Yawancin rubuce-rubucen Alkur'ani na asali, cikakku ko kuma gutsuttsura masu girma, waɗanda har yanzu suke a hannunmu, ba su wuce karni na biyu bayan Hijira ba. Kwafin farko da aka taɓa samu, wanda aka nuna a Gidan Tarihi na Biritaniya a lokacin Bikin Duniyar Musulunci na 1976, ya samo asali ne daga ƙarshen karni na biyu. [Lings, M. da Y. H. Safadi: The Qur'an, London, 1976, No. 1A. Haka kuma duba plate 6] Duk da haka, akwai wasu ƙananan gutsuttsuran takardun papyrus na Alkur'ani waɗanda ake da su, kuma su ne ake kwanan wata zuwa karni na farko. [Grohmann, A.: Die Entstehung des Koran und die altesten Koran-Handschriften', in: Bustan, 1961, shafi 33-8.] Akwai kuma wani kwafin Alkur'ani a Laburaren Ƙasa na Masar, wanda aka rubuta a kan fata ta musamman da aka yi daga fatar barewa, kuma an tabbatar da cewa an rubuta shi a shekara ta 68 bayan Hijira (688 A.D.), wato shekara 58 bayan rasuwar Annabi ﷺ.

Most of the early original Qur'an manuscripts, complete or in sizeable fragments, that are still available to us now, are not earlier than the second century after the Hijra. The earliest copy, which was exhibited in the British Museum during the 1976 World of Islam Festival, dated from the late second century. [Lings, M. and Y. H. Safadi: The Qur'an, London, 1976, No. 1A. See also plate 6] However, there are also a number of odd fragments of Qur'anic papyri available, which date from the first century. [Grohmann, A.: Die Entstehung des Koran und die altesten Koran-Handschriften', in: Bustan, 1961, pp. 33-8.]There is a copy of the Qur'an in the Egyptian National Library on parchment made from gazelle skin, which has been dated 68 Hijra (688 A.D.), i.e. 58 years after the Prophet's death.

Ba a san ainihin adadin kwafen Alƙur'ani da aka yi a zamanin 'Uthman ba, amma Suyuti [Makhdum, 1.:

It is not known exactly how many copies of the Qur'an were made at the time of 'Uthman, but Suyuti [Makhdum, 1.:

Tarikh al-mushaf al-'Uthmani fi Tashqand, Tashkent 1391/1971 p. 17] yana cewa: 'Waɗanda aka sani sun kai biyar'. Wannan mai yiwuwa ba ya haɗa da kwafin da 'Uthman ya ajiye wa kansa ba. Garuruwan Makka, Damascus, Kufa, Basra da Madina kowanne ya karɓi kwafi. ' [GdQ, 111. 6, Note 1.]Akwai littattafan Larabci na da da dama da suka yi magana a kan wannan batu, waɗanda tare da sabbin bayanai da ake da su za a iya taƙaita su kamar haka:

Tarikh al-mushaf al-'Uthmani fi Tashqand, Tashkent 1391/1971 p. 17] says: 'The well-known ones are five'. This probably excludes the copy that 'Uthman kept for himself. The cities of Makka, Damascus, Kufa, Basra and Madina each received a copy. ' [GdQ, 111. 6, Note 1.]There are a number of references in the older Arabic literature on this topic which together with latest information available may be summarised as follows:

Al-Kindi (d. kusan 236/850) ya rubuta a farkon karni na uku cewa uku daga cikin kwafen huɗu da aka shirya wa 'Uthman sun lalace a wuta da yaƙi, yayin da kwafen da aka aika Damascus har yanzu ana ajiye shi a Malatja a zamaninsa. [GdQ. 111, 6. Note 1.] Ibn Batuta (779/1377) ya ce ya ga kwafe-kwafe ko takardu daga kwafen Alkur'ani da aka shirya a zamanin 'Uthman a Granada, Marakesh, Basra da sauran birane. [Salih, op. cit., p.87.] Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1372) ya ruwaito cewa ya ga wani kwafin Alkur'ani da ake dangantawa da 'Uthman, wanda aka kawo Damascus a shekarar 518 bayan Hijira daga Tiberias (Falasɗinu). Ya ce ya kasance "babba ƙwarai, an rubuta shi da kyakkyawan rubutu mai haske da ƙarfi da tawada mai ƙarfi, a kan fatar takarda, ina tsammani, wadda aka yi da fatar raƙumi". [Salih, op. cit., p.88.] Wasu suna ganin cewa kwafin daga baya ya tafi Leningrad, daga nan kuma zuwa Ingila. Bayan haka ba a san komai game da shi ba.

