在第二任哈里发欧麦尔·本·赫塔卜去世后，由六位圣门弟子中最著名的人组成的委员会，选定奥斯曼·本·阿凡为第三任哈里发。

After the death of the second Caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab, a committee made up of six of the most famous companions of the Prophet (r) chose ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan to be the third caliph.

在哈里发欧麦尔（公元634-644年／伊历13-23年）在位期间，伊斯兰国家的疆域已超出阿拉伯半岛，扩展到埃及、叙利亚和伊拉克。随后在奥斯曼哈里发在位期间，扩张继续推进，覆盖波斯、印度、俄罗斯、中国、土耳其以及北非各地。这些地区的许多民众接受了伊斯兰教，并从早期的穆斯林那里学习诵读《古兰经》。《古兰经》是以七种不同的阿拉伯方言启示给先知（ﷺ）的，早期的穆斯林便依照其不同的读法来教授《古兰经》。

During the reign of Caliph ‘Umar (634-644 CE/13-23 AH), the Islaamic state had expanded beyond the borders of the Arabian peninsula into Egypt, Syria and ‘Iraaq. In the subsequent reign of Caliph ‘Uthmaan, the expansion continued on into Persia, India, Russia, China, Turkey and across North Africa. Many of the people of these regions accepted Islaam and learned the recitation of the Qur’aan from the early Muslims. The Qur’aan was revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) in seven different Arabian dialects, and the early Muslims taught the Qur’aan in its different readings.

在穆斯林的各个省份中,一些阿拉伯人开始夸耀自己的方言优于其他人的方言。此外,当新穿伊斯兰教的人在诵读《古兰经》时出现错误,有时很难分辨这究竟是真正的错误,还是先知(ﷺ)所教授的七种读法之一。这些问题最终在阿拉伯半岛以外的穆斯林省份中引起了混乱。圣门弟子中有一位名叫胡宰法·本·叶玛尼的人,他在伊拉克时注意到了这种混乱,并担心这可能导致穆斯林民族的分裂和《古兰经》的被篡改。他回到首都后,将自己所听到和看到的情况告知了奥斯曼哈里发。奥斯曼哈里发意识到了局势的严重性,于是召集了主要的圣门弟子,以求找到解决这一问题的办法。

In the Muslim provinces, some Arabs began to boast that their dialect was superior to that of the others. Also, when new Muslims made mistakes in their recitation of the Qur’aan, it was sometimes difficult to tell whether it was really an error or whether it was one of the seven reading which had been taught by the Prophet (r). These problems eventually became a source of confusion in the Muslim provinces outside of Arabia. One of the sahaabah by the name of Huthayfah ibn al-Yamaan noticed the confusion while he was in ‘Iraaq, and feared that it might lead to a breakup of the Muslim nation and the changing of the Qur’aan. On his return to the capital, he informed Caliph ‘Uthmaan of what he had heard and seen. Caliph ‘Uthmaan realized the seriousness of the situation and called the major sahaabah together in order to find a solution to the problem.

他们决定根据艾布·伯克尔哈里发时期编纂的《古兰经》制作正式抄本，并限定人们只能诵读这一版本。奥斯曼向哈福赛求取了那部《古兰经》原本，并召集宰德·伊本·萨比特担任由四位古兰学者组成的委员会主席，负责制作正式抄本。82

They decided to make official copies of the Qur’aan from the one compiled in Caliph Aboo Bakr’s time and limit the people to its recitation. ‘Uthmaan asked Hafsah for the original copy of the Qur’aan and called on Zayd ibn Thaabit to head a committee of four Qur’aanic scholars who would take on the task of making the official copies.82

当抄本完成后,原本被归还给哈福萨。共抄写了七份,其中一份送往麦加,一份送往叙利亚,一份送往巴士拉,一份送往库发,一份送往也门,一份送往巴林,另一份保存在首都麦地那。83 显然,不同的抄本是由委员会的不同成员书写的。84 哈里发奥斯曼派遣了一位官方的古兰经诵读人随每份抄本一同前往,以便日后解决可能出现的任何问题。85 他还下令销毁所有其他古兰经抄本,因为人们曾在自己的私人抄本上做过笔记,而且有些抄本并不完整。86 此后,所有新的抄本都依据这份官方抄本制作,这份抄本被称为奥斯曼穆斯哈夫。如此,古兰经得以免于任何形式的改变或遗失。这项工作完成于公元646年,即奥斯曼成为新哈里发的两年之后。

When the copies were completed, the original was returned to Hafsah. A total of seven copies were made and one was sent to Makkah, another to Syria, one to Basrah, one to Koofah, one to Yemen, one to Bahrayn, and one was kept in the capital, Madeenah.83 Apparently, different copies were written by different members of the committee.84 Caliph ‘Uthmaan sent an official reciter of the Qur’aan with each copy in order to clear up any problems which might later arise.85 He also ordered that all other copies of the Qur’aan be destroyed, as people had made notes on their personal copies and some copies were incomplete.86 All new copies were then made from the official copy, called Mushaf ‘Uthmaan. In that way the Qur’aan was saved from any kind of change or loss. This process was completed in the year 646 CE, two years after ‘Uthmaan became the new Caliph.

