The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Preservation of the Qur’an
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the purpose of checking and rechecking, were all
burnt. Now this volume was handed over to the
caliph. After Abu Bakr’s death it remained with
Umar, the second caliph. After the death of Caliph
Umar it remained in the custody of Hafsa, daughter
of Umar and wife of the Prophet.
During the caliphate of Uthman, Islam had spread
far and wide, and the number of Muslims was
legion. Moreover, the companions who taught the
Qur’an had gone to different countries that had
come within the fold of Islam. For instance, the
Syrians learned the Qur’an from Ubayy ibn Kaab,
the Kufans (the inhabitants of Kufa, a city in Iraq)
learned the Qur’an from Abdullah ibn Masood and
the Iraqis in general from Abu Musa Ash’ari.
However, due to differences in accent and styles of
writing, controversies again began cropping up.
People even called one another heretics owing to
such differences.
Ibn Abi Daud writes in his book,
Al-Masahif,
quoting Yazid ibn Muawiyah Nakhai, that once
when Huzayfa ibn Al-Yaman was present in the
mosque of Kufa, he found a group reciting the
