a bombshell

Morteza Karimi-Nia has published a book Codex Mashhad, and a web site.
Most interest­ing:
Sura order like Codex Masʿud
Orthography
The orthographic rules in the main body of Codex Mashhad exhibit a clear pro­pensity towards scriptio defec­tiva, signaling palaeo­graphic anti­quity of the codex. Its style in many instances neither conforms to the fully developed normative ortho­graphy of modern times, nor alignsoften divervs from the “Uthmānic rasm” documented in works such as al-Muqniʿ by Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī and Mukhtaṣar al-Tabyīn by Abū Dāwūd Sulaimān b. Najāḥ. For instance, šaiʾشئ is always written with an additional alif as شای, ḏūذو with an additional alif as ذوا; and the word ʾulūاولوا is always written with waw for /u/, and without for /ū/ as اولا.

The most salient orthographic feature of Codex Mashhad is the omission of alif as the sign of long vowel /ā/; examples of this can be found on nearly every page, at a pro­portion far sur­passing other known ḥijāzī codices. Several notable cases rarely seen in early ḥijāzī manu­scripts from the first century will briefly be mentioned here.

The words قرآن and عذاب are almost always written without alif as قرن and عذب ‒ very rare and strange in three-letter words. Apart from many occur­rences of قل/قلوا instead of قال/قالوا and کن/کنوا instead of کان/کانوا, we come across مل (f. A16a) for مال (Q. 2:247), and صل (f. B60b) for صال (Q. 37:163). Yet other examples are: ایما (f. A20b) for ایاما (Q. 3:24), امما (f. A8b) for اماما (Q. 2:124), الذن (f. A31b) for الذان (Q. 4:16), اطع (f. A35a) for اطاع in (Q. 4:80), ارد (f. A42b) for اراد (Q. 5:17), مئدة (f. A49b) for مائدة (Q. 5:114), ثنی (f. A77b) for ثانی (Q. 9:40), این (f. B29b) for ایان (Q. 27:65), اینا (f. A85a) for ایانا (Q. 10:28), اعنه (f. B19a) for اعانه (Q. 25:4), and فودک (f. B20b) for فؤادک (Q. 25:32).

The addition of alif in some words seems to indicate the vowel kasra. Examples are: جایتَهم (f. A49a) for جِئتَهم (Q. 5:110), جایتُکم (twice on f. A22a) for جِئتُکم (Q. 3:49 and 50), شايتَ (f. A67a) for شِئتَ (Q. 7:155), جایتُکَ (f. B22b), for جِئتُکَ (Q. 26:26), جاینکَ (f. B20b), for جِئنٰکَ (Q. 25:33), and قد جايتُکم (f. B80a) for قد جِئتُکم (Q. 43:63). cf. Ahmad al-Jallad suggests that after kasra ىا stands for hamza.

The omission of alif while connecting two words, in such cases as بلحق (f. A58b) for بالحق (Q. 6:151), بلبینت (ff. A103a, B80a & B103a) for بالبینت (Q. 14:9, 43:63, & 57:25), and بلغیب (f. B56a) for بالغیب (Q. 36:11), is indicative of the oral trans­mission of the Qurʾān in the first/seventh century. To this, one can add the omission of yāʾ in such cases as اوف الکیل (A96a) instead of اوفی الکیل (Q. 12:59).

The omission of alif as a bearer of ḥamza is also common in Codex Mashhad. Examples include: اطمننتم (Q. 4:103) on f. A36b; وامرتن (Q. 2:282) on f. A19b; أطفها (Q. 5:64) on f. A46a; اطمنوا (Q. 10:7) on f. A83b; لاملن (Q. 11:11, and 32:13) on ff. A98a & B44a, امتلت (Q. 50:30), on f. B92b; اطمن (Q. 22:11) on f. B7a; انشنا (Q. 23:19, and 28:45) on f. B13a & B23b; and اشمزت (Q. 39: 45) on f. B67b.

On the other hand, contrary to current usage, the addition of alif as a symbol of Arabic ḥamza is common in the codex; examples include: نباونی (Q. 6:143) on f. A57a; راوس (Q. 2:279) on f. A19b; راوسهم (Q. 17:51 and 22:19) on f. A116a & B7b; افادة (Q. 14:37 and 16:78) on ff. A102a & A104b; الافادة (Q. 67:23) on f. B114b; سیاه (Q. 2:81) on f. A5b; and لا یاوده (Q. 2:255) on f. A17a.

The omission of nūn while linking to another letter such as lam is very note­worthy, for examples in إلم یکن (ff. A31a & A40b) for إن لم یکن (Q. 4:12 & 176), إلم تفعل (f. A46a) for إن لم تفعل (Q. 5:67), إلم ینتهوا (f. A46b) for إن لم ینتهوا (Q. 5:73), and ألا تعبدوا (f. A90a) for أن لا تعبدوا (Q. 11: 26).

The omission of wāw in the words like الا (f. A25b) instead of اولاء (Q. 3:119), ابنا الله (f. A42b) instead of ابنوا الله (Q. 5:18), نبا (ff. B62a & B111a) instead of نبوا (Q. 38:21 and 64:5), دعا (f. B70b) instead of دعوا (Q. 40:50), الی (f. B53a) instead of اولی (Q. 35:1), and البلا (f. B60a) instead of البلوا (Q. 37:106) is also notable in Codex Mash­had.

Using a denticl ىـ to show /ā/ was common in the early ḥijāzī Qurʾāns but faded over time. There are ample instances of such usage in Codex Mashhad: إليه (f. A46b) for إله (Q. 5:73), دیرهم (f. A101a) for دارهم (Q. 13:31), قرطيس (f. A50b) for قرطاس (Q. 6:7), and جنتین (f. B51a) for جنتان (Q. 34:15).

I see two main phenomena: alif is hamza, and: The orthography reflects phono­logical realization rather than morpho­logical structure. ­ ‒ ­