Today we also call any copy of the Qur’ān, which has both order of āyāt and sūras fixed, a muṣḥaf.
How the Ṣuḥuf were made
Tradition informs us that at the Battle of Yamāma (11/633), in the time of Abū Bakr, a number of Muslims, who had memorised the Qur’ān were killed. Hence it was feared that unless a written copy of the Qur’ān were prepared, a large part of the revelation might be lost.
The following is the account in the Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī:
Narrated Zaid bin Thābit Al-Anṣārī, one of the scribes of the Revelation: Abū Bakr sent for me after the casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamāma (where a great number of Qurrā were killed). ‘Umar was present with Abū Bakr who said: “Umar has come to me and said, the People have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamāma, and I am afraid that there will be some casualties among the Qurrā (those who know the Qur’ān by heart) at other places, whereby a large part of the Qur’ān may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur’ān.’ Abū Bakr added, ‘I said to ‘Umar, “How can I do something which Allah’s Apostle has not done?” ‘Umar said (to me) “By Allah, it is (really) a good thing”. So ‘Umar kept on pressing trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as ‘Umar’. (Zaid bin Thābit added:) ‘Umar was sitting with him (Abū Bakr) and was not speaking. Abū Bakr said (to me), ‘You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness); and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah’s Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur’ān and collect it (in one manuscript)’. By Allah, if he (Abū Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur’ān. I said to both of them, ‘How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?’ Abū Bakr said, ‘By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abū Bakr and ‘Umar. So I started locating the Qur’ānic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuzaima two verses of Sūra at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else (and they were):
‘Verily there has come to you an Apostle (Muḥammad) from among yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He (Muḥammad) is ardently anxious over you (to be rightly guided)’ (9: 128).
The manuscript on which the Qur’ān was collected, remained with Abū Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with ‘Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Ḥafṣa, ‘Umar’s daughter.32
Here we can distinguish the following steps, which led to the preparation of the ṣuḥuf:
— Zaid was instructed by Abū Bakr to collect the Qur’ān.
— Zaid collected it from various written materials and the memories of people.
— The sheets thus prepared were kept with Abū Bakr, then ‘Umar, then Ḥafṣa.
There are numerous indications in the literature of ḥadīth that several of the Companions of the Prophet had prepared their own written collections of the revelations.33 The best-known among these are from Ibn Mas‘ūd, Ubay bin Ka‘b and Zaid bin Thābit.34
A list of Companions of whom it is related that had their own written collections included the following: Ibn Mas‘ūd, Ubay bin Ka‘b, ‘Ali, Ibn ‘Abbās, Abū Mūsā, Ḥafṣa, Anas bin Mālik, ‘Umar, Zaid bin Thābit, Ibn Al-Zubair, ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr, ‘Ā’isha, Sālim, Umm Salama, ‘Ubaid bin ‘Umar.35
It is also known that ‘Ā’isha and Ḥafṣa had their own scripts written after the Prophet had died.36
The following is a very brief description of some of the maṣāḥif, which are attributed to the Companions of the Prophet. All the information is based on classical sources.37
The Muṣḥaf of Ibn Mas‘ūd (d. 33/653)
He wrote a Muṣḥaf, in which sūras 1, 113 and 114 were not included. Ibn al-Nadīm,38 however, said he had seen a copy of the Qur’ān from Ibn Mas‘ūd which did not contain al-fātiḥa (Sūra 1). The arrangement of the sūras differed from the ‘Uthmānic text. The following is the order attributed to Ibn Mas‘ūd’s copy:39
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, 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, 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, 90, 93, 94, 86, 100, 107, 101, 98, 91, 95, 104, 105, 106, 102, 97, 110, 108, 109, 111, 112.
This list is obviously incomplete. It contains only 106 sūras and not 110, as Ibn Nadīm wrote.
In Sūra al-baqara, which I take as an example, there are a total of 101 variants. Most of them concern spelling, some also choice of words (synonyms), use of particles, etc.
Examples:
| Pronunciation: | ||
| 2:70 | Ibn Mas‘ūd reads | al-baqira |
| in place of | al-baqara | |
| Spelling: | ||
| 2:19 | He reads | kulla mā |
| in place of | kullamā | |
| Synonyms: | ||
| 2:68 | He reads | sal (seek, beseech) |
| in place of | ud‘u (beseech) |
Assuming that all these are reliable reports, the copy of Ibn Mas‘ūd would then have been prepared for his personal use and written before all 114 sūras were revealed.
Nadīm, who lived in the tenth century (4th century Hijra) also added: ‘I have seen a number of Qur’ānic manuscripts, which the transcribers recorded as manuscripts of Ibn Mas‘ūd. No two of the Qur’ānic copies were in agreement and most of them were on badly effaced parchment …’40
This note indicates that the question of authentic manuscripts of Ibn Mas‘ūd needs to be treated with some caution.
The Muṣḥaf of Ubay bin Ka‘b (d. 29H/649)
He wrote a muṣḥaf, in which two ‘additional sūras and another ‘additional āya’ were reportedly found.41
The order of the sūras is again different from ‘Uthmān as well as Ibn Mas‘ūd.
The following is the order of sūras in the copy attributed to Ubay b. Ka‘b:42
1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 7, 5, 10, 8, 9, 11, 19, 26, 22, 12, 18, 16, 33, 17, 39, 45, 20, 21, 24, 23, 40, 13, 28, 27, 37, 38, 36, 15, 42, 30, 43, 41, 14, 35, 48, 47, 57, 52, 25, 32, 71, 46, 50, 55, 56, 72, 53, 68, 69, 59, 60, 77, 78, 76, 75, 81, 79, 80, 83, 84, 95, 96, 49, 63, 62, 66, 89, 67, 92, 82,91, 85, 86, 87, 88, 74?, 98?, 61, 93, 94, 101, 102, 65?, 104, 99, 100, 105, ?, 108, 97, 109, 110, 111, 106, 112, 113, 114.
Again, as in the case of Ibn Mas‘ūd above this list is incomplete and does not contain all 114 suras of the Qur’ān.
Ubay has a total of 93 variants in Sūra al-baqara.43 Very often, his readings are similar to those of Ibn Mas‘ūd. For example, he reads al-baqara in 2: 70 as al-baqira. So does Ibn Mas‘ūd.
The