on a point of language, write in the dialect of the Mu٤ar, because the Quran was re‌
vealed to a man of Mu٤ar."

١٤. AbU Qullaba related the following:

During the caliphate of Uthman, different teachers were teaching different readings [of the Quran] to their students. Thus, it used to happen that the students would meet and disagree. The matter reached a point that they would take their dispute to the teachers, who would then condemn each others [variant] readings. This situation reached Uthmans ears. He delivered an oration saying: "You are here by me, yet you disagree on the reading and pronunciation of the Quran. Therefore, those who are far away from me in the provinces must be in a greater dispute, making greater grammati‌ cal errors. ٠ Companions of MuJ:tammad, come together and write a complete version (imam) [of the Quran] for the Muslims."

Abu Qullaba added:

Malik b. Anas (who, according to AbU Bakr b. Abi Dawud, was the grandfather of [Imam] Malik b. Anas) reported to me: "I was among those to whom the Quran was dictated. Sometimes they would disagree on a verse. Then they would remember a person who had received it from the Messenger of God, and who would happen to be absent or out in the valleys. In such a situation, they would write the verses that come before and after it, and would leave a place for it, until that person had returned or was summoned. When the text was completed [in this way], Uthmlin wrote to the people in the provinces that I have done such and such a thing [in copying the text] and I have destroyed the other material that I have, and you should destroy the other mate‌ rial you have."

١٥. A tradition has been related by Mu!jab b. Sad:

Uthman stood up to make the sermon to the people. He said: "٠ people, it is now thir‌ teen years since our Prophet left you, and you are still wrangling about the Quran. You refer to the reading of Ubayy and that of Abd Allah, and some of you [go as far as to] say, By God, your [Uthmans] reading is not in order! I therefore summon every one of you to bring forward any part of the Book of God that you have in your possession."Thus, people would come with parchments and scraps of leather with [parts of] the Quran on them, until there accumulated a large number of them. After this was done, Uthman came in and called them one by one, and implored each to say whether he heard [a part of the Quran] from the Messenger of God or whether it was dictated to him by the Messenger. They would answer in the affirmative. When this was done,
Uthman said, "Who is the best scribe among you?" They said, "The scribe of the
Prophet, Zayd b. Thabit." Then he asked, "Who is the greatest master of Arabic?" They said, "SaId b. al-A ."
Hence, Zayd wrote down [the text], and [Uthman] prepared the codices and distrib‌
uted them among the people.
I [Mu ab]
well [by undertaking the task]."

١٦. Abu al-Malib has reported that "when Uthrnan b. Affan decided to write down the text of the Quran, he said, Let [a man from] the Hudhayl dictate and [a man from] the Thaqrf write."

١٧. Abd al-Ala b. AbdAllah b. Amir al-Qarashr related: