The Qurān in Islām/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III
THE READING OF IBN-MASʿŪD
Amongst the many proofs of the corruption of ʿUsmān's Qurān may be mentioned the facts connected with the edition of Ibn Masʿūd. In the 20th Chapter of the 24th portion of the Mishkāt-ul-Musāhib a tradition of the prophet is recorded, in which he named ten of his most prominent and faithful followers, and assured his hearers that the salvation of these ten was assured. These ten names are famous in history as, 'Asharah Mubashsharah,’ ‘the ten who received glad tidings.’ Of these ten Abdulla-ibn-Masʿūd was one. He is described as a great scholar and friend of the prophet. In the Mishkāt a tradition of Muhammad is recorded to this effect,
"Abdulla-ibn-ʿUmr related that the prophet (upon whom be blessing and peace) said, 'Learn the Qurān from these four, Abdulla-ibn-Masʿūd, Sālim-mula-ibn-Hazīfa, Ubī-ibn-Kāb, and Mʿāj-ibn-Jabal'.” From this yradition, which could be supplemented by others to the same effect, it is clear that Ibn-Masʿūd was a faithful disciple of the prophet, and had carefully and perfectly learned the Qurān from his master. There is a tradition in the collection of Muslim to the effect that Ibn-Masʿūd once said, ‘I swear by the name of the one God that there is no Sūra in the book of God which I do not know, and concerning the revelation of which I am ignorant; nor is there a single verse which I do not know.”
In another tradition Ibn-Masʿūd is reported as saying, “The companions of the prophet well know that I know the Qurān better than they all.” There is also a tradition recorded by ʿUmr to this effect,
“The prophet of God (on whom be blessing and peace) said, ‘Let him who wishes to read the Qurān as it was sent down, read according to the reading of the son of the mother of Abd (i.e., Abdulla-ibn-Masʿūd) ’.”
From the cumulative evidence of these different traditions it is clear that the Qurān reading of Ibn-Masʿūd was the correct one, and that, at that time at least, it was free from additions or corruptions. Yet the astounding fact confronts us that Ibn-Masʿūd was a bitter opponent of ʿUsmān’s recension of the Qurān; that he, in fact, not only refused to have anything to do with it, but consistently refused to hand over his own copy to the Khalif. Not only so, but when the latter gave orders for the collection and destruction of all copies of the Qurān except his own, Ibn-Masʿūd immediately advised his own disciples, the people of Iraq, to hide their copies of the Qurān, and not to give them over to destruction, in these words,
“O people of Iraq, hide your Qurāns, and shut them up under lock and key.”
It is recorded that the Khalif forcibly seized and burnt Ibn-Masʿūd’s Qurān, and so unmercifully chastised the companion of the prophet that he died a few days later from the beating he received. But the significant fact remains that Ibn-Masʿūd not only refused to give up his perfect copy of the Qurān in favour of an arbitrary compilation made by ʿUsmān, but also urged his disciples to continue reading his own edition. The whole narrative makes it clear that ʿUsmān’s Qurān differed very considerably from the reading which Ibn-Masʿūd had learnt from the prophet; for on no other hypothesis can the former's unmerciful treatment of this great theologian be explained. We shall have occasion, later on in this little book, to point out some of the grave differences between the readings of Ibn-Masʿūd and ʿUsmān; it must suffice here to remind the reader that Ibn-Masʿūd’s Qurān contained neither Sūra Fātiha, nor Sūras Talaq and Nas. One cannot but wonder at the temerity of the Khalif in thus destroying the very Qurān which the apostle himself had taught men to follow, and in substituting another which differed seriously from it.
In spite of the drastic measures adopted by ʿUsmān for the suppression of all other copies of the Qurān except his own, the reading of Ibn-Masʿūd continued for many years to be preserved amongst his followers, the people of Iraq. Thus in the year 378 of the Hegira a copy of Ibn-Masʿūd’s Qurān was discovered at Bagdad, which proved, on examination, to differ materially from the editions then current. It was at once burnt midst the acclamations of the deluded people.
Not only, however, did ʿUsmān’s Qurān differ from the accurate copy of Ibn-Masʿūd, but it differed also from the previous recension which had been made by Abū-Bakr. In the traditions it is related that Abū-Bakr’s Qurān remained, at his death, in the custody of Hafsa, his daughter, but upon the death of the latter, Merwān, the Governor of Medīna, demanded the copy from her brother, Ibn-ʿUmr, and immediately burnt it, saying, ‘If it be published abroad, people finding differences will again begin to doubt.” Thus we see that the Qurān current all over the Muhammadan world to-day agrees neither with that of Abū-Bakr, nor with that of Ibn-Masʿ¥d, nor with that, now unfortunately lost, which was collected by ʿAli. The current Qurān is, in fact, mutilated and corrupted to such an extent, as we shall further prove in subsequent pages, that it is no longer worthy of faith and acceptance as the complete Qurān taught in the beginning by Muhammad himself.