The Qur’an has inspired both fervent devotion and outright denunciation over the centuries. Its authenticity, history, and meaning have all been subject to intense scrutiny and enduring debate. The pious view is that Revelation was complete during the lifetime of the Prophet and its fragments recorded and compiled in the early post-Prophetic period by the Caliph Uthman between 650 and 656. Revisionists have disputed this interpretation, noting the lack of direct source material and reliance on Muslim historical accounts written long afterwards; the first reference to a complete text, in their view, dates from the Umayyad ʿAbd al-Malik's reign (685-705) or even two centuries later than the Prophet's era. More recent controversies, such as over the ‘Sana’a palimpsest’ found in 1972, have debated whether the date can be pushed back to within four decades of the Prophet's death in 632, whereas the ‘Birmingham Qur’an’ discovered in 2015 is cited as validation of the conventional view dating codification to within two decades after the Prophet died.

A persistent uncertainty to be added to these controversies has been the Shi‘i place in the preservation, codification, and transmission of Scripture. Although, for the most part, we adhere to a trans-sectarian textualism today, curiosity and often polemics have swirled over the degree to which Qur’anic and early Shi‘i history intersected. The ostensible distinction between an external (zahir) and internal (batin) interpretative approach is commonly thought to be the demarcating difference between the Sunni and Shi‘i views of the Qur’an. But even textual history itself has generated disagreements and remained unsettled: is there a codex that dates back to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, the Prophet's esteemed relative and fourth successor?

The difficulties of penetrating the early Islamic era are manifold. Muslim scholars themselves recognise that early sources are scant and often skewed, and most of the early traditions are oral and thus historically unverifiable. In particular, understanding the role of the early Shi‘i is often caught up with politicised identities and mythologies. Shi‘i scholars have argued that ‘Ali produced the first compilation of the Qur’an, having pieced it together in the order in which he received its parts. Some argue that the community refused to accept this and others that it was passed on to the Imams.