Claire Meunier retweetledi

(3/4) The first written versions of the Quran had no dots (see the manuscript screenshots).
Quran readers would interpret the letters based on context. They did so inconsistently, and variants emerged. For example, a different Quran was read in Mecca compared to Kufa. These Quran variants diverged over time, their meanings changing dramatically.
Consequently, 700 widely divergent Quran variants existed by the 10th century.
As the variants spread, the "Ulema" of Muslim scholars scrambled to assert control—
- 936 AD — Ibn Mujahid was tasked to get a grip on the situation. He chose the work of 7 famed Quran readers. None of these readers had lived during Muhammad's time.
- 1196 AD — Al-Shatabi picked another 14, so you now had 21 recognized variants.
- 1429 AD — Al-Jazari chose another 9, so now there were 30 variants.
This variant crisis peaked in 1924 in Egypt, leading to a dramatic "dumping into the Nile" of all but the "Hafs" variant, which then became Egypt's official Quran.
In 1985, Saudi Arabia also endorsed the "Hafs," and the rest of the Muslim world quietly fell in line.
Discrepancies between the Hafs and the other "recognized" variants number over 93,000. And we haven't even considered the "unrecognized" variants, many of which still survive.

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