How Hadhrat 'Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) unified the Ummah on the Holy Quran

 

How Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) unified the Ummah on the Holy Quran

 

 

When Muslims started spreading peace and justice all over the world, not only Arab, but many non-Arab areas also came under the just rule of the Islamic empire.  Those people who embraced Islam in those areas learned the Holy Quran from the Companions (May Allah be well pleased with them) present there and started reciting it.

 

The Holy Quran was revealed in the language of the Arabs.  The Arabs were well aware of the language and idiom of the Holy Quran.  Thus, they were permitted to recite the Holy Quran as per their dialects.  However, the non-Arab folk did not have this deep understanding of the Arabic language.  Each person and/or group considered only that particular recitation as correct and all others as wrong and baseless.  Hadhrat Hudhaifa bin Yamaan (May Allah be well pleased with him) saw these differences first-hand during the campaign of Azerbaijan.  He feared that, like the Christians and the Jews, the Muslims would also be deprived of the blessings of the Holy Quran because of their differences.

 

He came back to the Caliph, Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) and related this.  He summoned all the Companions and told them:  I feel that the Ummah should be unified on 1 recitation of the Holy Quran (as per Standard Arabic and not the local dialects).  Your minor differences (in recitation) of today can become a source of great disagreement in the Ummah later on.

 

Then Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) took up this momentous task and unified the Ummah on the Holy Quran using 5 methods.

 

The first method

 

All the various copies of the Holy Quran and copies of its various chapters (Suwar) and verses (aayaat) which people had written as per their will and wish were destroyed.  The copy of the Holy Quran which was complied in the eras of Hadhrat Abu Bakr and Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with them), which Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) had personally read throughout his lifetime was procured from the mother of the believers, Hadhrat Hafsa (May Allah be well pleased with her).  Many copies were made of this and were transferred to every province of the whole Islamic world. 

 

All other copies were outlawed and it was ordered that further copies of the Holy Quran should be made from this (authorized) copy alone.  Thus, the Ummah was unified under 1 recitation of the Holy Quran.

 

The second method

 

The second method was that the next generation, the Successors (Taba’ee), were taught the standard recitations of the Holy Quran and this chain is still preserved and flourishing today.  The famous chains of recitation of the Holy Quran are the following four:

 

1.  The chain of Hadhrat ‘Abdullah bin Katheer and Hadhrat Nafe’ reaches Hadhrat Ubai bin Ka’ab (May Allah be well pleased with them).

 

2.  The chain of Hadhrat ‘Abdullah bin A’amir reaches Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him).

 

3.  The chain of Imam A’asim Kufi is through 3 Companions:  Hadhrat ‘Ali, Hadhrat ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud and Hadhrat Zaid (May Allah be well pleased with them).

 

4.  The chain of Hadhrat Hamza also reaches Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him).

 

The third method

 

Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) would recite lengthy portions of the Holy Quran in Salaat.  Thus, Qurasifa bin ‘Umair says:  I listened to Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) reciting Surah Yousuf in Salaat Ul Fajr and learnt it.

 

The fourth method

 

In the beginning era of the revelation of the Holy Quran, Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) would be busy in writing (and recording it).  Thus, he himself says:  It is my hand which had the honor of writing the Holy Quran for the first time.

 

The fifth method

 

Hadhrat ‘Uthman (May Allah be well pleased with him) had absolute knowledge of which verses of the Holy Quran were revealed on what occasion and where and about whom.  (Khulasah Izaalatul Khafa, Vol. 2, Pg. No. 462)