47. Virtues of the Qur'ān
٤٧۔ كِتَابُ فَضَائِلِ الْقُرْآنِ
Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to ʿUthman at the time when the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to ʿUthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an) as Jews and the Christians did before." So ʿUthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it to ʿUthman. ʿUthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, ʿAbdullah bin AzZubair, Saʿid bin Al-As and ʿAbdurRahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. ʿUthman said to the three Quraishi men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, ʿUthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. ʿUthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt. (Using translation from Bukhārī 4987)
أَنَّ حُذَيْفَةَ قَدِمَ عَلَى عُثْمَانَ وَكَانَ يُغَازِي أَهْلَ الشَّامِ مَعَ أَهْلِ الْعِرَاقِ فِي فَتْحِ أَرْمِينِيَةَ وَأَذْرَبِيجَانَ فَأَفْزَعَ حُذَيْفَةَ اخْتِلَافُهُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ فَقَالَ لِعُثْمَانَ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ «أَدْرِكْ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةَ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَخْتَلِفُوا فِي الْكِتَابِ كَمَا اخْتَلَفْتُ الْيَهُودُ وَالنَّصَارَى فَأَرْسَلَ عُثْمَانُ إِلَى حَفْصَةَ أَنْ أَرْسِلِي إِلَيْنَا بِالصُّحُفِ نَنْسَخُهَا فِي الْمَصَاحِفِ ثُمَّ نَرُدُّهَا إِلَيْكِ فَأَرْسَلَتْ بِهَا إِلَيْهِ فَأَمَرَ زَيْدَ بْنَ ثَابِتٍ وَعَبْدَ اللهِ بْنَ الزُّبَيْرِ وَسَعِيدَ بْنَ الْعَاصِ وَعَبْدَ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنَ الْحَارِثِ بْنِ هِشَامٍ أَنْ يَنْسِخُوا الصُّحُفَ فِي الْمَصَاحِفِ فَإِنِ اخْتَلَفُوا وَزِيدُ بْنُ ثَابِتٍ فِي شَيْءٍ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ فَاكْتُبُوهُ بِلِسَانِ قُرَيْشٍ فَإِنَّ الْقُرْآنَ نَزَلَ بِلِسَانِهِمْ فَفَعَلُوا ذَلِكَ حَتَّى إِذَا نَسَخُوا الصُّحُفَ فِي الْمَصَاحِفِ رَدَّ عُثْمَانُ الصُّحُفَ إِلَى حَفْصَةَ وَأَرْسَلَ إِلَى كُلِّ أُفُقٍ مُصْحَفًا مِمَّا نَسَخُوا»