Al-Kindi (d. around 236/850) wrote in the early third century that three out of four of the copies prepared for 'Uthman were destroyed in fire and war, while the copy sent to Damascus was still kept at his time at Malatja. [GdQ. 111, 6. Note 1.] Ibn Batuta (779/1377) says he has seen copies or sheets from the copies of the Qur'an prepared under 'Uthman in Granada, Marakesh, Basra and other cities. [Salih, op. cit., p.87.] Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1372) relates that he has seen a copy of the Qur'an attributed to 'Uthman, which was brought to Damascus in the year 518 Hijra from Tiberias (Palestine). He said it was 'very large, in beautiful clear strong writing with strong ink, in parchment, I think, made of camel skin'. [Salih, op. cit., p.88.] Some believe that the copy later on went to Leningrad and from there to England. After that nothing is known about it.

Wasu kuma sun ce wannan mushafi ya ci gaba da kasancewa a masallacin Damascus, inda aka ganshi a karo na ƙarshe kafin gobarar a shekarar 1310 AH/1892 CE.' [Salih, op. cit., shafi na 89; Muir, a cikin 'The Mameluke Dynasties' shi ma ya rubuta cewa an ƙone wannan rubutun hannu a Damascus a shekarar 1893; duba Abbott, op. cit., shafi na 51.]

Others hold that this mushaf remained in the mosque of Damascus, where it was last seen before the fire in the year 1310/1892.' [Salih, op. cit., p.89; Muir, in 'The Mameluke Dynasties' also writes that this manuscript was burnt in Damascus in 1893; see Abbott, op. cit., p.51.]

Akwai wata kwafin Alqur'ani ta tsoho da ake ajiye ta a masallacin al-Hussain da ke Alkahira. Rubutunta irin na tsohuwar salo ne, ko da yake Ki6, kuma yana yiwuwa sosai an kwafo ta daga Mushafin 'Uthman. [Kamal, op. cit., p.56.]

There is a copy of an old Qur'an kept in the mosque of al-Hussain in Cairo. Its script is of the old style, although Ki6, and it is quite possible that it was copied from the Mushaf of 'Uthman. [Kamal, op. cit., p.56.]

Ibn Jubair (d. 614/1217) ya ga rubutun a masallacin Madina a shekara ta 580/1184. Wasu na cewa ya ci gaba da kasancewa a Madina har zuwa lokacin da Turkawa suka kwashe shi daga can a shekara ta 1334/1915. An ruwaito cewa hukumomin Turkawa sun kai wannan kwafi zuwa Istanbul, daga inda ya isa Berlin a lokacin Yakin Duniya na Farko. Yarjejeniyar Versailles, wadda ta kawo karshen Yakin Duniya na Farko, ta ƙunshi wannan sashe:

Ibn Jubair (d. 614/1217) saw the manuscript in the mosque of Madina in the year 580/1184. Some say it remained in Madlna until the Turks took it from there in 1334/1915. It has been reported that this copy was removed by the Turkish authorities to Istanbul, from where it came to Berlin during World War I. The Treaty of Versailles, which concluded World War I, contains the following clause:

Mataki na 246: Cikin watanni shida daga lokacin da wannan Yarjejeniya ta fara aiki, Jamus za ta mayar wa Mai Martaba Sarkin Hijaz Alkur'anin asali na Khalifa Uthman, wanda hukumomin Turkiyya suka cire daga Madina, kuma an ce an mika shi ga tsohon Sarki William na II." [Israel, Fred L. (ed.): Major Peace Treaties of Modern History, New York, Chelsea House Pub., Vol. ll, p.l418.] Littafin nan ya isa Istanbul, amma bai isa Madina ba. [Haka bayanin game da wannan kwafin ya bayyana a wata mujallar Alkahira a shekarar 1938 (Makhdum, op. cit., p.l9). Abin mamaki, littafin nan mai suna Geschichte des Qorans, wanda aka buga kashi na uku a Jamus a shekarar 1938, watau bayan Yarjejeniyar Versailles, duk da cewa ya yi bayani sosai game da Alkur'anin Uthmaniyya da tsoffin rubuce-rubuce, bai ambaci wannan al'amari ko kadan ba. Haka kuma, marubucin littafin History of the Mushaf of 'Uthman da ke Tashkent, ya nuna cewa bai san yadda zai fassara wannan ambato ba.]

'Article 246: Within six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, Germany will restore to His Majesty, King of Hedjaz, the original Koran of Caliph Othman, which was removed from Medina by the Turkish authorities and is stated to have been presented to the ex-Emperor William II." [Israel, Fred L. (ed.): Major Peace Treaties of Modern History, New York, Chelsea House Pub., Vol. ll, p.l418.] The manuscript then reached Istanbul, but not Madina. [The same information about this copy was published in a Cairo magazine in 1938 (Makhdum, op. cit., p.l9). Surprisingly the standard book Geschichre des Qorans, the third part of which was published in Germany in 1938, i.e. well after the Treaty of Versailles, although discussing the 'Uthmanic Qur'an and old manuscripts in detail, makes no reference whatsoever to this event. Also, the writer of the History of the Mushaf of ' Uthman in Tashkent, indicates that he does not know what to make of this reference.]

