were to be as they were to be, the Sacred Mosque would have been ruined.” My father said: I will read to them. Umar said to Zayd: Read, so Zayd read as the common people read, and he said: O Allah, I do not know anything except this. My father said: By Allah, O Umar, you know that I was present and they were absent, and I was called and they were prevented and things were done to me. By Allah, if I like, I will stay in my house and not tell anyone anything.

It was narrated on the authority of Suwaid ibn Ghaflah, who said: I heard Ali ibn Abi Talib say: “Fear Allah, O people. Beware of extremism regarding Uthman and your saying: He burned the copies of the Quran. By Allah, he did not burn them except in front of a group of us, the Companions of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, all of us.” So he said: What do you say about this recitation about which the people differed? A man will meet the man and say: My recitation is better than your recitation, and my recitation is better than your recitation. This is similar to disbelief. We said: What is the opinion, O Commander of the Faithful? He said: I think that the people should agree on one copy of the Quran, because if you differ today, those after you will differ even more. We said: What an excellent opinion you have made. So he sent to Zayd ibn Thabit and Saeed bin al-Aas, so he said: Let one of you write and the other dictate, and if you differ about something, then bring it to me, for we did not differ about anything in the Book of Allah except in one letter in Surat al-Baqarah. Saeed said: The Ark, Surat al-Baqarah, verse 248, and Zayd said: The Tabut. So we brought it to Uthman, and he said: Write it the Ark, Surat al-Baqarah, verse 248. Ali said: If I had been in charge of the one who was in charge of Uthman, I would have done what he did.

“Al-Zuhri said: On that day, they differed about the Ark and the Taboo. The Quraysh said: the Ark, and Zayd said: the Taboo. Their difference was referred to Uthman, who said: Write it as the Ark, for it is in the language of the Quraysh. Abdullah told us: Muhammad bin Yahya told us: Yaqub bin Ibrahim bin Saad told us: My father told us, on the authority of Ibn Shihab, on the authority of Anas, with this.”

“Hafs: He is the son of Sulayman al-Asadi Abu Omar al-Bazzaz al-Kufi, the companion of Asim, and he is an imam in recitation, abandoned in hadith, and in the chapter on the authority of Suwayd ibn Ghaflah, he said: I heard Ali ibn Abi Talib say: Fear Allah, O people, and beware of exaggeration in Uthman and your saying that he burned the copies of the Quran, for by Allah he did not burn them except in the presence of all of us, the companions of Muhammad. And in it, Uthman sent to Zayd ibn Thabit and Sa’id ibn al-Aas, and said: Let one of you write and the other dictate, and if you differ about something, then bring it to me, for we did not differ about anything in the Book of Allah except about one letter in Surat al-Baqarah. Sa’id said ‘the Ark’ and Zayd said ‘the Taboo,’ so we brought it to Uthman, and he said: Write it down: the Ark. Ali said: If I had been appointed as the one who appointed Uthman, I would have done the same as he did. Al-Baghawi mentioned it in Sharh al-Sunnah 4/524, 525, and Ibn Abi Dawud narrated it in al-Masahif: 22, 23, and its chain of transmission is authentic, as al-Hafiz said in al-Fath 9/16.”

“Abu al-Fath told us, he said: Abu Tahir told us, he said: Ibrahim told us, he said: Abdul Samad bin Muhammad told us, they said: Amr bin al-Sabah told us, on the authority of Hafs bin Sulayman, on the authority of Asim, on the authority of Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Salami, on the authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Asim mentioned: that he did not disagree with Abu Abd al-Rahman in any of his recitation, and that Abu Abd al-Rahman did not disagree with Ali in any of his recitation, and that Abu Abd al-Rahman said: I used to meet Zayd ibn Thabit during the season, and I would collect for him the letters of Ali ibn Abi Talib, and I would ask him about them, and they did not disagree except in Surat al-Baqarah, that the Ark will come to you, so Ali said: with the ta’, and Zayd said: with the ha’.”

Ali ibn Abdullah narrated to us, Hatim bin Wardan narrated to us, Ayoub narrated to us, on the authority of Ikrimah, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said: “How do you ask the People of the Book about their books while you have the Book of Allah, the closest of the books to Allah in covenant, and you recite it pure and unmixed.”

Qutaybah ibn Saeed narrated to us, Sufyan narrated to us, on the authority of Abdul Aziz ibn Rafi’, who said: Shaddad ibn Muqal and I entered upon Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, and Shaddad ibn Muqal said to him: Did the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, leave anything? He said: He left nothing except what is between the two covers. He said: And we entered upon Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and asked him, and he said: He left nothing except what is between the two covers.

