The caliph Uthman commissions Zayd ibn Thabit and a committee to fix one written text of the Qur'an and orders variant codices burned; the recension becomes the standard text of the Qur'an in use to this day.
Tagged: Ibadi Islam Muslim Sunni Islam Twelver Shia Islam
The Event
- Date
- c. 650 (approximate)
- Also called
- The Uthmanic codex
- Era
- Rashidun; Standard periodization of Islamic history
- Location
- Medina; today Medina, Saudi Arabia
- Traditions
- Islam
- Streams
- Sunni Islam, Twelver Shia Islam, Ibadi Islam
- Key figures
- Uthman ibn Affan, Zayd ibn Thabit
- Key texts
- Qur'an (Uthmanic codex)
How the Tradition Tells It
All streams read the same Uthmanic text. Shia tradition preserves reports that the compilation set aside material about Ali's standing, a claim Sunni scholarship rejects; the received text itself is identical in Sunni, Shia, and Ibadi use.
Primary Sources
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of the Virtues of the Qur'an
Secondary Sources
- Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800 (Cambridge, 2003)
- Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path (Oxford, 4th ed. 2011)
Provenance: HIST-0209; confidence 0.85; accessed 2026-10-27.
Related on This Site
- Battle of Badr History Event
- Battle of Siffin; the Kharijite secession History Event
- Birth of Muhammad History Event
- Caliphate of Abu Bakr History Event
- Conquest of Mecca History Event
- Death of Muhammad History Event
- First revelation History Event
- Hijra to Medina History Event