Leiden's Or. 298, the earliest dated Arabic paper manuscript (252 AH/866 CE), a copy of Abū ʿUbayd's (d. 224) Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ, is an absolute goldmine of of orthographic archaisms. This Hadith, for example, is orthographically many similarities to Quranic Arabic. 
“One who has has a camels, cows, or sheep that doesn’t pay their alms tax will be thrown down for it on the day of resurrection on a level plane, and they will trample him with their hoofs, and ram him with their horns; whenever the last of them leaves, the first will return."
al-salām in the formula al-nabiyy ʿalay-hi s-salām "the prophet, peace be upon him" is spelled defectively. This is also very common in early papyri, and indeed the standard spelling in Quranic manuscripts.
zakāta-hā "their alms (tax)" is spelled not in the Classical spelling زكاتها, but with a wāw in the place of the ʾalif. In the Quran zakāt is consistently spelled with a wāw, a reflex of its Hijazi pronunciation as zakōh.
taṭaʾu-hū has a striking spelling with ʾalif (carrying a hamzah) + wāw. In Classical Arabic you expect تطؤه and in Quranic you'd likewise expect تطوه. The plural taṭaʾū-hum is attested in the Quran (identical spelling as the expected singular)
In Classical orthography, ʾalif maqṣūrah written with a yāʾ is written with an ʾalif if a suffix follows. This is different from Quranic Arabic, where it continues to be written with a yāʾ. For ʾuxrā-hā and ʾūlā-hā, the manuscript follows Quranic spelling!
al-qiyāmah "resurrection" is also spelled defectively. This is once again the only spelling in Quranic manuscripts.
Of course, if we look up this Ḥadīṯ in an edition of ʾAbū ʿUbayd's book, all of these archaisms of spelling are dutifully scrubbed away (undoubtedly also in the later manuscripts they were based on).
So often Classical norms that exist today are imposed upon Classical Arabic of the earlier period. This manuscript shows that as late as the middle of the third century AH, in a manuscript of a work as Classical as ʾAbū ʿUbayd's, it has not yet reached the Classical norms.
@ubleiden has beautifully digitized this manuscript, so you can check it out yourself on the website of digital collections: …italcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/item/2000…
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