THE HOLY QUR’AN DURING THE KHILAAFAT OF HADHRAT UTHMAN

Rathiallahu ta ‘ala anhu

During the reign of Hazrat Uthman Rathiallahu anhu the Khilaafat expanded tremendously.  Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and a great part of the Roman Empire were conquered.  With this, another difficulty arose and that was the changing dialect of the Holy Qur’an.

As we are aware, that though the English language is the same language spoken all over the U.S. and Great Britain, we see that the dialect varies from place to place.  Sometimes it becomes difficult to understand though the language is the same.  This is precisely the problem that occurred regarding dialect.  The recitation Qiraat ) and pronunciation ( Makharaj ) of the people of Yemen was different from that of Iraq, the Iraqi differed from that of Iran, the Irani differed from that of the Syrian and that differed from the Egyptian and so on.  Therefore disputes started regarding the proper dialect.

Therefore the Muslims from Azerbaijan went to Hazrat Uthman Rathiallahu anhu saying “ 0 Amirul Mu’mineen do something about the ummah before they start disputing regarding Holy Qur’an like the Jews and Christians dispute about their book.  Therefore Hazrat ‘Uthman asked for the Mashaaf (Hand written text) from Ummul Mu’mineen Hazrat Bibi Hafsa Rathiallahu anhu which was compiled during the reign of Khalifa Hazrat Abu Bakr Radhi Allahu anhu.  He then formed a board of three Holy Companions under Hazrat Zaid Bin Thaabit rathiallahu anhu who was assisted by Hadhrat Sa’id and Hadhrat Abdur Rahman.  For quite some time they worked very hard and prepared the holy Qur’anic text in the dialect of the Quraish whose dialect the original was sent down.  A master copy was prepared and a copying department was established.  Official copies were sent to all the provinces of the Islamic Government along with Qurrah (experts in Qur’anic recitation).  People were forbidden to recite Holy Qur’an in any other dialect.  It became the standard for all the times to come.

Please understand that the Mashaaf of Hadhrat ‘Uthman Radhi Allahu anhu was the same which Hadhrat Abu Bakr Radhi Allahu anhu had so meticulously prepared, having been memorized in the order instructed by the Holy Last Messenger Sall Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallim.  The Mashaaf of Hadhrat ‘Uthman is actually the Mashaaf of The Holy Last Messenger Sall Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallim as nothing was added or taken out while compiling or committing it to writing

(Work still in progress please be patient)