What caused a CRISIS? The memory of 9,000, or just 70?

Azedine responds to Richard, saying, "according to some sources there were around 9,000 Muslims during Mohammed (puh) lifetime and many of them recited the Kuran from memory and to avoid errors they recoursed to cross checking. Of course the spelling of words and the grammar have evolved since then. For example Surah El Fatiha which is the first one in the Quran has been written in some different ways (sound s, س and ç ص) but to a Muslim this is of no importance because the words are of God but the writing is of man”.  Yet, what sources does Azedine have which say there were 9,000 who memorized the Qur’an (Hafiz)? My sources below tell me something different: [References for a review of this account in the Islamic Traditions = Usmani, Mohammad Taqi; Abdur Rehman, Rafiq (editor); Siddiqui, Mohammed Swaleh (translator) (2000), "An approach to the Quranic sciences", Birmingham: Darul Ish'at. pp. 191–6; Hasan, Sayyid Siddiq; Nadwi, Abul Hasan Ali; Kidwai, A.R. (translator) (2000) "The collection of the Qur'an", Karachi: Qur'anic Arabic Foundation. pp. 34–5] Crisis number 1: According to the Islamic Traditions, there were only 70 who had memorized the Qur’an at the battle of Yamamah who were killed. If killing only 70 caused such a crisis that Abu Bakr had to quickly commission Zaid ibn Thabit to write down the Qur’an, then this proves just how inadequate memorization really is for preserving anything . Furthermore, this first manuscript of the Qur’an was given to Abu Bakr, who gave it to Umar, and he subsequently gave it to his daughter, Hafsah, the former wife of Muhammad, who oddly put it under her bed for safekeeping, and it remained there for 20 years. [Reference for the story of Hafsah = Usmani, Mohammad Taqi (2000), Abdur Rehman, Rafiq (ed.), "An approach to the Quranic sciences", Translated by Siddiqui, Mohammed Swaleh. Birmingham: Darul Ish'at, pp. 191–6] Crisis number 2: Two decades later, Uthman, the 3rd Caliph noticed that there was a multiplicity of Qur’ans, all of which disagreed with each other, causing yet a 2nd crisis. Yet, these were not written Qur’ans which were differing, because notice what Hudhaifa says (in Al Bukhari 6:510, on the right). He was “afraid of their differences in the recitation of the Qur’an”. There is nothing here about a written text. It’s all about a recited text, which suggests Qur’ans that were memorized. And why was he afraid? He continues, “Save this nation before they differ about the Book…”, which could only happen if they had memorized it differently. If it was written differently, you just destroy those which differ. Due to the fact that there were so many differing memorized Qur’ans, a second crisis was created, forcing Uthman to ask Hafsah for the first Qur’an, which she had hidden under her bed. If that first Qur’an had not been hidden under a bed, and had instead been copied 20 years earlier, you wouldn’t have had this 2nd crisis. Crisis number 3: The more astute among you will notice that the problem at this point couldn’t be only due to differing memorized texts, because further on Uthman “ordered that all the other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt”, proving that there were also written texts of the Qur’an which differed from the canonical text compiled by Uthman. Nonetheless, whether there were badly memorized texts, or badly written texts, this third crisis was created because the original written text was not available for 20 years as a standard for all the others, forcing Uthman to destroy everything which disagreed. Muslims say that the reason Uthman subsequently had to write down a 2nd recension of the Qur’an in 652 AD was because there were so many different readings of the book at that time. One would have to assume then that the ‘differences’ in these Qur’ans were due to different recitations, which means that people memorized them differently. This usually happens when there isn’t a written standard text to which everyone can go to. No wonder Uthman needed a standard, and so asked for the only written text in existence, that of Hafsah’s, which for some odd reason she had kept under her bed and hidden for 20 years. Is this not further proof for the superiority of writing things down? Thus, Azedine, the words are not of God, because both “the words and the writings” are of man, and neither have anything to do with God. © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2020 (27,370)