麦地那穆斯哈夫（Madeenan Mus-haf）曾保存于先知清真寺中。当代关于公元654年（伊历）清真寺火灾的记载中提到了它，那场火灾造成了严重破坏。不过，这部穆斯哈夫得以保全。一些报道称，在第一次世界大战期间，它被土耳其人转运到了伊斯坦布尔，但如今它已下落不明。87

The Madeenan Mus-haf was kept in the Prophet’s Mosque. A reference to it appears in contemporary accounts of a fire in the Mosque in 654 AH which caused extensive damage. The mus-haf was, however, saved. Some reports suggest that it was transferred to Istanbul by the Turks during World War I, but it is now lost.87

叙利亚的穆斯哈夫（手抄本《古兰经》）原存放在大马士革的大清真寺（Jaami‘ Masjid）中。伊本·凯西尔（卒于伊历774年）提到他曾见过此书，伊本·白图泰（卒于伊历779年）和伊本·al-Jazari（卒于公历833年/伊历1430年）也有同样的记载。该书平时锁存，在主麻礼拜后才拿出来供民众观看。公历1892年（伊历1310年）的一场火灾烧毁了这座清真寺，穆斯哈夫也随之毁于火中。在其毁坏前不久所制的一份手写副本，在第一次世界大战期间被转移到了伊斯坦布尔。88

The Syrian mus-haf was kept in the Jaami‘ Masjid in Damascus. Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH) mentioned seeing it, as did Ibn Batootah (d. 779 AH) and Ibn Jazaree (d. 833 CE/1430 AH). It was kept locked up, but was brought out for public viewing after Jumu‘ah prayers. A fire in 1892 CE/1310 AH destroyed the masjid, and the mus-haf perished with it. A handwritten copy of it made shortly before its destruction was also transferred to Istanbul during WWI.88

一份早期手抄本写在羚羊皮羊皮纸上，现存于埃及的苏丹国家图书馆（Dar al-Kutub asSultaaneeyah）。该抄本以库法体书写，没有圈点，也没有元音符号。此前它曾保存在开罗最古老的清真寺——阿慕尔·本·阿绥清真寺（Masjid ‘Amr Ibn al-‘Aas）中。公元947年（伊历347年），一位来自伊拉克的人将它带到那里，并声称这就是奥斯曼遇害时正在诵读的穆斯哈夫。这一信息由历史学家马格里齐（al-Maqrizee）记载，他写于伊历378年。即便在当时，人们对这一说法也持怀疑态度。其中一些书页上有血迹，但许多古老的古兰经抄本都被涂上血迹，以证明它们是奥斯曼的穆斯哈夫。89

An early manuscript on gazelle parchment exists in Dar al-Kutub asSultaaneeyah in Egypt. It is written in Kufic script without dots or vowel markings. It had been previously kept in the oldest mosque in Cairo, Masjid ‘Amr Ibn al-‘Aas. It was brought there in 347 AH by a man from ‘Iraaq, who claimed it was the mus-haf that ‘Uthmaan was reading when he was killed. This information was reported by the historian al-Maqrizee, writing in 378 AH. There was scepticism about the claim even at that time. There are bloodstains on some of the pages, but many ancient Qur’aanic manuscripts had blood applied to them to support the claim that they were the mus-haf of ‘Uthmaan.89

在塔什干有一部手稿，似乎是最有可能宣称为奥斯曼（‘Uthmaan）下令抄写的副本之一。它在中世纪晚期被中亚的一位穆斯林统治者购得，但后来在俄国征服该国时落入俄国人手中。他们将其带到圣彼得堡，但在1923年布尔什维克革命之后，它被归还给撒马尔罕。20世纪40年代，它被转移到塔什干，即它今天所在之处。苏联当局允许穆斯林学者拍摄该手稿。费城的海德拉巴宫（Hyderabad House）出版了它的副本，与加了点和元音符号的现代阿拉伯文文本并列排印。

There is a manuscript in Tashkent that seems to be the best candidate for the claim to be one of the copies com-missioned by ‘Uthmaan. It was purchased during the late Middle Ages by a Muslim ruler in Central Asia, but eventually fell into the hands of the Russians when they conquered the country. They took it to St. Petersburg, but after the Bolshevik revolu-tion, in 1923, it was returned to Samarqand. In the 1940s it was transferred to Tashkent, which is where it is today. 90 Soviet authorities allowed Muslim scholars to photograph that manuscript. Hyderabad House in Philadelphia published a copy of it, side by side with the modern Arabic text with the added dots and vowel markings.

同样的分析原则曾被圣经学者用于圣经手稿，并揭示了圣经中的诸多错误与改动；如今这些原则也被应用于从世界各地收集来的古兰经手稿。来自伊斯兰历史各个时期的古老手稿，分别藏于华盛顿的国会图书馆、爱尔兰都柏林的切斯特·贝蒂博物馆和伦敦博物馆，这些手稿已与塔什干、土耳其和埃及博物馆中的手稿进行了比对。所有此类研究的结果都证实，经文自其原始书写以来并未发生任何变化。例如，德国慕尼黑大学的“古兰经研究所”收集并校对了四万二千多份完整或不完整的古兰经抄本。经过大约五十年的研究，他们报告说，就各抄本之间的差异而言，并不存在异文，只有抄写员偶尔的笔误，而且这些笔误很容易被辨别出来。该研究所在第二次世界大战期间毁于美国的轰炸。91

The same principles of analysis that were applied to Bible manuscripts by Bible scholars, and which exposed its many flaws and changes, have been applied to Qur’aanic manuscripts gathered from around the world. Ancient manu-scripts from all periods of Islaamic history found in the Library of Congress in Washington, the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin, Ireland and at the London Museum have been compared with those in museums in Tashkent, Turkey and Egypt. The result of all such studies confirm that there has not been any change in the text from its original writing. For example, the “Institute fur Koranforschung” of the University of Munich, Germany, collected and collated over 42,000 complete or incomplete copies of the Qur’aan. After some fifty years of study, they reported that in terms of differences between the various copies, there were no variants, except occasional mistakes of copyists, which could easily be ascertained. The institute was destroyed by American bombs during the Second World War.91