The Codex of Ubayy ibn Ka'b: The Master Reciter's Mushaf and the Two Extra Surahs

"Allah Has Named You to Me"

A gathering in Medina. The Messenger of Islam calls for one of his companions — Ubayy ibn Ka'b of the Ansar, of the tribe of Banu Najjar: a man of the Pledge of Aqaba and of Badr, and one of the first scribes of the revelation in Medina. The Prophet says to him: "Inna Allaha amarani an aqra'a 'alayka al-Qur'an" — "Allah has commanded me to recite the Quran to you." Ubayy asks, astonished: "Did Allah name me to you?" "Yes," the Prophet replies, "Allah has named you to me." And the narrators say that Ubayy began to weep. (Sahih al-Bukhari 4960–4961)

This is Ubayy ibn Ka'b — and it is his personal codex, his mushaf, that became one of the most discussed manuscripts in the history of the Quran's text. The classical books report that it contained two surahs not found in today's Quran, that its order of surahs was different, and that Ubayy himself made a startling statement about Surat al-Ahzab. The same books also preserve the explanations that Muslim scholars gave for all of these reports.