Page 113 - Tafsir of surat at tawba repentance

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Prophet (r) had ordered them to write down the various verses and chapters of
the Qur’aan while it was being revealed in order to help preserve it. Compiling
all of what was written into one complete book was then only the completion of
what the Prophet (r) had begun.

Caliph Aboo Bakr asked Zayd ibn Thaabit to be in charge of collecting and
writing down the whole Qur’aan. Zayd refused to do it at first for the same
reasons Aboo Bakr had, but after some time he also came to realize that it was
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right. Zayd was chosen for this task for the following reasons:

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1. He was one of the best reciters of the Qur’aan.
2. He was one of the few who had memorized the whole Qur’aan during the
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lifetime of the Prophet (r).
3. He was one of those whom the Prophet (r) asked to write down the
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Qur’aan.
4. He was one of the few who were present when the Prophet (r) recited the
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whole Qur’aan during the last Ramadaan of his life.

Zayd began the process by collecting all of the materials on which the
Qur’aan had been written. He then gathered around him all of those who had also
memorized all of the Qur’aan or large portions of it. He then compared what was
written down with what he and the others had memorized. If all agreed, he would
then write it down on pages of leather. 79 In this way the whole Qur’aan was
written down during the reign of the first Caliph. On its completion Zayd turned it
over to Caliph Aboo Bakr, who kept it until his death two years after he had
become Caliph.

Just before his death, Aboo Bakr turned over the Qur’aan to ‘Umar, whom he
had chosen to be the second Caliph. ‘Umar kept his copy of the Qur’aan with him
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until his death, ten years later, at the hand of an assassin named Aboo Lu’lu’.
The Qur’aan was then turned over to his daughter Hafsah, who was one of the

74
See Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 477-8, no. 509.
75
See al-Itqaan, vol. 1, p. 199.
76
Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 488, no. 525.
77
Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 94-5, nos. 116-7.
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As-Suyootee quotes al-Baghawee’s statement to that effect in Sharh as-Sunnah as well as a
statement by Ibn Seereen that would support that, collected by Ibn Abee Shaybah in Kitaabah al-
Masaahif . See al-Itqaan, vol. 1, p. 142.
79
See Saheeh Sunan at-Tirmithee, vol. 3, p. 59, no. 2479.
80
See al-Bidaayah wa an-Nihaayah, vol. 7, p.166.

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