Page 15 - Ulum Al Quran An Introduction To The Sciences Of The Quran

Another well-known case concerns Mu'adh bin Jabal who was sent to Yemen to instruct the people there.
Qur'an Readers among the Companions

Suyuti [Itqan 1, p. 124.] mentions more than twenty well-known persons who memorized the revelation, among them
were Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Huraira, 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas, 'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin al-'As, 'A'isha,
Hafsa, and Umm Salama.

From among these, the Prophet himself recommended especially the following:

'Narrated Masruq: 'Abdullah bin 'Amr mentioned 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud and said: I shall ever love that man
for I heard the Prophet saying: Take (learn) the Qur'an from four: 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud, Salim, Muiadh
and Ubay bin Ka'b'. [Bukhari, VI, No. 521.]

Another hadith informs us about those Companions who had memorized the Qur'an in its entirety and gone over it with
the Prophet before his death:

'Narrated Qatada: I asked Anas bin Malik: Who collected the Qur'an at the time of the Prophet? He
replied, Four, all of whom were from the Ansar: Ubay bin Ka'b, Mu'adh bin Jabal, Zaid bin Thabit and Aba
Zaid.' [Bukhari, VI, No. 525.]

The fact that some of the earliest historical reports make special mention in the accounts of the battles that were fought,
of Muslims killed who knew (something of) the Qur'an by heart, gives a clear indication that memorization of the
revelation was considered important and widely practised from the earliest times. [See below, on collection of the Qur'an
in Abu Bakr's time.]

The Qur'an Memorized in the Prophet's Lifetime

It is therefore certain that the Qur'an had been memorized by the Companions of the Prophet during his lifetime. This
tradition continued among the Companions after the Prophet's death and, later, among the tabi'un and all generations of
Muslims that have followed, until today.

TRANSMISSION OF THE WRITTEN TEXT

The Written Text at the Time of the Prophet Muhammad

What is meant by Jam' al-Qur'an?

The general meaning of jam' al-qur'an is to 'bring together the Qur'an'. This was done and has to be understood in two
ways:

 Bringing together the Qur'an orally, or in one's mind (hifz).

 Bringing together the Qur'an in written form, or on sheets, or in a book.

Jam' al-qura'n therefore, in the classical literature, has various meanings:

 To learn the Qur'an by heart.

 To write down every revelation.

 To bring together those materials upon which the Qur'an has been written.

 To bring together the reports of people who have memorized the Qur'an.

 To bring together all such sources, both oral and written.

How was the Qur'an Collected?
In Suyuti’s Itqan it is said that the Qur'an had been written down in its entirety in the time of the Prophet but had not
been brought together in one single place, and that therefore these written records or documents had not been arranged
in order.' [Itqan, I, p. 41]