Page:William Goldsack-The Qurān in Islām (1906).djvu/17

 8 portions which she had, and saying, "I shall have a number of copies taken, and will then return them to you." And Hafsa sent the portions to ʿUsmān, and ʿUsmān ordered Zaid-ibn-Sābit, Abdulla-ibn-az-Zubair, Said-ibn-Alās and Abd-ibn-al-Hāris-ibn-Hishām; and he said to the three Quraishites, "When you and Zaid-ibn-Sābit differ about any part of the reading of the Qurān, then do ye write it in the Quraish dialect, because it came not down in the language of any tribe but theirs.” Then they did as ʿUsmān had ordered; and when a number of copies had been taken, ʿUsmān returned the leaves to Hafsa. And ʿUsmān sent a copy to every quarter of the countries of Islām, and ordered all other leaves to be burnt. And Ibn-Shahāb said, "Khārījah, son of Zaid-ibn-Sābit, informed me saying, ‘I could not find one verse when I was writing the Qurān, which I had heard from the prophet; then I looked for it, and found it with Khuzaimah, and I entered it into Sūra Al-Ahzab’."

From this tradition, recorded by Bukhārī, we learn several important facts. Thus it is clear that when ʿUsmān perceived with dismay that the differences in the reading of the Qurān were becoming more and more serious day by day, he ordered Zaid and three others to again compile an authoritative edition of the Qurān. The fact that these scholars had to consider a variety of readings, to weigh their authority, and, if necessary, discard them in favour of the Meccan readings shows. to what an extent corruptions had crept into the text. Having completed his recension, ʿUsmān then collected all the copies of the older editions he could find, and burnt them. He then ordered a number of copies to be made from the new edition, and distributed them throughout the Muhammadan world. From this narrative it is clear that the Qurān compiled under the direction of ʿUsmān, and still current, differed very materially from the readings which were current in different parts of Arabia at that time: