View source for Religion:Mus'haf

{{Short description|Written copy of  Quran}}
[[File:Quran-Mus'haf Al Tajweed.jpg|thumb|''Muṣḥaf al-Tajwīd'', printed with colored letters to facilitate reading the Quran with Tajwid.]]
A '''muṣḥaf''' ({{lang-ar|مُصْحَفْ}}, {{IPA-ar|ˈmʊsˤħaf|pron}}; plural {{lang|ar|مَصَاحِف}} ''maṣāḥif'') is an Arabic word for a codex or collection of sheets, but also refers to a written copy of the [[Religion:Quran|Quran]].<ref name="Wehr-523">{{cite book |last1=Wehr |first1=Hans |title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |publisher=Spoken Language Services Inc. |page=523 |edition=3rd |url=https://archive.org/details/Dict_Wehr.pdf |accessdate=27 June 2018}}</ref> The chapters of the [[Religion:Quran|Quran]], which [[Religion:Muslim|Muslim]]s believe was revealed during a 23-year period in [[Biography:Muhammad|Muhammad]]'s lifetime, were written on various pieces of paper during Muhammad's era. Two decades later, these papers were assembled into one volume under the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, and this collection has formed the basis of all written copies of the Quran to the present day.<ref>Wheller, Brannon M. ''Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis'', Continuum Books, 2002, p. 5.</ref>

In Arabic, ''al-Qur’ān'' means 'the [[Social:Recitation|Recitation]]', and Islam states that it was recited orally by Muhammad after receiving it via the angel [[Biography:Gabriel|Gabriel]]. The word ''muṣḥaf'' is meant to distinguish between Muhammad's recitations and the physical, written Quran. This term does not appear in the Quran itself, though it does refer to itself as a ''kitāb'' (كِتَابٌ), or book or writings, from yaktubu (يَكْتُبُ) or to write, in many verses.<ref>{{Qref|2|2|b=y}}, {{Qref|3|3|b=y}}, {{Qref|29|48|b=y}}</ref><ref>Madigan, Daniel. ''The Qur'an's Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam's Scripture'', Princeton University Press, 2001.</ref>

Some Islamic scholars also use the term ''muṣḥaf'' to refer to all the revelations contained within the book itself, while using ''al-Qur’ān'' to refer to all verses revealed to Muhammad during his lifetime, including those [[Religion:Naskh (tafsir)|abrogated]] and removed from the ''muṣḥaf'' prior to its final written form, as mentioned in some [[Religion:Hadith|Hadith]].<ref>{{Href|bukhari|2814|b=yl}}</ref> For this reason, these scholars say that there is only one possible version of the Quran, but multiple possible versions of the ''muṣḥaf''.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Abdullah Yusuf Ali Memorial Lecture 2013 - Souvenir Booklet | chapter=Is the Mushaf a Complete Record of the Qur'an? The Controversy of Abrogation | last1=Fatoohi | first1=Louay |pages=2–5 |publisher=Islamic Book Trust}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Software:Digital Quran|Digital Quran]]
*[[Religion:Quranism|Quranism]]
*Topkapı Muṣḥaf 
*[[Religion:Mus'haf of Ali|Mus'haf of Ali]]
== References ==
<References/>

== External links ==
* [http://www.quranicstudies.com/quran/the-difference-between-quran-and-mushaf/ The Difference Between "Qur'an" and "Mushaf"].


[[Category:Quran]]
[[Category:Islamic terminology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Mus'haf|1}}