banned the other readings, which were founded on the traditions that spoke about the revelation of the Quran in seven l:taifs. We demonstrated the falsity of these tra‌ ditions earlier in this study. This action by Uthman was not criticized by anyone among the Muslims because the dispute over the readings was causing a conflict, sedition, and loss of unity among Muslims, to the extent that they were accusing each other of disbelief. As noted in some of the traditions, the Prophet had prohibited dis‌ putes in the matter of the Quran. The thing which Uthman was criticized for was his destruction of the rest of the codices and his ordering other regions of the empire to do the same with those texts that were in their keeping. Indeed, a group of Mus‌ lims protested against Uthman for doing that and called him "the destroyer of the [Quranic] texts."

Summary

It has been adequately demonstrated that the tradition about ta/:lrif (corruption of the text in any form) is nothing more than a delusion and an imagination, maintained by those with weak reasoning, or those who fail to take into consideration all the perti‌ nent details needed to derive a sound opinion, or those who are compelled to hold such an opinion. Any rational person can detect the weakness of the argument of those upholding such a distorted view of the state of affairs in the early history of Islam.

NOTES

١. Bukhari, Salfl/:١, vol. ٦, pp. ٤٧٧-٧٨.
٢. Ibid., pp. ٤٧٨-٨٠. These two traditions, and the nineteen that follow, are quoted in Ibn
Abd al-Muttaqi, Muntakhab Kanz al- Ummal in the margin of Ibn I:Ianbal, Musnad, vol. ٢,
pp. ٤٣-٥٢.
٣. Suyati, al-ltqlin, sec. ١٨, vol. ١, pp. ١٦٧-٦٨.
٤. Ququbi, Tafslr, vol. ١, p. ٥٦.
٥. The mathlinl suras (as the term occurs here) are those consisting of less than a hundred verses, but more verses than those in the short suras in the last portion of the Quran, known as al-mufa al.
putting it as early as sura ٥٠.)-Trans.
٦. The miln suras are those with more than a hundred verses.-Trans.
٧. Ibn Abd al-Muttaqi, Muntakhab Kanz al-Ummal, vol. ٢, p. ٤٨.
٨. Ibid, p. ٥٢.
٩. Bukhan, Sa/:ll/:١, vol. ٦, p. ٤٨٧.
١٠. Ibid.
١١. Suyati, al-ltqlin, sec. ٢٠, vol. ١, p. ٢٠٢.
١٢. Ibid., ٢٠, pp. ٢٠٣-٤.
١٣. Ibid., p. ٢٠٠. Al-Ququbi, in Tafslr, vol. ١, p. ٥٠, says: "And among them [the reciters], on that day [yawm (a battle of) al-Yamama] seven hundred were killed, as reported."
١٤. Mul)ammad b. AbdAllah al-I:Iakim al-Nisabari, Al-Mustadrak ala al-Sa/:١١/:laynfi al-/jadrth waft Dhaylihi Talkhfal-Mustadrak, ٤ vols. (Riyadh: Maktabat wa Matbaat al‌ Nar