1. It seems like many non-specialist Muslims believe that these Mushafs were the actual 'Uthmanic Mushafs…this can be corrected gently and I think Marijn did an excellent job of commenting on that part.
I also encourage people to follow two giant Muslim scholars of Quranic Manuscripts:
Dr. Ghanim Al-hamad & Dr. Bashir Al-Himyari and also read the books of Dr. M M Al-A’zami.
2. Regarding the illiteracy of the Prophet (PBUH), we actually have a minority of scholars in the Islamic tradition who believe that the Prophet learned reading & writing after he received revelation. Ibn Hajar has a good discussion on this topic in Fath Al-Bari:
1. The Qur'an was revealed in stages:
"˹It is˺ a Quran We have revealed in stages so that you can recite it to people at intervals; We have sent it down little by little".
Qur'an: 17:106
The history of writing the Qur'an in a few lines (according to the Islamic tradition):
1. The entire Qur'an was written down during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad. However, these writings were unbound and scattered.
2. Those scattered writings were then collected into a master volume called ṣuḥuf during Abu Bakr's caliphate.
3. Making copies of the ṣuḥuf
and make people adhere to one unified text (the 'Uthmanic Mushafs).
This final stage took place during the Caliphate of Uthman.
Note:
In stage 1 & 2, there were no restrictions in reading the Qur'an. Muslims read the Qur'an according to their dialects & the way they were taught.
However, in stage 3, Muslims had to adhere to the 'Uthmanic text (the 'Uthmanic Mushafs).
I have been receiving questions about this.
I personally don't agree with this conclusion. Classical scholars are of the opinion that these differences were intended. Thus, they cannot be called "scribal errors".
It is true that we see scribal errors in Qur'anic manuscripts all the time. However, we are not talking about some random Qur'anic manuscripts. The 'Uthmanic Mushafs were the official copies of the government. This project was led by the third Khalifah himself.
I'm assuming calling these differences " scribal errors" means that it was not intended in the first place, but not that it is an invalid reading.
I was asked by @rashrashii to comment on this thread.
The main topic I will be commenting on is whether or not Ibn Al-Jazari was of the view that Tawatur is a must condition for Qira'at to be accepted.
The statements of Ibn Al-Jazari in his book Munjid Al-muqr'in can be contradictory.
Why? let's examine some of his statements in this book which he wrote in his early youth.
In this statement, Ibn Al-Jazari talks about the three conditions for a reading to be accepted as a Mutawatir reading. He clearly stated Tawatur as one of the 3 conditions.
1. We have reports about the companions seemingly criticizing or denying a Qur’anic reading.
The Sahabah were always strict in accepting a reading if they were not familiar with it.
They were so cautious and a dispute occurred when they suspected a variation in reading that was not taught or approved by the Prophet PBUH.