First may be mentioned the recension of the Corân. The Moslem warriors had spread themselves over such vast areas, and the various columns, as well as converted peoples, were so widely separated one from the other, that differences arose in the recitation of the sacred text, as it had been settled in the previous reign. Bussorah followed the reading of Abu Mûsa; Kûfa was guided by the authority of Ibn Masûd, their chancellor; and the text of Hims differed from that in use even at Damascus. Hodzeifa, during his campaign in Persia, having witnessed the variations in the different provinces, returned to Kûfa strongly impressed with the gravity of the evil and the need of a revision. Ibn Masûd was highly incensed with the slight thus put upon the authority of his text. But Hodzeifa persisted in his views, and, supported by Saîd, the governor, urged Othmân to restore the unity of the divine word, ‘before that believers began to differ in their scripture, even as do the Jews and Christians.’ The Caliph took the advice of the leading Companions at Medîna, and, in accordance therewith, called for samples of the manuscripts in use throughout the empire. He then appointed a syndicate, from amongst the Coreish, of men whose authority could be relied upon, to collate these copies with the sacred originals still in the keeping of Haphsa, the widow of Mahomet. Under their supervision the variations were reconciled, and an authoritative exemplar written out, of which duplicates were deposited at Mecca and Medîna, Kûfa and Damascus. From these exemplars, copies were multiplied over the empire; all former manuscripts were called in and committed to the flames; and the standard text was brought into exclusive use. The uniformity thus secured by the secular arm, and maintained by the same in every land and every age, is taken by the simple believer as a proof of divine custodianship. The action of Othmân was received at the moment, as it deserved, with a very general consent, excepting at Kûfa. There Ibn Masûd, who prided himself on his faultless recitation of the oracle, pure as it fell from the Prophet’s lips, was much displeased; and the charge of sacrilege in having burned the former copies of the sacred text, was readily circulated amongst the factious citizens. By and by the charge was spread abroad, and was taken up with avidity by the enemies of Othmân; and, ages afterwards, we find it still eagerly urged by the partisans of the Abbasside dynasty as an unpardonable offence on the part of the ungodly Caliph. The accusation, thus trumped up for party purposes, was really without foundation. Indeed, it was scouted by Aly himself. When, several years after, he proceeded as Caliph to Kûfa, he found the citizens still blaming his ill-starred predecessor for the act. ‘Silence!’ he said; ‘Othmân acted as he did with the advice of the leading men amongst us; and if I had been ruler at the time, instead of him, I should myself have exactly done the same.’[454]