… through the chain of ‘Abdah ibn Sulayman, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Ishaq, from Hubayrah ibn Maryam, from Ibn Masʿud …; and through the chain of Abu Shihab, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Waʾil, who said: “Ibn Masʿud once addressed us and declared: ‘How can you ask me to recite according to the reading of Zayd ibn Thabit when I received, from the very lips of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, more than seventy surahs, while Zayd—still a youth with two sidelocks—was playing with the other boys?’” Ahmad (1/411) also records the report through al-Aʿmash, from Shaqiq ibn Salamah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud. (1) Muslim (no. 2462, Book of the Merits of the Companions, chapter on the merits of ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud and his mother) transmits the same tradition. Al-Nawawi (5/325, commentary on Sahih Muslim) explains that Ibn Masʿud’s personal codex differed from the community’s codex. His students had copies like his; people objected and ordered him to abandon it and conform to the standard text. They even sought to burn his codex as they had burned others, but he refused and told his followers: “Hide your codices,” that is, keep them concealed. Concerning the verse “Whoever embezzles shall bring what he embezzled on the Day of Resurrection” (Q 3:161) he meant: if you conceal your codices, you will bring them on that Day, and that honour will suffice for you. He then protested: “Who is it you command me to follow, that I should abandon my own codex which I took from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?” Al-Qurtubi, al-Mufhim (4/39/2), writes: “When ʿUthman ordered all codices to be burned except the master copy whose transcripts he sent to the provinces—and the Companions agreed, fearing that the survival of variant codices would cause confusion—Ibn Masʿud referred to embezzlement, recited the verse, and said: ‘I am hiding my codex; whoever can hide his, let him do so, for Allah says, “Whoever embezzles shall bring what he embezzled on the Day of Resurrection.” On whose reading do you order me to read? On Zayd’s reading! I received from the Messenger of Allah more than seventy surahs, while Zayd, with two sidelocks, was playing with the children.’” The phrase “Hide your codices” thus means: conceal them, do not surrender them, and hold fast to them until you meet Allah, just as one who misappropriates something must carry it on the Day of Resurrection. This was a personal position unique to Ibn Masʿud among the Companions: he concealed his codex and neither ʿUthman nor anyone else could bring it to light. The codices produced under ʿUthman were distributed to the regions, the Companions endorsed them, and Muslims read from them, while Ibn Masʿud’s codex disappeared until it was later found in the Fatimid treasuries in Egypt at the end of their rule and the rise of the Ayyubids. The Chief Judge Sadr al-Din, as we heard from our teachers, ordered it to be burned. His words “On whose reading do you command me to read?” were uttered in protest against those who wanted him to abandon his own reading and adopt Zayd’s, even though he was earlier than Zayd in memorising the Quran.