Tiada apa-apa yang diriwayatkan daripada Nabi ﷺ yang menunjukkan bahawa tulisan yang digunakan untuk menyalin al-Qur'an pada zaman Khalifah 'Uthman telah ditetapkan. 'Uthman memerintahkan para penulis supaya menulisnya mengikut dialek Quraisy jika timbul perbezaan dalam ejaan. Oleh itu, apabila Zayd bin Thabit berbeza pendapat dengan tiga penulis Quraisy yang lain mengenai perkataan taaboot, dan Zayd mahu menulisnya تابوة (taabooh), 'Uthman berkata, "Tulislah تابوت (taaboot), kerana sesungguhnya al-Qur'an diturunkan mengikut dialek Quraisy."11

There is nothing recorded from the Prophet (r) to indicate that the script used to copy the Qur’aan during Caliph ‘Uthmaan’s era was fixed. Caliph ‘Uthmaan told the scribes to write it according to the Qurayshee dialect if any difference arose in spelling. Hence, when Zayd ibn Thaabit differed with the other three Qurayshee scribes over the word taaboot, and Zayd wanted to write it تابوة (taabooh), ‘Uthmaan said, “Write it تابوت) taaboot), for verily, the Qur’aan was revealed according to the Qurayshee dialect.” 11

Walau bagaimanapun, majoriti ulama berpendapat bahawa adalah lebih utama untuk mengekalkan ejaan asal, bagi melindungi al-Qur'an daripada perubahan yang mungkin timbul akibat perkembangan kaedah penulisan dari masa ke masa. Kaedah-kaedah ini juga berbeza dari satu negara ke negara lain, yang boleh membawa kepada perpecahan dan perselisihan mengenai teks al-Qur'an itu sendiri. Oleh itu, apabila Imam Malik ditanya sama ada al-Qur'an boleh ditulis mengikut kaedah ejaan pada zamannya, beliau menjawab, "Tidak, ia hanya boleh ditulis mengikut cara ia ditulis pada asalnya."12

However, the majority of scholars considered it preferable that the original spelling be maintained in order to protect the Qur’aan from changes which might result from the evolution of writing rules with the passage of time. These rules also vary from country to country, which could have led to disunity and discord over the very text of the Qur’aan. Hence, when Imaam Maalik was asked whether the Qur’aan could be written according to the dictation rules of his time, he replied, “No, it should only be written according to the way that it was originally written.”12

Para ulama lain, seperti Qaadee al-Baaqillaanee (wafat 1013 M/403 H) dan Ibn Khaldoon (wafat 1405 M/808 H), berpendapat bahawa diharuskan menulis al-Qur'aan mengikut kaedah bahasa Arab yang baku, yang sedikit berbeza daripada Mus-haf 'Uthmaanee. Al-Baaqillaanee berhujah bahawa sesiapa yang bersikeras menulis al-Qur'aan mengikut satu set simbol tulisan tertentu memerlukan dalil daripada al-Qur'aan dan Sunnah, dan tiada dalil sedemikian. Beliau juga menyebut bahawa sebahagian sahabat yang terkemuka mempunyai mus-haf yang berbeza daripada sistem penulisan yang digunakan dalam Mus-haf 'Uthmaanee.13 Ibn Khaldoon (wafat 1406 M/808 H) berhujah bahawa para sahabat menulis Mus-haf 'Uthmaanee pada masa ketika kaedah penulisan bahasa Arab belum lagi diseragamkan, oleh itu tidak perlu berpegang kepada tulisan mereka di tempat yang berbeza daripada apa yang kemudiannya menjadi norma yang diterima. Al-'Izz ibn 'Abdis-Salaam (wafat 1282 M/660 H) berpendirian bahawa wajib menulis mus-haf yang dibaca oleh orang awam mengikut bahasa Arab baku bagi melindungi orang yang jahil daripada terjerumus ke dalam kesilapan bacaan yang mengubah makna. Mereka yang melihat keharusan perubahan ini menegaskan bahawa apa yang dibaca oleh orang ramai hari ini dan dinamakan Mus-haf 'Uthmaanee sebenarnya cukup berbeza daripada rupa asal Mus-haf 'Uthmaanee. Semua perubahan itu dibuat untuk satu tujuan: memudahkan orang Islam biasa membaca al-Qur'aan dengan mudah dan betul.14 Pembela Mus-haf 'Uthmaanee menegaskan bahawa para sahabat menulisnya sedemikian rupa untuk menampung bilangan bacaan sahih yang berbeza sebanyak mungkin, dan bahawa menulisnya mengikut bahasa Arab baku moden akan menjadikan sebahagian bacaan yang berbeza mustahil untuk didamaikan dengan tulisan tersebut.

