[jasimq]

It's correct. There were thousands of people who memorized the verses at the time of Muhammad(pbuh). Muslims recite the Quran at least 5 times a day in the daily prayers from memory. Even today there are millions of people in all age groups who've memorized the whole Quran in Arabic

[keedot]

All evidence points to the contrary. The need of Uthman to canonize the text was due to the variation that existed. He ordered those variants destroyed, removing all evidence of their content. I even recall from college that the caliph ordered all verses, in any form, to be collected; some of the verse was from scraps of vellum, reed, antler, etc... If thousands of memorizers truly existed, such an exercise wouldn't be needed. He would only need to get a dozen of the people that memorized it to recite the exact verse again.

[mkhattab]

Variations existed in the written form not in the recitation because diacritics (tashkeel) were not standardized. It's a common misconception that the Quran is memorized through the written text. This is not how it is transmitted. Look up Tajweed, which are the rules of pronunciation of the Quran.

Furthermore, memorizers of the Quran can trace the chain of narration back to Muhammad himself. So there couldn't be any forgery or manipulation. Uthman doesn't have the power to erase people's memories.

[keedot]

Since written word is far more reliable than oration, again there is absolutely no proof of any of this.

[jasimq]

In Arabic language different dialects/variations have different punctuations and pronunciations which changes how a word is pronounced but not what the word is or what it means.

[keedot]

I understand this. Spouting random facts doesn't constitute a rebuttal.