Compiling of the Holy Qur’an
Narrated by Sayyidina Zayd ibn Thabit:“Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e. a number of the
Prophet's Companions who fought against Musaylimah the Liar).
(I went to him) and found Umar bin al-Khattab sitting with
him. Abu Bakr then said (to me): “Umar has come to me and said, “Casualties
were heavy among the Qurra’ of the Qur’an (i.e. those who knew the Qur’an by
heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy
casualties may take place amongst the Qurra’ on other battlefields, whereby a
large part of the Qur’an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order
that the Qur’an be collected.”
I said to 'Umar, “How can you do something which the
Messenger of Allah did not do?” Umar said, “By Allah, it is good!” Umar kept on
urging me on the matter, until Allah expanded my chest to it, and I came to
hold the view that Umar held.”
Then Abu Bakr said (to me), “You are a wise young man and we
do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine
Inspiration for the Messenger of Allah. So you should search for (the
fragmentary scripts of) the Qur’an and collect it in one book).”
By Allah, if they had ordered me to shift one of the
mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to
collect the Qur’an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, “How will you do something which
the Messenger of Allah did not do?” Abu Bakr replied, "“By Allah, it is
good.” Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept until Allah expanded my chest to it
for what He had expanded the chests of Abu Bakr and Umar.
So I started
searching for the Qur’an and collecting it from (what was written on) palmed
stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found
the last verse of Surah al-Tawba (the Surah of Repentance) with Abu Khuzayma
al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The verse is,
“Verily, there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves: it grieves
him that you should perish... (to the end of the surah).” Then the complete
manuscripts (copy) of the Qur’an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with
Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of Umar.”
Abu Ya’la narrated that Sayyidina Ali said, “The one with
the greatest reward for the written copies of the Qur’an is Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr
was the first to gather the Qur’an between two boards.”
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