Other scholars, such as Qaadee al-Baaqillaanee (died 1013 CE/403 AH) and Ibn Khaldoon (died 1405 CE/808 AH), considered it permissible to write the Qur’aan according to the rules of standard Arabic, from which the ‘Uthmaanee Mus-haf differs slightly. Al-Baaqillaanee argued that for someone to insist upon writing the Qur’aan according to a specific set of written symbols requires a proof from the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and there is no such proof. He also mentioned that some of the prominent sahaabah had mus-hafs which differed from the writing system employed in the ‘Uthmaanee Mus-haf.13 Ibn Khaldoon (died 1406 CE/808 AH) argued that the sahaabah wrote the ‘Uthmaanee Mus-haf at a time when the rules of Arabic writing had not yet been standardized, therefore there is no need to stick to their writing where it differs from what became the accepted norm. Al- ‘Izz ibn ‘Abdis-Salaam (died 1282 CE/660 AH) held the position that it was obligatory to write the mus-haf which ordinary people read according to standard Arabic in order to protect the ignorant from falling into errors of recitation that change the meaning. Those who see the permissibility of this change point out that what people are reading today and calling the ‘Uthmaanee Mus-haf is really quite different from the way the ‘Uthmaanee Mus-haf originally looked. The changes were all made for one purpose: to make it easier for the average Muslim to recite the Qur’aan easily and correctly.14 The defenders of the ‘Uthmaanee Mus-haf point out that the sahaabah wrote it in such a way as to accomodate the greatest number of variant authentic recitations, and that writing it according to modern standard Arabic would make some of the variants impossible to reconcile with the script.

Teks-teks Al-Qur'an pada zaman 'Uthman ditulis tanpa baris (tashkil), iaitu fathah, kasrah dan dammah, untuk menunjukkan vokal, dan tanpa titik (nuqat) untuk membezakan huruf-huruf yang serupa bentuknya (contohnya Sin dan Syin, Sad dan Dad, dan seterusnya). Ayat-ayat tidak diberi nombor, dan tidak terdapat juga tanda baca untuk menunjukkan tempat berhenti atau penghujung ayat. Berikut ialah contoh beberapa ayat Al-Qur'an yang ditulis pada zaman tersebut:

The Qur’aanic texts of ‘Uthmaan’s era were written without dashes (tashkeel, i.e. fat-hah, kasrah and dammah) to indicate the vowels and without dots (nuqat) to distinguish between look-alike letters (e.g. Seen and Sheen, Saad and Daad, etc.) The verses were not numbered, nor were there any punctuation signs to indicate pauses or even the ending of verses. The following is an example of some Qur’aanic verses written during that era:

Imej akan ditambah

Image to be added

Semua orang Arab yang celik huruf pada zaman itu memiliki penguasaan bahasa yang semula jadi, yang membolehkan mereka membaca teks yang ditulis dalam bentuk ringkas ini tanpa sebarang kesukaran. Walau bagaimanapun, apabila orang bukan Arab mula menerima Islam dan mempelajari bahasa Arab, kesilapan dalam bacaan Al-Qur'an mula muncul, kerana mereka tidak biasa dengan bahasa tersebut. Perkara ini sangat ketara di wilayah Iraq. Malah, diriwayatkan bahawa pada suatu ketika ahli tatabahasa, Abul-Aswad ad-Du'alee (w. 638 M), mendengar seseorang membaca perkataan "rasooluh" dalam ayat berikut sebagai "rasoolih."