“And Abu Amr read on Abu Ja’far Yazid bin al-Qaqa’, Yazid bin Ruman, Shaybah bin Nasah, Abdullah bin Katheer, Mujahid bin Jabr, al-Hasan al-Basri, Abu al-Aliyah Rafi’ ibn Mihran al-Riyahi, Humayd bin Qays al-A’raj al-Makki, Abdullah bin Abi Ishaq al-Hadrami, Ata’ bin Abi Rabah, and Ikrimah ibn Khalid, and Ikrimah, the freed slave of Ibn Abbas, and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhaysin, and Asim ibn Abi al-Najud, and Nasr ibn Asim, and Yahya ibn Ya’mur, and the chain of transmission of Abu Ja’far will come, and the chain of transmission of Yazid ibn Ruman and Shaybah was presented in the recitation of Nafi’, and the chain of transmission of Mujahid was presented in the recitation of Ibn Kathir, and al-Hasan read to Hattan ibn Abdullah al-Raqashi and Abu al-Aliyah al-Riyahi, and Hattan read on Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, and Abu al-Aliyah read on Umar bin al-Khattab, Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Zayd ibn Thabit, and Ibn Abbas, and Humayd read on Mujahid, and his chain of transmission was presented, and Abdullah bin Abi Ishaq read on Yahya ibn Ya’mur and Nasr ibn Asim, and Ata’ read on Abu Hurairah, and its chain of transmission was presented, and Ikrimah ibn Khalid read to the companions of Ibn Abbas, and its chain of transmission was presented, and Ikrimah, the freed slave of Ibn Abbas, read to Ibn Abbas, and Ibn Muhaysin read to Mujahid and Dirbas, and their chain of transmission was presented, and the chain of transmission of Asim will come, and Nasr ibn Asim and Yahya ibn Ya’mur read to Abu al-Aswad, and Abu al-Aswad recited to Uthman and Ali — may Allah be pleased with them — and Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, Umar bin al-Khattab, Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Zayd ibn Thabit; Uthman and Ali — may Allah be pleased with them — recited to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, took from Mujahid, may Allah have mercy on him, and Mujahid presented the entire Quran to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him.”

“Khalaf bin Ibrahim narrated to us, he said: Ahmad bin Muhammad narrated to us, he said: Ali bin Abdul Aziz narrated to us, he said: Abu Ubaid narrated to us. Muhammad ibn Ali told us, he said: Ibn Mujahid told us, he said: The imam to whom the recitation in Mecca ended and whom its people followed in his time was Abdullah ibn Katheer, the client of Amr ibn Alqamah al-Kinani, and he was called al-Dari, and he was prominent in his time; he read with Mujahid ibn Jabr and did not differ with him in any of his recitations.”

“Al-Fadl ibn Dukayn told us, on the authority of Shibl, on the authority of Ibn Abi Nujayh, on the authority of Mujahid, who said: [Ibn Numayr narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Ishaq narrated to us on the authority of Abaan ibn Salih on the authority of Mujahid who said: I narrated to Ibn Abbas from the beginning to the end three times, stopping at each verse.]”

“The upper writing is the work of two scribes. One scribe wrote the first two folios (from the end of sura 2), and another scribe wrote the others. Each had a distinct handwriting and distinctive dotting and orthographical habits. For example, the first scribe tended to dot the ta’s and spelled ‘ala with ya’, whereas the second one dotted the ya’s and spelled ‘ala with alif.”

“Faris bin Ahmad bin Musa al-Muqri’ told us, he said: Ahmad bin Muhammad told us, he said: Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Uthman told us, he said: al-Fadl bin Shadhan told us, he said: Muhammad bin Isa told us, he said: Ibrahim bin Musa told us, he said: al-Walid bin Muslim told us, he said: al-Awza’i told us, he said: I heard Yahya bin Abi Katheer say: The Quran was stripped down in the Mushafs, so the first thing they put was dots on the Ya and the Ta and said: There is nothing wrong with it, it is a light for him. Then they put dots at the end of the verses. Then they put the openings and endings.”

“Faris bin Ahmad told us, Ahmad bin Muhammad told us, Abu Bakr al-Razi told us, Abu al-Abbas al-Muqri told us, Ahmad bin Yazid told us, al-Abbas bin al-Walid told us, Fadik from the people of Qaysariyah told us, al-Awza’i told us: I heard Qatada say: They began. So they dotted it, then they divided it into fives, then they divided it into tens.”

“Abdullah told us, Usaid told us, al-Husayn told us, on the authority of Sufyan, on the authority of Mughirah, on the authority of Ibrahim: that he disliked the tithe and dots in the Mushaf. Abdullah told us, Yahya ibn Uthman told us, Fudayk ibn Sulayman told us, he said: Whenever Abbad ibn Abbad al-Khawwas came to us, he would not read except in a Mushaf that is not dotted.”

“Abdullah told us, Abu al-Tahir told us, Ibn Wahb told us, he said: Nafi’ ibn Abi Nu’aym the reciter told us, he said: I asked Rabi’ah ibn Abi Abd al-Rahman about the shape of the Quran in the Mushafs, so he said: There is nothing wrong with it.”

The Uthmanic Mushaf remains the pure, unchanged Word of Allah, protected from corruption, and sufficient for all times and places, as Allah Himself promised:

“Indeed, We sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.”