The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cccxv
GENERAL INTRODUCTION Those who had become competent to recite the Quran during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet could be numbered in thousands. Immediately after the death of the Holy Prophet, when Musailimah declared war and marched against Medina at the head of a hundred thousand warriors, Abū Bakr sent Khalid bin Walīd in command of 13,000 soldiers to oppose him. As this number included many who had only recently accepted Islam and had not yet become imbued with its spirit or traditions, the Muslim forces were pressed back at several points. At this juncture some of the Companions of the Holy Prophet who knew the Quran by heart put forward the suggestion that all those in the army who had the Quran by heart should be formed into a separate force and should be sent forward to oppose Musailimah's men. It was thought that as these people appreciated the true value of Islam and the need of safeguarding it with their lives, their zeal and devotion would prevail against the much larger numbers of the enemy. Khalid bin Walīd accepted this suggestion and formed a special force of those who knew the Quran by heart. These numbered 3,000. This force attacked Musailimah's army with such vehemence that it was forced to retreat and was eventually beleaguered and destroyed. On that occasion these 3,000 chose as their motto: "O ye that know the Surah Al-Baqarah by heart" (Surah Al-Baqarah was mentioned as it is the longest chapter of the Quran). Five hundred of this special force of 3,000 were killed in this battle. Says Sir William Muir: "The carnage amongst the 'Readers' (those who had the Koran by heart) was so great as to give 'Umar the first idea of collecting the Sacred Text lest any part of it should be lost" (The Caliphate). Thus we find that in the time of the Holy Prophet himself the Quran used to be recorded in writing, was committed to memory and was constantly recited and thousands of people knew the whole of it by heart, though it had not yet been collected in one volume. The Quran Collected in One Volume When it was found that 500 of the reciters of the Quran had been killed in the battle with Musailimah's army, ‘Umar suggested to Abu Bakr (who was then the Khalifah) that if those who had the Quran by heart began to be lost in battles in such large numbers, the safeguarding of the purity of its text would become difficult and that the time had therefore arrived when the whole of the Quran should be collected in one volume. Abu Bakr at first demurred but eventually accepted the suggestion and appointed Zaid bin Thābit, being one of those who used to record the Quran at the dictation of the Holy Prophet, to collect the text of the Quran in one volume and appointed prominent Companions of the Holy Prophet to assist him in the task. Abu Bakr directed that the text of the Quran should be collected from its recorded fragments and cclxxxix