Steve 41oo wrote:
On another thread I asked a Muslim what happened to all the bits of bone, pottery rock etc etc that the scribes were supposed to have used to record Gods actual last words, via Mohammed and Gabriel. Why does not one artefact from those times exist? Did they throw the Original Gods Words away when they compiled the Koran? Bit disrespectful that one would think. Why does nothing exist in a museum or in a mosque? The answer that there were probably important families in the region who were holding onto them for fear of loosing them, didnt appear entirely convincing. Especially when they could be sold for a great deal of money.
As for Steve's question, here is your answer-
Regarding the first copies of the Quran written by Zaid bin Harith - As sanctioned by the 3rd Caliph Uthman, 20 years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
"...Narrations differ as to how many copies were directly ordered and sent out by the Caliph `Uthman, but they range from four to seven. It seems certain from various Muslim historical sources that several were lost, through fire amongst other things. There are some copies that are attributed to `Uthman."
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/
"The historical credibility of the Qur'an is further established by the fact that one of the copies sent out by the Caliph Uthman is still in existence today. It lies in the Museum of the City of Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Central Asia....and an early manuscript on gazelle parchment exists in Dar al-Kutub as-Sultaniyyah in Egypt. More ancient manuscripts from all periods of Islamic history found in the Library of Congress in Washington, the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin (Ireland) and the London Museum have been compared with those in Tashkent, Turkey and Egypt, with results confirming that there have not been any changes in the text from its original time of writing [44]."
From
http://www.iiie.net/Articles/AuthenticQuran.html
1. The Tashkent Quran (Uzbekistan)
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/samarqand.ht ml
Original Mushaf written by Zaid bin Harith. A Photocopy of this mushaf is available at the Columbia University Library in the USA.
2. The Topkapi Quran (Turkey)
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/topkapi.html
3. The Al-Hussein Mosque Manuscript. (Egypt)
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/hussein.html
"...is perhaps the oldest of all the manuscripts, and is either `Uthmanic or an exact copy from the original with similarity to the Madinan script..."
Here are more references to Original Manuscripts:
1) Maktabat al-Jami` al-Kabir, Yemen. "Among the manuscripts in the collection is a copy of the Qur'an reputed to be in the handwriting of Al-Imam `Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Zayd Ibn Thabit and Salman al-Farsi, in two parts, each of 150 pages, in large unpointed Kufic script."
-Zaid ibn Thabit being the original scribe who wrote the first official Quran. I dont know if these are Uthmani Qurans.
2) Islamic Museum, Jerusalem, Palestine. "One of the most important manuscript in this collection is the Kufic copy of the second half of the Qur'an, the transcription of which is attributed to Al-Hasan b. Al-Husayn b. `Ali b. Abi Talib. The pages in this manuscript are beautifully illuminated, with each surah heading bearing its own distinct style of decoration; the covers are also decorated on both sides, but are of the Mamluk period."
Ali being a close companion of the Prophet, and of Uthman. I dont know if this is an Uthmani Quran, but same time period.
