1. INTRODUCTION
From the hadiths collected by Muslims, there amassed a huge amount
of material relating to the collection of the Qur'an. The hadiths
gives us a picture of how the collection was supposed to be done,
and more importantly, about the contents of the Qur'an.
Burton says:
Indeed, the Muslims believe that the Qur'an had been collected on
three separate occasions. The first was supposed to have occurred
in the lifetime and in the presence of the Muhammad.
`We organized
the Qur'an,' reports Zaid, 'in the presence of the Prophet.'
(p. 214, Jalal al Din `Abdul Rahman b. abi
Bakr al Suyuti, "al Itqan fi `ulum al Qur'an",
Halabi, Cairo, 1935/1354, pt 1, p. 57)
Muslims also believed that after the death of Muhammad, the first
Caliph Abu Bakr, on the urging of `Umar, collected the Qur'an
fragments together. The collection of sheets (suhuf) was then
completed either during `Umar's reign or passed to him, and on his
death passed to his daughter, Hafsa.
The codex of Hafsa became the link once again when reading
differences came to be observed at various regional Islamic centres
and in far away places. The Caliph `Uthman then set about appointing
scribes to take the codex of Hafsa and continue to search for various
scraps of the Qur'an and put them together into what is now known as
the `Uthmanic mushaf, which is the textus receptus. `Uthman then sent
copies of this codex to various Islamic centres and ordered that all
other fragments or copies be burnt. All current existing manuscripts
of the Qur'an show the `Uthmanic MSS.
The hadith reports, however, gave a much more colorful picture of the
whole process. It is the purpose of this article to document as
many of these hadiths as possible.