" Is the Qur'an Pure?
Why did Muhammad's close companions write unique versions of the Qur'an?
Why were these unique versions
of the Qur'an later destroyed by fire?
When Muhammad died in 632 CE, the Qur'an had not been recorded and collected into a book. Instead, Muslims memorized large portions of the Qur'an. This was especially true of people who knew Muhammad in person. The Qur'an means to recite. It is possible that some of the verses had been recorded on bones, rocks, or hides before Muhammad died. Regardless, it didn't take long for the early Muslims to decide that they needed to have the Qur'an collected into a book.
The original Qur'an was completed by 634 CE. It is important to understand that a political process is what produced the Qur'an. In 633 CE, a military battle caused 700 Muslims to be killed. A close friend of Muhammad (named Salim) that could recite a large portion of the Qur'an was killed. What would happen if all the close followers of Muhammad were killed? Early Muslims wanted to maintain the purity of the Qur'an as Muhammad had spoken it.
So the original Qur'an of 634 CE was created during the political reign of Abu Bakr. This original Qur'an came to be known as the Hafsah codex (about 10 years later when Hafsah began to maintain it). However, this most important original manuscript of the Qur'an was destroyed by Muslim leaders in 667 CE. (Hafsah was one of Muhammad's wives. She maintained the original Qur'an until her death in 667 CE. Muslim leaders wanted to destroy the original Qur'an before Hafsah died. But she refused to hand over the codex for burning. She was successful until her death [Refer to Al-Masahif 24] It is most important to ask, "Why did Hafsah not wish to have this most important original manuscript of the Qur'an to be burnt?").
Based on Muslim sources alone, it appears that the Hafsah codex was one of the last Qur'ans to be willingly destroyed by Muslims. Since the original Qur'an was not accepted, what happened to cause such a drastic change that required the original Qur'an to be destroyed? Why wasn't the Hafsah codex maintained since it was created (in 634 CE) within two years after Muhammad died (in 632 CE)?
To begin, an excellent procedure was in place during the collection of the original Qur'an. Abu Bakr ordered that the Qur'an could only include words that were vouched for by the testimony of two men. The earliest version of the Qur'an would have been most fresh in the minds of Muhammad's followers in 634 CE. Is it any wonder why Hafsah refused to release the original manuscript?
The history of how the Qur'an came to be recorded comes from reliable Muslim source materials. These are called the Hadith. Problems for the Qur'an began to occur during the reign of the 3rd political leader of Islam, whose name is Uthman (644 TO 656 CE). It appears that as the Islamic faith spread with military conquest across a large area, the soldiers were reading different versions of the Qur'an. These men wondered, "Is the Qur'an truly as pure as those close to Muhammad believed and taught?"
The 2nd most trusted Hadith is called Sahih Bukhari. In Volume 6, Book 61, Number 510, the story about Muslim soldiers arguing about different versions of the Qur'an reads as follows: [Search on the referenced site to find the number "510" if you want to verify the written literature].
"Hudhaifa was afraid of the different recitations of the Qur'an, so he asked 'Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Qur'an as Jews and the Christians did before."
In response to the request, the Caliph Uthman sent a message to Hafsah since she had the most important original manuscript sheets collected about 634 CE. We find written:
"Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsah sent copies to Uthman.
Caliph Uthman had men who knew the Qur'an to assemble it again. We find written:
Uthman then ordered four men to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. After this had been done, the Hafsah codex was returned to her. "Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsah."
Having obtained this new version, Uthman ordered all other Qur'ans to be destroyed by fire. We find written:
Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.
This means that drastic changes occurred. After all, "Why were the other copies and fragments ordered to be burnt?" The answer is found in the original statement: "Hudhaifa was afraid of the different recitations of the Qur'an"
Hudhaifa did not want different versions of the Qur'an. To Hudhaifa, unity of the Qur'an meant unity of all Muslims. If Muslims troops were not united, Islam would crumble.
Since all other copies of the Qur'an were ordered to be burned, what was wrong with them? Is the Qur'an pure as believed by modern day Muslims? Since the decision to burn all other Qur'ans was politically motivated, the Qur'an of today reflects the political whims of early Muslim political leaders, not the prophet Muhammad. Questions like this will never be answered. But it is certain that the Qur'an of today is not the original Qur'an recorded only 2 years after Muhammad died. It is certain that the Hafsah codex would have been the most accurate and original Qur'an of all time. But Muslim political leaders made sure that it was destroyed. So what actually happened in the early years of Islam? "
Much more
http://www.harvardhouse.com/quran_purity.htm