All the literate Arab Muslims of those days possessed a natural grasp of the language which enabled them to read texts written in this simple form without any difficulty. However, when non-Arabs began to accept Islaam and learn Arabic, errors in the recitation of the Qur’aan began to appear, due to their unfamiliarity with the language. This became especially noticeable in the province of Iraq. In fact, it is reported that once the grammarian, Abul-Aswad ad-Du’alee (d. 638 CE), heard someone recite the phrase “rasooluh” in the following verse as “rasoolih.”

Perubahan kecil dalam bacaan, iaitu kasrah menggantikan dammah, yang tidak dapat dibezakan dalam teks bertulis, menyebabkan ayat itu bermaksud sebaliknya: "Sesungguhnya Allah berlepas diri (daripada sebarang kewajipan) terhadap orang-orang musyrik dan Rasul-Nya." Ziyaad, gabenor al-Basrah, sebelum ini telah meminta ad-Du'alee untuk mencipta beberapa tanda yang dapat membantu orang ramai membaca Al-Qur'an dengan lebih mudah. Ad-Du'alee menangguhkan jawapan terhadap permintaan gabenor itu kerana bimbang akan memperkenalkan bid'ah yang bertentangan dengan Islam. Namun, kesilapan bacaan ini sangat menggoncangkannya sehingga, tidak lama selepas kejadian itu, beliau mencipta set tanda pertama untuk menandakan baris pada teks Arab.16 Fat-hah (bunyi vokal pendek "a") ditandakan dengan satu titik di atas permulaan huruf, kasrah (bunyi vokal pendek "i") ditandakan dengan satu titik di bawah permulaan huruf, dan dammah (bunyi vokal pendek "u") ditandakan dengan satu titik di hujung huruf, di antara huruf itu dan huruf berikutnya jika ia bersambung. Sukoon (menandakan akhir suku kata pada konsonan) diwakili dengan dua titik.17 Berikut ialah contoh teks dari zaman tersebut:

This minute change in recitation of a kasrah instead of a dammah, which could not be distinguished in the written text caused the verse to mean instead: “Verily Allaah is free from (any obligation) to the idolaters and His messenger.” Ziyaad, the governor of al-Basrah, had previously requested ad-Du’alee to develop some signs by which the masses could more easily read the Qur’aan. Ad-Du’alee had delayed responding to the governor’s request for fear of introducing an un-Islamic innovation. However, this recitational error shook him to such a degree that shortly after that incident, he developed the first set of marks to indicate the vowelling of the Arabic text.16 The fat-hah (the short vowel “a”) was indicated by a dot above the beginning of the letter, kasrah (the short vowel “i”) was indicated by a dot below the beginning of the letter, and dammah (the short vowel “u”) was indicated by a dot at the end of the letter, between it and the following letter if they were joined. Sukoon (indicating the end of a syllable on a consonant) was represented by two dots.17 An example of a text from that period follows:

Imej akan ditambah

Image to be added

Kemudian, titik-titik ditambahkan untuk membezakan huruf-huruf yang menyerupai satu sama lain, dan tanda-tanda baris (harakat) berkembang daripada huruf-huruf yang berkaitan dengannya. Contohnya, fathah berkembang daripada alif dan menjadi satu garis lurus di atas huruf; kasrah berkembang daripada yaa’ dan menjadi satu garis di bawah huruf; dan dammah berkembang daripada waaw dan menjadi waaw kecil yang ditulis berhampiran hujung huruf.

Later on, dots were added to distinguish between look-alike letters, and vowel signs evolved from the letters related to them. For example, fat-hah evolved from the alif and became a straight line above the letter; the kasrah evolved from the yaa’ and became a line below the letter; and dammah evolved from the waaw and became a tiny waaw written near the end of the letter.