Answering Objections to Islam · Qur'anic Transmission
The Codices of Ibn Mas'ud and Ubayy ibn Ka'b
In short
- 1.The variants are recorded in Ibn Abi Dawud's Kitab al-Masahif, a Muslim work.
- 2.Ibn Mas'ud's mushaf was a personal aide-memoire; he recited al-Fatiha in prayer.
- 3.Ubayy's additional material is identified in the sources as supplication, not revelation.
The claim being examined
Classical sources report that Ibn Mas'ud's codex omitted al-Fatiha and the last two suras, and that Ubayy's contained additional supplications. Critics treat this as suppressed evidence.
The Islamic position
Nothing was suppressed — these reports come from Muslim sources, catalogued by Muslim scholars, and are studied in the classical curriculum. Ibn Mas'ud's omission is best understood as a personal teaching copy rather than a claim about the canon.
Analysis
The historical significance of the companion codices lies in their transparency: the community that supposedly suppressed them is the community that catalogued them. The classical explanation for Ibn Mas'ud's omission is functional — a codex compiled as a memory aid need not include a text recited seventeen times daily. Independent of which explanation one prefers, the doctrinal content of the disputed material is nil, which is why no theological schism ever formed around it.
Sources
Ibn Abi Dawud · Nicolai Sinai · Jonathan A.C. Brown
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