The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Preservation of the Qur’an
~ 123 ~
would the Prophet allow the propagation of those
verses
(Majmauz Zawaid,
vol. I, p.60).
The number of transcribers who worked at different
times is put at forty-two. According to Ibn Abdul
Bar, Hanzala ibn Rabi was the chief transcriber. He
was asked to remain in the company of the Prophet
at all times
(Aqd AI-Farid,
v. 4, p. 114), a foolproof
arrangement whereby a number of the companions
possessed passages of the Qur’an in written form by
the time of the Prophet’s death. A sizeable number,
four of whom are worth mentioning: Abu Darda,
Muaz ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thabit and Abu Zayd
even possessed the complete Qur’an in its present
arrangement.
It has been established from authentic traditions
that the angel Gabriel, who conveyed the
revelations of God to the Prophet, himself arranged
these verses: each year during the month of
Ramadan, Gabriel would come to the Prophet and
recite before him all the Quranic verses revealed up
till that time in the order in which they exist today,
after which the Prophet would repeat the verses in
exactly the same order. This dual process has been
