The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 8
Seal of the Prophets - Volume I 8 The names and life histories of the companions of the Holy Prophet sa who were a scribe of revelation have been documented in history and meticulously safeguarded. The most prominent companions among them were Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra , Ḥaḍrat ‘ Umar ra , Ḥaḍrat ‘ Uthmān ra , Ḥaḍrat ‘ Alī ra , Zubair bin Al-‘Awwām ra , Sharjīl bin Ḥasanah ra , ‘ Abdullāh bin Rawāḥah ra , Ubaiyy bin Ka‘b ra and Zaid bin Thābit ra. 1 Based on the above mentioned list it is evident that even in the preliminary stages of Islām, the Holy Prophet sa had at his disposal a reliable company of scribes to commit Qur’ānic revelations to writing. In this manner not only was the Holy Qur’ān preserved in writing but the final sequential order (which happened to be different to that of its revelation due to various wisdoms) was established along the way. After the demise of the Holy Prophet sa , when Qur’ānic revelation was complete, Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra , the first Caliph of the Holy Prophet sa , upon the advice of Hadrat ‘Umar ra , ordered Zaid bin Thābit Anṣāri ra (who had remained a scribe of revelation to the Holy Prophet sa ) to compile the Holy Qur’ān systematically whilst preserving it in book-form. Therefore, Zaid bin Thābit ra diligently collected every verse of the Holy Qur’ān on the basis of solid written and verbal testimonies and compiled it into a proper book. 2 Afterwards as Islām spread to diverse countries, Ḥaḍrat ‘ Uthmān ra , the third Caliph of the Holy Prophet sa , ordered that authenticated copies of the Holy Qur’ān be prepared in conformity to the book compiled by Zaid bin Thābit ra. These genuine copies were then sent to every Islāmic country. 3 On the other hand, there was an effective system in place for the memorization of the Holy Qur’ān, as there was a group of companions who would commit to memory the Qur’ān in its established sequential order at the time of its revelation. Although people who committed the Holy Qur’ān to memory in part were innumerable, yet a substantial population had memorized the Qur’ān completely during the time of the Holy Prophet sa. Among them, there were at least four such persons whom the Holy 1 * Fatḥul-Bārī Sharḥu Ṣaḥīḥil-Bukhārī, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar ‘Asqalānī, Volume 9, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Kātibin-Nabī sa , p. 27, Qadīmī Kutub Khānah, Ārām Bāgh, Karachi * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Muḥammad bin ‘Abdul-Bāqī Az- Zarqānī, Part 4, pp. 533-554, Al-Faṣlus-Sādisu fī Umarā’ihī wa Rusulihī wa Kitābihi wa Kutubihī ilā Ahlil-Islām. . . , Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Kātibin-Nabī sa , Ḥadīth No. 4989 3 * Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Jam‘il-Qur’ān, Ḥadīth No. 4987 * Fatḥul-Bārī Sharḥu Ṣaḥīḥil-Bukhārī, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar ‘Asqalānī, Volume 9, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Jam‘il-Qur’ān, Ḥadīth No. 4987, pp. 24-25, Qadīmī Kutub Khānah, Ārām Bāgh, Karachi