Re: First copy of the Qur'an
zer01 - I'm trying to find answers. So, yes, I'm asking the shias here who should know enough about their own faith to clear up what I'm finding on the matter. :)
I dont know why he burnt that original copy. I'd like to know too. Both the shia and the sunni answers seem wishy washy to me. Sunnis say so that there would be no confusion and no future fights over the issue. If that was the case, he shouldn't have destroyed it. He should have preserved it so that everyone could see that the only thing changed was that the dialect was standardized. So that no one could make any claims that verses were added/deleted changed.
The shias say because there were important verses on how Ali and his progeny would have full authority to rule in the line of the prophet. But that borders on a monarchy basically, and that was pretty much what the Prophet fought against in his life. He didn't want one tribe to rule all. His system was more of an equality-based political system. So, the shia claims don't fit in well at all.
What puzzles me most is that its never really been clear in the history as to who was doing what after the Prophet's death. My hunch is that there were a few people who were not real muslims at heart who did quite a bit of gharbar in the initial days.
Well, not surprising really. There's always someone trying to ruin something good.