Wannan shi ne sunan da aka bai wa kwafin da Usman ya ajiye da kansa, kuma an ce an kashe shi yana karanta shi. [Ibn Sa'd: al-Tabaqat al-kubra, Alkahira, babu shekara, Juz'i 3, (1), shafi 51-2.] Bisa ga wasu, Umayyawa sun kai shi Andalus, daga nan kuma ya zo Fas (Maroko), kuma a cewar Ibn Batuta yana nan a karni na takwas bayan Hijira, kuma akwai alamun jini a kansa. Daga Maroko, ana iya cewa ya sami hanyar zuwa Samarkand.

This is the name used for the copy which 'Uthman kept himself, and it is said he was killed while reading it. [Ibn Said: al- Tabaqatal-kubra, Cairo, n.d., Vol. 111, (1). pp. 51-2.] According to some the Umayyads took it to Andalusia, from where it came to Fas (Morocco) and according to Ibn Batuta it was there in the eighth century after the Hijra, and there were traces of blood on it. From Morocco, it might have found its way to Samarkand.

[Makhdum, op. cit., shafi. 22 da gaba] Wannan kwafin yanzu yana hannun Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Yana yiwuwa ya zama kwafin Imam, ko kuma ɗaya daga cikin sauran kwafe-kwafen da aka yi a zamanin 'Uthman.

[Makhdum, op. cit., p.22ff.] This is the copy now kept in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). It may be the Imam manuscript or one of the other copies made at the time of 'Uthman.

Ya zo Samarkand a shekara ta 890 bayan Hijra (1485) kuma ya zauna a can har zuwa 1868. Sannan Rashawa suka kai shi St. Petersburg a 1869. Ya zauna a can har zuwa 1917. Wani masanin ilimin gabas dan kasar Rasha ya bayar da cikakken bayani a kansa, yana cewa shafuka da yawa sun lalace kuma wasu sun bata. S. Pisareff ya yi kwafin hoto (facsimile) na wannan mushaf, kimanin kwafi 50, a 1905. An aika da kwafi zuwa ga Sarkin Usmaniyya 'Abdul Hamid, zuwa ga Shah na Iran, zuwa ga Amir na Bukhara, zuwa Afghanistan, zuwa Fas da wasu fitattun mutanen Musulunci. Yanzu akwai kwafi guda a Laburaren Jami'ar Columbia (Amurka). [The Muslim World, Vol. 30 (1940), shafi 357-8.] Daga baya an mayar da littafin wurin asalinsa, kuma ya isa Tashkent a 1924, inda ya zauna tun daga lokacin.

It came to Samarkand in 890 Hijra (1485) and remained there till 1868. Then it was taken to St. Petersburg by the Russians in 1869. It remained there till 1917. A Russian orientalist gave a detailed description of it, saying that many pages were damaged and some were missing. A facsimile, some 50 copies, of this mushaf was produced by S. Pisareff in 1905. A copy was sent to the Ottoman Sultan 'Abdul Hamid, to the Shah of Iran, to the Amir of Bukhara, to Afghanistan, to Fas and some important Muslim personalities. One copy is now in the Columbia University Library (U.S.A.). [The Muslim World, Vol . 30 ( 1940), pp.357-8.] The manuscript was afterwards returned to its former place and reached Tashkent in 1924, where it has remained since.

Ana jin cewa hukumomin Soviet sun yi ƙarin kwafi, waɗanda ake gabatarwa lokaci-lokaci ga shugabannin ƙasashen Musulmi masu ziyara da sauran manyan mutane. A shekarar 1980, an yi kwafin hoto na irin wannan kwafin a Amurka, tare da gabatarwar shafi biyu daga M. Hamidullah.

Apparently the Soviet authorities have made further copies, which are presented from time to time to visiting Muslim heads of state and other important personalities. In 1980, photocopies of such a facsimile were produced in the United States, with a two-page foreword by M. Hamidullah.

Marubucin Tarihin Mushaf ɗin 'Uthman a Tashkent ya bayar da dalilai da dama na sahihancin wannan rubutacciyar kwafi, ban da rahotannin tarihi daban-daban da ke nuna hakan, kamar haka:

The writer of the History of the Mushaf of 'Uthmtln in Tashkent gives a number of reasons for the authenticity of the manuscript. They are, excluding the various historical reports which suggest this, as follows: