Bilindiği gibi Hz. Peygamber inen vahiyleri önce kendisi hıfzediyor sonra da vahiy kâtiplerine yazdırıyordu. Bunun yanı sıra nâzil olan âyet ve sûreleri öğrenmek ve ezberleyebilmek için yoğun bir gayret içine giren bazı sahâbîler de bu âyetleri kendileri için yazıyor ve kişisel mushaflar oluşturmaya çalışıyorlardı. Söz konusu şahsî mushaflardaki sûrelerin tertibine ve bu tertiplerin Hz. Osman mushafı ile arasındaki farka dair Kur’ân-ı Kerim tarihi ve kitâbü’l-mesâhif türü eserlerde çeşitli rivayetler nakledilmiştir. Şahsî mushafların sûre tertipleriyle ilgili önemli bilgiler veren kaynaklardan biri de Muhammed b. Abdülkerîm eş-Şehristânî’ye (ö. 548/1153) nispet edilen Mefâtîhu’l-esrâr adlı tefsirdir. Şehristânî, eserinin mukaddimesinde okurların hiçbir yerde görme imkânı bulamayacağını ve sika râviler ve muteber eserlerden naklettiğini belirttiği, içinde Hz. Ali, Übey b. Kâ‘b, Abdullah b. Mes‘ûd, İbn Abbas ve Ca‘fer es-Sâdık gibi kişisel mushafların sûre sıralamalarını içeren farklı tertiplere yer vermiştir. Şehristânî’nin bu eseri özellikle şahsî Mushaflar ve Kur’ân-ı Kerim’in nüzûl tertibine dair elimizdeki mevcut kaynaklarda yer almayan bazı bilgiler içermesi ve İbn Mes‘ûd’un mushafında Fâtiha’nın yer alıp almadığı tartışmasına yeni bir boyut kazandırması açısından kayda değer gözükmektedir. Bu makalede Şehristânî’nin naklettiği şahsî mushafların sûre tertiplerini içeren rivayetlerin kaynaklarının belirlenmesine çalışılacak ve bahsi geçen mushafların sûre tertiplerini nakleden başka eserlerle kıyaslanarak aralarındaki benzerlikler ve farklar ortaya konmaya çalışılacaktır.  

The prophet first himself memorized the revelations, then he had clerks write them down. Some of the companions wrote these revealed verses for themselves in order to memorize and master them and so they created personal mushafs. Although the literature on the history of Quran and mushafs do not corroborate the number of personal mushafs or their possessors, numbers vary from four to seven, and even up to twenty-eight according to some records. Among these mushafs, particularly those of Ubayy b. Ka‘b, Abdullah b. Mas‘ūd, Ali b. Abī Tālib and Ibn Abbas have been the most distinguished. In fact, these are the mushafs of which we have some knowledge. Some of these mushafs circulated beyond the Hijaz. For example, the recitation according to Ubayy’s mushaf was welcomed in Damascus and the recitation according to Ibn Mas‘ūd’s gained influence in Kūfa. We have little or no information about mushafs other than these four. According to reports, there are a series of disagreement between these personal mushafs and the mushaf arranged during the times of Caliph Abū Bakr and Caliph Uthmān in respect to the number of chapters (sūrahs) and their arrangements. As many reports state, unlike Caliph Uthmān’s mushaf, Ibn Masud’s mushaf does not include the chapters of al-Fātihah (the Opener), al-Falaq (the Daybreak) and al-Nās (the Mankind); Ubayy’s mushaf includes the supplications of Qunūt as two separate chapters; and Ali’s mushaf is arranged according to the order of revelation. The literature on the history of Quran, books on mushaf, history of sciences, and Quranic sciences have reported many narratives on the discrepancy between these personal mushafs and Caliph Uthmān’s mushafs in respect to the arrangement of chapters.One of sources on the arrangement of chapters in personal mushafs is a book of exegesis, Mafātīh al-asrār, attributed to Muhammad b. Abd al-Karīm al-Shahristānī (d. 548/1153). It seems that this newly circulating book of al-Shahristānī is valuable for its hitherto unknown information on the personal mushafs, including the arrangement of Quranic revelations.Al-Shahristānī attaches in the preface two unseen tables comparing the chapters according to the order of revelation and to the order in the mushafs. Although al-Shahristānī does not disclose the source of these tables, he states that he has reproduced them verbatim from a person who is highly learned on the arrangement of chapters and from trustworthy narrators and books. Al-Shahristānī underlines that these tables may not exist in other works of exegesis because exegetes do not know or trust them; and they do not include them in their works for they are occupied with more important subjects.The first table al-Shahristānī provides is related to the arrangement of the Quranic revelation and it includes reports from five different persons. The first report comes from the narrators of Muqātil b. Sulaymān (d. 150/167), the second one comes from Ali through Muqātil, the third one comes from Ibn Abbās through al-Kalbī, the fourth one comes from the narrators of Abū ‘Ali al-Ģusayn b. Wāqid al-Qurashī, and the fifth one comes from Ja‘far al-Ģādiq.The second table on the arrangement in the mushafs provides the lists of chapters according to Caliph Uthmān, Ibn Mas‘ūd and Ubayy b. Ka‘b. It also includes a fourth list according to the report from Abū Abd Allah Muhammad b. Khālid al-Barqī who was a famous Shiite hadīth scholar of the early period of the Imāmiyya, and a fifth lists relying on the report from Ibn Wādih Ahmad b. Ishāq b. Ja‘far Ya‘qūbī.Three reports in the first table (from Muqātil b. Sulaymān’s narrators, Ali through Muqātil, Ja‘far al-Sādiq) and the report from Muhammad b. Khālid al-Barqī do not exist in other extant sources. Therefore, al-Shahristānī’s book appears to be the only source mentioning these reports.The most salient report in the table that lists the reports according to arrangement of Quranic revelation is from Ja‘far al-Sādiq. According to our knowledge, neither Sunni nor Shiite sources, except for al-Shahristānī’s exegesis, mention the existence of such a report/ mushaf attributed to Ja‘far al-Sādiq. Even the existence of some contemporary sources mentioning Ja‘far’s report/ mushaf do not change this fact, because ultimately the source for these contemporary sources are, in fact, al-Shahristānī’s exegesis. By citing al-Shahristānī, Shiite scholar Abū Abdullah al-Zanjānī mentions this report in his book titled Tārīkh al-Qur’ān as “Ja‘far al-Sādiq’s mushaf ’s arrangement”, misleading those who later cite him and some contemporary writers who attribute a mushaf to Ja‘far al-Sādiq. This leads to an assumption that Ja‘far had a personal mushaf just like Ubayy b. Ka‘b and Ibn Mas‘ūd. However, it is not plausible to accept its existence according to our current evidence.Ibn Mas‘ūd’s and Ubayy b. Ka‘b’s mushafs listed in the second table of al-Shahristānī are the most salient personal mushafs on which many debates occurred. So far we have discussed the arrangements of chapters in Ibn Mas‘ūd and Ubayy b. Ka‘b’s mushafs according to the information given in al-Fihrist and al-Itqān, because no other source mention the content and arrangement of the mushafs of Ibn Mas‘ūd and Ubayy b. Ka‘b. Al-Shahristānī’s Mafātīh al-asrār is the third source to compare the information provided by the other two sources as well as to reveal many unknown facts about these mushafs. It is worth noting that al-Fihrist and al-Itqān narrate that Ibn Mas‘ūd’s mushaf does not include the chapter al-Fatiģah, whereas according to the list given in Mafātīh al-asrār, Ibn Mas‘ūd’s mushaf includes it. This seems to open the debate as to whether Ibn Mas‘ūd considered this chapter as part of the Quran or not.Similarly, another important point of debate is Ubayy b. Ka‘b’s mushaf and its inclusion of Qunūt supplications as Quranic chapters (Khal‘ and Hafd). Even though no record exists of Ubayy b. Ka‘b’s report that these supplications are part of the Quran, they are included at the middle/end of the mushaf to be memorized and recited in prayer. The qunūt supplications are listed after the chapter al-‘Asr (the Declining Day) in al-Itqān and al-Fihrist, whereas they are added at the end of the table in Mafātīh al-asrār.In this article, I try to examine the sources of reports on the arrangements of chapters in the personal mushafs that al-Shahristānī recounts and compare them with other sources that mention the arrangement of chapters in these personal mushafs.