Setting
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān came to ‘Uthmān when he was preparing the people of the Levant and Iraq to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. Hudhayfah was alarmed by their difference in reading the Qur’an
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān came to ‘Uthmān when he was preparing the people of the Levant and Iraq to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. Hudhayfah was alarmed by their difference in reading the Qur’an
Ibn Shihāb reported from Anas ibn Mālik that he informed him that Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān came to ‘Uthmān when he was preparing the people of the Levant and Iraq to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. Hudhayfah was alarmed by their difference in reading the Qur’an, so he said to ‘Uthmān: "O Commander of the Believers, save this nation before they diverge on the Book as the Jews and Christians diverged (on their scriptures)." So ‘Uthmān sent a message to Hafsah: "Send us the sheets so that we will transcribe them in the Mus'hafs, and then we will return them to you." Hafsah sent them to ‘Uthmān, who then ordered Zayd ibn Thābit, ‘Abdullāh ibn Az-Zubayr, Sa‘īd ibn al-‘Ās, and ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn al-Hārith ibn Hishām to transcribe the sheets into the codices. ‘Uthmān said to the three Qurayshi men: "In case you disagree with Zayd ibn Thābit on anything of the Qur’an, then write it in the dialect of Quraysh, for the Qur’an was revealed in their dialect." They did so, and when they had transcribed the sheets into the Mus'hafs, ‘Uthmān returned the sheets to Hafsah. He sent one of the Mus'hafs which they had transcribed to every province and ordered that all the other Qur’anic materials, in each manuscript or Mus'haf be burned.
Explanation
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān (may Allah be pleased with him) visited ‘Uthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) who was then preparing the Syrians and Iraqis to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. Hudhayfah heard people read the Qur’an differently. Some of them followed the reading of Ubai, while others followed the reading of Ibn Mas‘ūd, to the point that conflict and turmoil was about to develop among them. This situation alarmed Hudhayfah, who therefore asked the Commander of the Believers ‘Uthmān to save the situation lest the people would diverge on the Qur’an as the Jews and Christians diverged on the Torah and the Gospel and tampered with them by adding to and deleting from them. At that point, the Qur’an was collected in sheets, not in a Mus'haf. Therefore, ‘Uthmān sent to Hafsah, requesting her to send him the sheets in which the Qur’an was written so that he would transcribe them into the Mus'hafs and then return the sheets to her. The sheets that he received from Hafsah were the sheets which Abu Bakr and ‘Umar had commanded the Qur’an be written in. So ‘Uthmān then collected the Qur’an in a Mus'haf. The difference between this Mus'haf and the sheets is that the sheets were the edited papers in which the Qur’an was collected during the time of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. They had separate Sūrahs, and each Sūrah was arranged in the order of its own verses. However, these Sūrahs were not arranged one after another in one volume. So when these Sūrahs were transcribed and arranged, they formed the Mus'haf. Thus, the Mus'haf started to exist only during ‘Uthmān's time. So Hafsah sent the sheets to ‘Uthmān, who then commissioned Zayd ibn Thābit, ‘Abdullāh ibn Az-Zubayr, Sa‘īd ibn al-‘Ās, and ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn Hishām to transcribe the sheets into the Mus'hafs. Zayd ibn Thābit was from the Ansār, whereas the rest were from the Quraysh. ‘Uthmān told the three Qurayshis that if they differed with Zayd ibn Thābit on anything of the Qur’an, they should write it in the dialect of Quraysh, for the Qur’an was revealed in their dialect. They did so. When they had transcribed the sheets in the Mus'hafs, ‘Uthmān returned the sheets to Hafsah. He also sent a Mus'haf to each province. Other Qur’anic materials, sheets, and private Mus'hafs were burned on ‘Uthmān's order.