1. What is Mus'haf (مصحف) of Quran?

Ans: Mus'haf means "Collection of written pages" or ''printed book'' of Quran.

Revelation of Quran:

You know that the Quran was revealed little by little for a period of twenty-three years to our Prophet (ﷺ) by Allah ﷻ through Jibreel (AS). It came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in the form of wahi. It comes to him either as ringing of bell, even if he was among the Sahaba or directly by Jibreel (Alai) appearing in human form.

The Prophet (ﷺ)arranged forty-two scribes to write the revealed verses on different materials like bone fragments, paper, cloth and leather. Many will memorize immediately that has been revealed.

Review of Quran:

Al-Bukhaari (4614) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (RA) that Jibreel (AS) used to review the Qur’an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and he reviewed it with him twice in the year when he died." "The Prophet (ﷺ)used to stay in Itikaf for ten days every year, but in the year of his death, he stayed in Itikaf for twenty days.''

His daughter Bi Bi Fatimah (RA) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ), before his wofath said, “Jibreel (AS) would come to me to revise the Quran once every year. This year he revised with me twice. I do not think it means anything but that my term will come to an end."

Compilation of Quran:

It has been done during the caliphate of Abu Bakr (RA).  70 Qari (one who had memorized the whole Quran) were killed in the Battle of Yamama. So Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) became so concerned and pleaded to Abu Bakr (RA) to compile the Quran into a book form. First he objected. He was afraid to do that on Allah's book. Then by repeated thinking, he started making arrangements of compiling the Quran.

Abu Bakr (RA) formed a delegation of twelve people, under the leadership of Zaid ibn Thabit, (RA). All the materials on which the verses of the Quran written were collected and kept in Umar's (RA) house.

In addition, these verses were verified with those who have memorized and were heard as well. Each of them was asked to show two witnesses for the verse they read. The copy of the Quran is further verified by reciting to the companions at a general meeting. A total of 33,000 companions agreed that every letter of the Quran was in its right place.

Mus'haf:

There are 6,236 verses, 114 surahs and about 323,000 letters in the Quran. Saeed ibn al-Aas (RA) with his beautiful handwriting, wrote them down on gazelle skin. The writing used was the Arabic script of that time without any diacritical marks (marks appearing above or below or within the letter or between two letters). Thus a book called "mus'haf" emerged, which means ''the written verses" of Quran.

Then this mus'haf was sent to Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA). After his death, this book passed on to Hafsah (RA), the daughter of Umar (RA) and the wife of Prophet (ﷺ).

Dialect of Quran:

During the battle of Armenia between the Muslims of Damascus and Iraq, a difference in the recitation of Quran was noticed.

Hudhaifah (RA), one of the companions, reported this to then Calipha Uthman (RA). He in 25th hijra under the leadership of Zaid ibn Thabit (RA) gathered a delegation. Except for Zaid (RA) all were from Quraysh. So Uthman (RA) said to adapt dialect of Quraysh since the Prophet (ﷺ)was from the Quraysh tribe. The verses were written in the Quraysh dialect. Then Quran had been composed in seven dialects of the Arabic language of the time.

The old copies were destroyed to prevent future conflicts.

Copies of Quran:

Uthman (RA) made from the master copy al-Mushaf al-Imam (the head mushaf) seven copies. There is no difference between the mushafs recited around the world today since they were all copied from original copy.

The copies were sent to different places such as Bahrain, Damascus, Basra, Kufa, Yemen and Mecca, accompanied by a qari.

Uthman (RA) also established special schools for the correct recitation and writing of the Quran. During the caliphate of Ali (RA), saw the introduction of diacritical marks, since non-Arabs cannot read without these marks. During the time of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik, vowel marks were added.

Thus as said by Allah  سبحانه وتعالىٰ  Al Quran has been preserved without any change till today.