The Prophet Muhammad disseminated the Koran in a piecemeal and gradual manner from AD610 to 632, the year in which he passed away.
The evidence indicates that he recited the text and scribes wrote down what they heard.
Some of the Prophet’s associates set out to collect into single volumes all the “suras” (chapters) that had been disseminated in this fashion.
This endeavour yielded a number of versions of the scripture belonging to different “Companions” of the Prophet, versions which today we call “Companion codices”.
Shortly after the Prophet’s death, different Companion codices became popular in different parts of the Muslim lands.
For example, in Kufa, a new town in southern Iraq, the popular codex was that of the Companion Ibn Masud who had gone to live there.
