The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 390
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 390 wives, the Holy Prophet sa would visit Ḥaḍrat Ummi Salamah ra first; and Ḥaḍrat ‘Ā’ishah ra last, who was the youngest of all. Then, he would proceed to the home of the wife whose turn it would be for that respective day. 1 Personal Scribe of the Holy Prophet sa and Learning Hebrew The scope of the correspondence of the Holy Prophet sa was now expanding and it was felt that a faithful Companion of the Holy Prophet sa should gain knowledge of Hebrew as well. In this manner, correspondence and the drafting of treaties, etc. , with the Jews could be facilitated and the risk of deceit could also be removed. For this purpose, the Holy Prophet sa instructed a young Companion by the name of Zaid bin Thābit Anṣārī ra , who had learned to read and write Arabic from the captives of the battle of Badr, and who was the personal scribe or private secretary of the Holy Prophet sa , to learn how to read and write Hebrew as well. Hence, Zaid ra , who was remarkably intelligent, managed to learn Hebrew in an effort of merely fifteen days. 2 It is also worthy to note that this is the very same Zaid bin Thābit ra , who collected and copied the Holy Qur’ān in the form of a manuscript or book, in the era of Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra , upon his instruction. 3 Compilation of the Qur’ān We have already written above that Zaid bin Thābit Anṣārī ra collected and copied the Holy Qur’ān in the Khilāfat of Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra in the form of a manuscript. This does not mean that prior to this the Holy Qur’ān had not already been collected. Rather, the truth is that as the Holy Qur’ān was gradually revealed to the Holy Prophet sa , 4 he would not only arrange it under 1 * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 4, p. 402, Ummu Salamah Ummul-Mu’minīn, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 * Al-Iṣābah Fī Tamīziṣ-Ṣaḥābah, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 2, p. 491, Zaid bin Thābit, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2005) * Tārīkhul-Khamīs Fī Aḥwāli Anfasi Nafīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan, Volume 1, p. 465, Ta‘allumu Zaidibni Thābit Kitābal-Yahūd, Mu’assasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut 3 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Jam‘il-Qur’ān, Ḥadīth No. 4986 4 It should be remembered that the Holy Qur’ān was gradually revealed over a span of twenty- three years, or twenty-two and a half years to be precise. Although there would be pauses in between and on certain days a larger portion would be revealed at once; however, in mathematical terms, if the total number of verses of the Holy Qur’ān, which equal 6,234 are divided by the continued. . . . .