The Qur'an will always be perfect, but what about the Mus'haf?

The Qur'an is indeed considered perfect and unaltered in its divine essence, but the physical copies known as Mushafs have undergone historical processes to ensure their accuracy and consistency. A significant event in this regard was initiated by Caliph Uthman ibn Affan, who sought to unify the various recitations and manuscripts of the Qur'an to prevent discrepancies among the Muslim community.

As narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari, "Anas ibn Malik related to me that Hudhaifa ibn al-Yaman came to Uthman while he was campaigning in the conquest of Armenia and Azerbaijan with the people of Iraq. Hudhaifa was concerned by the variations in their recitation. He said to Uthman: 'O Commander of the believers, save this nation before they differ greatly over the Book as Jews and Christians did.' Uthman sent to Hafsa to send the manuscripts of the Quran so that they could be copied into Mushafs and returned. Hafsa sent them to Uthman. He ordered Zaid ibn Thabit, Abdullah ibn Al-Zubair, Saeed ibn Al-As, and Abdurrahman ibn Al-Harith ibn Hisham to copy them in Mushafs. Uthman said to the Qurayshi party, 'If you differ with Zaid ibn Thabit regarding any part of the Quran's Arabic, write it in the dialect of Quraysh, for the Quran was revealed in their language.' They did so, and when they finished copying the Mushafs, Uthman returned the manuscripts to Hafsa and sent a Mushaf to every region and commanded that the other copies or Quranic parchments be burned. Ibn Shihab said: And Khārijah ibn Zaid ibn Thabit told me he heard Zaid ibn Thabit say: 'When we copied the Mushaf, I found a verse missing from the chapter of Al-Ahzab that I used to hear the Prophet (peace be upon him) reciting. We searched for it and found it with Khuzaymah ibn Thabit Al-Ansari. It is "Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. We included it in its place in the Mushaf.' Sahih al-Bukhari 66:9SunniSAHIH

This historical account illustrates the efforts made to preserve the integrity of the Qur'an in written form, ensuring that the community had access to a unified and authentic text. The Mushafs we have today are thus a result of these meticulous efforts to compile and standardize the Qur'anic text, reflecting the same divine message that has always existed.