Tashkent manuscript cannot be from that time... Kufic is a monumental script and was adopted for papyrus later on. Mashq or Hijazi scritps were originally used for papyrus (as has been proven by epigraphic evidence e.g. the San'a manuscript, Perf 558 etcs for cursive, and Arabic inscriptions on rocks and buildings from the same era being in Kufic script for monumental applications)
Carbon dating also puts Tashkent manuscript in the Second Century H.
Secondly, the article may state what it does... there is no physical evdince to back it up other than tradition. Zaid may have been instrumental as a scribe and his reward rests with God (if he did what is contended). However, it is of no consequence to me. End of story.
You, sir, can believe whatever you want to believe.
Regards,
There is no doubt that the Qur'an was not only transmitted orally by many Muslims who had learned parts or the whole of it, but that it was also written down during the lifetime of the Prophet but it had not been assembled into a single location during the lifetime of the Prophet. As the Revelation progressed throughout the prophets(saw) life, the Prophet and the believers following him recited the text by heart and the scribes in his following also wrote it down. It therefore starts off with two elements of authenticity. This continued up to the prophet’s death. In the article it clearly states that Zayd bin Thabit was given the assignment to compile together the Qur'an after the prophets(saw) death which had already been recorded and preserved, and three other huffaadh were assigned to help him in the task. Many of the Sahaba had memorized the Qur'an to further ensure the accuracy of what was written down and going to be compiled along with the written and preserved texts. Together, the four scribes borrowed the original, complete copy of the Qur’an, duplicated it manually many times over, and then distributed them to all of the major Muslim cities within the empire. Two of these copies still exist today: **one is in Istanbul and the other in Tashkent. **The oldest Qur'anic documents to be found are all identical further confirming the precision and accuracy of the Qur'an from the begining till now!