a scribe had written a copy of the Quran and everyone else had then copied from it without checking either the original or the copies, an error could have occurred in this way. Here, however, each copy was written by a group and examined by a vast number of people—far more than would be needed to establish mass transmission. Even supposing that the original sheet contained a grammatical error, a group transcribed it who would write only in the dialect of Quraysh. Even where there was no grammatical error, they refused to write it in anything other than the dialect of Quraysh. How, then, could they all agree to write in hādhāni (“Indeed, these two”), knowing that this was a grammatical error inadmissible in any of their dialects? Or al-muqīmīna al-salāta (“those who establish prayer”), knowing that this was a grammatical error, as some have alleged?

Regarding the words “those who establish prayer,” al-Zajjāj said: “The claim that this is an error is exceedingly far-fetched. Those who compiled the Quran were authorities in the language and exemplars to be followed. How could they leave something for others to correct? Such a thing should not be attributed to them.” Ibn al-Anbārī said: “The report from ‘Uthmān is not authentic because its chain of transmission is disconnected. It is inconceivable that ‘Uthmān would leave something for those after him to correct.”

I say: Further evidence that this is false is that, even supposing this had happened with ‘Uthmān, he would only have seen it in a single copy. As for the possibility that all the copies contained the same error, and that ‘Uthmān saw it in all of them and remained silent, this is impossible, both as a matter of ordinary practice and in light of religious law, on the part of the scribes, ‘Uthmān, and then the Muslims who received the copies and examined their contents, while they had memorized the Quran and knew that it contained a grammatical error