Compilation · a Light

Uthman sent a master copy to each garrison city

Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman came back from campaigning in Armenia and Azerbaijan alarmed at how differently the soldiers from Syria and Iraq were reciting. He went straight to the caliph Uthman and asked him to save the community before it split over its book the way earlier communities had split over theirs. Uthman borrowed the sheets held by Hafsa, had copies made by a small committee that again included Zayd ibn Thabit, and sent one to each of the main centres with a reciter to teach from it. Other manuscripts in circulation were withdrawn. Every printed Qur'an descends from that decision, taken by a man who had watched an army argue on the road home.

Uthman ibn Affan · Madinah, c. 650 CE

Source · Sahih al-Bukhari 4987