…and among his transmissions is the chapter entitled: “By Him – and what He created – the male and the female.” Ibn Masud’s variant reading was reported only from the authorities just mentioned, whereas everyone else recited the standard wording, “By Him who created the male and the female.” In practice the latter is the reading that prevailed, despite the strong chain linking the former to Abu al-Darda and those with him. It is therefore likely that the variant belonged to a passage whose recitation was later abrogated, and that the abrogation never reached Abu al-Darda and his companions. What is remarkable is that the Kufan masters of hadith transmitted this reading from Alqama and from Ibn Masud—who represent the final authorities for Qurʼanic recitation in Kufa—yet none of them actually adopted it. The same is true for the people of Syria: they received the variant from Abu al-Darda, but not one of them recited according to it. All of this strongly suggests that its public recitation had indeed been repealed. Al-Nawawi states in his commentary on Sahih Muslim (2/475): Qadi Iyad related from al-Maziri that one must hold, concerning this report and others like it, that the passage in question was originally Qurʼan and was then abrogated. Those who continued to recite it were simply unaware of the abrogation. Such cases probably occurred before the arrival of the universally accepted mushaf (codex) compiled under Uthman, from which every abrogated verse had been omitted. After the appearance of Uthman’s mushaf, it is inconceivable that anyone knowingly departed from it. As for Ibn Masud, many reports are attributed to him, some of which the experts do not consider reliable. Any authentic report that appears to conflict with what we have just said should be understood as referring to his personal mushaf in which he wrote certain legal rulings and exegetical notes that he did not regard as Qurʼan and did not consider it unlawful to record. He treated it like a notebook in which he could set down whatever he wished. Uthman and the Companions, however, judged it necessary to prohibit this practice lest, with the passage of time, such notes be mistaken for Qurʼan. Al-Abi comments in his Sharh of Muslim (2/434-435): “Reports of this sort are what the unbelievers use to cast doubt on the mutawatir transmission of the Qurʼan. They must therefore be understood as passages that were once Qurʼanic and later abrogated; some people, unaware of the abrogation, continued with the earlier form. This most likely happened before the universally accepted mushaf of Uthman—purged of every abrogated verse—had reached them. After that mushaf became available, it is unthinkable that any of them would have deviated from it.” (1) Reported by al-Tirmidhi (no. 3813) in the Book of Merits, “Chapter on the Merits of Abd Allah ibn Masud,” through the chain: al-Jarrah ibn Mukhallad – Muadh ibn Hisham – his father – Qatada – Khaythama ibn Abi Sira, who said: “I came to Madinah and asked Allah to provide me with a righteous companion, so He granted me Abu Hurayra. I sat with him and said, ‘I asked Allah to provide me with a righteous companion, and He favoured me with you.’ He asked, ‘Where are you from?’ I replied, ‘From Kufa; I have come seeking goodness.’ He said, ‘Do you not have among you Saad ibn Malik, whose supplication is answered; Ibn Masud, the bearer of the Prophet’s ablution water and sandals; Hudhayfa, the custodian of the Prophet’s secret; Ammar, whom Allah protected from Satan through the Prophet’s own words; and Salman, the man of the two scriptures?’ Qatada added: ‘The two scriptures are the Gospel and the Qurʼan.’” Al-Tirmidhi judged the hadith “hasan gharib sahih.” Al-Hakim (3/392) authenticated it, and al-Dhahabi agreed. See also Fath al-Bari 7/92.