Ibn Mas'ud's Codex: The Mushaf Without al-Fatiha? The Reports and the Defenses

The Man Who Would Not Burn His Book

Kufa, around the year 25 AH. Riders from Madinah carry the caliph Uthman's decree: an official copy of the Quran has been prepared under a committee headed by Zayd ibn Thabit, copies are being sent to the great cities, and everything else — every private codex written in a Companion's own hand — is to be gathered and destroyed. In Kufa, the teacher of the Quran appointed by Umar himself is a small, thin man whose shins once drew laughter, until — the hadith books record — the Prophet declared that those two legs would be heavier in the Scale than Mount Uhud. His name is Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. He is the man of whom the Prophet said, "Take the Quran from four" — and named him first. And according to reports preserved in the classical books of Islam, the codex he told his students to hide rather than hand over did not contain al-Fatiha, and did not contain the last two surahs of today's mushaf.

This article does not mock any religion. It will do what we always do: open the books, present the texts exactly as they are — the reports and the classical defenses, both columns, side by side. The verdict, as always, is yours.