The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Preservation of the Qur’an
~ 128 ~
For this purpose Zayd ibn Thabit was the most
competent, as he was the
katib
of the Prophet. Zayd
and Ubayy ibn Kaab both had joined in the ‘last
recitation’ having heard the Qur’an directly from
the Prophet in the order still extant today. Not only
had they memorised the entire Qur’an, but they
also possessed the whole text in written form. The
first caliph commanded them to collect all the
available parts of the scriptures and to compile
them. (Bukhari). After this decision had been taken,
Umar made an announcement in the Mosque that
whoever had any piece of writing from the Qur’an
should bring it and hand it over to Zayd.
During the first caliphate, the Qur’an not only
existed in written form on the bark of date palms,
stones, leather, etc, but was also preserved in the
memory of the companions. The Qur’an, when
made into a book, was arranged in the order
memorized by the companions, and the verses have
been preserved in that same order right up to the
present day.
Zayd ibn Thabit’s work was more a process of
collection than of compilation. That is, the scattered
